Completed Ship Model Kits

This is the 4th kit I have built. I started this model in September of 2025 and finished in May of 2026. I used this kit as my introduction to designing and printing 3d printed parts. All of the rigging blocks, swivel guns, cannon carriages, stern decorations and more were redesigned by me and printed out on my resin printer. These STL files can be found in the STL Library in the DDM Subforum.

This is the third wooden ship model kit I built. I built this from April 2025 - September 2025.

This is the second wooden model kit I put together. I built this model from May 2024 - April 2025. I attribute my addiction to this hobby to this kit.

My first wooden shipmodel. I made a few modifications to the kit, most importantly the sails. I am very pleased with the outcome and learned a lot during the build.

Posting finals of my first build

A modified build of the Higaki Kaisan kit from the Japanese company, WoodyJoe . Most of the wood provided in the kit was Hinoki cypress; I replaced the deck hatches with Swiss Pear. There were no instructions for the sail or its rigging so I did some research for Japanese archival photos which gave me enough information to make a reasonable guess on the configuration of the one large sail and its management lines.

I've included a couple photos of the full size replica ship displayed in a Japanese museum.

The instructions were in Japanese only but the illustrations were good enough to follow. To build the unique hull that had nothing in common with European practices or design, the kit provided clever jigs to hold pieces together while the glue set-up. The finish on all wood was WipeOn Poly natural stain to preserve the unique colors.

The diorama was my first at replicating not only the shoreline seascape but the shoreline terrain and landscaping. I was lucky to find period and scale accurate Japanese figures in the U.K. The figures are nicely cast metal that I painted from Japanese historical reference illustrations I was able to source. The Edo time period was when the various Shogunates controlled the island's fiefs.

In the diorama's depiction, sailors are offloading bales of rice to a seaside village. The rice comes from one of the lower islands in the archipelago's 1,500 km chain. In exchange for the rice, the northernmost islands traded fish for not only comestibles but fertilizer - for growing - you guessed, rice.

The name of the vessel in Japanese characters means Musician Ship ; my fun naming pun. The characters on the ship's vertical pennant I believe are accurate (or so, "AI" says... 😁 ).

The base molding "wave" pattern is machine carved and acquired from an architectural millworker company. It was little tricky to match-up the mitered corners, but the flow of 3 out of four joins was the best I was going to obtain without purchasing another expensive 94" length. I learned that this measurement was the maximum UPS would handle.

I've always loved double-ended workboats, so I did a quick build of the Midwest kit. A pretty nice kit, overall.

This is the first ship model I built many years ago. It was a gift. I'd been a woodworker all of my life and had a love affair with the sea, wooden ships, and 18th century naval warfare. So, family bought me this kit. I fairly quickly stopped using the kit parts, at least for most of the wooden structure, and sustituted parts I fabricated myself. There are a lot of mistakes, but, overall, I think it came out okay. I didn't take many pictures, but here's what I've got.

"Dr. Paul" built the Vanguard Models kit, added several scaled figures from Korabel , a Ukrainian aftermarket supplier of 3D ship modeling figures and other components. Friend & colleague, Ron Neilson, assisted him with his sail making and created the seascape presentation.

This kit was an "attic find" from friends. And it was a fun project that I ultimately enjoyed for 3 winters long.

This old kit is very basic. Until a few years ago, military model building was my main hobby. And this was an ideal and cheap opportunity to test whether building plastic ships and adding extra detail was something for me.
It was fun, but a one-off; I prefer wood.

Two figures from the kit are used as "Inspection in dry dock when build".
The shipwright explains in detail to the navy official in charge that he has built quite a good ship. A bottle of rum is, of course, available to secure the man's favorable opinion...
Build log

This was my second Chuck Passaro designed model purchased from Model Shipways (the first being USS Syren). I upgraded all kit wood from basswood to boxwood in 2014. This is my only model completed in "Admiralty Board style" (without tophamper, but with mast stubs). Leaving the brass chains "bright" (not blackened) was intentional; belaying pins also left bright. I wanted a more substantial presentation for this beautiful model so I machined large brass pedestals with thin decorative paint lines and for additional support, added the modified large brass lamp "harp" which I used to cradle the model midships. To add additional interest, I added an engraved compass with the ship's nomenclature. The rosewood colored base is routed bubinga wood which burned out a tungsten router bit because the exotic wood was so hard.

An excellent kit and challenging build from 2018/19. A bashed kit of the Pegasus, same class 6th Rate. I even fashioned a swan for her figurehead. This was my first attempt to create realistic working sails and to present my model in a seascape setting. I also cut my rigging teeth on this one.

A substantially modified Caldercraft kit of the HMS Agamemnon , my first large-scale rigged ship model built in 2014. The ship has a fascinating history and was the first of her " Ardent " Class. The "razeed" Indefatigable was a sister ship. Built as an English Royal Navy ship it was captured by the French after a disastrous encounter in the English Channel. Ardent later escorted 36 French Navy troop transports in 1780/81 to Virginia. This effort helped to deliver 14,000 French army troops to a ragtag Continental army, and marked the final blow to the British army occupying Yorktown, VA (the "Southern Strategy").

After this capitulation that temporarily ended the British/American War, she continued to sail under French Navy command to the Caribbean to engage the British and then...wait for it... was recaptured by the Royal Navy at the " Battle of The Saintes " and then re-commissioned as the HMS Tiger. When fully-complemented, it required 500 men to operate this warship.

As the technology dramatically shifted in the late 18th-C, the new, higher fire-powered "74's" with their carronades took over and the older 64's like the Ardent were relegated to blockade duty, escorting or became prison ships, laid-up in some dismal place.

I chose to depict my model with both a French and British ensign flying at her stern. The coppering on her hull has aged beautifully over the past dozen years. My build replaced the kit's mediocre wood with Swiss Pear planking along with a number of scratched deck furniture items made from cherry. The masts and all spars were scratch built from boxwood. I added battle chains to the course spars, bow enhancements like hawse bucklers and chains, anchor buoys, a cant wash and a lead gripe to the stem.

Lastly, the baseboard was made to simulate marble reminiscent of a turquoise Aegean Sea. The "marble" base is a color print mounted to ply and embellished with a custom routed profile base and molding with a thin brass perimeter insert. The supports are from Italian company, Mantua, I recall.

My second model ship build after the Syren. It's amazing that I'm still doing this hobby: the materials were 3 on a 1-10 scale. The instructions were 1. The kit did include a large drawing(noted in Italian) and I struggled through it, determined to make this interesting ship. There were no instructions on making the lateen sails so I wigged it. I recall dying handkerchief cotton fabric with RIT laundry dye.

This model still catches a viewer's eye. Sits on my fireplace mantle.

I took advantage of the morning light to share a slideshow with you. I had a great time building this original model, especially since I was able to find excellent documentation ( Mario Marzari & Gilberto Penzo), which gave me the opportunity to dip my toes into Italian. I made a few minor adaptations and additions. Overall, the kit is faithful to the reference material.

These are the completion photo’s of my Brig Harpy build constructed over an eight-month period from December 2024- August 2025.

This has been an interesting kit to make and one that has taken more time than I had initially imagined. For this build I displayed her with Lower standing rigging in place and the Topmasts lowered. The hull was coppered.

Boxwood was used to plank the upper and lower decks, and many modifications were made to the basic kit for my own satisfaction.

I had a lot of questions in my mind about certain details and fittings etc; for which there is scant information, and which remain unanswered.
Regardless of this she makes up into an attractive model, and one I am pleased to have.

The full log of my Harpy build may be found on MSW.

Maurice Wilcox
11/07/2026

HM Cutter Alert 1777 by Blue Ensign - Vanguard Models - 1:64
 
These are the completion photo’s of my Cutter Alert build constructed over a nine-month period and completed in March 2020.

Extensive modifications were made to the build including planking the hull clinker fashion. Boxwood was used for planking both hull and deck.

Rigging proved difficult given the many variations prevalent at the time, and the often-conflicting information given in reference sources.

The full log of my Alert build may be found on MSW.
 
Maurice Wilcox
12/07/2026
 
 
 
 

These are the completion photos of my ‘Indy’ build constructed over a 13-month period to May 2024.
I always intended to build this kit as a Navy board style model with stump masts and without rigging.
This signature kit by Chris Watton beautifully facilitates a Navy Board style build.
Boxwood has been used for the deck and part Hull planking. Most of the model construction is in Pearwood. 
The decks are largely un-planked to reveal the detail below.

The full build log of my ‘Indy’ may be found on MSW.
 
Maurice Wilcox
10/07/2026

English Pinnace
Scale: 1/2 inch = 1 foot/1:24          
by John Pocius

This is my build of the Model Shipways kit of the English Pinnace designed by Chuck Passaro.

I built the kit as a leader of a group build by eight Nautical Society of Oregon Model Shipwrights members.

I based the paint scheme on photos of a contemporary model that I found on the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich's website.

Recently completed diorama of an Algerine Class Minesweeper, HMS Michae l, as it appeared in May 1954 entering Marsamxett harbour, Malta.
Starling Models are based in the UK (Wales) and produce fine small WWII warships, mostly in 1/700 and some in 1/350 scale. Largely out of the box build, with some modification from the WWII fit of the kit to the appearance as at 1954.

These are the completion photos of my Sphinx build constructed over a 14-month period to October 2022.
I always intended to build this kit as a Navy board style model without masts or rigging.
This was facilitated by the excellent kit design by Chris Watton. The inclusion of scale deck beams, and full run decks unimpeded by bulkhead structures, made a Navy Board style an easy choice.
Some modification work was still necessary to the Quarter galleries and Great Cabin detail.

I used the Joseph Marshall paintings of Sphynx / Sphinx held by the Science Museum to guide my decoration of Sphinx.

I am grateful to Chuck Passaro of Syren who assisted me with the decorative panels on  Sphinx , and whose wonderful model of  Winchelsea  has provided much inspiration and ideas adopted on my own build.
 
The full build log of Sphinx may be found on MSW.
 
Maurice Wilcox
10/07/2026

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