The HSPMS Youtube Channel

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Check out the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights new Youtube channel!

HSPMS member and Commodore Paul Reck has been showing his models to members and other friends by making neat little slide show videos, so it only makes sense to make them available for the public to view.

In addition, we a pretty decent collection of photos from a couple club outings, and from some members that take photos of their progress. Add to that a little footage of our meetings and you have some nice recruitment video material.

Here is the first video we’ve posted. It’s a collection of photos and video footage taken from our 2017 Day Sail aboard the scow schooner Alma, which belongs to the San Francisco Maritime National Park. Check it out.

Our second video is a progress slideshow of Paul Reck’s scratch built US Coast Guard 26′ motor lifeboat. We haven’t seen any footage of it in the water though. Hopefully, it’s not at the bottom of the bay!

Be sure to view these on Youtube and give us a like, and make sure to subscribe to our youtube channel, Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights, to view our latest videos.

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Artesania Latina’s New 1/65-Scale Vasa Kit

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Looks like Artesania Latina is back producing new kits. This latest release looks especially promising, and note the serious attempt to up the standards of wooden ship model kit instructions. If you’re curious, it seems that you can download these directly from their website at http://artesanialatina.net.

Ages of Sail

We just received a big shipment of products from the “new and improved” Artesania Latina, so we’re finally recovering after the holidays depleted our stocks of this long-time popular brand. In addition, we’ve receive some new kits you might want to check out, as well as the return of an old favorite, the San Juan Nepomuceno. But, the biggest news by far is the release of their brand new kit of the 17th century Swedish warship Vasa.

This spectacular kit is made for the Expert Level modeler and is produced in 1/65-scale, making it one of the largest Vasa kits available at 42″ long and 34″ high. The kit makes heavy use of die-cast and photo-etched decorations, and there are a LOT of them!

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Building the Kanrin Maru – Japan’s First Screw Steamer – Part 4

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The latest update from HSPMS member Clare Hess on his Dutch-built screw-steamer Kanrin Maru, the second steamship of the Japanese Shogun’s navy, and Japan’s first ship to visit the United States, right here in San Francisco.

Ship Modeler

After the modification of the bulwarks, the rest of the model should look pretty much like the plans. The Woody Joe kit seems to be pretty well spot-on with the Dutch maritime museum plans as far as hull shape and deck layout. So, it’s basically the smaller details that I need to consider.

The scrollwork for the bow is a cast metal piece, which looks fine. There are a few artifacts from the casting process which need cleaning up, but this is pretty easy to do. I just used a sharp, chisel pointed blade to cut them away.

With the scrollwork cleaned up, I mounted it on the bow. The upper and lower molding of this piece are supposed to line up with the wooden molding strips applied to the hull. With the scrollwork in place, I decided to trim the stem so that it didn’t stick out beyond the…

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Taking Another Look: Navio Rayo Gun Section Kit

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This is a pretty nice looking kit. Ideal for beginning ship modelers, and anyone who wants something large scale to detail. The model takes up little space, has planking without the complicated curved surfaces to deal with, nicely detailed cannons and carriages, nice details like the gunnery tools, and no serious rigging to have to deal with except for gun tackles. I suspect it should also be a pretty quick build too. Would love to see someone in the club build it – would look nice in our display case, wouldn’t it?

Ages of Sail

It was about 3-1/2 years ago that Ages of Sail first introduced this new line of Spanish wooden model kits to North America. Among the first batch of kits was an often overlooked wood model kit of a section of the 18th-century Spanish warship Rayo. The Rayo was an 80-gun ship-of-the-line built in 1746.  The ship was rebuilt in Cartagena in 1803, transforming her into a three-decked ship of 100 guns.

If you’re interested in getting the kit, you’ll find it on our website here: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/navio-rayo-s.xviii-puesto-de-combate,-wooden-kit-by-disar,-20148.html

Soon after, the Rayo joined the coalition of French and Spanish ships sailing out of Cadiz on 18 October, 1805. Three days later the combine French and Spanish fleet encountered the British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson off Cape Trafalgar on the southwest coast of Spain.

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Building the Kanrin Maru – Japan’s First Screw Steamer – Part 3

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Ship Modeler and HSPMS member, Clare Hess, discusses one of the interesting features of the Kanrin Maru. This ship was Japan’s first screw-steamer. It was built by the Dutch for the Japanese Shogun and delivered in 1857. In 1860, the Kanrin Maru, arrived in San Francisco as part of the mission of the first Japanese embassy to the United States.

Clare’s build is based on a modified 1/75-scale Woody Joe kit.

Ship Modeler

Notice anything special about that photo of the fully planked hull in my last post? If you look closely, you may notice that the center section of some of the bulkheads are missing. If you’ve followed any of my wooden ship model building, you’d probably be aware that I can’t leave kits well enough alone. One of the things I’ve always liked to do is to add a hint of an interior. Nothing blatant, just a hint to create something of an image in the observer’s imagination.

Arrows showing where bulkhead sections were removed

I’ve discovered that I don’t like building full interiors and I don’t like lighting a model’s interior. That’s too blatant and too showy for me. I want the observer to look at the model and discover an open door and to catch a glimpse of more detail without actually being able to see beyond it.

You’ll…

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An OcCre Part Kit Order

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Part kits are one way to build a high priced ship model kit, while spreading out the cost over a period of time. You can build at your own pace and order the additional packs as they are needed. In the long run, the build is more expensive, but many of us had a hard time coming up with the full amount for a big wooden ship model kit all at once, so this is an option you might consider.

Take a glimpse at the process and what to expect with your order.

Ship Modeler

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…

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Shipmodeling and Blogging Withdrawls

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Ship modeler and HSPMS member Clare Hess discussing dealing with ship modeling withdrawals and purchasing two new kits – one is a paper kit and the other is part 1 of a big, 6-part kit. Will he be starting both kits? With he be finishing either one???

Ship Modeler

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

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