Customer Reviews

Ship modeling: Simplified

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book provides very useful insights into planking a model ship from a kit. The book is better organized than many books on model ship building, but does not cover complete construction from start to finish, instead pinpointing specific areas of difficulty you are likely to encounter with a variety of models and kits. The book has several lists of tools and equipment for establishing beginner, intermediate, and advanced workspaces and also provides directions for designing several specialty tools that are quite useful. The illustrations throughout are very detailed.

After years of plastic and wooden airplane modeling, and having taken up sailing a while back, I decided I just HAD to build a wooden sailing ship, complete with planking, masting, rigging, the whole smash.

To avoid the frustrating (and expensive) experience of learn-by-doing in a new medium, I decided to seek out and purchase a library of "how to" books on the subject, and managed to drain several "boat bucks" (one boat buck = 100 regular bucks) from my bank account in assembling a library of the most highly recommended tomes on the subjects of construction, detailing, rigging, etc.

Each of the construction-related books I bought had something of value, but each was sadly lacking in describing the process clearly, and few had consistently clear photos and easily understood text. Most had slightly different ways of approaching the project, and none made me feel warm and fuzzy about turning an expensive box of wood strips, plans, and other bits and pieces into that masterpiece I still have no room to display (another story).

Mastini came the closest, with clear, simple, logical instructions, sharing his experience with loads of useful practical hints and tips along the way. The book is reasonably well organized, has clear photos and drawings that are near the related text (some authors/editors seem to take some perverse delight in describing a very complex procedure and then referring the reader to "figure 4" which is found some six or eight pages from the text.... Argghhh!) The book includes an Italian-English nautical dicationary and English glossary of terms, useful for the Italian kits whose English translation is weak or non existant. Can't comment on its usefulness yet, but it seems like a nice touch.

Anyway, to date, I have referred constantly to Mastini while assembling my Artesania Latina Harvey (hull construction, planking, bulwarks, decking, deck furniture). I like his plain, clear writing style, and the book has helped me avoid several major pitfals in the process, and helped me turn out a creditable first try so far.

There are only two knocks I can give it (both minor).

The first is that in each section, Mastini briefly outlines a series of steps to building the subject part of the boat. Cool! But... the text following the outline develops in a rather haphazard manner, not as an expansion of the outline. This caused me to continuously go back and forth between the text and the outline, trying to tie them together. Maybe I'm just too linear a thinker, but it was unnecessarily confusing, IMHO.

The second is not really a knock on the book, and applies to most of the books I purchased. It seems that most of the techniques look so simple on the printed page are much more difficult to accomplish with hands and tools :)

Perfect it ain't, but very good it is, and if I were to buy only one book for a project, this would be it.

Yup, this one right here. My wife got this for me! I just started in this hobby, and SHE buys the best book. Isn't that always the way.

Anyhow, this is a trememdous book about building wooden ship models. It's clear, easy to read, and makes perfect sense. You'll learn more in 10 minutes of reading then hours of weeding through any kit's instructions. Start right here, then move on. This is a must book for modeling, and also, it's just plain fun to read. Many of the questions you have right now can be answered by reading this book. It has really helped me get going.

Don't wait any longer. Get this book, then find yourself a ship to build. Go for it.

This book will help you through your first plank on frame model like no other will. If you follow the procedures here in you will succeed on your first try, and go on to enjoy the hobby.

This Book is of practical and direct use. Definitively it would recommend it for those that begin in the hobbie. It is simply a manual guided totally to obtain acceptable results without making the most common errors building a of wooden ship kit. I have bought several books of the topic but I remain with the impression that I should begin with this.

Over the past year or so, I've been tempted to adopt wooden ship building as a new hobby. I've modeled for years in other media (plastic, paper) and am also a woodworker, so it seemed like a good fit. Also, my son has been really getting into the Napoleonic wars and life in naval ships, so that was an added inducement. My typical method when becoming interested in something is to read anything I can about the subject. Consequently, I noticed on the net many references to this book and how good it is. So, I bought it.

After reading it, I understand much more about the whole process of building these model ships. The author is (was?) obviously very familiar with the process and had developed many techniques that worked for him. Would those same techniques work for someone else? Maybe...

One of the main problems for a novice looking to get in to this hobby is that the terminology of the time was unique and not necessarily logical. Nor, are the terms carried through to our own day. So, you have to put up with a fair amount of bewildering words. For instance, did you know that the Vangs connected the Gaff in the same way as a Stay?

My biggest two criticisms of the book is that the author used these terms repeatedly and that some of his techniques appear easy but are not. I suppose the use of the proper terms is a good thing, I just wish the approach would have been more descriptive - i.e. add more diagrams or a pictorial dictionary of the terms; this was started with the naming of the various sails and masts, but stopped there. As to the techniques mentioned, some of them were really set up to allow you to build one model after another - but I am not sure that I want to spend the time and money to build these fancy jigs when I might only build one model ship in my lifetime!

Another, more minor nit, is the loose organization of the logic flow in the book. At the beginning of each part, the author gives an overview of the flow. Unfortunately, in the body of the text, he then bounces around and does not necessarily follow his own order. Also, the overall sequence I think is flawed. The last two parts have you attach all the rigging and then add the various boats and their connections. But, in those models that I've seen it seems like adding the stuff on the deck would be easier to do before the rigging is all attached so you do not have to maneuver around that mass of fine wires.

Please do not take these criticisms as reasons not to buy the book. I thought I learned a lot from reading this brief book (only 115 pages). I am now looking at the actual model I purchased and can visualize a lot better what needs to be done and why it needs to be done in the order he recommends. So, I would concur that this is a good book - although not a great one.

November 2008 a time to be grateful..A warm follow up:

I wanted to thank all of my Dad's fans..he left a legacy, and I think about him everyday. I remember when he handed the autographed copy of his book to me saying "here's my legacy to you"...I miss him very much, but it's heartwarming to know that he is not forgotten. I recently was the proud recipient of the original Blue Nose model that is on the cover; how wonderful to have him so close to me...keep on working on those models everyone, it is a tribute to him and extremely fulfilling...

steph

July 13,2006

My Dad, wrote this book as a labor of the love and devotion of his talent to share with the world. He is considered by professionals and hobbyists as the greatest master of his craft.

He has been cited in articles all over the world and recently we were sent an article from a major Fla. newspaper concerning a model ship builder. The article made reference to my Dad's book as being the "Bible" of model ship building. It made my modest but gravely ill father smile. I hope you have all enjoyed his book and will continue to for years to come. He is now living in Virginia Beach, VA.

I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to all his fans and most importantly my father, who has influenced many in this wonderful art. He has been my guiding light throughout my art career. Goodbye Dad. You will always be my shining star.

Stephanie Mastini.

Epilogue:

My father, Frank Mastini, passed away at home, peacefully in his sleep on July 15th, 2006.

He fought a courageous battle to the very end, sitting 4 feet away from his gift to all of our family to enjoy. The "Amerigo Vespucci". I know that is the way he wanted to be remembered. At his beloved home, surrounded by his life long passions and his loving wife, Lucy.

His last wish was that in honor of him, that contributions be made to the Boy Scouts of America.

He can now breathe again and smell the sweet roses he loved so much. I love you Dad.

Steph

I seldom write critics, but this time, I just want to say, thank you to the author, it makes me clear about what ship model building is. I wish I have bought this book before starting the hobby, so won't have been so frustrated!

I found this book to be a good primer on model ship building and worth reading for the novice builder such as myself but its a little disorganized and has some mileading steps in applying planks to the bulkhead or frame of the ship, they just seemed to be short cuts or cheats on doing it right. But all in all a good read and recomend it to any virgin ship buider! I found Ship modeling from stem to stern by Milton Roth more up to speed for me as i am 44 and have a lot of experiance working with wood. There is a vast amount of imformation out there for the model ship builder which is a blessing to us all. Ship Modeling Simplified was the first book i purchased on this vast subject and i can say i was not disappointed it is a great first read!

as im just starting out, about halfway through my first wood model. this was the first book i bought. it was very helpful, but much of what is in it is common sense. i havent gotten to the rigging though, so it may come in a lot more handy. it wont tell you all you need to know...but its a good book to have on hand.