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Novice.

Steven M. said:
Hi, My name is Steve from Rhode Island, always want to build ships out of wood, trying to learn as much as I can....Thanks !
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Welcome! And let me mention that YouTube is helpful, and have a look at all the Build Logs on Ships of Scale for even more input and suggestions for specific models.
 
Welcome Steve! I was just in Bristol Rhode Island to tour the Herreshoff Maritime Museum and America's Cup Hall of Fame. What a great museum! I hope you have fun here on SoS. There are great resources, helpful and experienced members, and a growing slate of build logs for just about every ship class built and every medium, including wood, plastic and paper cardstock.
 
Ignatius27 said:
Welcome Steve! I was just in Bristol Rhode Island to tour the Herreshoff Maritime Museum and America's Cup Hall of Fame. What a great museum! I hope you have fun here on SoS. There are great resources, helpful and experienced members, and a growing slate of build logs for just about every ship class built and every medium, including wood, plastic and paper cardstock.
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I'm about 20 min from Newport,RI.
 
AllanKP69 said:
Welcome aboard. Are you looking to build from scratch or assemble kits? Assuming kits, if you have not yet selected your first build, a fantastic starter series designed by noted builder and author David Antscherl is available from Model Expo. https://www.modelexpo-online.com/collections/starter-kits Start simple and work up to save a full blown case of agita.

Allan
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Most likely a Kit..Wood of course...trying to figure out the scale..doing allot of reading on the subject. Thanks for your help.
 
Steven M. said:
Most likely a Kit..Wood of course...trying to figure out the scale..doing allot of reading on the subject. Thanks for your help.
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Steven - You touched on a very important issue for first time modelers...Scale. Some of us made the mistake of choosing a first model whose small scale made it hard to learn the basic skills needed to do this craft well, such as planking, rigging, tying ratlines, etc. I'm referring to scales smaller than 1/300 or 1/400. As others have mentioned, there are some great 1/48, 1/96 and 1/150 scale models from kit companies like Midwest and Model Shipways that are great to learn from. After that first disaster, my next 3 builds were the "Maine Peapod Lobster" boat from Midwest (1/10 scale), the "Sea Bright Dory" lifeguard boat from Midwest (1/16 scale), and the Esmeralda "Level 1" kit from Artesania Latina (1/100 scale). I made mistakes, but the larger scale made it easier to recover from them. For me, I've landed on 1/48 and 1/96 scales as my "sweet spot" because many of the models that I like to build are designed at that scale.

A great resource that is widely available is, "How to Understand Your Model Ship Plans' Scale" by Gary Evans from Modeler's Central. You can find it here:
Good luck!
 
Corsair said:
Welcome to the SoS forums Steve !
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Ignatius27 said:
Steven - You touched on a very important issue for first time modelers...Scale. Some of us made the mistake of choosing a first model whose small scale made it hard to learn the basic skills needed to do this craft well, such as planking, rigging, tying ratlines, etc. I'm referring to scales smaller than 1/300 or 1/400. As others have mentioned, there are some great 1/48, 1/96 and 1/150 scale models from kit companies like Midwest and Model Shipways that are great to learn from. After that first disaster, my next 3 builds were the "Maine Peapod Lobster" boat from Midwest (1/10 scale), the "Sea Bright Dory" lifeguard boat from Midwest (1/16 scale), and the Esmeralda "Level 1" kit from Artesania Latina (1/100 scale). I made mistakes, but the larger scale made it easier to recover from them. For me, I've landed on 1/48 and 1/96 scales as my "sweet spot" because many of the models that I like to build are designed at that scale.

A great resource that is widely available is, "How to Understand Your Model Ship Plans' Scale" by Gary Evans from Modeler's Central. You can find it here:
Good luck!
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Thanks for your advice, very Helpful.
 
AllanKP69 said:
Welcome aboard. Are you looking to build from scratch or assemble kits? Assuming kits, if you have not yet selected your first build, a fantastic starter series designed by noted builder and author David Antscherl is available from Model Expo. https://www.modelexpo-online.com/collections/starter-kits Start simple and work up to save a full blown case of agita.

Allan
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I'd second Allan's recommendation of the Model Expo 3 boat series. They were my first 3 models, and taught me a lot. There are some issues with them (as there are with all kits) but that was part of the learning process. I now feel ready to tackle more complicated builds, with the skills to do them justice.

Tom
 
DocTom said:
I'd second Allan's recommendation of the Model Expo 3 boat series. They were my first 3 models, and taught me a lot. There are some issues with them (as there are with all kits) but that was part of the learning process. I now feel ready to tackle more complicated builds, with the skills to do them justice.

Tom
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Welcome aboard, Steve! Count me as another vote for learning from this series. A nice introduction and skill builder!
 
DocTom said:
I'd second Allan's recommendation of the Model Expo 3 boat series. They were my first 3 models, and taught me a lot. There are some issues with them (as there are with all kits) but that was part of the learning process. I now feel ready to tackle more complicated builds, with the skills to do them justice.

Tom
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Thanks Tom..for the info..
 
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