"Nautical Nook" series in FSM

As far as feature articles, much of FSM is written by free lancers, and the way to get more feature article content is for those of us who build ship models to submit more.  But it is a lot of work, and needs to be done with reasonable spelling, grammar, etc.  Good photography.  But we can't just assume others will do it.

Also, someone could draw up a few samples of a ship column, send it in, and see what they say.

Well , Hmmmm;

     The biggest factor here is availability of said ship - modelers and enthusiasts . Funny that the BEST Magazine specifically out there IN and ON ships is from a landlocked state ! Now I will admit to both of you that I cannot see building 1/700 anything unless I am gifted with it . That scale to me is a pain in the back-side ! Not to mention what it does to my vision !

   Don likes Working civilian vessels . So do I . No two are really alike . Proff . you like sailing vessels . I do to , but due to space limitations they are not feasible as modeling subjects in my domicile ! Now in talking about similarities in ship type . Desron 12s F.R.A.M. Gearings and Sumner's did Not bear but a general resemblance to each other when finished . Same bridges , hangar and flight deck ( for a Helo that never materialized ) but then everything else was noticeably different to us in the crew .

       Maybe a superior SHIP coverage on say a quarterly basis or something like that would be nice . I do get bored with Plane after Plane and Tank after Tank . NOT THEIR Fault , BUT . The only time either doesn't edge on boredom is when the builder scratch - builds the necessary needed detail .Then totally eschews the aftermarket in the rest of the build too !

     The best plane example I can give is our well known friend Guillermo from down South America way and his METAL aircraft . Now there's a modeler of planes for sure ! I still stare at the photos and find myself " Counting Rivets " ( They are all there ! ) My seven cents ;      Tanker - Builder

I think Don's right; what he says makes sense. There are plenty of ship model clubs in areas close to the water.

I don't have a shelfload of trophies. (I  used to have a medal that I won in the Mariners' Museum 1980 contest, but I threw it out a long time ago.) I'm sure plenty of people don't take me seriously, but I think Quite a few others do - as much as any modeler deserves to be taken seriously. I have noticed that in certain quarters an award at a contest seems to get the notice of publishers, but I don't think FSM sinks to that level.

Remember - I'm a Curmudgeon who doesn't believe in, or enter, contests. I haven't entered any in a long time, and I can't recall regretting that I skipped one.

The bottom line for me: I'd like to see more ship model articles - including articles aimed at both beginners and experienced modelers - in FSM. Whether dividing the magazine up into sections (ships, aircraft, armor, etc.) would be a good idea or not I'll happily leave to the magazine staff.

I do agree that smaller models do not do as well as larger ones, regardless of the genre.  I have a feeling that is just hard to overcome, especially with volunteer judges.

But as far as the genre compared to others, this is quite regional.  I have always been impressed by representation of ship models at or near Great Lakes seaports- do not get to events near East or West coasts, so don't know about those regions.  Scarcer in landlocked areas, but that seems to make sense.  I have always been impressed at Nationals- great participation and great ship models.

BTW, I love tankers, cargo ships and such.  I do build a warship now and then, but I like to be different, so working boats are my passion, especially what I have grown up seeing on Great Lakes!

Hi Don ;

   Although I do have to agree with everything you and the Proffesor said there is a problem . It seems like if you haven't won a shelf load of Trophies , you are not taken seriously  .I for one have models in Museums . Not trophies , But it doesn't seem to mean a hill of beans when talking with someone about ship modeling .

  I dropped out of I.P.M.S. because of their seemingly cavalier way of treating the ship category . When you have say a small turnout you DO NOT lump them all together for a best in class .The easily seen large model usually always prevails regardless of the fine work of the others , in other scales .

The sad part , This attitude does not seem to have gone away in the 53 years I've known and been a member of this group either .

     If I was younger I would definitely write a ship related publication  for the modelers out there . I love sharing the information and I want to share with as many as I can , before I get a call from the bigger hobby shop , you know the one we all have to go to someday .

    Building ships is a fun activity and I could share much knowledge of what happens on a tin can when general quarters is sounded , and how this changes her external appearance !

 I build tankers because no two are the same , and there are different types for different tank requiring cargoes too . Well , I have added my four cents .    Tanker - Builder

Wouldn't we then, to be fair, have to have similar sections for the other genres?  I suspect those who model mostly a particular genre all tend to feel their genre is not properly represented in the mag.

Surface Line, I don't disagree with a word of your post. As I said in my last one, I think there's a big gap in the available journals when it comes to plastic ship models of all sorts. (I could just about count the published articles on plastic sailing ships that I've seen in the past twenty years on both hands - and frankly most of those articles weren't very good.) The same goes for resin kits.

I think there's a gap there that's worth filling, and I think FSM could do a good job of filling it. I don't know much about the potential market, but the dozens of new kits and aftermarket products that show up on the Freetime Hobbies website suggests that the plastic and resin ship modelers are out there all right.

Later edit: For what it's worth, the latest issue of the Nautical Research Journal contains a review of the 1/700 Combrig resin H.M.S. Victoria. Only a page or so, but thorough and knowledgeable. 

I think it would be a great idea, although, like G above, I don't know how much I could contribute.  For the first time ever, I completely disagree with Prof Tilley.  I feel that none of the magazines he cited are applicable (these days) to 1/700 scale.  I admit that they occasionally touch some of the basic seamanship issues in the original post.  The place where small scraps of info like this was best presented was the old Plastic Ship Modeler magazine.  However, FSM uses a higher-quality of finished work, so the rough scrap drawings we had in PSM probabably wuldn'r be welcome in FSM.

My bottom line:  I think it is a great idea, but doesn't fit gracefully in Fine Scale Modeler's niche.

Rick

I would like to see that. However I couldn't contribute in any meaningful way, so it's wishful thinking on my part.

The fact is that FSM is so broad in the interests it serves that there aren't too many ship modelers here.

Which in turn means that there aren't a lot of ship model advertisers either. I'd be interested to know who they are, but I'd guess for instance that Bluejacket isn't one of them.

Which in turn means that the editors won't steer too much content away from the buyers of tanks and airplanes.

I like the idea, but there are several ship modeling magazines out there.

The best is probably the Nautical Research Journal, though it covers research topics beyond model building. Ships in Scale is an American publication devoted almost entirely to model building. Model Boats is British, and focuses mainly on powered (or sailing) models, but has lots of good stuff in it.

The best of all, the British quarterly Model Shipwright, ceased publication in that form some years ago; it now appears as a bound annual called simply Shipwright. I've bought several issues of the new version through the Barnes and Noble website; they're great.

It would be terrific, though, if FSM were to devote more space to ships - including plastic ones. There used to be a couple of short-run magazines about plastic warships, but I haven't seen any of them for several years. There's definitely a gap to be filled there.