Like many people these days, Ollie S of Norfolk, UK, discovered wooden ship modeling when the Covid pandemic kept him from his other activities. After building OcCre’s San Juan Felucca kit as his first project, he got hooked on ship modeling and took on OcCre’s kit of the famous exploration ship HMS Beagle. This is, of course, the ship that carried naturalist Charles Darwin on voyages of discovery, leading to his writing of The Origin of Species.

But, not content with building the OcCre kit straight from the box, Ollie S bought a copy of the Anatomy of the Ship series book on the Beagle and used it to carefully modify the kit to make the kit even better.

This book is out of print, by the way, and has gotten somewhat rare and valuable. Lowest used book price I’ve seen for this is around $115, with model copies listing at around $150 or more. So, if you run across a copy for reasonable price, like the £24 it originally sold for, you might want to snatch it up.

Ollie S’s model appeared on the model gallery at ModelShipWorld.com, which is where we found out about his build, and he was kind enough to share his photos and information with us at Ages of Sail.

By the way, the San Juan Felucca that OllieS first built is one that we consider to be an excellent kit for a first time builder, due to is gentle curves, squre tuck stern, and minimal rigging. If you’re interested in learning more about this kit, here’s a link to our web shop: San Juan Felucca

As for OllieS and his beautiful HMS Beagle model, here are his photos of the completed model, all used here with his permission.

The kit version that we sell, includes a full set of pre-sewn sails, but kudos to OllieS, who made his own sails using cotton bedsheet, with bolt ropes and tablings glued on, rather than sewn. We’re not sure what all modifications he made to the model, though he did mention that he put the full complement of ship’s boats on his model, which really does add to it’s authentic look.

We’re looking forward to seeing his next project, which he says is the English galleon Revenge, another OcCre kit. But, in the meantime, we’re happy looking at the photos of this beautifully done kit.

If you’re inspired to build your own HMS Beagle, OcCre’s kit is the most accurate kit of this famous survey ship. Even if you don’t find an affordable copy of the Anatomy of the Ship book, you can always look at these photos of OllieS’s build for ideas and inspiration. You can find the kit on our web shop, along with links to the kit instructions, and to a full kit review here: OcCre HMS Beagle

And, if you’re an Ages of Sail customer who’s built one, please send your photos to blogger@agesofsail.com.

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