Ships In Scale - Sep/Oct 2026

Ships in Scale — September/October 2026 (Vol. 29, No. 5)

A German shrimp cutter at golden hour on the Baltic, 103 readers grading the kit makers, and the famous warships that never made it into a box.

Survey data, plank-on-frame, radio control, 1/700 miniatures, and original research into seventeenth-century sloops. Issue 5 is about the knowledge that has to exist before you can build anything: the plans, the instructions, and the build logs.

In this issue:

• State of the Craft: The 2026 Kit Survey Report. 421 ratings of seventeen manufacturers produce industry-wide satisfaction scores, loyalty metrics, and the one thing builders most want kit makers to fix.
• Building the Santa Maria: A 1:48 Kit by Pavel Nikitin, Part 1. A plank-on-frame build log covering the Slipway jig, keel and frames, hull planking, and the kit errors met along the way. (W.K. Jansmann)
• At the Limit of the Hands: Building Napoleonic Warships in 1/700 Scale, Part 3. Sea bases, final presentation, photography, and the history that gives these palm-sized ships their meaning. (Linus Spjutsberg)
• Don't Forget Us, We Also Served! The Minor Warships, Part 5: Two Case Studies from the Seventeenth Century. How two model makers researched, drafted, and built the Truelove and the Pepysian sloop Bonetta from period treatises, paintings, and educated speculation. (Ian McLaughlan)
• Building a 1/32 Scale Galway Hooker, Part 2. Turf cargo, a figure of the builder's father, hand-made red sails, and a finished case complete a scratch-built leathbhád. (James Norton)
• The Monster in the Box: HMS Hood Build, Part 3. An aged-teak deck, a silicone-sealed canoe stern, four motors on one controller, and the RC Hood's first water trials. (Scott Himowitz)
• HMS Beagle, Part III: Setting Up the Deadeyes. A practice fixture, a brass alignment tool, and a seven-step needle-threader method for deadeyes that sit dead level. (George Athanasiou)
• Why History Loses to Legend, Part I: The Missing Ships. Why Centurion, Royal George, and Ranger never became kits, and what actually decides which ships do. (Richard Sloop)
• Review of the Artesanía Latina Anatomy HMS Victory, Part 2. The kit's recurring problems grouped by type (missing parts, unsourced tools, fragile pieces), with a fix for each. (Bob Hunt)
• Back to the … Past, Part 1: Building the CUX 87. Our cover model: a 1:33 radio-controlled German shrimp cutter with a laser-cut hull, mahogany-clad wheelhouse, and green trawl nets, built in pursuit of a Baltic childhood. (Tomasz Klyszynski)

Plus departments:

• Silver Soldering, Part Two: Ochre-paste joint protection plus making wire rings, chains, and deadeye bindings for complex assemblies. (David Antscherl)
• On the Water: Homemade cans and nuns, self-centering RC course buoys built from bottles, sheaves, and unequal anchor weights. (Tim Mayer)
• Scuttlebutt: A conversation with Victor Zhang of Modelship Dockyard, the young Chinese brand rethinking plank-on-frame with 3D-printed structure and original research. (Michael Ellison)
• In the Workshop: Matched gudgeons and pintles made from flattened copper pipe, with a simple jig for consistent results. (Robbie Zielemans)
• Shipwright's Apprentice: Three bench tips covering photo-etch parts, binder-clip planking clamps, and a reversed clothespin for extra grip. (Robert LaPorta)
• Around the Horn: ModelCon 8 aboard the Battleship New Jersey, the Philadelphia Ship Model Society's eighth annual show.
• Reader's Showcase: Finished builds from readers, including Caelan McCormick's 1:24 scratch-built USS Monitor with a working turret.

80 pages | Print + Digital | Published by SeaWatch Books