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- Jun 21, 2025
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Modeling a Baltimore Clipper
I bought a kit for a Baltimore clipper by an Italian manufacturer named, Carla Augusto in the early 1980s. I finished the framing, but never got to actually planking it. It sat on the top shelf of my closet the last four decades. The long story is I’m a very eclectic modeler of historic boats, planes and then a serious deep dive into scale model railroading.
This kit with four pages of drawings, but little directions for construction. Back in the 80s I did subscribe to Ship in Scale for its first four years or so I am some print resoures, before getting into RC sailboats and then an actual full-size sailboat. In the late 80s I got into a model railroad layout during the winter had sailing during the summer. Whether my problem is curiosity or the attention span of a squirrel, I have kept up my interest in the Baltimore Clippers over the years, visiting the pride of Baltimore and the Lynx that I’ve seen in a couple harbors.
My goal in completing the model is as a generic war of 1812 privateer. Whether I will ever finish it at my age is a question not of a great concern to me. My immediate problem, as a scale model builder, what is a scale of this kit? There are no hints on or in the box. I assume these kits were built mainly to fit on a the size of a shelf, and the scale was not important. Which raises the question for whether a kit like this is worth finishing?
The length of the deck is 22 3/4 inches by a beam of 5 1/2 inches. The three or four plans for Baltimore Clippers, privateers in the war of 1812 from Chapelle’s book suggests it is around 1/50. Does that make sense?
Finally, I’m interested in any videos for beginners for plank on frame modeling. This kit has material for double planking. I’m not interested in trying to finish a museum quality model. I just I enjoy the work and the satisfaction to have it on a shelf in my den. Any videos that you would recommend on YouTube or some other site?
Probably another reason why the model was never tackled is that I probably enjoy reading the history of these models as much as building them. Being in history education for the last 50 plus years has been great fun and modeling historic artifacts from the past just added it to it.
Jack
I bought a kit for a Baltimore clipper by an Italian manufacturer named, Carla Augusto in the early 1980s. I finished the framing, but never got to actually planking it. It sat on the top shelf of my closet the last four decades. The long story is I’m a very eclectic modeler of historic boats, planes and then a serious deep dive into scale model railroading.
This kit with four pages of drawings, but little directions for construction. Back in the 80s I did subscribe to Ship in Scale for its first four years or so I am some print resoures, before getting into RC sailboats and then an actual full-size sailboat. In the late 80s I got into a model railroad layout during the winter had sailing during the summer. Whether my problem is curiosity or the attention span of a squirrel, I have kept up my interest in the Baltimore Clippers over the years, visiting the pride of Baltimore and the Lynx that I’ve seen in a couple harbors.
My goal in completing the model is as a generic war of 1812 privateer. Whether I will ever finish it at my age is a question not of a great concern to me. My immediate problem, as a scale model builder, what is a scale of this kit? There are no hints on or in the box. I assume these kits were built mainly to fit on a the size of a shelf, and the scale was not important. Which raises the question for whether a kit like this is worth finishing?
The length of the deck is 22 3/4 inches by a beam of 5 1/2 inches. The three or four plans for Baltimore Clippers, privateers in the war of 1812 from Chapelle’s book suggests it is around 1/50. Does that make sense?
Finally, I’m interested in any videos for beginners for plank on frame modeling. This kit has material for double planking. I’m not interested in trying to finish a museum quality model. I just I enjoy the work and the satisfaction to have it on a shelf in my den. Any videos that you would recommend on YouTube or some other site?
Probably another reason why the model was never tackled is that I probably enjoy reading the history of these models as much as building them. Being in history education for the last 50 plus years has been great fun and modeling historic artifacts from the past just added it to it.
Jack
