Made To Order Ship Models

I felt like I should share the availability of services to have a custom boat model, custom ship model, custom aircraft model and any related object or hardware made for our customers. We have been building models for 40 years and our experience shows in our work. Come in the store take a look around and if you can't find a model ship you like go to this page: Custom Ship Model Page contact us and get that family heirloom you have always wanted!

We have hundreds of models already assembled and ready to ship out for the holidays! Get yours now while you can! They sail away rather quickly this time of year.

Military Ship Models Made It To The Store!

We finally got all the new builders #ShipModels on the site! Very high quality models for 1/4 of the price it would cost to have one custom built! These model ships add alot of variety to our already large line of boat and ship models. There is not a category for them but if you look around you will spot them. Here is one fine example  One of the many new models.

We have been busy, busy at our shop and at home scouting out new models, new builds and new deals to pass on to our customers. I still have a few vintage models left in our store Some vintage models left

I finally finished my Skip Jack Model done in my spare time. I swear it took me forever!

I love building them but I count on my guys to get them out the door on time for the customer. They do great work and I respect the time it takes to do a good job!

Fifty New Model Ships Coming To Ship Model Super Store

   
     We are adding a line of Ship Models from a new builder and man are they awesome! Take a look at this one Liberty Ship Model

     There are several new models on the site and more to come! These are a great alternative to spending hundreds of hours building them yourself. I have a kit that costs almost as much as this assembled model! I spent a year of my spare time building a Skip Jack for my own collection and I will say I spent a lot of my spare time making it nice and it sure looks good.

     I finally found a builder that does high quality work and has a very wide selection of the model ships we get requests to build. We are thrilled to offer these models for a fraction of the cost to build a kit!

     Come on in and shop around! This link will get you there. Ship Model Super Store

New Ship Model Kits From The Past

A trip to Brooklyn was not on my list of things to do but Dee Dee and I did it! It was an adventure. I have never seen any streets that busy in my life. It was a 700 mile trip one way and the tolls were like $150.00 just to get there. U-Haul was so expensive one way from Brooklyn we toted one with us and took it back loaded. Seriously terrible fuel mileage, I think it took 3 MPG just to pull the trailer. 

The trip was to help out a friend that had hit a bumpy spot in the road and bought a huge collection of #WoodShipModels. The kits we found in his basement were brand new in the box! Amanti, Corell, Mantua, Revell and many, many more. I couldn't carry all the stuff he had. Look for them in my E-Bay store Vintage Model Ships

Get in and get a bid on them beauties they don't come around like these very often and of course if you don't want to build it yourself visit our web site for the finest assembled #shipmodels on the web.

Navy testing Autonomous Fleet

Navy Shows Off Autonomous Fleet

by shipmodelsuperstore

The U.S. Office of Naval Research took to the lower Chesapeake Bay recently to show off their new autonomous unmanned swarming boats.

The unmanned boats, mainly of rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) and other small boats, use a network of software, radar and other sensors to get a collectively “swarm” and perform patrol missions autonomously, with only remote human supervision.

During the demo, unmanned boats were given a large area of open water to patrol. As an unknown vessel entered the area, the group of swarmboats collaboratively determined which patrol boat would quickly approach the unknown vessel, classify it as harmless or suspicious, and communicate with other swarmboats to assist in tracking and trailing the unknown vessel while others continued to patrol the area. During this time, the group of swarmboats provided status updates to the human supervisor.

“This demonstration showed some remarkable advances in autonomous capabilities,” said Cmdr. Luis Molina, military deputy for ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Dept. “While previous work had focused on autonomous protection of high-value ships, this time we were focused on harbor approach defense.”

The ONR calls the autonomy technology Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing, or CARACaS. The ONR says components that make up CARACaS (some are commercial off-the-shelf) are inexpensive compared to the costs of maintaining manned vessels for some of the dull, dirty or dangerous tasks—all of which can be found in the work of harbor approach defense, experts say.

“The U.S. Navy knows our most important asset, without question, is our highly trained military personnel,” said Dr. Robert Brizzolara, the program officer at ONR who oversees the effort. “The autonomy technology we are developing for our Sailors and Marines is versatile enough that it will assist them in performing many different missions, and it will help keep them safer.”

In 2014, ONR completed the first major demonstration of CARACaS technology on the James River in Virginia. At that time, the transportable kit containing the autonomy package was installed on multiple RHIBs, allowing them to operate in sync with other unmanned vessels, swarming to intercept potential enemy ships and escorting naval assets.

The demonstration held this year in October built upon that successful demo. Brizzolara says that substantial additional capability has been added to CARACaS since the 2014 demo, including the ability for multiple unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to collaborate on task allocation; the development of additional USV behaviors and tactics; and advances in automated vessel classification from imagery.

“This technology allows unmanned Navy ships to overwhelm an adversary,” added Molina. “Its sensors and software enable swarming capability, giving naval warfighters a decisive edge.”

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Dream Ship Victory

Dream Ship Victory announced the beginning of the construction of the impressive new 141 m sailing yacht Dream Symphony designed by Ken Freivokh Design and Dykstra and Partners Naval Architects. On the 9th of February, designers and naval architects met in Amsterdam to give one of the largest yacht projects in the world the go-ahead for construction.

Immediately following the decision to go ahead with construction of the 141m Dream Symphony yacht, DSV’s CEO Valeriy Stepanenko set in motion an impressive construction project at their Dream Ship Victory base on the Aegean Sea. Since her inception, Dream Symphony has surpassed expectations in wind tunnel tests and has received approval to integrate the exciting and unique concept features.

A massive and quite beautiful construction in its own right is the purpose built support structure for the 141m Dream Symphony sailing yacht. In parallel, work is also progressing on both the 55m Sailing yacht Princess Maria and the 43m superyacht Imagination, while the 63m luxury yacht Mikhail S. Vorontsov is nearing completion at its fitting out base at Balk Shipyard in the Netherlands.

When delivered sometime in 2016, Dream Symphony will be a clipper ship for the 21st century. Like the 19th century clippers, Dream Symphony will carry an impressive cloud of sail and like the clippers, it will be built of wood. That alone is remarkable as Dream Symphony is 462’7″ft (141m) long. Historically, wooden vessels could not be built longer than around 300′ long.

Conventional carvel planked wooden construction was just too flexible for longer ships. The longest schooner ever built was the Wyoming, which was 350′ on deck. Despite being heavily strapped with iron, the ship flexed and twisted in heavy seas, opening her seams and requiring constant pumping to keep her dry.

To avoid the traditional limitations of wooden vessels, Dream Symphony is built of glued layers of wood laminates. The whole structure is highly engineered and the product of extensive finite element modeling. The wood/epoxy laminates are also protected by fiberglass on the outer hull surfaces.

Unlike the clipper ships of the 19th century, Dream Symphony is a fore and aft rigged four masted staysail schooner. She will set 5,000 square meters of sail, which is impressive when compared to clippers of the 1800s. The clipper Cutty Sark, for example, set 2,976 square meters of canvas.

Dream Symphony was designed and engineered by Dykstra Naval Architects. The interior and exterior design work was done by Ken Freivokh Design. The yacht in nearing completion at the Dream Ship Victory yard, in Turkey.

When completed Dream Symphony will be the second largest sailing yacht in the world, behind the 147 meter long White Pearl, which is also being delivered in 2016. White Pearl will have three masts and will carry a Dyna-rig, similar to the Maltese Falcon.

Modern sailing mega-yachts differ from the clippers of old in that they are all rich mens’ toys. At the very least, however, they continue to develop the technology of sailing, in advance of the day when commercial sailing ships may again return to the world’s oceans.

The Queen Victoria has sailed out of Liverpool – with a final surprise.

The last of the Three Queens left the city to a musical farewell as crowds turned out to wave her off at Liverpool Cruise Terminal.

The ship was given a semaphore send off and then balloons were released before she left the city.

Singer Danielle Thomas sang You’ll Never Walk Alone as the ship sailed away from the dock.

The liner then wowed the crowds by turning 360 degrees in the Mersey while music, including songs from The Beatles, played.

Passengers waved Union flags from the balconies of their cabins as they said goodbye to the city.

Richard and Jean Sutlieff, from Blackburn, were on board the Queen Victoria for its arrival in Liverpool.

Text courtesy of Liverpool Echo

Pictures courtesy of G-Captain

New Web Site Up And Running

 Wanted to let everyone know we have our new web site up and running. For those of you that enjoy hand made wooden ship models you will find the site easy to navigate and check out. We have hundreds of model ships in stock and ready to arrive and amaze you! It takes hundreds of man hours to construct these beautiful models you see on our site. Ship Model Super Store

 There are many models for sale with Fast and Free Shipping. If you go to the site to make a purchase type in code 001 in check out and save on our already low prices!

 Our family owned and operated company has been making customers smile for over 8 years. We sell only the finest wooden ship models built by hand by our skilled craftsman. If you want to display one of these fine model ships, we recommend a display case to protect the model from the inside elements. These are available on the web site in their own category. There are several to choose from for your needs.

 Only the finest materials are used in the construction of our model boats and ships. Exotic woods are used and all the fittings are made of metal and not plastic.Heavy linen is used for the construction of the sails. The complicated rigging is all tied by hand. The ships are sanded and varnished several times to get the gloss you see in the images of these magnificent models.

 Online ordering is fast and free, we do not charge any hidden fee's on orders. Sign up for our news letter and keep track of sales and our ship model blogs. You can also follow us on Ship Model Super Store Facebook or our Blog on WordPress

Man Spends 20 Years Building 3 Model Ships

Model maker spends 20 years building scaled down fleet of radio-controlled warships
Tony Ansell has been making model warships for the last 20 years at home
Mr Ansell uses original Royal Navy blueprints to make scale model ships
On average ships take three years to make but HMS Dreadnought took nine
Each is made from fibreglass and flexible plastic and is radio controlled

When Tony Ansell was given an Airfix kit at was six-years-old, it was something of an inspiration.
Twenty years on the keen model maker has created a fleet of radio controlled warships at his workshop in Ferndown in Dorset.
Each warship is made to scale, using original Royal Navy blueprints and photographs to ensure they capture a snapshot in time when the vessels were in action. Model maker Tony Ansell spent the last 20 years making scale models of radio controlled navy warships. His Dorset workshop features models of HMS Campbeltown.

Model maker Tony Ansell spent the last 20 years making scale models of radio controlled navy warships. His Dorset workshop features models of HMS Campbeltown, HMS Hood  and HMS Fencer
Mr Ansell, a former plumber, uses original Royal Navy blueprints to make the scale models of the warships and so dedicated is the former plumber to his craft that he is in the process of writing to the Queen to ask for permission to name one of his ships – a G3 battlecruiser – Beatty because the original was cancelled and therefore never named.
‘You need to put in the research and I tend to pick a particular time in the ship’s life to make it at because warships went in for refits lots and could be different from year to year,’ said Mr Ansell, 63.
‘I like to make ships you don’t see at model shows very often and bigger ones are more of a challenge because you have to be more detailed.’

Mr Ansell uses fibreglass to make the hull of the ships and flexible sheets of 1mm thick plastic for the rest of the structure. He researches each of the vessels before he makes them, using photographs to ensure accuracy.
Most of the other items such as guns and aircraft are made from resin and mini Airfix kits.
Constructing the models is a painstaking process, sometimes taking longer than it took to make the actual warships themselves.

HMS Campbeltown was an American ship that was eventually transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940
Mr Ansell’s most recent build, the battleship HMS Dreadnought, is a 6ft long, 1:196 scale model and has as taken him nine years to finish – nine times longer than it took to build the actual warship in 1906.
But the project was delayed by a lack of photographs of the vessel and he built two other models during that time.
He has also made models of aircraft carrier HMS Fencer, HMS Campbeltown and HMS Hood, the ship sunk by the Germans in World War Two.

The HMS Dreadnought replica was the most time consuming of all Mr Ansell’s models and each additional part, from aircraft to weapons and fighters is made with similar attention to detail from resin or airfix kits
He is making a G3 battlecruiser – a ship that was planned but not built because a naval treaty came into place that limited the weight of warships.
Because the G3 was cancelled, it was never given a name, so Tony plans to write to the Queen to ask her permission to name his HMS Beatty, after the British admiral at the Battle of Jutland.
FROM 860FT TO 7FT: THE WARSHIPS THAT INSPIRED THE MODELS
HMS Fencer – 1:196 scale model
The original HMS Fencer was an aircraft carrier, commissioned in February 1943
Escorted Atlantic, African and Russian convoys
Also took part in a strike on a German battleship
HMS Hood – 7ft long, 1:1,128 scale model
Original was an Admiral Class battlecruiser
Warship sunk by the Germans during World War Two
Had an overall length of 860ft
HMS Dreadnought – 6ft long, 1:196 scale model
Took Mr Ansell nine years to finish
The Dreadnought was introduced in 1906 and became an important development in naval technology
It was the first naval warship to have a uniform battery, rather than just a few guns
He added: ‘With the Dreadnought I even laid the planks on the deck one by one. It took six months just to do the deck but it looks like the real McCoy.
‘The G3 was never named because it wasn’t built. Some names were banded about but they were then put to other ships.
‘So I want to keep with naval tradition and write to the Queen to ask for permission to name it after Admiral Beatty.
‘The Navy do it when they name ships and I want to make things official. I’ll ask her if there’s something else she’d rather I called it.’
On average, a ship takes about three years to build and his hobby has cost Mr Ansell several thousands over the years.
He said: ‘Back in the 90s, my ambition was to make a 10-foot model and I got laughed at, but I kept making models bigger and bigger.
‘The next one I’m going to do is nine-foot so I think I’ve proved the doubters wrong.’
Mr Ansell belongs to a model boat display team in Portsmouth who stage battles with their ships and even use pyrotechnics, which means they have to have a health and safety team at the ready.

By CLAIRE CARTER FOR MAILONLINE

Arebus Identified by "The Bell"

The Erebus Bell has been recovered which astutely proves the ship discovered is the Arebus. In September, the wreck of one of the two ships in Franklin’s lost expedition of 1845 was located near the the Victoria Strait in Canada. As both ships in the expedition were similar sized bomb vessels, modified for exploration, it was initially unclear whether the wreck was from the HMS Terror or HMS Erebus. By early October, the wreckage had been confirmed to be from the HMS Erebus. Now divers have located the ship’s bell.

As reported by CNBC:
The bell is intact and generally in very good condition. Two embossed markings – introduced when the bronze bell was first cast – are evident on the artifact: a Royal Navy “broad arrow” indicating property of the British Government, as well as the date “1845.”


A brass bell from HMS Erebus, one of the two doomed ships from the Franklin expedition that came in search of the Northwest Passage, is now in the hands of scientists in Ottawa.

Sealed in a water-filled glass container, the bell was unveiled Thursday by Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

The bell was found in mid-September, shortly after the Erebus was discovered on the Arctic seabed.

The bell would have been struck every half hour both day and night, to mark the passage of time on board the vessel.

Marc-Andre Bernier, chief of Parks Canada's underwater archeology service, said he was on the boat above listening over an intercom to the divers exploring the wreck.

"At one point, all we heard was, 'I found the bell, I found the bell,'" he said.

"The objective was not to recover artifacts, but in this case here, because of the iconic symbol that a bell has … it was decided that this object should be recovered."

In addition to bearing the broad-arrow mark of the Royal Navy, the bell is emblazoned with "1845," the year the Franklin expedition began its ill-fated voyage.

The bell was wrapped underwater and sent to the lab in Ottawa for conservation treatments.

"This is the crowning achievement of an incredible, successful 2014 search campaign that has captivated Canadians and the entire world," said Aglukkaq.

The Erebus, on which it's believed that Sir John Franklin died, was lost some 168 years ago.

Bernier said several other artifacts were found around the site, including pulley blocks, ropes and two brass cannons, but they have been left there until dive teams can resume their inspection of the sunken vessel again next year.

Parks Canada scientists say they need to carefully clean the bell to remove all traces of sea salt from its surface before any other historical clues can be revealed.

The respective crews of the Erebus and its companion, HMS Terror, perished after the ships went missing in the mid-1800s.

Bernier said it's believed the ships became locked in sea ice and eventually sank as their wooden hulls became waterlogged and cracked apart.

With files from The Canadian Press

Custom Building Some Civil Warships

We recently took on a project to create five 1/35th scale models of some Civil Warships for a customer. The research to get plans for these models was pretty tough but we managed to get a list of plans from the national archives. These models will be constructed of wood and be waterline model boats.

These model ships will be built right here in the USA! From what I understand they are going to be used for a type of board game that is pretty exclusive. I will post pictures once they are completed so we all can enjoy. From what I understand this will be a very limited run on models that are only seen in museums till now.

The list is as follows:

• USS Paul Jones
• USS Sonoma
• USS Chillicothe
• USS Mattabesset
• Mystery Ship??

This project won't be done till next year but stay tuned and keep up with our blog there is allot of cool ship stories here: Ship Model Blog

Bob Winfrey

Ship Model Super Store

New Blog Posts on The Website

We recently posted several new posts on our website Ship Model Super Store some new models are in stock and ready to ship.

Check out the blog posts here Ship Model Blog.

Stories about the Monitor a Civil War Ship, Glaucester Schooner festival and the accidental sinking of a tug boat by a Russian Barque.

Have a great holiday!

Concordia Yawls A Very Unique Sailboat

The recent sinking of the Concordia yawl, Winnie of Bourne, brought to mind just how remarkable this class of boats indeed is.  Winnie of Bourne was raised from the bottom near the entrance of Nantucket harbor just two days after she sank, so we hope that she will be salvaged and restored.
The Concordia yawl is the most successful and beloved class of wooden offshore sailboats ever built. The first was built to replace Llewellyn Howland’s family’s Colin Archer designed pilot cutter, which was destroyed by the Great Hurricane of 1938. The first yawl, named Java, was (and is) 39ft 10in long with a 10ft 3in beam, 5ft 8in draught, an 18,000 pound displacement, a 7/8ths fractional rig and a coveline with the iconic star on her bow and a crescent moon on her stern.
Over the next 28 years, over 100 Concordia yawls would be built.   Remarkably, for wooden sailboats, all but one (including, we hope, Winnie of Bourne) still survive today. (Halcyon, Concordia Yawl #3, was lost at sea with its owner Ron Perry in early May, 2011.)  Concordia yawls continue to be cruised and raced successfully all over the globe.
The Concordia hull was designed by C. Raymond Hunt.  Bill Harris drew her rig and Waldo Howland designed the interior. Between 1938 and 1966, a total of 103 Concordia yawls were built.  The first four Concordias were built in Massachussets. Two were built just before World War II and two immediately after.  The remaining 99 Concordia hulls were built by Abeking and Rasmussen shipyard in Lemwerder, Germany. (26 of these were the slightly larger 41' version.)  The hulls were shipped across the Atlantic and finished by Concordia which installed the interiors, pumps, engines and rigs.
Classic Boat Magazine describes how the Concordia yawls were built:  The boats were built upright and launched three at a time. They had 13/8in (35mm) African mahogany planks, often more than 16ft (4.9m) long, and those for the varnished brightwork were bookmatched – double sawn and matched. The topsides were tightly planked with almost no caulking: a tool would crush the grain, a cotton cord and white lead would be laid in, the plank forced down tight, and the rising grain would fill in any gap. Frames are 1¾in (44mm) white oak, steam bent or laminated, on 9in (229mm) centres with 2in x 4in (51mm x 102mm) Sitka spruce stringers. Most Concordias have mahogany decks covered with canvas – much of the canvas has now been replaced – some had teak decks.
The Concordia was never designed to any racing rule.  Nevertheless, over the years, Concordia yawls have won numerous races, including the prestigious Newport Bermuda Race (1954 & 1978), the Annapolis Race (1955), Cowes Week (1955) and the Marblehead-to-Halifax Race (1955 & 1997).
? 1954 Newport Bermuda Race – Malay, Concordia #2, Dan Strohmeier.
? 1955 Annapolis Race – Actaea, Concordia #17, Henry Sears.
? 1955 Cowes Week – Harrier, Concordia #30, Ray Hunt.
? 1955 Marblehead-to-Halifax Race – Malay, Concordia #2, Dan Strohmeier.
? 1978 Newport Bermuda Race – Babe, Concordia #26, Arnold Gay.
? 1997 Marblehead-to-Halifax Race – Crocodile, Concordia #67, Robert Crocker.
The post Concordia Yawls — An Appreciation appeared first on Old Salt Blog.

Ship Model Superstore Blogs and Boats

Will We Ignore The Warnings?

I found this story very interesting and actually pretty blunt. I was in Detroit Michigan with my wife and read this story after our return. I had to sit back and wonder if we had been in that area because we drove though Ohio and ate in a large city at a Red Lobster late Friday afternoon....................

See the rest of the story here...

New Look and Feel For The Website

Well after spending considerable time and effort working on Changes and upgrades to the web site Ship Model Super Store I think we have a really good looking site that should function well for our customers. We have been so busy around the shop that we are having trouble getting all our old models back in Inventory!

I guess that is a good thing to be busy though. One of our last custom ordered models left last month.The Coast Guard 82 is now in stock and ready to ship. Click the blue text and take a look. This is a very detailed wooden model built plank on frame for accuracy and detailed to the hilt. This model exudes accuracy and beauty at the same time. Painted by hand and trimmed with many magnificent deck details this is one great model to display at your home or office. If you want one you better hurry because we only have one left in stock

A customer special ordered a Coat Guard 82 when it was out of stock and we custom built one for her. She was thrilled with the model and it was well worth the wait. I went a head a little and had two built so that someone else could enjoy one also.

Make sure you check us out on Facebook and Google Plus just click the links below in Blue. I post and re post a lot of great stories about the latest news, discoveries and museum notes I find from all over the world.

Facebook and Google Plus

Ghost Ship on the Ohio River

Imagine Kayaking down the Ohio River and finding an old ship abandoned from more than 30 years ago? Pretty cool to see the over growth and and rusting hulk of the Circle Line V Steam ship, sitting in it’s final resting place.

The ship has quite a history, she saw two world wars, Thomas Edison and countless travelers and sight seers in her life.

She was built in 1902 for a Railroad executive at the time.

From the looks of her now she sure had seen some better days!

The growth and foot of dirt on the deck suggests she has been resting here for quite sometime. 

Click the link below for the complete story and video. 

Video and Slide Show 

What is a Handcrafted Ship Model?

A lot of model ship sellers use the term museum quality when they describe the model ships they have for sale. Some just say handcrafted model ships. What is the difference? Here is an opinion.

Basically a handcrafted ship model for sale on our site is not going to be an assembly line product. Because all of our models are assembled by hand and not by a machine, hence the word "handcrafted". Machines are used to cut the wood however final assembly of all the fine products we have are put together by a human.

Seasoned exotic woods, brass fittings, chrome plated, stainless steel and high quality linen's are used to construct our model boats, model ships and sailboat models. Several coats of finish are applied by hand to ensure a high gloss on the superior model ships we sell. Coatings are applied and sanded to provide the finish you can see on the models for sale on our site.

I just wanted you ship model collectors to know you always get what you pay for. Most museum quality ships sell for thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours are spent constructing them. If they are constructed in the US they usually cost over $3,000 dollars. The wood is usually cut from a larger piece by the builder, they meticulously assemble every piece of planking, the masts and all the other fine details. The whole process can result in thousands of hours being expended in the construction of just one model. I have seen some of the shops they use and I can tell you these guys can make toothpicks with the tools they have. Now we do provide this service on our site if you should so want a special model made. You can see some examples here. Custom Builds  Commissioning a model to be built is an easy process and if you have the patience to wait, it is well worth it.

I have built a lot of models over the years but it would be impossible for my wife and I to keep up with the demand for the models we offer for sale. We have searched the world over to find the finest quality builders. We do our best to control pricing and deliver a quality product to our customers for a reasonable cost.

I sell some great looking model ships that are not made here but they are a high quality, built to scale and a great representation of the original ship! And we really do have some in museums!

Moral of the story.When you see cheap models on the web don't think for a second you are getting a true museum quality ship model for $69.95.

Visit our website here. Ship Model Superstore