It was just about a month ago that I found myself in the middle of ship modeling withdrawals, as I had to take a break due to a family emergency. As I mentioned in recent posts, a Shipyard paper model kit got me through most of it. But, one thing that helped was splurging a little and making another ship modeling purchase. So, it was the purchase of a “Part Kit” from OcCre of Spain that filled that need.

74-gun Spanish ship of the line Montañes by OcCre

Now, I don’t really need another ship model kit. I have a stack of projects, some underway, and many un-started kits in my closet stash – I’m sure every ship modeler who reads this is familiar and has his or her own. But, I’m always looking for good blogging materials – interesting stuff to write about. Anyway, that’s my excuse, or…

After announcing my brief blog hiatus a little over a week ago, you might have noticed I’m still blogging. Well, it’s turned out that blogging is a good distraction from family health matters, so here I am writing again. In addition to needing to do a bit of blogging, I’m really finding myself going through some ship modeling withdrawals as well. Now, I don’t have a whole lot of time and space to be working on much, so I mostly think about ship modeling. But, I decided to go ahead and have the good folks at Ages of Sail send me a paper model kit.

Paper model kits require a minimum of tools, result in less mess than wooden ship models, and  the kits are very inexpensive. Perusing the Ages of Sail site was a fun distraction, but I finally settled on Shipyard’s paper kit number MK010, the Dutch fluit Schwartzer Rabe

Chris Watton’s own ship model kit production company, Vanguard Models, is rolling along with yet another kit coming out in just a matter of weeks! If you’re familiar with Amati’s Victory Model’s line of kits or Caldercraft’s Nelson’s Navy line, then you’re already familiar with Chris’s amazing work. He’s both talented AND prolific.

His latest release will be the sixth kit from Vanguard Models, and it looks like it’s going to be a real beauty – I hope you’ve saved a spot on your workbench to build this one.

The model is a 1/64-scale kit of an unnamed, 81-foot, three-masted yacht built for the Dutchess of Kingston, which was probably built in the 1770s. It closely resembles the royal yacht Caroline, which is a subject from Mantua/Panart that I’ve had my eye on for a long time. But, this model looks like it’s so nicely detailed that I would seriously…

The Nautical Research Guild’s annual conference for 2020 is cancelled due to COVID issues, but they recently announced that they will be holding their annual membership meeting after all, only it will be a virtual meeting. Members will be able to attend the meeting from the safety and comfort of their own homes. The meeting, normally part of the conference, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 5th, at 11am Central / 9am Pacific.

The NRG is now asking members to RSVP, so they can plan on how much they need to upgrade their video conferencing service. Attending the membership meeting is free to all members, but it sounds like the NRG itself will need to pay for the upgraded service.

I haven’t seen any of this information actually posted on the NRG website yet. So, if you’re a member, please make sure to contact the main office with your…

I’ve been waiting for this one. If you’ve been following my blog, or even if you’ve just been keeping on top of ship modeling news, you probably know that Model Expo has started a new line of model boat kits in a series of progressive model building tutorials. These kits are designed by one of the best ship modelers of our time, David Antscherl,  who is also the author of several ship modeling books.

I’ve just spotted the second kit of the series in an email ad from Model Expo, the Norwegian Sailing Pram.

This kit is classed as an “Intermediate” kit, but I think that term is relative, since so many square rigged sailing ship model kits are called Intermediate as well. But, it is designed to be the second build, after the completion of the earlier released Lowell Grand Banks Dory kit. For those who have never built a…

These days, It’s pretty tough on ship model clubs, not being able to gather together to swap model making stories. But, like other groups across the country, the South Bay Model Shipwrights recently tested out meeting using video conferencing. Zoom has practically become a household word now, though there are other systems available.

This past Thursday, the group had its first test meeting, which I was involved in. It was the first time I had seen some of my ship modeling friends in months, so it was a nice virtual gathering. Being a test meeting, it was just a subset of the whole club, but it wasn’t really all that much smaller than many of the physical meetings.

There were a few glitches to iron out, but overall it was a success. The main issue may be in the use of the free Zoom meeting accounts, which allow only 40…

While the Nautical Research Guild conference was supposed to take place this Fall. It was canceled some time ago due to the unknowns of the Corona Virus outbreak. But, if things manage to improve over the next year, and let’s hope they actually do, the next NRG conference will then take place October 21 – 23, 2021.

The venue is unchanged, still set to take place at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard, California. No other details have been announced, but the event is more than a year away. Probably, more information will be available about this time next year.

This should give all you ship modelers some time to finish the awesome project you want to display at the event. Since the museum is one of my old haunts, we’ll before they moved anyway, and it’s just a drive down the coast from here, I expect I’ll try…