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

Are you interested in this type of ship?

Are you interested in this type of ship?

  • Total voters
    20
I have been here since 2013 - five years! But my section - (The highlighted title below is a link to the section here on SOS)
Maritime History Build Logs: 19th & 20th Century
is almost completely dormant, and always has been!
Although the individual sections have in many cases had thousands of views, there has been no evidence whatsoever that anyone else here has tried to build similar ones either miniature, medium or large scales. I really don't see the point of piling on build logs to no purpose. The vast majority of ship modellers of any age simply do not like ships built for peaceful trading! To have any interest, they must be bristling with cannons, heavy guns, missiles etc. I really have tried my best here, but my best has not been good enough. At the same time, collectors never leave me alone, and cannot get enough of them, so I am underwhelmed on one side, and overwhelmed on the other! :D With the almost complete destruction of the barque Gulf Stream, even the collectors will have to manage without them, because I am not prepared to send them by courier any more, and most of my clients are spread over the World - USA - Australia - Far East - Ireland etc. Consequently, I will not be building as many, as it will have to be personal collection only - Here is the Gulf Stream - Bob
4 (Large).JPG
 
13,065 gross tons. 519.8 feet long. 64.2 feet wide. Broken up in 1935. The plans may be in the Glasgow City Archives. You can find images of the ship on Google, but there were several of that name built. The plans would be very expensive though, as they will be large scale, if they have them. Possibly 6 or 7 feet long and a number of sheets. Thousands of plans, often fold out, were published in technical journals, so there may be some in old Shipbuilding & Shipping Record journals, but I do not have any 1921 volumes. The National Maritime Museum may have copies as well, but again, they would cost hundreds of pounds. I get most of my plans from old technical journals, Shipbuilding & Shipping Record, Shipbuilder, Shipbuilder & Marine Engine Builder, The Motor Ship, Shipping World etc.
Bob
 
Hi Bob. Always admire your work. It is masterful!! I am curious as to how you pack your models for shipment without them getting damaged?

Your forum question is a bit too subjective for me to answer ... for me, it is about the craft of building models that intrigues me.. more than the subject or type of model. Personally I have been building for over 50 years in plastic and wood mostly... all scales... military and civilian... ships, boats, cars, planes, vehicles, buildings, spaceships.... static models, radio controlled models... models with lights.. models that operate... scratch built, kit built... carved, glued, snapped together... models that fly, models that float... everything in between...

Love your style of models Bob!!!! Doesn't mean we have time, skill, or interest enough to jump in and build one...

I have several build logs out here... have you tried any of them. :)

Let's just share to share and have fun ..

PS: merchant ships are very cool!! I can't wait to tackle my Charles Morgan whaler one day... or perhaps my Cutty Sark... or.. the list goes on... :)
 
Hello Bob

It doesn’t really matter how many other interested in merchant ships ,number one is thay you enjoy it,forget the rest.
 
Mike,
If you look at the photograph above, you will see that they do get damaged. That is what couriers do! But this time, it has pushed me over the edge, and I will not be sending any more out by courier. It will be collection only if I build any more! The image below shows how the Gulf Stream was sent out. The wooden box went into a much large cardboard box strengthed with wood, with soft packing on all six sides, but that didn't stop it from getting smashed to bits! Yesterday, the insurance paid out £400. But I will have to pay income tax on that which reduces it to £320. They didn't refund the £70 I paid for delivery, so that cuts it down to £250. I refunded the buyer £700, so I am £450 down, and not very happy about it! Mercenary - yes I know - but one has to live! The poll is pretty conclusive. 208 have looked at it, but only 15 have voted. 13 are very interested, one slightly interested, one indifferent, and 193 not even interested enough to vote!o_O I am completly out-of-place here, as I am not at all intersted in warships or kits. I really do get weary of Victory, Bounty, Cutty Sark, Constitution, etc etc.
Zoltan,
You are quite correct, it doesn't matter whether anyone is interested in scratchbuilding merchant ships as long as I am, but it is very time-consuming composing build logs where there is only a superficial interest! I have no-one here to compare notes with, and discuss similar builds like the rest of you, and there lies the problem!
Bob
Ready to be sent out copy.jpg
 
You are quite correct, it doesn't matter whether anyone is interested in scratchbuilding merchant ships as long as I am, but it is very time-consuming composing build logs where there is only a superficial interest! I have no-one here to compare notes with, and discuss similar builds like the rest of you, and there lies the problem!

well Bob your not alone building one of a kind models. There is no one on the forum this one or any other one that I can compare notes with when it comes to the steam engine used on the Mississippi, nor has anyone built a rounded stern from scratch, timber for timber and correct. It is frustrating when you can not get answers even from museums or people you think would know.

I guess the bright side is if you keep doing what you do in time YOU become a leading authority on the subject and your work becomes a reference source for future builders.

The poll is pretty conclusive. 208 have looked at it, but only 15 have voted. 13 are very interested, one slightly interested, one indifferent, and 193 not even interested enough to vote!o_O I am completely out-of-place here, as I am not at all interested in warships or kits. I really do get weary of Victory, Bounty, Cutty Sark, Constitution, etc etc.

that sounds average I remember back when I was part of the MSW crowd and they had surveys, talk about poor results out of 30,000 members less that 50 actually voted. NRG or any organization faces the same thing I remember surveys where less than 1/3 of the members voted.

getting weary of the same old hobby kits? sure but I still read the logs for information on how a builder does this or that. Scraps of information are still there and worth the effort to take note of them. Being out of place here well maybe I thought it is not the subject be it steel navy or wooden navy, steam or sail merchant or war or work vessels. It is more about the "how to" part of the hobby. In time I find even that is limiting how many members do casting, laser cutting, CNC milling, 3D drawing and animation, how many can read and understand drawings, CAD drafting and even if they do CAD it is not the same program so there you go, your on your own.

get tired of eye candy pictures of pretty models? and comment after comment nice job, excellent work, good job, wonderful model, carvings look great, on and on.
 
Not all the views are from the Sos members,lots of guest viewers out there and whatching the forum,they cannot vote because they are not members.Polls like this is very unaccurate because of just a low percentage votes,if you want an accurate result we need everybody to vote but that is impossible.
 
"It doesn’t really matter how many other interested in merchant ships ,number one is that you enjoy it, forget the rest."

Again, that is the problem - I am not particularly enjoying myself, in fact I feel that the internet is taking everyone (including me) over, and becoming an obsession! and as I have often said, I have very little patience. I have tried for years to drum up some interest here, and it has all been to no avail. My Facebook group (Merchant Ships in Miniature) today reached 700 members, and quite a number of them are building merchant ships of all sizes and eras, and I am happy to encourage them and share methods. I mentioned SOS there, and provided a link. But as far as I know, none of them took it up. I wonder how many of you would persevere in a forum that is dealing with a totally different subject and era to the one you are interested in? Just me, I suppose. In late 1992, I walked away from a highly paid job at sea on a brand new passenger liner, because I was tired of advancing technology, and never regretted it. I am again getting restless, and am thinking about developing my already successful writing career (merchant navy, of course). Shipmodelling is now taking a back seat, not because I particularly want to stop, but because the destruction of the Gulf Stream (see above) has shown me that I cannot trust couriers, or insurance companies, and most of my sales were outside the UK in USA, Australia and the Far east etc - so another phase in my career has now come to an end! I will now return to my policy of speaking when spoken to, but otherwise keep a low profile! :cool:
Bob

 
Bob,your facebook members are really not interested in forums in general ,not the merchant ships are the problem.
 
Frankly, I prefer merchant ships. I think my next project will be a model of a WWI concrete tanker that was turned into a US Prohibition era (1920-1933)offshore gambling den. Probably larger than your usual scale but not so large it will need scale roulette wheels, craps tables and cocktail glasses. The concrete ships themselves are interesting enough, but this one actually paid its' way for a while-
http://www.calexplornia.com/the-ss-monte-carlo-uncovered-by-el-nino-the-sin-ships-legendary-history/
 
Bob. I love the ship models you build. I have built a few in plastic the Pamir and Preussen. Sadly manufacturer's rarely produce merchant ships so most folk grew up with warships as the only game in town. It is a real shame. But the greatest shame would be if you stop showing your wonderful builds. But I understand your frustration. Hope to see more of your ships.
 
Thanks. Really, I hope that kit manufacturers never progress to merchant ship models, as that would put me off building them at all!:eek: I have built Preussen, and it is here on SOS via this link:
The ultimate sailing ship model
Warships aren't at all the only game in town, unless you only want to build kits. My merchant ship section here on SOS does not change from one year to the next, so I have stopped updating it. My only online ship model activities are now confined to my Facebook group "Merchant Ships in Miniature" thatnow has over 600 members, and is very active, and my blog, accessible via my profile. I will again repeat, if you are good enough to build kits, you are certainly good enough to scratchbuild. I have made tremendous efforts to help modellers to move on to scratchbuild, but without much success. The few that have tried, have been astonished at what they can achieve. Here is a FREE download for anyone who thinks they may wish to try scratchbuilding merchant ships: FREE DOWNLOAD After it opens, scroll down a bit and you will be able to read the synopsis, then if you wish to download the whole lot, there is a button labelled This item is Free. The synopsis of this downlaod has now been read 6,903 times, but only 379 have gone on to download it, which shows how little interest there is (5.5%) It all depends on whether you want to develop the satisfaction of reviving the dying art of scratchbuilding model ships, or stick with kits! - the field is wide open - it is up to you! :cool:

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