July Meeting

Posted on July 13, 2015 by catopower

The next meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights is this coming Saturday, June 18th. We’ll be meeting as usual aboard the ferryboat Eureka at 9:30am.

Club topics that will be discussed will include our Annual Barbecue, which is taking place on Saturday, August 15th in lieu of our regular August meeting. Also, we’ll be trying to get a final count and to nail down a specific date for our upcoming club cruise on board the former Presidential Yacht, U.S.S. Potomac. The plan is to get a group of 20 signed up for a 2 hour cruise on either August 8th or September 12th. Members need to chime in so we can get this nailed down!

The Potomac is moored near Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. More info on the ship can be found at: usspotomac.org.

Ship Modeler Reporting from Philly

Posted on June 28, 2015 by catopower

32-gun Frigate L’Hermione

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights member Mark Rosenbush, one of the newest members of our group, reported in on his trip to Philadelphia today where he is currently on the scene and completed touring some of the ships there including the newly built reconstruction of the 32-gun French frigate L’Hermione. The original ship brought the young Major General Lafayette, only 21 at the time, to Boston in 1780 to fight along side the Americans who were fighting for their independence from Great Britain.

Of course, there’s much more to the story and much more about the modern reconstruction which recently sailed across the Atlantic from France where it was built.

USS Olympia

Mark says he took at least 100 photos on his tour of the Hermoine and other ships. He’ll be bringing these back with him and maybe we can coax a slide show at an upcoming meeting.

Galley Washington, 1776 – New Plans from the NRG

Posted on June 27, 2015 by catopower

Ship Modeler Clare Hess reports on the new ship model plans recently released by the Nautical Research Guild. For the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights, this is a pretty significant release given the similarities of the Galley Washington and the Cutter Lee, which ship modeler Paul Reck scratch built. Given that these plans are specifically for a plank-on-frame build, we’ll see how they are received by our group’s scratch-builders, which are predominantly plank-on-bulkhead and solid hull modelers.

Ship Modeler

I received a nice surprise in the mail today when a set of plans I ordered from the Nautical Research Guild showed up. I kind of splurged for my own birthday this year and got these plans and a few other things that I’ll write about in a future post.

The Washington was a galley built by General Arnold for service on the Lake Champlain in 1776. Because the prevailing winds on the lake blew along the length of the lake, she and her 3 sister ships were lateen rigged for the superior performance when sailing close to the wind.

These are VERY nice plans. They are model plans and designed for the construction of a 1/4″ scale plank-on-frame model. All the frames are drawn out, taking up 4 of the 10 sheets of plans. The details are nicely done and overall, the set of plans is top notch.

The NRG…

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HSPMS May Meeting Follow-Up

Posted on May 17, 2015 by catopower

Today was the May meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights and it was quite a gathering. With 11 members and 1 newly joining member and 2 guests, we had one of the largest meetings in quite some time, which was quite refreshing.

Lots of great after-meeting discussions.

We saw some good progress with models, with a couple that haven’t been seen in a while. Leo Kane brought in his scratch-built 1/64-scale US Frigate Essex that he’s been working on for about 3 years now. New member Dale Rappleye showed us some progress on his first ship model, the Armed Virginia Sloop, which he is building from a kit by Model Expo. There was also a nice half-hull model of a local sailing yacht, a scratch-built Skipjack, and more.

Skipjack model started by Paul Reck and finished by Dan Canada.

John Ferguson’s half hull model.

Dale Rappleye’s Armed Virginia Sloop.

As mentioned above, we had one visitor who joined our ragtag band of ship modelers at meetings end, making him the third new ship modeler to join the group so far this year. As ship model clubs all over struggle for members and to maintain attendance at their meetings, it’s nice to see this little group grow.

And, as kids getting into ship modeling, one of our guests in attendance was the grandson of member Warren Gammeter, and brought in a model of a Whitehall Tender that young man is working on with his granddad. A refreshing sight at the meeting.

Minutes with additional photos will be available online in the next week or so.

Lighthouse card model kits listed

Posted on May 7, 2015 by catopower

Ages of Sail just posted this about the Paper Model Lighthouse kits they carry from Shipyard of Poland. Having been working on a couple paper models myself, I can tell you that they are really cool kits and a lot of fun to work with. It’s nice that the lighthouse kits they carry are all laser cut. Saves a lot of time trying to cut some of those intricate details.

Ages of Sail

We just started updating our listings for card model lighthouse kits from Shipyard of Poland. It’s been long overdue and we’re just started to get a handle on it. Shipyard produces about two dozen different lighthouse kits in both 1:72 scale and 1:87 (HO) scale and we have nearly all of them in stock now from their Laser Cut Models series as well as their boxed edition Laser Cardboard series.

Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse, built in Australia in 1874.

These are NEAT kits! All the lighthouse kits we carry are the laser cut kits that Shipyard produces. They also have cut-out kits, where the parts are printed and you have to cut them all out. But, for now, we’ve decided to focus on carrying just the ones where the parts are all pre-cut for you. You just need to cut off the tiny tabs that hold the pieces to…

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Hurry, Only 30 Days Left to Enter NRG Photo Contest

Posted on April 30, 2015 by catopower

Ship Modeler

The Nautical Research Guild’s 2015 Photographic Ship Model Competition is still open for entries. But, if you intend to submit your ship model photos, you’d better hurry as the deadline is May 31st, 2015. This is the third such competition, the first one being in 2011 and the next in 2013. There are some truly amazing models entered by NRG members, but it’s not all about winning, it’s also about learning from others. The submissions are reviewed by a panel of knowledgeable judges, who will score and provide comments and evaluation. It’s not easy to put yourself out on a limb to critique, but in the end it’s all about building better models.

This is my model of the Private Armed Schooner Lively, 1813. It is a scratch-build based on kit plans from the old North River Scale Model company. Maybe I’ll finally enter it in the NRG competition this year.

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Clare Hess Reports on Edo Period “Hacchoro” Model

Posted on March 14, 2015 by catopower

Ship Modeler Clare Hess reports that his 1/24-scale model of a traditional Japanese fishing boat called a Hacchoro (Hot-Cho-Ro) is complete. The model, started in December of last year, is built from a Japanese kit with a few modifications. The boat carries the “Mon” or crest of the Tokugawa shogunate. History says that 24 of these boats were commissioned to provide escort for the Shogun’s boat. Due to restrictions on the number of oars that could be employed by the boats, they had a difficult time keeping up. So, special permission was given to increase the number of oars to 8. Thus, the name Hacchoro, which translates to “8 oars.”