Model Shipways "Sultana" satrted1966, finished 2006

[Peter Gutterman]

This Model Shipways Sultana I started in 1966, completed the hull, carted it around for fifty years, and finished it in 2006. So, I guess it was my first wooden ship model.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

By 2006 Model Shipways had long since re-invented itself and the Sultana model discontinued, then, much later, after the one-to-one replica had been built in Chestertown MD. The model was re-introduced, the plans modified to reflect the design adopted by the replica foundation. A contractor from Owings Mills MD came out to my house after the blizzard of 2010 to assess the damage to my home. He had gone to Washington College in Chestertown while the Sultana was being constructed. He ended up buying the model for his office, where it now resides along with other his Chestertown mementos.
And, oh yes, his crew did a fine job of rescuing my house.

Pete

 

[Kurt Konrath]

You have to love to hate the old yellow box kits. I have several waiting to decide to build or sell, I don't like solid hull models much at all.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Back in the 40s,50s,60s pretty much all the wood ship models had "pre-carved" wood hulls. Some balsa ( ) Some, like Model Shipways, pine, some even mahogany! I don't think basswood came into common use until the sixties. In the70s POB took over and carved hulls became passe.
The "pre-carving" left a lot of meat on the bone and could be pretty rudimentary. But it's the nostalgia (literally "home sickness") That draws me to the carved hulls. And it helps to like carving. At the Naval Academy, whenever a new model must be made of a historic ship for display, the hulls are always laid up with "bread and butter" lifts out of basswood and carved. Don Preul, the curator of models, is a hell of a carver and can knock out an amazing hull, no matter how complex a shape, with blinding efficiency.
Hulls are never easy, no matter what method you use. So, as they say, "Name yer poison".

Pete

 

[AndyA]

This Model Shipways Sultana I started in 1966, completed the hull, carted it around for fifty years, and finished it in 2006.

Cap'n Pete:
You beat me. I purchased a Sultana kit at Model Shipway's little shop in Bogota NJ in 1965. Your model is complete. I worked on mine in high school, in college, and later. Eventually settled for stub masts. Fair winds!

 

[Graham]

Sometimes life gets in the way. Nice build.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

I painted my hull brown back in"66. Yours (through serendipity, I suppose) came out closer to the replica they built in Chestertown MD in the 80s.
I yours, Andy!
It still is a fun little kit, produces a sweet little model and is a great entry level kit. Challenging enough. good plans and instructions and doable in a reasonable amount of time. Lots of documentation is available for super detailing. Another reason Model Shipways is the wooden ship modeler's friend!

Pete

 

[AndyA]

I painted my hull brown back in"66. Yours (through serendipity, I suppose) came out closer to the replica they built in Chestertown MD in the 80s.

I remember reading somewhere that she was likely to have been painted with an ochre pigment, but I can't remember the source. Now I feel the urge to track that down.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

The current ship has the yellow ocher sides, white bottom, gold quarter badge-window. You can look her up as the Sultana Foundation Chestertown MD. you can take either short 2 hr. Chester River runs or longer cruises during the spring and summer. Down rigging is the end of October. They have a Down Rigging, Tall Ships Festival in Chestertown MD at the end of October. Always worth the time and effort if the weather is nice. And you can go aboard the tall ships or go on short cruises. I'm sure you can find plenty of pictures of the current Sultana on line.