Do you like building models? Are you interested in old sailing ships? Do you like talking with the public? Would you like to help our National Park Service? Then join the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights at our workshop aboard the ferryboat Eureka and become a National Park Service volunteer!
Starting another beginning ship model kit, Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights member Clare Hess is looking into how well suited this kit from Billing Boats of Denmark really is for beginning ship modelers.
I occasionally field ship modeling questions for the ship model shop Ages of Sail and for Billing Boats USA. Recently, a couple questions came up about the construction of the plastic-hull Billing Boats kits. These kits feature vacuum formed hull and/or deckhouse parts.
Now, I’ve never built one of these kits, but I understand the theory. Up to this point, the only vacuum formed parts I’ve ever dealt with are the sails in some of the plastic sailing ship model kits. So, I felt I should have a little more experience.
There are currently four beginning kits from Billing Boats that feature vacuum formed hulls, and I thought it would be good to do one of these, since this will also give me some perspective on how well suited one of these kits really is for the beginning ship modeler. Two of these available kits are rescue lifeboats and two…
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The building of the Flattie kit by Corel began this past Saturday at the club’s model workshop aboard the Eureka. Members Paul Reck, Tom Shea and Clare Hess started the project. This kit is part of an effort by the club to recommend some ship model kits for new builders, and to serve as an intro kit for new club members. And, while the kit is officially a recommended kit, this is based mostly on cost, simplicity of the boat’s design, and simple rig.
Paul reviews the kit contents.
We purchased the kit from Ages of Sail, which is located across the bay, but we’re working on trying to get Kingspoke, the gift shop at the entrance to the pier, to carry the kit, so we can just send people there who are interested in starting the kit for themselves.
After dealing with some scheduling issues due to looming government shutdowns, the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights managed a nice, normal meeting on February 17, the first meeting of the year. We had 8 members attending, which is pretty good for this group. We agreed that we need to bring in more ship modelers, as only about 3 attending members have been actively ship modeling in recent months.
Still, it was one of the most productive meetings we’ve had in some time. We also managed to replace the dehumidifier tubs in the big square-rigger model’s case. Being on the bay, we need to do this periodically to help keep these display models in good condition.
For those of us who like to play with our ship models, Ages of Sail is carrying some more kits from the German maker, Krick, and just announced these three today, all designed for RC operation.
These kits all come with a fiberglass hull, but the sailing yacht, the Antares, apparently has a lot of laser-cut wooden parts, including a deck with the planking pattern laser-etched onto it.
Krick also makes a few static models, one of which appeared at the South Bay Model Shipwrights meeting in Los Altos, where a members is building a kit of a side-paddlewheel steamer from Krick.
Those modelers out there looking for a nice RC project to work on so you can take it out onto the lake in the Spring may want to take a look at what we just listed from the German manufacturer Krick. There are three kits we’ve just added, and we have more from Krick that we’ll be adding in the next couple weeks.
Krick HE 4 – Police Boat
Krick Tugboat Neptun
Krick Cutter Yacht Antares
Haven’t decided what to ask Santa to bring you yet? There’s still time to order yours so it’ll be under your tree. Then again, you may just wanted get started on one and leave some room under your tree for other goodies!
Check out the new Krick items at: http://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/krick-models/new-items.html
This year, the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights club didn’t have the usual annual BBQ due to schedule conflict among members. We put it off a couple times, and next thing you know, the weather isn’t good for it. So, instead, we decided to have a club sponsored lunch. There were a couple possibilities, but since Paul Reck is an associate member of the St. Francis Yacht Club, we decided it would be a nice location for our club lunch, and so we scheduled the lunch to follow our November meeting.
Lunch at the St. Francis
HSPMS member Paul Reck shares some photos showing his progress on his 1776 Lake Champlain gunboat Philadelphia, which he is building from scratch in 1/24 scale, based on plans purchased from the Smithsonian.
Paul Reck showing his progress on the gunboat Philadelphia at the October meeting. Member Dan Canada at left.
The original boat was built on Lake Champlain as part of a small fleet of boats by Benedict Arnold in 1776. The project was a race to hold off British plans to move into the Hudson River valley. The boat was lost in the Battle of Valcour Island later in the year, but the loss of this and the other boats of the fleet was a strategic victory for the Americans, as it held off British plans until the end of the campaign year, when it became too late for the British to carry them out for another year.
Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights 