Model ship building

[Hummingbird4U]

Although i have not got around to doing it for years, I enjoy building boats.

because wooden boats kits are very expensive to buy I build them another way.

I buy a plastic kit about where the hull is about 12 to 15 inches long and I scale it up by 1/3 or half. (once I did a riverboate {remote controled 8x scale} then I make the parts from wood. I use winding copper wire to streghten the joints and lots of string (old ships use lots of rope) I carve the hull out of cedar being as it is a soft wood and balsa wood is too expensive. I buy the ancors as they are hard to make. As for the trimmings like lanterns and other stuff I shop at yard sales and that sort for jewlery. Two hollow earings shaped like gold balls make great port and starboard lanterns when you wire in tiny lights in them. Sails of course are made of linen again found at yard sales. Anyway I enjoy it and usually takes me a few months to finish. PS the Robert-E-Lee river boat took me and my son over a years to complete and sail in the small ponds around our home.