Today, I drove into San Francsico to make use of the recently re-opened Maritime Library of the San Francisco Maritime Research Center. It was really nice to see the place again after more than a year away. And, truthfully, I haven’t made use of the library for a while, even before the Covid shutdown, so it’s been longer than that for me.
These are some really nice looking ships boats. I haven’t built one yet, but I’m tempted. Looks like they’d make interesting stand-alone projects too.
Ages of Sail now has the full range in stock.
While Vanguard Models is known for some very beautifully designed kits of British fishing boats and 18th century warships, they also now produce a full line of ship’s boats kits, and Ages of Sail has them for you.
All kits are 1/64-scale models. They are fully detailed to finish out your large ship model or waterfront scene, and they make great short term projects on their own.
All kits come with a disposable building frame, with all wooden parts provided in high grade pear wood. Planks are laser-cut, and accessories are provided in the form of photo-etched brass.
There’s a wide assortment to choose from – everything from an 18-foot cutter on up to 34-foot launch. There are currently 8 different kits available, so you’ll be able to find the exact boat you need, and we have them all at Ages of Sail here. Ω
This coming Saturday, the Nautical Research Guild is hosting an online workshop, covering the use of small hobby table saws, such as that from Byrnes Model Machines and others. The title of the workshop is “Using the Table Saw Safely”, and it will be given by NRG Director Kurt Van Dahm on Saturday, 12/11, at 10am CST.
According to an announcement by the NRG, the presenter will show how to perform rip cuts, cross cuts, lap joints, miters and other common operations in a safe and efficient manner.
Pre-registration is required in order to attending this hour-long virtual workshop, but it is free to Nautical Research Guild members. Non-members may still attend, but there is a $5 fee. For more information or to register, click here. Ω
Ages of Sail just posted their holiday shipping cut-offs. This year, shipping delays have generally been longer than ever, so don’t forget to do your shopping and shipping early. Especially if you’re going to send ME something in time for Christmas! But, it’s really for me, it’s okay if it arrives late – I’ll still be very happy…
Every year at the holidays, it’s important for us to post this timetable, so shoppers know whether or not to expect their order in time for holiday gift giving. These are the dates posted by each of the major carriers we use, but they are not guarantees.
We are working hard to get packages out on time, but all carriers are reporting delivery delays.
We recommend making your purchases early, to help assure you get them on time.
| Service | Deadline | Time Frame |
| USPS AK/ HI Priority | 12/17/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS AK/ HI Express | 12/21/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS International Priority | 12/06/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS International Express | 12/10/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS First Class | 12/16/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS Priority | 12/17/2021 | by 10am |
| USPS Express | 12/22/2021 | by 10am |
| FedEx Ground/Home Delivery | 12/14/2021 | by 10am |
| FedEx Express Saver | 12/20/2021 | by 10am |
| FedEx 2-day | 12/21/2021 | by 10am |
| FedEx Overnight | 12/23/2021 | by 10am |
| All FedEx International |
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Moving forward on this build of Woody Joe’s 1/100 scale Sengoku period warship, the Atakebune.
As you may recall from my previous post on this build, I was mentioning the planking of the deck of the “steering well,” for lack of better term, that’s at the rear of the large top deck of the Atakebune. After expanding the slot in the deck for the rudder, I extended the slot into the back wall. I then commenced planking the deck using some 1mm thick wood I have on hand.
Now, you may notice that the upper part of that back wall is missing too. That’s because I want to create an extended wall that rises up through the deck and separates the main deck from the little section aft. This is a feature that appears commonly on larger Japanese watercraft I’ve studied, namely the bezaisen like the Kitamaebune and Higaki Kaisen. The reason for the separation is mostly because is wall is really the “main” wall…
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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.
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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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.
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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After mulling over some of the potential modifications, the construction of this kit from Woody Joe is now moving forward.
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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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
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.
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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Ship Modeler 