Midwest Products

A Bondo kit? I remember a Bondo around here a while back, maybe you could resurrect him with that kit.

It's the Bluejacket lobster boat. It's a really nice nice little kit - especially with the photo-etched lobster traps added. But the hull of mine is kinda pock-marked. I bought a Bondo kit yesterday.

That's interesting to find out, John. I go on that website occasionally, usually to research the history of some kit as I find his descriptions to usually be pretty accurate and thorough.

But I never gave any thought to anything other than plastic.

There's some Model Shipways stuff too, but of course it's a collector's site and a lot of it can be found cheaper in current or more recent releases.

There is a nice looking little Maritime Art tug boat...

That Skipjack must be the resin hull you refer to in the other thread about that subject.

Since we're (sort of) on the subject of skipjacks, I'd like to mention another kit that I discovered recently.

I was browsing on www.oldmodelkits.com (a site that offers lots of fascinating old kits - though not at bargain prices) when I came across a company called Maritime Art.  From what I've been able to determine, this was the one-man operation of a model railroader named Art Johansen, who thought more high-quality boat kits ought to be available for model railroad layouts.

He produced a series of at least a dozen HO-scale (1/87; close to 1/8"=1') waterline workboats.  When I saw the skipjack, for (if I remember right) about $42, I just had to give it a try.

It's a remarkable kit.  There are a few cast resin parts:  the hull (with the deckhouses and hatches cast in), the pushboat, the anchor, and the steering wheel.a bunch of extremely small strip wood pieces (mostly basswood, but there's one of mahogany; a few cast britannia (I think from Bluejacket) and styrene parts, and an assortment of brass wire, aluminum tubing, brass strip, shrinkable plastic tubing (for the dredge rollers and the mast hoops!), a little piece of 1/64" plywood, and birch dowels for the mast and boom.  Then there is, of all things, a coffee filter (looks just like silkspan) for the sails. There's a little sheet of decals containing lots of real skipjack names and ports of registry in Maryland.  There's even a small piece of clear, flexible, pressure-sensitive plastic to form the windows in the main cablin.  The contents are rounded out by a little cardboard card with extremely fine wire and thread (apparently fly-tying silk) for the rigging and various other parts.

The instructions are highly detailed, and demonstrate some really ingenious thinking. The diagrams show how to make the dredge winder and dredges (without which no skipjack would be complete) out of the included brass strips, and just about every piece of rigging.  (The only thing I've found missing is the centerboard tackle.)  The railings and stanchions are to be cut from the included styrene HO ladder stock.

In addition, there's a CD-ROM, containing lots of photos (dated 2004) of operating skipjacks, along with some more diagrams that you can print out on your computer.  I have no idea what the original price of this kit was, but there's certainly $42 worth of materials and enjoyment in that little box. 

Highly recommended - if you can find one.  Unfortunately, as I understand it Mr. Johansen has passed awaty, but oldmodelkits.com does still have some of his other workboats - including, of all things a USCG 38-foot picket boat.  Go to  http://www.oldmodelkits.com , click on the list of manufacturers at the top of the page, and scroll down to Maritime Art.

I'm about to start on Bluejacket's little HO-scale Maine lobster boat ( http://www.bluejacketinc.com/downeast.htm ) , which is just about as nice (and a lot simpler).  It's going to be named after my stepdaughter.  If it's a success, I think I'll build this skipjack and name it after my stepson.  Then the family biggie:  a Gloucester fishing schooner named after my father.  (I've already got a tugboat named after my wife.)

All this points up a fact that, I'm afraid, few ship modelers have noticed.  The HO railroad hobby has lots of enthusiasts who demand very high-quality, highly detailed merchandise, a surprising amount of which is applicable to ship models.

My local hardware store just added Midwest wood to its offerings.  Now I don't have to spend half an hour driving to LHS, I can just pop over to my hardware store!

Midwest is still in business.  They got rid of their larger r/c boat line a few years ago:  USCG 47' Motor Lifeboat; Cranberry Isle Lobster Yacht; Patriot  Fireboat; Liberty Tug; Tug SEGUIN (39" loa), and a few others.  At the LHS where I work, today's freight included some Midwest Products items; clear dope, dope thinner, and a couple of boat kits.

Is Midwest still in business? I'd heard that perhaps they were not and anything available is residual stocks...

Thank you, John, I will certainly check that kit out. Thanks for the info.

Lee

Edit:

Wow, the Model Shipways skipjack is the real deal, thanks again!

I have the Midwest Skipjack; I bought it for practically nothing at our model club's annual auction a couple of years ago.

It's a nice kit - intended primarily for newcomers to the hobby.  It represents a nineteenth-century boat, without the gas-powered dredge winders that later became almost universal.   It doesn't have a lot of detail, but neither did the real thing.

Most of the kit consists of basswood, with birch for the spars.  There are few fittings; the only ones that are at all fancy are the blocks and deadeyes, which are cast plastic (some slightly flexible stuff - not bad).  The instructions are superb, guiding the neophyte every step of the way.  Recommended.

If you're really into skipjacks, though, the kit to investigate is the one from Model Shipways ( http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=MS2032 ).  This one is a real, detailed scale model.  Lots of britannia castings, and a first-rate set of plans (by Ben Lankford) that, as the manufacturer advertises, probably could be used to build a full-sized Skipjacket.  my late friend Marvin Bryant and I collaborated on a model based on this kit; the result is now in the Mariners' Museum, in the Chesapeake Bay gallery.  Very highly recommended.

I've got two of their kits in the stash, both rowboats/dinghys.  I've built two, gave one as a present.  They are GREAT kits.  Easy to assemble and they make you look good as a modeler.

Thanks, guys, this is what I wanted to hear.

Lee

The ones I built had photographs in the instruction manual too. I have long recommended Midwest kits to folks as a good way to get started in ship modeling, but they can also be made into really fine models by the more experienced.

Another neat thing about them is that the wood is pre-cut.  No spiling needed to shape planks (although the ships/boats they offer do not have an inordinate number of planks.

As you might expect from a company whose origins were in balsa and basswood supplies, the quality of the wood is really great.

I've built a few of their kits, and liked building them.  The instruction manuals have little square boxes so you can check off the steps as you complete them.   The drawings in the instruction manuals are clear and easy to understand.