New Amerigo Vespucci kit from OcCre, Now in Stock!

The Spanish ship model manufacturer OcCre has really been going to town on new kit development. They came out with the Terror, Beagle, Essex, and Endurance in a fairly short time span. This year, they’ve released a big 1/200 scale kit of the WWII German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Then, right on the heels of that, they have another new big kit, the 1/100 scale Amerigo Vespucci.

Now, this is not a new subject in the ship modeling world. Mantua Models of Italy also makes a 1/100 scale Amerigo Vespucci kit. They also make it in a big 1/84 scale kit as well. The now defunct Mamoli, made the ship in 1/150 scale, as well as a mini-kit in 1/350 scale. I haven’t checked, but since Dusek picked up the Mamoli line, perhaps these are available again.

However, OcCre’s kit has the advantage of more detailed instructions that are easier to follow than most. Plus, they’ve been making multi-part Youtube videos to help modelers better understand the construction steps. While these aren’t online just yet, I expect they will be up in the next few days.

I think Mantua still makes the “king” of the Amerigo Vespucci kits, but I think it is likely a lot more difficult, a lot more expensive, and I think many people will be happy with the quality what is likely to be an easier to build kit from OcCre.

Ages of Sail

OcCre has been very productive with their new kit development. It wasn’t long ago that they released their new 1/200 scale kit of the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. And just this past weekend, they announced their latest new kit, a 1/100 scale kit of the internationally famous Italian Navy training ship, Amerigo Vespucci.

New and In Stock Now!

This iron-hulled, three-masted sailing ship was built for the Italian Navy in 1931. It’s design is reminiscent of the ships of the line of the 18th and 19th centuries. The model at 1/100 scale, measures over 38″ long and 22″ high. This is a high skill level kit, designed for experienced ship modelers.

This is a wooden model ship kit featuring precision laser-cut parts for the hull framing. High quality wood is provided for the hull and deck planking, masts, and spars. Includes a complete set of wood and cast metal…

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Ogura Pond Boat (巨椋池舟) in 1/10 Scale – Part 2

Finally getting back to some Japanese boat projects, I’m actually playing a bit of catch-up with the blogging. Here’s more on the Ogura pond boat model, based on the research of Mr. Tomohiko Ogawa.

Wasen Mokei 和船模型

I’d been making progress on the Ogura Pond Boat up through the month of March, but I hadn’t posted very much information about it here. Last I posted was back in January. At that time, I had glued up the three boards that make up the shiki, or bottom plate of the boat. Next is to shape the shiki, which is really quite easy the way I’m building these models. It simply requires printing out a portion of the drawings I’m using.

In this drawing, you’ll notice that I’ve marked out the mortises as well. This was something that was not on the original drawings, but I could see some of them in Ogawa-san’s photos. As I mentioned in my last post, what’s special here is that the mortises clearly aren’t perpendicular with the edges of the planks. This is something I’ve never seen this before, except where an…

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Saucy Jack – New from Vanguard Models

Chris Watton, who was involved in the developement of Caldercraft’s Nelson’s Navy line of ship model kits and Amati’s Victory Models line, brings us yet another fine looking wooden ship model kit from his own Vanguard Models brand. The Barking well-smack Saucy Jack.

Ages of Sail

It was barely over 2 months ago that we announced having two new fishing boat kits in stock from Vanguard Models, and here we are announcing that we now have yet another new release in stock, the well-smack Saucy Jack.

A well-smack is a type of fishing boat that keep it’s catch fresh by use of a large internal tank of seawater. The method was a good way to keep the catch fresh, but the extra weight of the water she carried, made her slow. Boats of this type were used in the 1800s and up into the 1950s.

Saucy Jack is a typical example of this type of fishing boat. She was built in 1836 and operated until 1880. Vanguard Models kit is a 1/64 scale reproduction of the 51 ton well-smack, and measures just under 17″ long and 14″ tall.

The kit features laser cut and engraved parts in MDF…

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