Gulf Stream - Building a miniature barque - E-book

S

shipbuilder

Joined
Jun 30, 2012
Messages
1,127
Points
383

I have been very busy for some time now, preparing a comprehensive download on how to build a model of the British barque Gulf Stream, at a scale of 25 feet to 1 inch.
and it went online five days ago. Please click the link below, and scroll down a bit after it opens to read the synopsis. Then, if you wish to purchase a download, a button is provided in the synopsis for £4.99, Paypal or cards. The document is 102 pages, with 25,893 words, and 247 images, plus plans of the Gulf Stream.
It is in PDF format (Suitable for Acrobat Reader) and may be viewed and printed on home computer systems, or transferred to tablets. If printed. It will make an A4 size document. I tested it myself, and the download takes about two minutes (about 85mb in size). I also printed it out to ensure that everything was OK.
Link to download https://payhip.com/b/uOCs (scroll down a bit after it opens to read the synopsis).

Link to Utube:

The ship was lost with all hands in 1911.

The model was dropped on its way to the Continent and badly damaged.

It was dropped again on the way back, and even more severely damaged.

Heavy financial loss to myself refunding the buyer in full, including transport costs.

Transport insurance did not pay out the full amount, and no refund of transport charges (£70)

Spent week and weeks writing a comprehensive e-book on how to build one yourself.

Sadly, this download has proved to be yet another "damp squib" with very little interest, despite the synopsis being read 126 times.

A disaster from start to finish!Gulf Stream Faststones (Large).jpg
 
No problem selling the models themselves, and I haven't advertised for years, but they have to come and collect them personally these days, because I couldn't face dealing with another "damaged in transit!" As for the writing. Magazines pay in excess of £500 for an article that takes about 13 hours to write. Some downloads are very successful, but others, like the Gulf Stream, are failures. With me, it is not a business, but I have always required the hobby to be "self-financing," and all the proceeds from the models and writing are handed over to my wife. This is a marvellous way of keeping everyone happy. One thing that has always puzzled me is that pretty awful models that I build forty years or so ago, are being declared as "equally as good as what I build now." So it does make me wonder why I spent all those years striving to do better. I sold this one in 1972 for £16. It turned up on Ebay recently for 99 pence, no reserve, but it sold to someone in the US for over £400, so delivery couldn't have been cheap. Bidston Hill Completed 1972 (Medium).jpg
 
Last edited:
DonRobinson said:
Smile and you will be smiled upon. You really need to turn your attitude around.
I just bought this from you, hopefully that will help brighten your day
Click to expand...
Yes, I saw it thanks :)- I can't turn my attitude around unfortunately, I am stuck with it!:)
That is to be my last full length book - down to the little articles now.
Now aged 75, I don't have the enthusiasm any more, although I will carry on building and writing as long as I can. But I am under constant pressure from collectors to build more, and that is what wears me down more than anything else!:confused: I cannot even have the pleasure of disclosing what, if anything, I am building at the moment, because of too many collectors trying to reserve them, even to the extent of trying to pay in full before they are even complete. Any models I post here, were completed and sold years ago. This is a relatively recent one.
Bob
East African (Medium).JPG
 
Can't do that either, as I build so many - house not big enough to keep them all. Gulf Stream was the 273rd since I started counting in October 1992. All I ask from collectors is that they leave me alone until I have something finished, then it is first come first served, but it doesn't matter how many million times I tell them, they still keep trying to pin me down! A very common question is "What are you building at the moment?" If I tell them, they want to reserve it. If I say it will not be available until complete, it is usually "Well, remember you have a buyer - just let me know when it is complete!" and that immediately makes it twice as hard for me to carry on with it! I don't suppose anyone will understand unless they have been in the same position. I haven't taken on private commissions for some years now because the waiting list at one time got up to 24 models! You wouldn't believe how many asked me to write a full-length download on building a miniature sailing ship, and it took months, but by the time it was completed, most of them had disappeared. At present, 133 have read the synopsis, and sales have still not reached double figures. I was going to have it printed as a book, but that idea has now been abandoned!
Bob
 
I had a similar problem when was a starving artist. It got to the point where I would be requested to paint or draw a subject I was not interested in and soon decided not to take commissions because other peoples vision of what they want is not the same as mine. The work did not sell for much concddering the amount of time went into it. If anything some past works would get someones attention and go for very little. Later I just made pictures for my own enjoyment but now have no intrest in painting or drawing. Do what you are comfortable with and what feels right.

Shown below are a few of the ship pictures.

DSCN0480 - Edited.jpgDSCN0448 - Edited (1).jpgDSCN0450 - Edited (1).jpg​
 
Nice paintings - RMS Homeric - Those were the days!:) The problem with me is that I can get as much as I want for the models, and that is just building what I want to build. I still enjoy building them, but I do not want people to trying reserve them, or pay for them before they are complete. I have only to confess that I am building something and it is "put me down for it!" I have gone along with that in the past, but on completion, they usually go silent and, assuming they haven't really wanted it, I have sold it to the next person who asked. After which the first one eventually turns up, sometimes weeks later, and expresses great disappointment that they didn't get it, and makes me feel guilty. :( I think this sort of thing happens to all long-term ship modellers.
I now do a lot of plan drawing, because very few people are interested in them, so I don't get the constant pressure to complete them. This doesn't matter, because I include them in my writings and it does help to sell them (the writing that is). My most popular models are powered ships, that not many modelmakers like tackling. That is why collecters love them - rarity value! But it is a two-edged sword! I sailed in this one myself in 1962.
Bob
Frederick T Everard.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top