Ships in Scale Mar/Apr Issue is out!

[SeaWatchBooks]

The March/April issue of Ships in Scale is now available to subscribers. This issue takes you from a Viking burial ship to a WWII sub chaser — and everywhere in between. Roger Marshall continues his HMS Ontario build, Thomas Koehl scratch-builds a Harbor Defense Motor Launch in styrene, and James Norton tells the remarkable story behind a Cornish fishing lugger that sailed 12,000 miles to Australia. Ron Neilson goes deeper into 3D printing with two hands-on interviews, Ian McLaughlan returns with Part 2 of his Minor Warships series, and Bob Hunt shares hard-won lessons on spotting kit design flaws before they ruin a build.

We're also launching the 2026 Kit Manufacturer Survey — tell us which manufacturers deliver and which need to do better. Take the survey at https://shipsinscale.com/2026-kit-survey/.

 

[Mikes shed]

Its all very well to advertise but you need to make suee that you supply your goods on time all the time. I am not impressed with this publixation at all
Mike

 

[SeaWatchBooks]

I’m sorry you feel that way but I’m not sure what you mean. The March/April issue was published on March 1st and made available digitally to all subscribers immediately. It takes about two weeks to print and then another few days to mail within the US. If you’re outside the US it unfortunately takes longer but I can’t do anything about customs or local postal service. Provide me your name and I’ll happily refund your money and cancel your subscription.

 

[SeaWatchBooks]

Its all very well to advertise but you need to make suee that you supply your goods on time all the time. I am not impressed with this publixation at all
Mike

I’m sorry you feel that way but I’m not sure what you mean. The March/April issue was published on March 1st and made available digitally to all subscribers immediately. It takes about two weeks to print and then another few days to mail within the US. If you’re outside the US it unfortunately takes longer but I can’t do anything about customs or local postal service. Provide me your name and I’ll happily refund your money and cancel your subscription.

 

[Mikes shed]

I’m sorry you feel that way but I’m not sure what you mean. The March/April issue was published on March 1st and made available digitally to all subscribers immediately. It takes about two weeks to print and then another few days to mail within the US. If you’re outside the US it unfortunately takes longer but I can’t do anything about customs or local postal service. Provide me your name and I’ll happily refund your money and cancel your subscription.

Thanks for the response.
I do not want a refunbut 8 w9uld like to recieve my digiral copy of the March/April magazine and all fut7re digital copies.
I did not realise that liiving in New Zealand would pose a problem for you in regards tomy hard copy.howevee if you evee manage too sort out the postage i would like to recieve it
Cheers Mike

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

i looked at the survey and i am confused the top catagory readers would change is instructions. There are 840 build logs here on SoS and if you add the two other sites there are about 1,000 build logs of the most popular kits. These logs cover building kits step by step so there is no lack of information available. Let's take for example there are 78 build logs of the victory, 70 on the Constitution, 45 on the Bounty with an average of 35 build logs per subject of kits from all the manufactures. Adding to build logs there are a lot of You tube how to build videos. Another confusing aspect is no matter what kit you choose they are all built the same you get a slotted center profile piece and slotted bulkheads that simple it is logical how it goes together. It is like asking for instructions on how to assemble a jig saw puzzle.

Is it possible model builders are looking in the wrong place for information and getting confused? because assembling hobby ship kits and how wooden ship are built are two separate things. for example, if you want to build or restore this



you do not research this.



Even though they both have wheels, a motor, and a steering wheel. you do not research one to build the other. This may be the issue with model ship builders they compare their kit model to actual historic ships. Yes they both have a hull, a deck, masts and in general look the same but, in the construction, and details they are totally different. Model ship kits do not mimic actual wood ship construction in detail or historical accuracy.

The second part is better and detailed plans. Back in the real world of wooden ship building there were no construction plans as a matter of fact in many cases no "plans" at all. Fleets of war ships were built on the Great Lakes during the war of 1812 neither the Americans, British or French built these fleets from plans. If a ship can be built from the keel up with no plans or instructions then this suggests kit builders have very little knowledge of the subject and that is not the manufacture's problem.

The road of model ship kits ends at historical accuracy, actual scale models of ships, and knowledge of wooden ship building these things do not come in the box. To venture further on is called scratch building so you either take that step or accept the short comings of kit building.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

to continue with the survey

More historically accurate designs

i am not exactly sure what this means. accurate in historically design starts with the basic structure. Real ships are not build plank on bulkhead. So you need to toss out POB and frame up the hull now that is historically accurate. Now if "historically accurate designs" means more subjects that are of historical ships rather than a kit of the Black Pearl which is a made up ship i would guess more than 75% of all kit subjects are of historic real ships. The kit is designed to represent what the real ship might of, sort of looked like and not how it was actually built and that has been accomplished by the wooden ship model manufactures.

More variety of subjects

there are over 600 different model ship kits on the market (based on an AI search) not including small mom and pop small businesses and plastic kits. I admit ship kit makers do repeat the same subjects they consider good sellers and do not risk the investment of time and resources in an unproven seller. But nonetheless there are a lot of choices out there


Better part fit and engineering

model ship kits are not paint by number gluing part 1 to part 2. However, that seems to be the direction kits are going in or what kits builders are asking for. You have to fit and engineer the build, that is in your hands and the point of the build. The kit only brings you in the ball park the rest is up to you. That is what the rating on kits "skill level" that implies your ability to build a museum quality model or historically accurate from what's supplied in the box or what you add to it.

How readers of Ships in Scale rate the kit manufacturers they have actually built.

103 responded so we have 103 intermediate kit builders who read Ships in Scale.
The survey lists 17 manufactures - three which are plastic kits. so, 14 wood ship kit manufactures out of an estimated 73 known. 640 wooden ship model kits on the market. as quoted by an AI search. AS an example, this forum has over 27,000 members so what we have here is 103 model builders and according to the group survey says. It would be interesting to see the results if a survey was taken of a wider group would the results be the same as SiS? a survey on SoS, Facebook and Reddit for example.

 

[SeaWatchBooks]

Dave -

I appreciate your comments and agree that there are many more modelers out there than the 103 that responded. Nothing would make me happier if I got 27,000 responses. But I didn't so I report what I receive. That said, it's a survey I'd like to run annually - so hopefully we get more responses next year.

Mike

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Dave -

I appreciate your comments and agree that there are many more modelers out there than the 103 that responded. Nothing would make me happier if I got 27,000 responses. But I didn't so I report what I receive. That said, it's a survey I'd like to run annually - so hopefully we get more responses next year.

Mike

back in my NRG days going to conferences i would prepare a survey and leave it out on the venders table. out of the 70 to 90 members at the conference i would get back 9 maybe 15 replies. The problem with a survey depends on who you are asking. Survey the DDM forum and odds are high you will get Vanguard kits are the best, a survey here and Vanguard kits may not even make the top 20. It is safe to say the ship modeling community has a tribal mentality, and they will support their own group. A survey is not valid unless you get a wide unbiased cross section.

 

[GGibson]

i looked at the survey and i am confused the top catagory readers would change is instructions. There are 840 build logs here on SoS and if you add the two other sites there are about 1,000 build logs of the most popular kits. These logs cover building kits step by step so there is no lack of information available.

Hey Dave! Excellent feedback! Regarding the top concern from readers regarding instructions, there is no doubt that there is an abundance of build logs... FORTUNATELY!... for us to rely on for our information. The way that I responded to the survey question was how I felt about the need to improve the instructions that come with the KIT itself.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The way that I responded to the survey question was how I felt about the need to improve the instructions that come with the KIT itself.

ok Gregg how would you improve the kit instructions what is lacking?

at one end i can open a kit box and know exactly how to build the model without any instructions at the other end someone will open the box and be totally clueless as what to do, they do not even know what glue to use. So if 103 builders are clueless out of 27,000 what does the other 26,897 have to say? how many do not even need instructions and how many have no problem with instructions, how many do not understand the instructions?