Utasebune 打瀬船 Fishing Boat – 1/72 Scale Model from Paris Drawings – Part 5

Getting the last of the main hull details completed. The only thing left to do is to rig masts and sails. However, the model is essentially complete as is until I decide to mount sails.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

Detailing of the Utasebune model continues. It still doesn’t show much change, but I’ve spent many hours on it. The primary addition are the mortise cover plates that line the hull.

As with other models in this scale, I’ve found that I could use my Silhouette Cameo 3 vinyl cutting machine to produce permanent adhesive backed vinyl to simulate the copper plates that would have covered the nail mortises on the real boat. These would darken and might actually turn a greenish hue. I think these were sometimes painted with coating of lacquer to protect the copper. On my model, I used a dark brown vinyl to simulate the “old copper penny” look.

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HMS Sphinx from Vanguard Models Now in Stock

A couple months ago, Chris Watton released his latest and greatest kit to date through his company Vanguard Models. The kit is a 1/64-scale model of the 20-gun sixth rate HMS Sphinx. This looks like a real gem of a kit and it is now available at Ages of Sail.

This kit looks amazing and even includes the main deck details such as the interior of the foc’sle as well as the great cabin and other internal details under the quarterdeck.

This is an incredible kit that’s worth checking out.

Ages of Sail

In case you haven’t noticed yet, the newest release from Vanguard Models, HMS Sphinx, has made it to our shores and is now available at Ages of Sail!

HMS Sphinx was a 20-gun sixth-rate warship of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1775 at Portsmouth Dockyard. Technically, she is not a frigate, but a sloop-of-war. However, she was “frigate built” with connected quarterdeck and forecastle.

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Building Woody Joe’s Atakebune Kit – Part 3

After mulling over some of the potential modifications, the construction of this kit from Woody Joe is now moving forward.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

I’ve spent quite a bit of time working out some of the modifications I’m going to be making on this kit. Some things that I might like to do would require some re-engineering and re-fabricating some of the wooden parts, so I don’t know if I’ll go that far here. Of course, I have a second kit, and I make try those ideas there. But, for this model, most of the modifications are going to be fairly simple.

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New Model Gallery at the San Diego Maritime Museum

There have been lots of wooden model sailing ships at the San Diego Maritime Museum for as long as I can remember. But, I just saw this news item on the maritime museum’s website about   a model gallery exhibit in their newly created visitor annex, which is aboard the ferryboat Berkeley.

This is a very nice looking gallery of models. I wish we had one like this on the ferryboat Eureka (Berkeley’s sister ship). I will have to make a point of heading down to San Diego again one day soon to check it out.

Read the details here: https://sdmaritime.org/visit/exhibits/model-gallery/ Ω

 

 

Utasebune 打瀬船 Fishing Boat – 1/72 Scale Model from Paris Drawings – Part 4

This Japanese fishing boat from Souvenirs de Marine continues to progress and looks a lot like a Japanese fishing boat at this point. Still more details to go, but it’s looking pretty good.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

While it may not look like a lot, I managed to do some detailing of my Utasebune model this week. At this point, the changes are on the subtle side, since all the structural work is mostly done.

I’m ready to add the uwakoberi, which is the term for the cap rail, but first I need to add the boards that cover the aft end of the hull planking. I don’t know if this is a universal term, but I know these as chiri. They are decorative, but also protect the end grain of the hull planks.

I used paper patterns rubber cemented to the sheet wood. This not only allows me to cut the parts accurately, but at this scale, it provides support for the wood, and helps keep it from splitting while cutting.

Once the chiri are in place, it was then an easy matter to glue the 

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Building Woody Joe’s Atakebune Kit – Part 1

Starting construction of a model of the largest class of warship from Japan’s Warring States period.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

The Atakebune is the subject of a new kit from the Japanese wooden kit manufacturer Woody Joe. It’s something that I, Kazunori Morikawa of Zootoyz, and a few others were actively petitioning Woody Joe to produce. There was hesitancy on their part as there is actually very little solid information on the construction of these largest of Sengoku Period Japanese warships.

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Utasebune 打瀬船 Fishing Boat – 1/72 Scale Model from Paris Drawings – Part 2

I’ve been making some progress on this little model, though I’ve not actually put a lot of time into it. However, the details that make me stare at drawings repeatedly for long periods, are pretty well figured out now. So, as I move forward now, it’s mostly just a matter of piecing the model together.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

When there are available drawings, if at all possible, I’ll scale them and print them out to use as patterns for the shaping of the shiki, or the hull bottom, and the miyoshi, or stem, and also to create some kind of temporary former to simplify the shaping of the hull. I make copies of the drawings, cut them out, and glue them directly to the wood.

For this small model, with its completely enclosed deck, a removable internal former seems unnecessary. So I’m going to do the same as I did for the first Japanese boat model I built from Paris drawings and build it with a permanent internal frame. This frame consists of a strong back and a couple bulkheads that define the shape of the hull planking. 

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There’s a New Titanic in Town

Last month, I learned that there was a new Titanic kit from OcCre. It’s now officially released and soon to appear in your favorite ship model shop. Now, I have to admit my first thought was, do we really need another wooden Titanic kit? We have Mantua, Amati, Billing Boats, Woody Joe… and now OcCre. But, after looking more closely at the published details of this kit, I’m thinking this kit actually looks pretty good, and it’s at a lower price point than others.