Model Shipways Sultana 1767 Colonial Schooner finally completed !!

Donnie,

 

That looks great! Nice job. I am looking forward to your progress on the Phantom. 

Donnie, the last several posts in your "group build" thread seem to suggest that you - and several other participants - have been getting a little discouraged about this project.  The photos tell us that you shouldn't feel that way.  This is a nice, impressive, model; it's hard to believe that it's anybody's first effort in wood ship modeling. 

Any self-respecting modeler sees things in his work that he could have done better; that's what makes people stay in the hobby.  Building a wood ship model takes a fair amount of time - so much time that it's almost inevitable that the stuff you did in the beginning doesn't represent the skills you have when you're finished.  But the fact that you think you can do better next time doesn't mean this one isn't good.  It's a fine, attractive model; you should be proud of it.  If building it has taught you, and the other participants, something about how to make your next models better - well, that's how such things are supposed to work.  Well done.

Mr. John Tilley,

that puts a huge smile on my face to read your post !  Thanks a million for your compliments. Coming from you, this really boost my spirits a great deal. I do not want to minimize others that have complimented either.  I honestly owe it to you John and others that have help me along the way.  I think that it does take years of reading and learning to develope a skill set towards this great craft!

Donnie

 

Maybe my imagination works too much but, the overall shape of Sultana seemed to resemble alot to the Aurora/Smer Black Falcon pirate ship kit

Donnie, Nice work, as always!  Keep it up.

 Paul

 

kapudan_emir_effendi wrote:

Maybe my imagination works too much but, the overall shape of Sultana seemed to resemble alot to the Aurora/Smer Black Falcon pirate ship kit

You know, you're right - I might use the Sultana as the basis for kitbashing the "Black Falcon".
Maybe Aurora used a similar vessel as the inspiration for their kit.
 
To Donnie - your finished model is a very nice piece of work. What scale is it?
 

 

 

Hmmm....The Sultana has been a rather popular modeling subject since Howard I. Chapelle published a set of plans from her (traced from the Admiralty drawings made after she was taken into Royal Navy service) in his book, The History of American Sailing Ships, which was first published in 1936.  Chapelle himself drew the plans for the first release of the Model Shipways kit; he was a good friend of the two gents who owned the company.  I think the kit made its first appearance in the early sixties - though I could be mistaken about that.

If I'm right, though, the Aurora "Black Falcon" hit the market before the MS Sultana did.  I have no idea what the Aurora designers used as a basis for that kit.  It has a vaguely generic eighteenth-century look to it, though I have some doubts about the shape of the after hull.  (I should emphasize that any comments I can make about that kit are based on memories of having built it about 35 years ago, and on the most interesting photos that have been posted in this Forum recently.)  Since the Sultana also has a fairly typical mid-eighteenth-century hull shape, there is indeed some similarity.  There also, however, are some big differences.  The "Black Falcon" has a fully raised forecastle and quarterdeck - raised so high that, if I remember correctly, they have gunports underneath them.  The Sultana's forecastle and quarterdeck are, at most, a foot tall.  And she doesn't have any gunports, like the Aurora kit does.  It looks to me like the Aurora designers were trying to represent a considerably larger vessel.

EPinniger - if you've been bitten by the sailing ship bug and want to tackle another eighteenth-century subject, my suggestion is to take the plunge and order a Sultana kit.  I think Donnie will confirm that the gulf between plastic and wood ship modeling isn't as big as some people seem to think.

jtilley wrote:

EPinniger - if you've been bitten by the sailing ship bug and want to tackle another eighteenth-century subject, my suggestion is to take the plunge and order a Sultana kit.  I think Donnie will confirm that the gulf between plastic and wood ship modeling isn't as big as some people seem to think.

Thanks for the advice - however, though I can admire the workmanship in wooden ship models, I don't have any plans to start building in this material myself.
Building one of these wooden kits seems to be not too far from scratchbuilding (comparable to the "semi-kits" sold by manufacturers like Sirmar and Fleetscale for R/C ship models), and whilst I'm a great fan of scratchbuilding (I have more scratchbuilt ships on the workbench at the minute than kits!) sailing ships are definitely a secondary interest, and I'm not sure I could be motivated to build one of these wooden kits from start to finish - which looks, from reading the Sultana GB thread, to be a very painstaking and time-consuming job (I also have no experience of working with wood at all). Powered ships (particularly warships from the mid 19th century to WW2) are and will probably always be my main interest.
I think have more than enough plastic sailing ships in my stash (at least 15-20) to keep me going for a while! As I have mentioned previously, I'll be building the clipper "Sea Witch" next, also I am planning on building the Pyro "Bomb Ketch" (a Royal Navy bomb/mortar vessel); both of these will be improved with scratchbuilt and spares-box details.

Price is also an issue - even the cheapest wooden ship kits (not counting those from "HECEPOB" manufacturers) seem to be close to the upper limit (£40-50) I'm prepared to pay for a kit (there have only been a handful of kits I've bought that have cost this much - Flower-class corvette, USS Kearsarge and 1/250 Yamato - and I'm thinking of buying the Italeri 1/35 PT boat in future). I don't think I've paid more than £10-15 for any of my plastic sailing ship kits.
However, if I do ever see a cheap second-hand wooden kit at a model show, from a decent manufacturer, I will certainly consider buying it to try working in this material!

Apologies for possibly derailing the thread with my long post - I just thought I should explain why wooden kits don't have much appeal to me. It's something I might try in the future, but I certainly don't have any immediate plans to build any wood ship kits. 

Hi Donnie,

Sultana looks beautiful, you've done an excellent job. If this is your first wood ship, we can only imagine how fine the next one will be, congratulations. I especially like the planking and the convincing tone of the hull sides. The rigging is terrific.

Sultana's a smart little vessel. She's also pretty ubiquitous! A friend gave me several old copies of Ships in Scale magazine and Sultana is all over them. Your build is right up to par, too.

Skills develop over the course of a first or second build. Probably every build one does, in fact. I've finished the parrells on my Revell Mayflower, trying different methods. I didnt get the knack until the fourth, and the fifth just went like cake. I guess its just part of the process.

Keep up the good work, she looks excellent.

EPinniger wrote:

kapudan_emir_effendi wrote: Maybe my imagination works too much but, the overall shape of Sultana seemed to resemble alot to the Aurora/Smer Black Falcon pirate ship kit You know, you're right - I might use the Sultana as the basis for kitbashing the "Black Falcon". Maybe Aurora used a similar vessel as the inspiration for their kit.   To Donnie - your finished model is a very nice piece of work. What scale is it?

I knew that EP would share my idea, it seems that we have a similar way to look towards ship

However, kitbashing Black Falcon is a very extensive project I think. The hull needs to be heavily altered; including closing all the gunports, shortening fore and aftercastles and complete restructuring of the bow. The decks are totally useless and have to built out of scratch. It's, in short, a 3/4 scratchbuilt project though it would be real fun.

Donnie,

 

Your Sultana looks really good.  Fantastic considering it was your first solid hull kit.  These solid hulls require some getting used to.  You should be proud of your work and I do hope you will try another wooden kit.  If I remember correctly you had mentioned that you build primarily plastic kits.  I am sure that your first plastic kit or two wasnt perfect either and the learning curve with wood takes a similar amount of time.  What type and era of ships are you most interested in.  If you want some suggestions on potential next projects let me know.  Solid hull or not.

 Keep up the good work and I really enjoyed watching your progress and seeing the solutions to your challenges as they occurred.

Chuck

I edited this post instead of making a new one. Hope this doesn't irritate anyone. I added the final pics. 

Donnie 

Congrats on finishing a very fine build.

I wish I could have joined you.

Regards,

Scott

Thank you everyone for your kind words and compliments. I gained alot of knowledge thru this forum and the encouragement from others. I hope that I can repay to others of the help that I have received here.

Donnie 

Donnie,

She looks fantastic! 

You really did a very fine job. I hope my wooden ship model turns out as well. :-D

Regards,