Speeljacht by GrandpaPhil - Seahorse - 1/50 - CARD

[GrandpaPhil]

Next project:

This is just a quick fun little project!

 

The only modifications that I will be making are the carvings which I will make myself.

[GrandpaPhil]

The humble beginnings of any POB model:

All pieces are sealed on both sides and laminated to thickness.

 

I have been locating all the pieces that will become part of the carvings.

[GrandpaPhil]

Frame is almost assembled:

I used 1mm thick paperboard for the 1mm thick parts on my Speeljacht.

 

It worked well.

Edited October 29 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

Once it dries, the Speeljacht will be ready for fairing and the inner hull covering:

I may, or may not, have used Little Debbie snack cake boxes and cereal boxes for .5mm card.

[Knocklouder]

Great work,  if I didn't  have four monsters  ships to rig , I think  I would  like to give card a try, but I will just watch your master piece  come together, 

Amazed as always.  .

Knocklouder 😁 

[72Nova]

You're very prolific at building these card models, great work as always 👍

 

Michael D.

[GrandpaPhil]

On 10/29/2025 at 1:31 PM, Knocklouder said:

Great work,  if I didn't  have four monsters  ships to rig , I think  I would  like to give card a try, but I will just watch your master piece  come together, 

Amazed as always.  .

Knocklouder 😁 

Bob,

   Thank you very much!  I enjoy these models quite a lot!  I found that out quite accidentally after reading Ab Hoving’s card modeling from scratch tutorial on this forum.  I didn’t think my attempt (the Prince de Neufchatel) would pan out, but it worked out extremely well.  Once you clear your decks, I look forward to seeing you build one!  Just remember that it is far closer to wood than you would think.  Also, there is VERY little difference between kit and scratch with card, but the same is true with wood kits as well.

 

On 10/29/2025 at 4:16 PM, 72Nova said:

You're very prolific at building these card models, great work as always 👍

 

Michael D.

 

Michael,

  Thank you very much!  I like building card models!  They are quite a lot of fun!

 

Making good progress on my speeljacht!  It is now covered and I made a Lego temporary cradle:

Then I figured that I should just make a permanent cradle, so I did:

It is still a little rough, but it works.  

I will paint it later after I get the outer hull made so I can match the color of the ship better.

 

I am thinking flat black or tan for the cradle.

 

The base will be one of those live edge rounds from a craft store.

 

I ended up with a whole bunch of them a couple of years ago from a liquidation pallet.  Needless to say all of them ended up in my stash.

 

This is my first time building a Seahorse kit.

 

I am enjoying it so far.

 

I own most of them and am starting to work my way through the smaller work boats and yachts between larger projects.

 

Card models are like the old potato chip ad, you can’t have just one.

 

Edited October 30 by GrandpaPhil

[GrandpaPhil]

Working my way through the visible frame tops:

I think these are the most difficult part of this build.

[vvvjames]

Can't wait to see this come to shape, I haven't heard of a card model before, sounds interesting! Looking good already:)

[GrandpaPhil]

@vvvjames,

  Thank you very much!  Card models are great!  Most of mine recently have been card.  If you search the tag “card” there are a lot of neat card builds.

 

I finished all the bulwarks:

Then I got the transom bulwarks installed:

Then I added the middle layer of planking:

It isn’t perfect, but it is good enough.
 

I have very little starving cow (ribs showing through the skin of the hull).  There should be none after I put the outer layer of planking on tomorrow.  
 

I am going to remember this method and utilize it for my next card scratch build.

 

Three layers of planking/hull covering is more work than two layers, but the effect is totally worth it.

Edited Sunday at 01:07 AM by GrandpaPhil

[Canute]

Coming along nicely, Phil. I'm following , too.

[GrandpaPhil]

Ken,

  Thank you very much!  Welcome!

 

Most of the outer hull covering and inner bulwarks are installed:

I’m still short a wale and the model needs a BUNCH of trimming and touch ups, but at this point, I have a hull to work with that I’m happy with.

 

Next time I’ll finish up the wales and start adding all of the hull decorations.

 

I was going to carve my own stuff, but those decorations are way too fine to carve from basswood (similar to lime wood) and I don’t have any more cedar, so I’m going to try to layer the card instead and see how they turn out.

 

I showed the Admiral (my wife, for the new folks) the demo/design model built by @0Seahorse, and she really liked it, so I’m rolling with the card pieces.

[Geordie Tyne]

That is a lovely looking ship. Looking forward to following this build.

 

Regards

 

Geordie

[GrandpaPhil]

@Geordie Tyne,

  Thank you very much!

 

Making progress:

The stern looks a lot better in person.

 

The layered card worked out quite nicely.

 

[RVB]

On 10/29/2025 at 1:18 PM, GrandpaPhil said:

Once it dries, the Speeljacht will be ready for fairing and the inner hull covering:

I may, or may not, have used Little Debbie snack cake boxes and cereal boxes for .5mm card.

Phil -This build is very impressive! I’ll enjoy following it. I have a question since it is a card build for the .5mm needed thickness can you substitute .5mm walnut veneer to get the wood look?

 

As always Best Rick

[GrandpaPhil]

Rick,

  I believe using wood veneer would work out quite well.

[RVB]

6 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

Rick,

  I believe using wood veneer would work out quite well.

Phil

I’m using 0.5mm teak to deck the Picket Boat #1 and I covered over the atrocious deck on the Amati Bluenose with the same teak. It worked out great. The reason I asked is I am impressed with the card models you build and I am thinking of making one. 
All the Best Rick

[GrandpaPhil]

3 hours ago, RVB said:

Phil

I’m using 0.5mm teak to deck the Picket Boat #1 and I covered over the atrocious deck on the Amati Bluenose with the same teak. It worked out great. The reason I asked is I am impressed with the card models you build and I am thinking of making one. 
All the Best Rick

Rick,

  Thank you very much!  I really enjoy card ship models and strongly recommend them.  I have finished several of them now.  They have all been great fun to build.  Seahorse and Shipyard make the best sailing ship kits in my opinion.  I really enjoyed the Orel ironclad and predreadnought battleships that I built.  They make a phenomenal line of late 19th and early 20th Century warships that are simply unparalleled anywhere else.  Plus, card works as an amazing and versatile scratch building medium.  There’s practically no difference between a card kit and a card scratch build.

Edited 6 hours ago by GrandpaPhil

[RVB]

Thanks for the info Phil. 
i’d like to try my hand on the Orel Ironclad. I have always been interested in them. Who makes it and where can I acquire one. 
Thanks again Rick

Edited 4 hours ago by RVB

[ccoyle]

4 hours ago, RVB said:

The reason I asked is I am impressed with the card models you build and I am thinking of making one. 

 

Rick,

 

If you'd like to get a sense of what is available in the card ship market, take a look at the first few chapters of our card modeling tutorial here. There's a discussion of the major publishers and vendors. Getting products into the US is a little dicey at the moment, given the current tariffs environment.

[GrandpaPhil]

Orel is the name of the company.  I got mine on Amazon.  However, as Chris mentioned, the tariff situation is making importing kits a little dicey at the moment.  I reviewed the ironclad that I built here:

And here is my build log for the same model:

 

It gave me a really good run for my money.

 

I never actually started on the Magenta beyond planning although I still have the plans in my stash.

 

Orel and several other vendors offer the American riverine and blockade runner style ironclads from the American Civil War.

 

I like the heavy European warships.  I also have the Orel kit of the ironclad battleship Le Redoutable and the AAMM plans of the battleship Le Hoche and the steam ship of the line Le Napoleon.

Edited 5 hours ago by GrandpaPhil

[RVB]

36 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

 

Rick,

 

If you'd like to get a sense of what is available in the card ship market, take a look at the first few chapters of our card modeling tutorial here. There's a discussion of the major publishers and vendors. Getting products into the US is a little dicey at the moment, given the current tariffs environment.

Thanks Chris for the info. 
Best Rick