Plastic Model Projects

Being a ship modeler, we often spend lots of time on our wood projects, but occasionally, building a plastic model can be a relatively quick and fun way to build something different. HSPMS member Paul Reck shared photos of his most recently completed project, a small plastic model of the whale ship Charles W. Morgan.

Paul bought the kit on Ebay. It was produced long ago by the old plastic model company “Pyro”. Paul likes to build these Pyro kits and he built a bomb ketch that he brought to a model club meeting many years back.

Paul likes to throw out the kit’s plastic shrouds and to add his own rigging. This time around, he also decided to try his hand at making a water diorama out of it, which looks to have turned out very nicely!

Paul also sent along a photo of a much larger project he completed recently. This one was a big 1/200 scale Trumpeter kit of the U.S.S. Arizona.

Paul noted how much fun he had building the Arizona kit with its myriad of parts and photo-etched brass. He passed along the completed model, so we are hoping it now has a nice home!

Finally, ship modeler Clare Hess had some of his own fun building a plastic model of a Guppy Ib submarine SS Leonardo Davinci. The sub is the ex-Gato class submarine U.S.S. Dace, which was upgraded after WWII to the Guppy Ib standard, and then sold to the Italian Navy.

This 1/350 scale model was built from a kit from AFV Club and has some very nice detail.

Undoubtedly, there will be more plastic ship models to come… Ω

Member Progress Photos – January 2020

Wanderbird

HSPMS member and commodore Paul Reck recently shared some photos of his current project, the Wanderbird. The boat was originally built in Germany as a pilot schooner for the city of Hamburg.  The former owner of the boat sailed it around Cape Horn in 1936, then continued around the world.  His son commissioned the model.

The hull of the model was constructed from lifts made of Monterey cypress.

 

Honryousen

Clare Hess is currently building a model of a simple 25-foot long riverboat from Niigata prefecture, Japan. The boat’s hull is built from 5 pieces of wood. The 1/10-scale model is made from Japanese cedar and is based on a boat that was built by Douglas Brooks and Japanese boat builder Mr. Nakaichi Nakagawa in the Fall of 2019.

The latter model build is being documented on the builder’s website here: https://wasenmodeler.wordpress.com/category/wasen-projects/honryou/

Amati Swedish Gunboat Build – Part 6

Member Clare Hess posts his latest update on building (and modifying) Amati’s Swedish Gunboat kit. This is a small, inexpensive kit that is short on instructions. Not ideal for beginners, but a nice kit for experienced ship modelers looking for a simple project.

Ship Modeler

Following our meeting in October, it was clear it was time to finish up the Swedish Gunboat build. We’re down to three active builders of this model from the five that started, which isn’t too bad. One of our  builders decided to finish his up as a gift for someone, and the other is a beginning ship modeler who is anxious to get to his next project. I’m also ready to have a project actually reach completion.

Rigging and Sails

I shaped the masts and the two lugsail yards some time back. I originally added a ball to the tops of the masts as shown on the kit plans, but replaced them with a thinner pole after looking at the photos of the museum model. The presence of the pole creates a shoulder at the top of the mast, that helps secure the shrouds and stays. While modifying the masts…

View original post 804 more words

Amati Swedish Gunboat Build – Part 4

Member Clare Hess shares the latest update on the building of a Swedish Gunboat from a kit by Amati Model of Italy.

Ship Modeler

Well, I did not end up finish this model for the IPMS show in San Jose in March. I decided to set it aside to let others in our build group catch-up, though I know that two of the members are at least as far along as I am. Anyway, I had work to do to for my display of Japanese boats, which ran from March 1st through the 31st.

Then, last weekend, we had a ship modelers’ get-together again at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum. It’s been the usual 3 months since our last gathering and it was good to see the fellow ship modelers and their projects again.

Only one other member of the Swedish Gunboat Project group brought his model, but he’s new to ship modeling and pressing ahead. I originally thought I would just wait for the other two members, who have been too tied…

View original post 1,329 more words

AL’s Independence – Headrails and Rigging

Clare Hess updated the build log for his colonial schooner kit, which is based on a kit from Artesania Latina, but heavily modified with upgraded woods such as South American boxwood, pear and beech wood, and with aftermarket blocks, cannons and carriages.

Ship Modeler

Yes, I’m finally getting around to wrapping up the Colonial Schooner Independence. I’ve worked on it here and there, but hadn’t made any blog posts about in quite some time.

The last task that I was concerned about was to construct some headrails from scratch. Mostly, this is one of those tasks which is painful, because the brain says it’s painful. In actuality, it wasn’t that bad, but did take some mental work to wrap my head around where to even begin.

I found some examples that were more complex and finally found some that were simpler. I made sure that the images of those simpler ones became embedded in my brain. So, here’s what I came up with…

IMG_1291

I used castello boxwood for these, starting out by cutting them from thick sheet stock. Then, I cleaned them up and carved away the excess in such a way that it kind…

View original post 1,278 more words

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights in Japan

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.

img_3410

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

Higaki Kaisen – Edo Period Transport Model by Clare Hess

Back in August, we published a post about the classic yacht model the Good News, built by Paul Reck. The post included a link to a nice slideshow Paul put together. Well, Clare Hess decided to do something similar for his Higaki Kaisen model.

DSC02491

The model itself is built from a kit by the Japanese wooden model manufacturer Woody Joe. It measures about 16-1/2″ long and high and is made from a wood called Hinoki, which is an aromatic Japanese Cypress. The kit features a large number of laser-cut parts and includes some interior details in the cabin area. Some of the wooden panels have been omitted, so as to allow a view of the interior areas.

Building the model took a matter of just a few months due to the manufacturer’s heavy use of laser-cut parts and detailed instructions, plus the fact that these ships had very simple square sail rigs. Click here (link disabled as slideshow is not currently available) to view the slideshow showing the model going through the various stages of construction. Ω