Well, I have started my second build, the Benjamin Latham. It is a great ship but there is not much information and no practicum to speak of out there so I decided to start this thread. If you are building the Latham I'd love to see your progress, if you've previously built one, I'd love to pick your brain. Come aboard.
Mike

Is this a kit or are you scratch building it

Mike
P.S. I have a kit by Model Shipways. I have not started it yet since I have not done a plank on bulkhead model and I have quadzillion questions. (Also translated "Scared to death") If you have nothing else they have Plans and a good instruction book.
Fred

Fred,
I am building the Model Shipways kit. I was also scared to death of doing my first POB but I did finish the hull and have started deck planking. So I can help a little bit with the hull planking. The transom was the hardest but I got it 90% done and will finish it when I'm ready to put the main rail on. The way I look at it, more hands (and minds) are better than one so dig in and let's build it together!
Mike

Hey Mike, just looked at your most recent pictures of the Benjamin Latham. It sure looks good! I noticed some other posts in the scuttlebutt section about the BL; there must be a few other people working on it?
~Clay

Hi Clay!
Thanks. Planking the hull was a challenge for sure. It's coming together slowly but as we say, "rome wasn't built in a day." I have seen some other post regarding the BL and have tried to contact someone who was working on the rigging but didn't hear back from them. I started a shared projects thread and hope to attrack some folks. Like I said before, I miss the comraderie of working with a group like the Phantom.
By the way, how are you coming along? Any recent pictures?
Take care.
Mike

Mike,

Your Benjamin Latham is looking real good! The decking aft of the deck cabin is impressive. It looks like this kit allows for much greater detail (than the Phantom).

Yeah, I posted a couple of new pictures too, nothing special though.

~Clay

Hi Clay! Good to hear from you again. Yes, the larger scale definately lends itself to more detail. It is interesting that the decking instructions said to lay the decking parallel to the sides of the main cabin which forced me to either nib the planks along the center line or cut them to butt against each other. I chose to butt them together and although it may not be authentic it does make a cool pattern.
I'm kind of excited becuase I just received a reply from the Herreshoff Museum here in Bristol. I had asked them if they accepted "museum quality" models of Herreshoff designed boats and they said that they did. I told them that I was building a model of the Endeavor (the 1934 America's Cup J-boat defender) and wanted to donate it. They said that they didn't have a model of the Endeavor and were very interested in the idea. So I am starting to build the Amati kit (it is an entry level kit but has the sweetest lines) and it may "lay in state" at the museum for long after I'm dead. Not that I'm even close to being a master modeller, the prospect does excite me and will test my abilities.
Anyway, I'm going to send this and then go look at your latest photos. You must be getting close to completion. What are you going to build next?
Mike

Hi Mike - Glad to see you are also fan of the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol. My grand daughters insist I take them on a tour of that museum at least once a year. I'll be looking for your model the next time I visit
:cheers: Curt

Hi Curt,
It was a pretty cool visit. I met with the curator and he showed me a scrapbook exclusively of 1934 clippings about the America's Cup. Endeavor got beat (of course, the US won them all until recently) but there were some preety neat pictures. He also showed me a couple of books about J-boats and defenders as well so I was able to get some info that showed the kit to be innacurate in a couple of areas.
I envy you about your daughter...my youngest is 12 and if it does't concern horses, she could care less!
Mike

Mike

I'm now to this site and still pretty much trying to figure it out.

I see that you, like me have taken on the Latham as your second kit and you appear to be making fine progress.

I've been posting my work on the drydock log pages for a while and it can be found here:

http://www.drydockmodels.com/thedockyard/viewtopic.php?f=128&t=50

It looks as if we've struggled with similar issues although perhaps, I'm a bit ahead of you? None-the-less, I like the idea of making contact with someone actually working the same kit with whom I can trade questions and discoveries.

So far, I've enjoyed the kit although at times I find my progress painfully slow.

Regards

Jim

My Latham kit arrives tomorrow. I am definitely going to be burning up the bandwitch on that project you have posted Jim.

Mike, Hans and others

I've taken quite a bit of time on my Latham and although the results are certainly not uniform... I think we always see defects in retrospect... I have enjoyed it a lot.

I think the Latham is a great kit for a whole variety of reasons not the least being that she's a great looking ship.

The kit instructions are good, but not step by step by any means. I like the fact that they give information about both modeling technique and the actual historic construction. One word of warning, the plans that come with the ship include older wonderful drawings by Erick Ronnberg Jr. and newer, also good, drawings by Ben Lankford. There are subtile differences which have from time to time caused me trouble. Study first, glue second.

On the other hand, there is a great wealth of documentation on these ships to draw from. I've accumulated a fair library over the last couple years.

Finally, at 1:48 scale, there's room for lots of added detail and a chance to really attack scale construction. I'm having a ball.

I'd really like to hear (and see) how your projects are going and share hints, techniques and discoveries with fellow modelers. Thanks for opening the channel, let's keep it going.

Jim