John F. Smith, Eugene, Oregon
John built Model Shipways’ 1/48 scale “Armed Virginia Sloop” to depict a Revolutionary War privateer. He replaced the kit-supplied rigging line with Morope “All knots on the model are authentic reproductions of the actual knots used on the real vessels,” he says. He brush-painted with acrylics and finished with clear coatings of Minwax. “It was an appropriate first kit for the skills of a beginning wooden ship modeler,” he says.