Looking like a lost puppy. Wanting a hobbie. Model ship. I had a uss constitution, 10,000 parts. Fell off a shelf 40 years ago.
Looking for a big ship model with a serious time taking put.
Any advice? I looked and failed.
Think small...
or big. Both of these and others on the site are plank on bulkhead. In other words you first glue a number of bulkheads to a false keel and then fit narrow strips like you would in actual ship construction. I started the longboat last winter and will finish it this winter. The length overall includes the bowsprit so the actual hull is about 6" long. What that mean is the thing is damn small. Illuminated magnifiers help a lot. Most of the hardware is fabricated from the supplied brass strip. In a couple of places you drill holes in a 1/32" strip. To put that in perspective the smallest drill bit you're liable to find at the hardware store is 1/16.
I've built real boats faster...
If you want something to keep you busy for a few years;
Amati has a wide range of models but they are an Italian company and the instructions might be a little cryptic. Even with the Model Shipways booklets it help to know nautical terminology and some steps may not be readily apparent to beginners.
A notch down the scale are the solid hull models. The hull is a solid block of wood. Some forming and sanding will be required but it isn't as daunting as planking. Single planking is the worst since you have to fit very carefully. Double planked hulls give you a little leeway to hide your mistakes.
On 10/26/2018 9:10 PM, rbowman wrote: ...
Any should have down to #60 (0.040") altho that's still a little too big for a hole in a 1/32nd-wide brass strip...
I haven't seen many decent number drills in Ace etc. I do have a set from Harbor Freight that are semi-usable. I bought a set of 0.3 to 1.0 mm drills that weren't very good either. Finally I just faked it. Even with a Dremel drill press it wasn't going very well.
Hopefully I can finish it this winter. Mostly rigging although I have to fabricate some chainplates and dead eyes.
My real plan was to build a Viking longship but this was billed as an entry level kit. It great quality with plenty of spare material but it's so small everything is tiny. Not good when you take XXXL gloves.
Huh. The one headline store here has both the Ace-branded and another (Hanson, maybe? HSS that are both not bad as both replacements and sets...but this is a small farming community so there's a lot higher fraction of population that is really after hardware rather than houseware than most higher-population centers would have may explain...
Chuckles...I no longer have the patience it would take, methinks...
Rb. That is what I needed.
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