It’s a bit late to start writing about what I’m going to be working on in 2017, but up to this point, I really wasn’t sure what I was doing this year. Not that I know what I’m doing now, but at least I have an idea of what my priorities need to be.
Not a ship model related post, but given the recent release of my article on modeling an higaki kaisen, it seems appropriate. Plus, to some small extent, I was involved in background.
I have had the good fortune of having been in many email exchanges with French author Jean-Pierre Mélis and our mutual friends in Japan for about the last year or so. Mr. Mélis has been writing a three part series of articles in Neptunia, the Journal of the Friends of the French National Maritime Museum.
The series explores different types of Japanese watercraft as depicted in Japanese woodblock prints. The journal is in French, but with modern translation tools, it’s not too difficult to read in English. This is how I was able to read the first issue, and it was a very interesting read. Plus, it was the first time I’d seen many of the prints.
It may seem odd that the subject of Japanese boats appears in a French journal, but it was Admiral Paris’s book Le Souvenirs de Marine, first published in 1888, with the…
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I’ve been working on this model for a long time now, and recently, I’ve been trying to focus on finishing her up. I don’t have too much to say about the model at this stage, except that it’s a lot easier to follow someone else’s rigging plan than trying to work it out from scratch, or even modifying someone else’s plan.
Colonial Schooner Independence nearly complete. Apologies for the ad hoc backdrop that needs ironing.
In addition to getting in a large supply of three Windjammer series kits from Billing Boats and a new shipment of RC kits from Deans Marine, Ages of Sail just stocked up on Corel kits.
I haven’t built a Corel kit for quite some time, but I have to admit to a fondness for them. Corel kits aren’t necessarily the most accurately detailed kits, but they have been made into some of the most beautiful ship models I’ve seen. There’s something to be said about nicely finished wood ship models with bright gilded metal decorations.
I’ve got a couple kits in my “to build” stack, but I’m actually eyeing one of the small fishing boats, the Flattie or the Sloup.
Corel is one of the classic European ship model manufacturers that still produces some of the most stunning looking wooden ship model kits today. They’ve been producing classic wooden ship model kits since 1971, and their kits are among the most recognizable today.
Corel’s 74-gun ship of the line HMS Bellona.
We just received a new shipment of Corel kits, replenishing our stocks. 41 kits to choose from and everything we list in stock is ready to ship TODAY!
Corel’s 17th Century Swedish warship Wasa includes some 350 gilded metal decorations.
The Wasa Gun Deck Section is a small, but very detailed kit.
Corel is well known for their model of large 17th and 18th century warships, best suited for advanced ship modelers, but they also has a range of smaller subjects, suitable for the beginning builder, or the experienced builder looking for a smaller project.
Corel’s 1:25-scale Chesapeake Bay “Flattie”
Corel’s…
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Three kits from Billing Boats were announced as a special exclusive for Ages of Sail. Of course, since Ages of Sail is a distributor, that means it’s available at Ages of Sail as well as from the stores that Ages of Sail supplies. These were apparently remaining kits of the Windjammer series of kits, which was a line co-developed between the old Billing Boats USA company and Billing Boats of Denmark.
It’s official! I heard from a fellow ship modeler who said he really enjoyed the first installment of my Higaki Kaisen article. I hadn’t received my author’s copy yet, and my own subscription expired a few months ago, so I went onto Seaways.com to renew. When I was there, I saw the ad for the magazine showing this month’s issue and, lo and behold, there was my Higaki Kaisen model on the cover.
It’s actually the second time the model has been on a magazine cover. The first time was on the cover the of Nautical Research Journal. But, it was really nice to see it on the new Ships in Scale. I have to admit, the photogenic aspect of the model has more to do with the interesting nature of the subject and the incredible work done on the kit’s development by the manufacturer, Woody Joe.
Still, I’m pretty…
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This week was like Christmas here, as a shipment of Japanese wooden model kits arrived from Zootoyz, my recommended Japanese online hobby dealer. Four model kits came, and none of them are ship model kits. I decided I needed some nice gift ideas, so I found a number of Woody Joe kits that I can build and present as gifts to my Japanese music teacher, and my family and friends.
I have a lot of ship modeling projects to work on, so I don’t expect to spend a lot of time working on these right away. But, half of these are very simple mini-architectural kits that Woody Joe lists as taking about 8 hours to complete. Perfect for a small weekend distraction!
Teahouse Mini-Architecture Kit
The latest display of Japanese boat models takes place through the end of March. Check it out if you’re in the area and haven’t seen the models yet.
The sixth display of wasen models is now set up at the Japan Center Mall in the window of the Union Bank Community Room inside the East Mall building. The display will be up through the end of March and features the same models as before, but with the addition of my Kamakura Period Sea Boat or Umi-bune. Though the Umi-bune model is not quite complete, I figured it was far enough along for public display as an “in progress” model.
The display then consists of the Hacchoro, Higaki Kaisen, Yakatabune, Tosa wasen, and the Umi-bune. The main change in the display is the use of new folding pedestals I made. This makes transportation easier, as the new pedestals take much less room in my car.
My hope for future displays is to have a model of a Kitamaebune, which is very similar in appearance to the Higaki Kaisen, and to…
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I’m not the only one with an HMS Mercury paper model in progress. Here’s one based on the 1/72-scale boxed edition kits in Shipyard’s Laser Cardboard Kit series. This is a really nice kit, and I’d love to work on one of them. The HMS Mercury is Shipyard’s flagship product.
Take a look at the pictures of this builder’s project. Seeing these gave me some inspiration to make some progress on my own HMS Mercury.
Wooden ship model builders, I’m telling you that you should look at trying one of these kits. They are challenging, but really rewarding to build.
This past weekend, we had a vendor table at the IPMS show in San Jose, and had a chance to talk to many people, including a number of customers. One of them, Ron Palma, is building a 1/72-scale model of the British sixth-rate frigate HMS Mercury from Shipyards Laser Cardboard Kit series.
Yesterday, he sent along some progress photos and said that we could share them, which we are very excited to do!
Ron has the hull mostly completed and copper sheathed. Keep in mind that while the frieze work is included in the kit, the whole model does not come pre-printed. So, the excellent paint job is Ron’s handiwork. He commented that the cannon barrels have been taped to protect them from the clear-coat overspray he gave the hull.
Ron’s done an outstanding job, but commented on how well this Shipyard kit has been engineered. He’s getting pretty close to…
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Ship Modeler 