ships

Since I started building wooden kits, I looked at the Plank-on-Frame models with great awe. Exposing the internal structure of the ship with all the beautiful complexity is extremely appealing to me as an engineer. This year my wife convinced me to take the plunge and try to build one myself. After building 10+ wooden models I felt confident enough to attempt building some small and well-made POF kit. Seeing a group build for this model on Ships of Scale forums, along with the positive reviews and acceptable price (around 600EUR after import taxes) helped me to make the decision in favour of this kit from the new Chinese manufacturer Trident Models.

Once I built up some confidence with wooden kits, especially after St. Gabriel I felt confident enough to start the ‘proper’ wooden ship. Like you know, one which you have to plank manually and scratch-build most of the stuff. As you probably know, picking the right subject you are really interested in is the key to success. Especially when built is expected to take many months. After careful considerations and reading Model Ship World a lot, I picked this kit from OcCre.

This tiny kit was purchased to compliment HMS Terror. OcCre provided cast metal boats with Terror kit, however I lack artistic talent to make them presentable enough to pass for wood. For this reason I took measures of biggest boat that was intended to be put on ship’s deck, and ordered similarly sized boat kit from Vanguard Models. Model quality It is made by Vanguard Models, by legendary Chris Watton, so I had no doubts the kit will be great.

Leudo Leudo is a type of cargo ship, used in Mediterranean Sea to carry various goods. Of course, most people familiar with the subject will think about the wine-carrying type of Leudo, and that’s exactly what this model depicts. Model quality This is an upgraded Pear version of the kit, so the material quality is very good. But I have few issues with the design of the kit. Unlike Falkonet’s Yawl which was superb, this kit feels over-engineered to the point where it detracts from builder’s experience.

Protected Cruiser Varyag Built in USA in 1899 for the Imperial Russian Navy, Varyag became very famous in Russia after the Battle of Chemulpo Bay. In that battle, she got trapped in the bay and tried to break out by fighting against Japanese squadron. Sadly she scored no hits on the enemy, lost 31 men dead and 191 injured, returned back to the bay and got scuttled. The Russian government took the opportunity to turn this very unsuccessful battle into a publicity stunt.

With this small and simple kit I wanted to get a break from rigging HMS Terror I’ve been building for over a year now. Providence Whaleboat Typical whaleboat used for whaling during the 19th century in New England. Such boats were carried on board of whaling ships and used to hunt and harpoon whales. While I definitely disapprove whaling as a practice, the whaleboat itself is quite a beautiful subject.

Another wooden model. The more I build them, the more I love doing it. The manufacturer is a Russian company called Falkonet, they specialize in extremely detailed kits. Four-oared yawl of XIX century Not much to say about the subject, it’s a fairly typical yawl from that age. The box says it’s based on real historical plans from 19th century, by English shipwright Benjamin Stuckey. Model quality It’s absolutely excellent, level of details is insane and superior to what I’ve seen in other manufacturer’s kits.

SS Jeremiah O’Brien SS Jeremiah O’Brien is one of the few surviving Liberty Ships - cargo ships massively built by US in WW2. Used everywhere - from arctic convoys to D-Day, those ships became a legend. This particular ship is currently based in San Francisco where I had the pleasure to see and visit her. Obviously after the visit I decided to build the model of this remarkable ship. I decided to go with 1/700 scale, mostly because I already had HMS Hood in ~1/700, but now I see how choosing this scale was a huge mistake.

I can’t really help it - wooden models attract me more and more. This one is yet another tiny boat kit that I bought for like 10 Euros on my trip to Russia. The manufacturer is Falkonet, apparently they focus on smaller stuff like boats and yachts, no tall ships in the catalog so far. Wooden boat from year 1763 Some luxurious wooden boat from Catherine The Great era. Well, basically a typical 6-oar boat with ornaments on the side.

For some reason wooden kits keep attracting me more and more. This one is the third I’m building, all from the same Russian company called Master Korabel (Мастер Корабел). St Gabriel deck-boat This was the main ship of the First Kamchatka Expedition lead by Danish explorer Vitus Bering for Russian Tsar Peter The Great in 1724-1730. Model quality Just as with previous kits from this company I had no major issues with the model, wooden parts are awesome and very well engineered.

After I visited famous HMS Victory in Portsmouth this summer, I wanted to build something related to her. My experience with wooden kits tells me that building the full HMS Victory model is a very big project that I’m not ready for yet, not to mention the sheer size of it. So building this kit allowed me to scratch that HMS Victory itch without spending a year on it. English Carronade Carronade is a short cannon that was used by the Royal Navy, and HMS Victory carries two of such cannons on her forecastle.

As I had great fun building my first wooden kit, on my next trip to Russia I bought a bunch of other kits from local manufacturers. This modern kit is again from Russian company called Master Korabel (Мастер Корабел), is fully laser-cut and costs less than 10 Euros. Launch This is just a general purpose boat used on sail ships in 17th century. Nothing really special about it. Model quality Just as with previous kit from this company I had no issues, fit was almost perfect.

My first ever wooden kit, yay! I was always intimidated by wooden ship kits, assuming huge amount of scratch-building and crafting. Also I knew from my childhood plastic kit experience that rigging is quite challenging on Tall Ships. Luckily nowadays thanks to modern technologies like laser cutters and CAD software wooden kits are enhanced with pre-shaped laser cut hull planks and details. Considering this I decided to give it a try and build something relatively simple, relatively cheap and without complex rigging.

Neat modern kit by Zvezda. The model is tiny, details are crisp, and build is straightforward bar the challenge of working with such small parts. I’ve enjoyed building it a lot, much more than I expected - normally I don’t do anything modern. Russian Destroyer “Sovremenny” (Современный). Commissioned in 1980, this ship was the first destroyer built by USSR in 20 years. This fact is reflected in ships name - ‘Sovremenny’ means ‘modern’, ‘contemporary’.

Italery kit from 1978, which explains strange 1/720 scale. I’ve got Zvezda version just because it was a present. Interesting fact - Zvezda is not allowed to sell this kit outside of ex-USSR because it’s just cheaper in it’s version. The Mighty HMS Hood Built in 1918, the only ship in her class, this battlecruiser remained the largest and most powerful warship for 20 years. She tragically sank during the Battle of the Denmark Strait with the loss of all but 3 of her crew of 1418 men.