Hello from a newbie from Melbourne, Australia - looking for help from Aussies (and others).

[aussie43]

That's cool,

Rhonda is very helpful. I will be getting a couple of more parts from her in the near future. You may have seen in the newsagents a few years ago kits that you could get week by week. I have seen there were several ships. If you bought them that way you were looking at the $2000 or more. I have paid no more than $150 for them. One set for free, etc. I am about to put on the market a complete set of Del Prado Build the Bounty. I also have Hatchette build the Titanic, which has 3 issues missing. I have a complete set too and can provide a copy of the instructions and missing parts which can be copied. I will check in the next few days what they are and see if I have the right bits in my spares, if you like.

I got the old kit from Facebook Marketplace. I only buy if the price is right

There was a guy in Geelong Giving away a whole lot of AL spare parts and timbers and metals he acquired over the years for free. It was worth the trip from Bentleigh to get them, just in case.

Anyway, these week by week kits can be an easy way to start as they have good, easy to follow instructions, and with the prices at less than 10% of retail of the original, give it a thought. I also have spare tools you may like to look at purchasing too. Again all through Facebook Marketplace.

Hi,
You sound like a professional builder. For me it is a hobby that I started in retirement. Now I am switching from plastic kits of planes and tanks that are mainly about painting and weathering. The ship should be more fun putting it together.
One kit is more than enough for me - with my shaky hands I am not even sure I will complete it.

 

[Robmelbourne]

Not a professional at all. I built model ships and planes as a teenager. Always had a fascination of maritime. I bought a wooden kit Imai Cutty Sark back in the 1970s for some extraordinary price back then with the idea of building it and incorporating it into a bar. I still have to make it. Now I just turned 70 and retired and in the last several years started to build my stack of kits for me to do in retirement. I probably never get them all done, some I will sell, others the family will when I go. Some I planned to give to family members as a distraction from their paths to ruin. I even bought a couple of the kits (plastic) I built as a teen and others to rehone my skills before tackling the wooden ones. The planes I have are reminders of the ones my step dad flew in during WW2.

Yes, a little obsessed, but built up my stash while still working, but never paid full retail. Always waited for any sale, but 90% was from Facebook Marketplace. A couple of errors too, but loving the whole experience. Now to sell off stuff in the garage and make storage space there for the kits and then setup a workroom in the house to build the kits

 

[Bobby K.]

Welcome to SOS Joe, this was the first ship that I buildt four years ago. You will get lots of opinions about it, I found it a fantastic experience, got me hooked. Then I bought the Pinta and Nina before I finish the Santa Maria. It is a good kit,some minor upgrades and she is a beauty. Only my opinion but build it. We are all backing you.
Bobby K

 

[aussie43]

Not a professional at all. I built model ships and planes as a teenager. Always had a fascination of maritime. I bought a wooden kit Imai Cutty Sark back in the 1970s for some extraordinary price back then with the idea of building it and incorporating it into a bar. I still have to make it. Now I just turned 70 and retired and in the last several years started to build my stack of kits for me to do in retirement. I probably never get them all done, some I will sell, others the family will when I go. Some I planned to give to family members as a distraction from their paths to ruin. I even bought a couple of the kits (plastic) I built as a teen and others to rehone my skills before tackling the wooden ones. The planes I have are reminders of the ones my step dad flew in during WW2.

Yes, a little obsessed, but built up my stash while still working, but never paid full retail. Always waited for any sale, but 90% was from Facebook Marketplace. A couple of errors too, but loving the whole experience. Now to sell off stuff in the garage and make storage space there for the kits and then setup a workroom in the house to build the kits

Hi,
Sounds like you have a full size house - a bar, and plans to have a workshop in the house.
We decided 23 years ago to downsize, and to run away from a lawn. I used to spend weekends mowing, fertilizing, weeding, and it all was for nothing when the hot summer winds come and everything turns brown.
We have a townhouse on half of the block. No lawns, only hedges to trim. And I have a spare bedroom for my hobby - but no machines or dirty work. For that I have a bench in the corner of the garage.
But I am not planning big things. Maybe the Pinta and Nina if I am able to finish the Santa Maria. Or maybe the Mayflower - for my two grandsons who are direct male descendants of one of the Pilgrims.
I still have three plastic kits that will stay in the cupboard for the time being - maybe forever. I would love to do the 1/48 B-25 Mitchell, but have no room for it, and 1/72 is too small for my hands now.

 

[aussie43]

Welcome to SOS Joe, this was the first ship that I buildt four years ago. You will get lots of opinions about it, I found it a fantastic experience, got me hooked. Then I bought the Pinta and Nina before I finish the Santa Maria. It is a good kit,some minor upgrades and she is a beauty. Only my opinion but build it. We are all backing you.
Bobby K

Thanks for the encouragement.
As I watch builds of Santa Maria kits on YouTube and this forum, I am already thinking about some deviations from the Amati kit.
I don't like the idea of a plywood keel, but I won't have the machinery to replace it with a new solid hardwood as one of the members here has done.
So maybe cover it up with a walnut or mahogany veneer? I don't have the kit yet, and Amati do not publish the instructions, so don't know if that would be feasible.
And I prefer the open balustrading on the two 'castles' instead of solid walls. Lights. Maybe more as I start to build.

 

[Robmelbourne]

I went for 1/350 scale in plastic ships for that reason. Also to give some consistency when I build them to show their size difference. I still have lawns etc, but not looking after them like I used too. Still have the daughter living at home. So the garage/shed is my best option. They are more storage than work places, which I have to change.

 

[Dry-Dock Models & Parts]

Welcome aboard!!