• LUCZORAMA SHIPWRECK SCAVENGER HUNT GIVEAWAY. 4 Weeks of Fun • 1 Legendary Prize ((OcCre’s Fram Ship)) • Global Crew Welcome!
    **VIEW THREAD HERE**

Question about ship modeling from scratch

danielsje said:
My first ship model was the Cutty Sark in plastic. My sister‘s cat decided it was fun to play with and just about completely destroyed it. Something about cat satisfaction swiping rigging lines with claws.
Click to expand...
The Cutty Sark reminds me of my child hood, a late uncle of mine built a Revell Cutty Sark while he was staying with my parents before I was around and left it there, at some point the cat took a fancy to it... I can clearly remember as a young boy being fascinated by the rigging on that model.
 
Well pretty much the same as most of you ...started building model ships in the 60's plastic and balsa and went to model planes plastic and balsa as well ...then started the larger Revel series of ships...cutty Sark etc...Finally still looking for a challenge bought my first wooden kit The Harvey and have been building come bashing them since then. Myself I find it easier to bash to kit than actually get down and build from drawings up not skilled to that level yet.
 
what were we talking about? i forgot
oh dope
no that's not it

as far as wooden ship models i jumped right into scratch building after that Mayflower from Model shipways back in the 60s.
i did have a massive record collection 700+ albums
albums + a set of headphones + a model project = heaven on earth until the wife came to the conclusion i was spending way to much time in my bubble. I never found the headphones. She said a bomb could be dropped on the city and i would never know.

building from scratch is the same as building from a kit they both require skill
 
I don't remember what my first model was though certainly most of my early models were plastic kits mainly WW2 aircraft and ships except for some rough balsa boats one of which had a small motor.
My first serious scratch build started at around 16 years old is a working model of a cabin cruiser that is still operational. These days I tend to be much happier working on my scratch built project where I can forge my own path without an instruction manual, (only down side is time taken as I am a very slow model maker) along with working in wood a material that is much more pleasing to work with than plastic (nothing wrong with plastic just hasn’t got the feel wood has) and metals. I would like to make a wooden kit one day, but I am a one project at a time person and find it stressful having more than one project at a time.
What ever you do enjoy what you are doing first, it's a hobby!
 
donfarr said:
I STARTED BACK IN THE 50s DOING STATIC AIRPLANE MODELS WOOD, ANY ONE REMEMBER STORM BECKER GREAT MODELS DID A GOOD JOB UP UNTIL TIME TO PAINT, OH, OH, THEN IT WAS SPORTS, SPORTS AND ALL SPORTS, THEN GIRLS THEN BEING A HUSBAND AND FARTHER, I HAVE 3 CHILDREN 2 BOYS AND MY YOUNGEST MY ADMIRAL (FOOD POLICE) 5 GRAND SONS, EVERY ONE SHOULD BE BLESSED BY GOD AS I AM WITH MY CHILDREN AND SON-IN-LAW, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, I AM BLESSED. GOD BLESS STAY SAFE DON
Click to expand...
You and I are of similar vintage. I hit 82 this year. And like you, I started with airplane kits, but of the tissue paper on balsa frame variety, since there were no competing commercial ship model kits in those days. I got back into modeling in my 40’s and on the recommendation of a friend got a ship model kit. I quickly became addicted and after a few kits realized I had learned enough to do scratch POB from plans. A whole fleet worth of models later I am still having fun doing it.
 
Well, well - what an interesting thread this has turned out to be!
Like most of us, I started quite young at about eight years of age, with a combination of KeilKraft aircraft (Tissue on balsa frame) and Airfix plastic ships ( when you used to get them in a polythene bag with a card illustration and instructions stapled on the top!)
'Designed' my first aircraft at age ten, which won a prize in a hobbies and crafts fair - It looked the part, but didn't seem inclined to fly when I launched it out of the bedroom window.
After that, I built many flying model aircraft including the old KeilKraft 'Chief', a superb glider, and a whole range of kits of boats, vehicles, aircraft and so on, up to the age of about sixteen, when I foolishly thought maybe I was getting too old to be modelling. Thankfully, I came to my senses a year or two later and built the large-scale Revel 'Cutty Sark', 'Alabama', and 'Constitution' - I still have the 'Connie' in my workshop, but it's suffering from plastic fatigue, and starting to fall to bits.
The next stage got me in to 'Historex' white metal figure kits, together with R/C aircraft.
Now I should have mentioned that when I was about twelve, I bought an old wooden launch hull from a lad at my boarding school for 2/6 (That's old money, about £0.125 or about 16 cents!) It was a lovely old pre-war hull, built 'properly' - I decked it, fitted motor and R/C, and it is still in use today, about eighty years old. Anyway, it turned me on to wooden ship modelling, hence 'Natterer' and 'King's Fisher' (see links below)
Now I've just started a 1/8 Jaguar engine 'as a bit of a change'
You're all quite right about modern kids not being interested - when I ran the local model boat club, we couldn't keep the kids coming after about 12 or 13, and it ended up as a bunch of 'old lads' (Don't tell them that, or they'll lynch me!)
Must stop rambling on!

Ted
 
Jim J said:
You know, when I first started building model ships there was no internet, no SOS, no youtube videos - nothing. When I bought my first wooden kit it was a time when you saved up your hard earned dollars, went to your local hobby store, plunked down your money and walked out with your prized posssession. When you got home you opened up the box and looked at all those pieces/parts and said to yourself "Self? What have you gotten yourself into? Quick - run to the library and see if they have any books on the sublect! No? Ok then lets go to the local bookstore and see what they have. Nothing??!! Oh well, I guess I'm on my own." In essence, it was all a big scratch building project because the translations of the instructions were usually little better than useless.But at least they had pictures and you figured it out - sort of. It was what separated the real hobbiest from the boys - so to speak, and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Click to expand...
Been there done that. First and last kti was the Victory from Mamoli 40 years ago. I build scratch US sailing warships. Have completed the Pennsylvania 130 guns, Columbus 90 guns in 1/72 scale currently building the United States "44" guns and the Delaware 90+ guns.
 
The journey that most of us have taken sounds very familiar. I too began with plastic kits as a boy and eventually developed to my first and only wooden sailing ship kit when I was in the Navy at 19, something to do during my off watch times. Once completed I figured I could do better from scratch and never looked back. I read a lot from library books, then began collecting my own library on the subject and developed my own ways of building models. One of the most influential books I read was "Modelling The Brig of War Irene" by E.W. Petrejus, which was my bible until Bernard Frolich's wonderful book, "The Art of Ship Modelling" came along. These two books have had the most influence in my work and little by little I have improved my skills to the present level. Ship modelling has been a great passion for me over the years, especially since I swallowed the anchor. As I can no longer go to sea, I bring the sea to me through the ships I build and carve. The age of the internet has opened a whole world to me as I get to see, finally, what others are doing and how. Working alone in the back woods of New Brunswick here in Canada, there aren't any other modeller's around to learn from, so I learn from you folks here on the forum.

Bob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top