In Ship Modeling Simplified, master model builder Frank Mastini puts to paper the methods he's developed over 30 years at the workbench to help novices take their first steps in an exciting pastime. You don't need the deftness of a surgeon or the vocabulary of an old salt to build a model. What you need is an understanding coach. Mastini leads readers from the mysteries of choosing a kit and setting up a workshop through deciphering complicated instructions and on to painting, decorating, and displaying finished models--with patience and clarity, not condescension. He reveals dozens of shortcuts: How to plank a hull "egg-shell tight"; how to build and rig complicated mast assmeblies without profanity; how to create sails that look like sails. . . . And along the way he points out things that beginners usually do wrong--beforehand, not after they've taken hammers to their projects. Ship Modeling Simplified even includes an Italian-English dictionary of nautical terms, the key to assembling the many high-quality Italian kits on the American market. Model building is fun, and not nearly as difficult as some experts would have you believe. Here is everything you'll ever need to get started in a hobby that will last a lifetime.

The skipjack is one of the best working boats. Now Steve Rogers offers a guide for building a model skipjack, leading the craftsperson step-by-step through the process. The result is a beautiful boat in full sail. The model is in 1/2" scale, based on a skipjack that is 45 feet on deck with a 15 foot beam. Drawings, patterns, jigs, and accessories are all detailed. Everything is illustrated in clear color photographs.

Learn the skills necessary to successfully create an accurate model boat from scratch, including structural elements, paper model renderings, hull features, and mechanical drawings. This book takes the reader through all the steps necessary to create one model boat based on the "Annie Buck," an actual Chesapeake Bay "Deadrise" workboat. Based on all readers learn here, they will be able to apply the design techniques and theories to successfully create models of other boats that appeal to them. In fact, the detailed text also explains how to read marine drawings for reference and describes the tools and techniques needed to successfully execute bulkhead and lift building theory. For inspiration, a gallery of finished models includes Coronados, cruisers, and trawlers. This book will prove its worth to modelers everywhere.

Building a model from a kit is an excellent way to develop your modeling skills. But once you've mastered the basics, where do you go? If you're looking for a challenge, you move on to scratchbuilding. And that can be imposing: With a kit, you worked with someone else's plans, materials, and building instructions. Scratchbuilding makes you master of your own fate. You do the research, choose the subject, the scale, the material. The choices are limited only by your enthusiasm. Edwin B. Leaf scratchbuilt his first model--a Baltimore clipper--nearly fifty years ago, and he's been refining and building on his skills ever since. In Ship Modeling from Scratch he lays out the principles--from concept to construction to display--on which scratchbuilding is based. In clear, concise language complemented by detailed illustrations he tells how to interpret existing drawings or create your own, what materials to choose, what tools to buy, and what techniques to use to build everything from plank-on-frame, plank-on-bulkhead, or modern steel hulls to creating sharp and properly scaled details--paint to portholes. Building a model from scratch is a singular pursuit that requires patience, confidence, and ingenuity. With Ship Modeling from Scratch open on your workbench, you have your own private tutor guiding you through the troublespots. Ship Modeling from Scratch expands the horizon of any kit builder looking for a challenge, including choosing the right subject finding and interpreting historical material building from plans drawing scaled plans from photographs buying tools and materials building everything from half models to plank-on-frame or plank-on-bulkhead versions of traditional sailing craft to modern steel cargo ships painting and displaying your model

The United States and Europe. Whether you're a beginner or an expert, and whether you have hours to spend on a project or years, you'll find money- and time-saving ideas on every page. Book jacket.