War of 1812 Gunboats

So, this past week, I’ve been having a few conversations with Mr. Paul Reck, who’s an accomplished ship modeler that runs the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights club in San Francisco. I’ve been a member of that group for at least 10 or 11 years. Paul has been talking for some time about gunboats of the Jeffersonian navy. So, 1801 through the War of 1812. And, yes, that’s technically into the Madison presidency, but we’re talking about the gunboat navy that took shape under Jefferson.

Paul has built a model of the War of Independence gunboat Philadelphia and small galley cutter Lee. Lately, his attention turned to these Jeffersonian gunboats. This is something I’ve always had an interest in, though my knowledge doesn’t really go past a couple historical books on the War of 1812 and the Barbary Wars, and Howard Chapelle’s book History of the American Sailing Navy.

A number of years back, my interest did lead me to buy the only available kit of a Jeffersonian gunboat, Amati’s Arrow Gunboat kit. I’d started the model a long time back, but set it got set aside as many of my projects do. But, Paul has seen the model I was working on, and we talked about the boats many times over the years. But, the subject came up again recently, and it sounds like Paul is interested in moving ahead with a build of one of these boats.

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San Francisco Bay Area – January 2018 Ship Model Meetings

With the Government shutdown over the weekend, and the closing of the National Parks, the January Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights meeting had to be cancelled. The group will meet again at their regularly scheduled February meeting, which is Saturday, February 17th at 9:30am aboard the Eureka.

However, this didn’t affect two other groups that met this month. One of these is the South Bay Model Shipwrights, which normally meets on the third Friday of each month at 7pm at the Los Altos Public Library. This is a great and very social group, with several members meeting for a pre-meeting dinner at Chef Chu’s restaurant, just up the street from the library.

This is one of the early ship modeling groups and was started by Jean Eckert in 1982. While the group is much smaller than it was in its heyday, the members still keep it an interesting and active club.

Here are a few photos from the January meeting…

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights Temporary Meeting Relocation

For anyone considering visiting the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights workshop aboard the ferry boat Eureka, you’re in for a let down. Access to the Eureka has been restricted to Park staff and volunteers due to a broken gangway. It seems that a design flaw in the gangway causes something to break about every year or two and the boat has to be closed off.

Last month, the model shipwrights meeting was cancelled outright. This month, we’ve pushed for an alternate meeting location and got one.

The April 2014 meeting will now be held in a conference room in the lower level of the Maritime Museum building, otherwise know as the old Bath House. Entrance is on the sea side of the building through the left hand door. The entrance will be opened up around 9:15am or so and we’ll start our meeting at our regularly scheduled time, 9:30am.

Unfortunately, there is no word yet as to when the Eureka will be open again to the public.

Bay Area Ship Model Meetings Schedules

This seems to be one of those months that isn’t good for ship model clubs in the Bay Area. Two groups, the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights and the South Bay Model Shipwrights have had to adjust their schedules and/or meeting locations due to problems with their regular meeting places.

The South Bay Model Shipwrights, which normally meets at the Los Altos Library on the third Friday evening of the month was well prepared for changes to their meeting location since they have to reserve it well in advance. This month’s meeting is being held at the home/workshop of local ship modeler Bill Tandler on Saturday, March 22. This is the second modified meeting schedule/location in a row for the South Bay group, but the schedule should be back to normal in April and beyond.

The Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights just found out that work is being done on the gangway entrance to the ferry boat Eureka. So, there is no access to the group’s workshop. There is no word as to whether anyone has checked with the park to find out if we can meet somewhere else for the meeting and an email was just sent out to the members that the meeting is being canceled.

Regular Meeting Schedules:

South Bay Model Shipwrights normally meets on the third Friday of the month at 6:30 pm at the Los Altos Library, 13 South San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, CA 94024. This group often has a nice presentation program and access to the meeting room is right off the library parking lot, so model transportation is very convenient.

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights meet on the third Saturday of the month at 9:30 am aboard the ferry boat Eureka within the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park (just look for the ships). There is no free parking nearby except for the members/volunteers and by the time the meeting is done, the park is open to the public, so you do have to navigate wandering tourists – good to know if you plan to bring a project. There is free parking at the bottom of Van Ness Avenue which is about a 5-10 minute walk along the Aquatic Park.

Ship Modeler’s Forum Meet-Up happens at irregular intervals. It’s not a club, but more of a get together of folks who frequent the on-line ship modeling forums. For now, the small gatherings take place at the  Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum at 734 Marin Street, Vallejo, CA 94590. The location is fairly central to those who have been attending and the meeting room is directly off the parking lot, so moving models is very easy. The next meeting isn’t set yet, but probably a Saturday morning in late May or early June. An announcement will be posted when a schedule is set.

Red Oak Victory Model Shipwrights seems to have the most consistent meeting schedule. The group meets on the second Saturday of the month at 10:00 am in the Petty Officer’s Mess aboard the Red Oak Victory.

October Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights Meeting Update

Well, the government was back in business in time for the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights to meet up… But then the BART strike began. Since people didn’t want to face additional traffic that would result, we still didn’t end up meeting.

But, in any case, I’m sure there will be people in the workshop on Saturday mornings now. And, hopefully all will be okay for the November meeting.

Government Shutdown – October Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights Meeting Cancelled

With the U.S. government shutdown, many people are feeling the effects, many good people are just left in limbo while congress can’t agree to fund the government. For myself, the first direct impact, as minor as it may be, is that our ship model meeting on Saturday had to be cancelled. Our meetings normally take place in our workshop which is on national park property. That’s not that terrible as we could always find another location to meet. But, the worst part is that we are barred from entering the park to get to our stuff in the workshop.

Luckily for me, I don’t really have much I keep there. Also, I have all the tools I need at home, so I really don’t need to use the shop. But, some of our members are working primarily on projects in the shop and also have their model there as well. So, until things get worked out in Washington, we’re stuck.

Hopefully, things will get worked out soon.