Why are there so few resin/multimedia kits of sailing vessels?

This is indeed an idea that deserves further attention from the manufacturers. 

A few years ago Model Shipways reissued one of its old solid-hull wood kits, the New York pilot schooner Phantom, with a cast-resin hull.  All the other components were unchanged from the original; the spars were birch, the fittings cast britannia metal, and basswood stock was supplied for such things as the keel, rudder, and deck furniture.  Also included was a roll of adhesive-backed copper tape for plating the hull.  I thought that was an interesting idea, and bought one.  (The price, if I remember correctly, was in the neighborhood of $50.00.)

The resin hull had some problems, but generally I was impresse  d with it and I'm pretty pleased with how the model turned out.  (Here's a link to some pictures:  http://www.hmsvictoryscalemodels.be/johntilleygallery.htm  .)

My conclusion was that some bugs needed to be worked out of the idea, but that Model Shipways was on the right track.  Apparently not many other people felt that way about it.  A few months after I bought mine, the company took the kit off the market.  Since then it's been reissued with a solid basswood hull again.

Bluejacket (www.bluejacketinc.com) makes a couple of resin-hull sailing vessels in a small line that's intended largely to appeal to model railroaders.  For a while that company was selling a pair of nice-looking, resin-hulled America's Cup racing yachts from the 1930s; they got discontinued a year or two ago.  I guess they didn't sell well either.  Just recently a company with the appropriate name Cottage Industry Models (www.cottage-industry-models.com) introduced a resin-hull model of a Morris-class American revenue cutter; I haven't seen it, but on the basis of photos it looks nice.  And a while back a German member of this forum gave us a link to a German company (whose name I confess I've forgotten) that offers a few resin-hull kits representing very interesting northern European vessels.  I haven't seen those kits in the flesh either but the company's literature was impressive. 

I don't know just what the problem is - beyond the fact that sailing ship modelers (a) aren't very numerous, and (b) tend to be extreme traditionalists.  Many - probably most - of them have yet to accept that plastic sailing ship kits are "legitimate."  (I recently talked to a veteran sailing ship modeler who told me, only semi-facetiously, that his reaction when he saw a plastic kit was to hang a sack of garlic around his neck and reach for the nearest cross.) 

Here's hoping that little revenue cutter sells well - and that other manufacturers will realize what potential there is here.

It's maybe not a "true" sailing ship, but the Lone Star Models CSS Tallahassee http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/misc/monitor/tallahassee-192-ph/css-index.html is an example of a resin kit of a ship from the "steam and sail" era.

I think you can sum it up in one word - Demand. Just look at the local hobby shop I started using when I got back into modeling a little over a year ago - in the front window she had one of the hugeeeeeeeeeee Revell USS Constitution kits, and it's still there.

I'd run across that Cottage Industries 1/96th kit, and that's sort of what I mean. And at some point I'll probably tackle one of Blue Water Navy's HO (1/87th scale) kits.

I think what scares off modelers from tackling sailing vessels is the huge investment in time. For the hours spent on building one decent three-master, you can do a whole squadron of warplanes or even several 1/350 or 1/700 styrene destroyers/cruisers/battleships.

And, following up on John Tilley's idea that the way to hook modelers on building ships depends on having accurate models which are easy, quick builds, I would think smaller scale vessels in multimedia kits would be ideal.

It's probably a chicken-and-egg problem. Too bad.

 

I've always contended that the smartest way to break into the hobby is with a relatively small ship in a relatively large scale.  Time is indeed one major intimidating factor that drives modelers away from sailing ships.  Another is repetition.  A kit like the Model Shiways Sultana or Phantom involves relatively little repetition, and because the scales are relatively large such things as ratlines and deadeyes are relatively easy to deal with.  Elsewhere in this Forum several folks are taking part in a "Sultana group build."  That kit, to my notion, is just about the best on the market for the purpose:  a beautiful, historically interesting little ship that can be successfully completed by a moderately-skilled modeler in a few weeks.

beyond the fact that sailing ship modelers (a) aren't very numerous, and (b) tend to be extreme traditionalists.  Many - probably most - of them have yet to accept that plastic sailing ship kits are "legitimate."

   I suspect Prof. Tilley put his finger squarely on the problem. One of the reasons I kept hanging around here, is that there aren't a lot of places for modelers who build sailing ships, in plastic ! One of the other issues is that most modelers, that I know, don't have much experience with resin kits, myself included ! I've built a Westerfield (HO rolling stock) kit, and have a Bluejacket "Friendship Sloop", under construction. I have seen some large scale resin kits, and I wasn't too impressed. Because of shrinkage, in the mold, it gets hard to make all the pieces fit well. Finally, sailing ships are fairly complex things to model. If you see a poorly rigged plastic model, it looks....uninspiring. If you see a well rigged plastic(wood, resin,etc.) model, it looks.....overwhelming. It's hard to get someone to spend their money on something when they believe "I could never do that!" Yes you can ! you just need guidance, and encouragement, and a little patience.

    I also think alot of this has to do with " tradition ". Sailing ship models almost exclusively in the past were built by sailors , out of wood, as a suppliment to there income while in port. The ships were beautiful and accurate because they were made by the men who sailed them. Today, the plastic ships are made as a "hobby " by a bunch of guys who ,most likely , have never been to sea and the kits are really aimed at kids. The traditionalists probably find the plastic kits an affront to the tradition and that`s why you don`t see new kits of sailing ships  ........  because the "real " ship model makers , make their ships from scratch, from their own set of plans and plastic is unacceptable. Plastic is for kids !!  The problem is that we "kids" grew up and still love the hobby and would like to expand on what we do. We don`t really have the time or skill for a scatchbuilt ship and we want new subjects to work on. How about a kit of the "Balclutha " that`s in San Francisco. I would love to see that !!!! Are you listening Revell ????

jtilley wrote:

And a while back a German member of this forum gave us a link to a German company (whose name I confess I've forgotten) that offers a few resin-hull kits representing very interesting northern European vessels.  I haven't seen those kits in the flesh either but the company's literature was impressive.

The company name was Artitec and producess models for rail-roads.  That is the reason why the ships are 1:87 if I remember correctly.

However, I am not sure anymore whether I would by such a resin-kit from Artitec. The Utrecht Statenjacht looks incredible (see www.moduni.de) but I red somewhere some negative comments about that particular kit: a) the masts are useless b) and what irritates me most:  the poster mentioned that working with resin is by far the most complicate task in model building since resin is very, very brittle and getting parts out of the sprue without breaking or damaging them is nearly impossible. He also mentioned that working with resin is a detrimental undertaking and one must wear a face-mask.

regards,
Kater Felix

Hi, Kater --

Actually, working with resin in my experience is about as easy as working with styrene. But it is different.

It is, indeed, brittle. So one uses very fine files and a deft touch when reshaping resin parts.

Extracting parts from pour stubs can be a nuisance. But once one masters the techniques, doing so is not much more time-consuming than carefully nipping styrene parts from sprues, then smoothing out the nip-points.

And resin dust can irritate the lungs. To prevent it, you sand and file with water. Then you use acetone to dehydrate files (which can rust). I have a big Mason jar which seals tightly. It's two-thirds filled with acetone. I just chuck the files into the jar, give it a shake, then extract the files the next day and clean any remaining resin goo with a few swipes of a brass brush.

If those masts were cast in resin, then that's bad kit engineering, not a fault of resin per se.

In my experience, working with resin is no more difficult that working with styrene, once one masters the techniques.

This may be a bit late, but I'm building Artitec's Staatenjacht Utrecht, and its an incredible model. I'm not really into eighteenth century yachts, but the level of quality I saw in Artitec's Texel diorama was so sensational I really wanted to build one of their kits. An image of the yacht can be seen here:

http://nsinmodel.com/4schepen/artitec/118.jpg

The challenges of resin are all there, but with normal care it performs as readily as styrene or any other material. The castings must be carefully cut from their molds, with normal cleanup. The hull itself is a single peice solid resin casting, with the finest detail I have ever seen, not only on the exterior but also interior hull sides. The carved sculptures - allegories of Neptune bestowing the bounties of the sea upon Utrecht - are magnificent. Artitec also provides duplicate castings of particularly fragile parts, like the upper head rails, which is very good to have.

Etched brass is provided for the metal fittings, such as the lantern bracket, pins, chains, and so on, while the lantern is cast in clear resin. The windows are clear plastic with the fenestration printed on them. Sails are provided on a paper sheet, with a separate tissue sheet for anyone wishing to use that. I wonder if the sails can be tinted with appropriate tones of sail-like color, scanned and then printed onto the tissue. All of this allows an extremely fine level of detail which is necessary in a 1:87 scale kit.

There are only two challenges worth noting. First, the instructions are in Dutch, but have clear and readily understandable illustrations. More significantly, bearing in mind Professor Tilley's thoughts, the masts are resin. The quality of the resin is fine and may resist sagging, but it may also be a good idea to substitute wooden masts as a precaution. Fortunately the mast construction is very simple and easily accomplished.

A full size replica of the 1746 yacht has been built in Utrecht, and I've found this to be very helpful for information about various details. I think Artitec's model was released in conjunction with the construction of the replica. Information about the replica can be found here:

http://www.statenjacht.nl/links/overig.htm

The yacht is no longer listed on Artitec's website, but I found a few distributers that still have them. Now if only I could get one of the Texel ships . . . .

Size has always been an issue with me. 1/700 is OK if you have quite a few kits and space is a premium. I would like to build 1/96th scale because they can be more detailed and my older eyes and fingers do better with them but there is no place for me to put many of those giants. I think they could make a detailed three master about the length of a keyboard. Have a PE set, slide molding and resin parts included. I would include a sheet of wooden decking about as thick as a heavy grade of paper. Copper foil could be included to burnish on the hull. About 5 different thicknesses of lines should be included. I would love to do a USS Constitution done this way.