Building a Beginning Billing Boats Kit, Dana Fishing Boat – Part 2

It took me a while looking at the instructions to figure out if the deck on this model is supposed to be planked. I’m accustomed to planking a deck that’s free of obstructions, and the pre-molded deck and deck houses seemed like they would be awkward to plank around. Also, the illustrations in the instructions don’t seem to show any indication that you are expected to plank the deck, though the photocopy-quality photos do show a wooden deck. But, the question is answered in a short paragraph in the instruction text, that clearly states that the deck is to be planked. Also, there are sufficient light-colored wood strips for deck planking.

Now, I’ve seen photos of models by people who have laid deck planking right down onto the plastic deck. But if you don’t want to deal with trying to fit the planks in between the deckhouses and such, you might try what I did.

I started by making a copy of the deckplan. Turned out to be pretty close to the molded piece. I cut out the deck and openings for the deckhouses and test fit on the model. It took a little extra trimming around the deck houses.

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A Woody Joe Sir Winston Churchill Build Log on MSW

Good to see someone building this kit on Model Ship World…

This is the 1/75-scale Woody Joe kit of the sail training ship Sir Winston Churchill.

I have one that I started, but it was just to keep me building during a motivational lull. It’s a very nice kit that, interestingly enough, is the exact same scale as the Billing Boats kit, which is pretty similar in price. The Billing Boats kit isn’t as well organized and the instructions are in the simple Billing Boats style, where the Woody Joe kit has the parts very well organized, makes good use of laser-cut parts, has color illustrated step-by-step instructions, but they are only in Japanese.

Still, you might want to check out this ship modeler’s build, as he seems to have been dealing with the language barrier quite well. Bear in mind that this is his first wooden ship model kit: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/17779-sir-winston-churchill-by-marc-l-woody-joe-scale-175-first-wooden-ship-build/

When I am able to devote my full attention to my own build, I’ll start a build log here. But, I did write an out of-the-box review, also on Model Ship World. Here’s a link: https://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/14594-review-woody-joes-sir-winston-churchill/

I know of at least one other ship modeler in the same forum that is also planning on building this kit. And, if you’re interested in buying this kit, you can get it from the Japanese online shop Zootoyz.jp.