Your preferred field in ship modelling

[shipbuilder]

Please choose from the following list, and qualify with the type of ship (sail or steam powered) and the date era of your preferred field, and anything else that may be relevant.
As I set up the poll, I am not going to vote in it. It is just to give us all some idea of what is most popular.
With four options, you have plenty of flexibility.
Bob

 

[Bryian]

you forgot to list plank on frame models Bob.

 

[shipbuilder]

Yes I did - thanks. I have now added it!
Bob

 

[GemmaJF]

Pirate ships are winning! (only kidding).

Good idea Bob.

I wonder how defined the lines are? I think you did well to say preferred as many of us will probably dabble with different subjects.

 

[shipbuilder]

Of the ones voted for at the moment, all equal But this does not give a true picture of what collectors want to purchase, because I get the greatest demand for passenger liners, commercial cargo ships, and commercial sailing ships, and they have not received any votes at all so far!
I suspect that very few members will even bother to vote - it remains to be seen!
Bob

 

[GemmaJF]

You might be right Bob, 44 members had viewed when I voted, and it looks like a couple of us took the time to vote.

 

[GemmaJF]

But this does not give a true picture of what collectors want to purchase, because I get the greatest demand for passenger liners, commercial cargo ships, and commercial sailing ships
Bob

Do you think this is a relevance thing Bob? That the people have some connection, relative worked on the ship or traveled on it and that creates a demand?

 

[shipbuilder]

Not at all. I haven't accepted private commissions for a number of years now. I just build whatever I feel like building, and someone then comes along and buys it. The usual comments are that they are completely fed up of seeing an endless stream Victory, Bounty, Cutty Sark and Titanic, models being offered in their thousands, and want something that no-one else has. Just look at the following that the model of Kaiser Wilhelm de Grosse has on MSW. 2,224 views a few minutes ago! And it was sunk over 100 years ago. (Passenger liner).
Bob

 

[shipbuilder]

Here are a few of the models that I have built over the past 24 years! Only a couple of warships, the rest are commerical ships, sail, steam, diesel. Coasters, tankers, tramp steamers, cargo liners passenger liners, sailing ships two to six masts, square-riggers, schooners, ketches etc. All types of models that ship model builders like to keep well clear of, but which collectors all over the world love to get their hands on! :banana-dance:
All very colourful and attractive. Yet when I take them to the local ship model club, I am lucky if anyone even notices them! :lol:
Bob

 

[shipbuilder]

Well, my poll was as I expected, a bit of a "damp squib" :lol: 117 views and five votes!
Bob

 

[trippwj]

I much prefer commercial (merchant, fishing and so on) from the age of sail. I enjoy the POF style, but hate the hull planking. What a quandary! I have 3 builds (2 POB 1 POF) stuck at the hull planking - can't get my feeble mind around the geometry there! My closest to complete is a solid hull (Harriet Lane) which I have enjoyed, other than the small scale. Few guns, which is VERY good in my view - mix of rigging and steam. It ain't pretty, but as my first try I am rather pleased with it.

Now if I could only get past the planking....

P.S. I voted!
:banana-dance: :banana-dance:

 

[shipbuilder]

I you don't like planking (I don't either), then why not build models of iron or steel ships? Plating strakes can be put on very quickly, and I don't mean metal ones either. Paper can be used over a solid hull. You can just see the plating runs on this one. Scratchbuilt 25 feet to 1 inch (1:300)
Bob

 

[shipbuilder]

Here is a close-up.
Bob

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

total votes 13 the ruling class
178 views the active community
669 members the masses Q public

i looked at this and it is the same ratio in just about every forum and site. The silent majority must be content and happy i hear no grumbling in the masses.

 

[Bryian]

I think I voted twice by mistake.

 

[shipbuilder]

I don't think you can! But when I added the two sections on plank on frame, the whole poll reset to zero, so I added your two votes that had disappered, to put it right! That must have opened it again to allow you to vote again, but it does not make a great deal of difference, because hardly anyone is voting anyway, so it is pretty inconclusive!
Bob

 

[GemmaJF]

I'm going to join up as 3 different people and vote up the pirate ships. :lol:

I thought it was useful though, only me interested in pirate ships, I suspected it could be the case. It is likely I will find more interest in the pirate ships outside of the hobby, not ship builders but perhaps people who just go mad or anything pirate related and there are plenty to be found. I like that though, it is an indication we are all unique individuals on here doing our thing and not just following the crowd :handgestures-thumbup:

 

[shipbuilder]

The poll doesn't mean a thing when it comes to selling them. Passenger liners have not got a single vote only because they are a pain-in-the-neck to build, and ship model builders generally do not like building them! But the demand for them is insatiable, and they are probably the easiest of all to sell! Those interested in pirate ships would probably be fans of the pirate films, who have no interest in orther types of vessel. They would probably sell quite well, if they could be produced fast enough, at quite low prices!
Bob

 

[GemmaJF]

Yep, I could see the Pirate's Bay (name changed as cove has been used several times already) being more a showcase of the little pirate sloops I build, no kits, just finished ships and pirate fans buying them.

There may be some among them who could stretch to purchasing a large model of the QAR, perhaps for their reenactment group or something like that. I know many pirate fans are following exactly the same lines of research as me, so they will 'get it' while others may dismiss my efforts to recreate the QAR.

 

[Bryian]

plank on frame wins. Thats wonderful.