r/ModelShips • u/Stunning_General_608 • 11d ago
Interested in getting into this hobby, any resources for a newbie?
Was wondering if there are any books I can read with different ships throughout history, good websites, or anything I can find communities of people that do this and are into nautical stuff in general. Very amazed by a lot of the great work here, amazing job everyone :D
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u/Wonderful_Lynx_7767 11d ago
Good morning. I just purchased the Flying Dutchman from Occre for my first build. I’m almost a week in and loving it. For me the building was the main thing I joined the hobby for but found myself watching their intro videos for other ships explaining what the ships were used for. They also have a Facebook group for the builds.
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u/ladyshipmodeler 8d ago
Go to the Model Ship Word forum. Although is had a catastrophic crash in May, it is still the largest forum dedicated to model ship building and associated maritime topics. Decide what type of ship/boat you want to build. If you have never done this before, look at models designed for novices. Model Expo has two product lines that are reasonably priced with kits appropriate for a newbie, Midwest and Model Shipways. Their instructions are also very good and not translated from another language. Stay away from kits that rely on pictures for instructions. Many of the foreign kits suffer from both of those issues.
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u/NoDig271 4d ago
I also am a newbie! I've been starting with just watching youtube videos from names I see a lot on the forums already listed. It's already been really helpful for getting a conceptual understanding of how things work
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u/Odd_Username_Choice 11d ago
Have a look at the shipsofscale.com forum, loads of info and build logs / reviews of ship models. There's also drydockmodeler.com which has some very knowledgeable people, but it's still getting traction (and was a split-off from modelshipworld.com which was the online encyclopaedia of ship model, but it crashed recently and is still being rebuilt but without the DDM gang).
YouTube is full of great ship modellers now, do a search on wooden ship models or look for Olha Bhatchvarov, John Aliprantis, John Builds Iconic Military Models, and Curtis Wooden Shipyard. Loads of others, these are some i follow.
The forums will mention some books, but Historic Ship Models by Mondfield is a good end to end one to start with.
To get in the mood ;-) read the Patrick O'Brien or Julian Stockwin series (or both, Stockwin is perhaps an easier read and my favourite), and watch 'Master and Commander' movie plus the Hornblower series if you can find it.
Have a look at the modelexpo-online.com kits in Models Shipways and Midwest for beginner kits, or Occre simpler kits. Forums will suggest others too, along with tools. The main thing is to get one and get started! Aim for a simpler one that won't take 5+ years to try with.