About catopower

Ship modeling since 1993.

New BlueJacket Kits

Posted on January 13, 2017 by catopower

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, as it’s hard to tell from their website, but in the Fall of 2016, BlueJacket Shipcrafters released a few new ship model kits or, more accurately, boat model kits.

The first two are re-realeases of the miniature models of the America’s cup J-class boats Endeavour and Rainbow. Both are 1:180 scale and measure 8-1/2″ long and list at $89 each. These look like they’d make really nice desk displays. But, you’ll probably want to protect them with the pre-made acrylic cases that BlueJacket sells for them at $95.

America’s Cup J-Boat Endeavour

At the same time, they released a brand new model kit of the sardine carrier Pauline. Some of you may recognize the Pauline as one of the scratchbuild subjects in Harold “Dynamite” Payson’s book Boat Modeling the Easy Way: A Scratch Builder’s Guide, which I believe is still in publication.

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A Change of Pace for Paul Reck

Posted on January 11, 2017 by catopower

Ship modeler, lead volunteer and club Commodore Paul Reck said he got burned out on his current project, the schooner yacht Mayan. He’s been wrestling with trying to get a a nice weathered look to the model’s teak deck and needed a break.

He had acquired a neat little vintage plastic kit from the old Pyro Plastic Corporation and has been working on it lately. The whole model is only about 9-1/2″ long overall and around 1:170 scale according to one website (no scale is given on the box).

Because the yards were molded as part of the sails, and he didn’t want to put sails on the model, he had to fashion some yardarms from maple.

The thin and “bendy” nature of the plastic masts, it took a very careful touch with the rigging to keep everything straight. But, it was difficult to keep lines from getting too slack.

Paul also didn’t want to use the pre-molded plastic shrouds and ratlines, so rigging that part was an extra challenge, but he seemed to really enjoy the build.

Hopefully, we’ll see the model, in person, at the next meeting.

Independence Seaport Museum Ship Model Shack Video

Posted on January 4, 2017 by catopower

The Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights isn’t the only ship model group that makes its home at a Maritime Museum. Check out this video from the Independence Seaport Museum’s Ship Model Shack, home of the Philedelphia Ship Model Society.

Ship Modeler

There’s a very nicely done video about ship modeling on Youtube. Of course, there are many, but this is about the Ship Model Shack at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philidelphia, PA. This was apparently published about 4 years ago, but a Facebook post by the Italian ship model kit manufacturer Amati Model brought it to my attention this morning.

The Independence Seaport Museum is home of the USS Olympia, a protected cruiser built at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco in 1888. The Ship Model Shack is the home of the Philidelphia Ship Model Society.

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Guide for Building Woody Joe Kits of Western-Style Ships

Posted on November 30, 2016 by catopower

A handy guide for those interested in building a ship model kit from Woody Joe of Japan, but don’t read Japanese.

Ship Modeler

Note that a copy of this post is now under the Resources/Shop Notes menu as the Woody Joe Kit Builder’s Guide.

While doing a write-up of one of Woody Joe’s ship model kits, it came to my attention that, while Woody Joe kits are written in Japanese, all the kits of “western-style” ships use the same terms to identify parts of the ship. So, I thought perhaps a couple guides might be helpful to any builders of these kits.

The idea stems from the fact that Japanese use a different phonetic alphabet for western or modern words, and they simply write the western terms using this alphabet. If you can learn this alphabet, you can read the names of parts. This alphabet is called Katakana. If you don’t want to know any about reading Katakana, but just want a list of words in Katakana, skip to the List…

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Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights in Japan

Posted on November 27, 2016 by catopower

During a brief visit at Japanese ship model manufacturer Woody Joe by Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights member Clare Hess, a gift of HSPMS hats was presented to the company president and chief design engineer.

Mr. Tsuneki, the company president, and Mr. Arata, the chief design engineer, show off their spiffy new Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights hats in front of the main office in Shizuoka, Japan.

The club had several club patches available, and Terry Dorman was able to order the hats for us. Clare Hess had the patches sewn onto the hats before leaving on his trip, which took place in September.

Clare Hess also had an opportunity to present hats to two members of the Tokyo branch of the Japanese ship model society, The Rope, Mr. Uriu and Mr. Sekiguchi, who he met for dinner and drinks, along with Mr. Uriu’s daughter, Hanako. Ω

Maine Windjammer Association Photo Contest Winners

Posted on November 27, 2016 by catopower

Check out these entries and the winners of the 7th annual photo contest of the Maine Windjammer Association.

http://www.imakenews.com/mwa/e_article003429222.cfm?x=b11,0,w

Thanksgiving at HSPMS

Posted on November 24, 2016 by catopower

Thanksgiving at HSPMS

It’s Thanksgiving 2016, and it’s a good time for the members of Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights to stop and reflect on what we, as a group, are thankful for.

First off, it’s important to give thanks for our great membership. The efforts of people like Paul Reck and Tom Shea, in particular, have kept us on our toes, not only as ship modelers, but as ambassadors to the public in our small space aboard the Eureka.

But, everyone who’s lent a hand deserves credit in keeping our group active and interesting, including those that are no longer with us. Even new members who haven’t had a chance to contribute much to the group offer long-time ship modelers hope that someone will be around to carry on the fine art of ship modeling.

Of course, there’s the public and the Park Service, which has deemed maritime history to be of great enough importance to create such a wonderful, living resource here at Hyde Street Pier – a place we make our home.

We are also fortunate to have our friends in the National Park staff. There are too many to name here between the folks on the Pier, the administration, and the research center, but they have all helped us out in various ways.

But, by far our greatest thanks have to go to our supporter, protector and friend Terry Dorman, the Park Service Volunteer Coordinator. Terry has done so much for our group, he’s there when we need him, and he’s always watching out for us like a mother hen. We can’t imagine that any group is as fortunate as ours, to be blessed with such a wonderful person to work with or to be so well looked after.

Here’s to a happy and thankful Thanksgiving. May you all have as much to be thankful for as we here at Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights have been blessed with.