I've got to be careful what I say about scratch-building. I and others have gotten permanently "muzzled" on another ship modeling forum for saying this, but being forced to build from scratch is really a blessing. Many have built quite nice ship models from kits and kits are a good way for someone without skills and a boatbuilding background to learn how to build ship models, but they actually are not that much different from "paint-by-numbers" oil paintings, if you remember those. First, there are really rather few kits that provide the level of historical research and accuracy that serious modelers eventually aspire to reach. Many aren't even models of ships that ever existed, or are somebody's fantasy of a ship that existed, but of which we have no historical record. Among these are all the kits for building
Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria, Golden Hind, Half Moon, Mayflower, Jack Aubrey's
Surprise or Jack Sparrow's
Black Pearl ... just about every vessel from before the 18th Century (with the possible exception of
Vasa) and so on. Many kits will provide you with the anchors that are out of scale and/or from the wrong period. Maritime archaeologist Dr. Kroum Batchvarov has a very informative and entertaining YouTube video addressing the pitfalls of model kits of ships we don't know much about:
Dr. Batchvarov is an excellent commentator that ship modelers would do well to follow closely. Here's a similar goodie from his YouTube channel:
Fortunately for the beginning scratch builder, there's a wealth of instructional information that has been published over the years. Many of these books were popular when published and a lot are now available on the used book market at very reasonable prices. (Other ship modeling books, however, can get surprisingly expensive.) I've come to realize that the mark of a serious ship modeler isn't their collection of tools, but rather, their collection of books. In fact, books
are tools for ship modeling. There are ship modeling books that address building techniques and those that address the historical aspects of maritime technology during various periods in history. There are also many volumes published that contain plans of vessels that a scratch builder can turn into a fine model.
The enjoyment and satisfaction that so many enjoy building kit models more than justifies the exercise of doing so (though IMHO, rarely the price of the kit!) That said, a kit model, at best, will always be one of many and never the builder's original work. A scratch-built model can (and ideally ought) be a model of a ship that's never been modeled before, or at least rarely modeled before. It can be a unique work of art expressing in three dimensions an accurately researched contribution to the historical record worthy of outliving its creator. Done well, it can be something far more than just a decorative piece. These are the models that have value and are coveted by the true connoisseurs of the ship modelers' art. Most all of us cut our teeth on kits of one sort or another. Most of today's master ship modelers grew up in the age when building plastic model kits were a rite of passage for every American boy. There's nothing wrong with building kits, but most adult ship modelers seem to build a surprisingly small number of kits before moving on to scratch-building, usually by way of "kit bashing," where they modify and improve on the kits as their skill and knowledge progressively outstrips that of the kit manufacturing industry's offerings.
Get yourself started building your ship modeling library and a whole world of scratch-building will open up to you. Go to the "books" section of this forum and take a look at some of the reviews to get an idea of what interests you. There aren't any rules except to soak up as much about the craft as possible. If that continues to hold your interest, you'll have a pretty good chance of ending up building ship models for the rest of your days without ever running short of inspiration!
