While Vanguard Models is known for some very beautifully designed kits of British fishing boats and 18th century warships, they also now produce a full line of ship’s boats kits, and Ages of Sail has them for you.
All kits are 1/64-scale models. They are fully detailed to finish out your large ship model or waterfront scene, and they make great short term projects on their own.
All kits come with a disposable building frame, with all wooden parts provided in high grade pear wood. Planks are laser-cut, and accessories are provided in the form of photo-etched brass.
There’s a wide assortment to choose from – everything from an 18-foot cutter on up to 34-foot launch. There are currently 8 different kits available, so you’ll be able to find the exact boat you need, and we have them all at Ages of Sail here. Ω
Every year at the holidays, it’s important for us to post this timetable, so shoppers know whether or not to expect their order in time for holiday gift giving. These are the dates posted by each of the major carriers we use, but they are not guarantees.
We are working hard to get packages out on time, but all carriers are reporting delivery delays.
We recommend making your purchases early, to help assure you get them on time.
Service
Deadline
Time Frame
USPS AK/ HI Priority
12/17/2021
by 10am
USPS AK/ HI Express
12/21/2021
by 10am
USPS International Priority
12/06/2021
by 10am
USPS International Express
12/10/2021
by 10am
USPS First Class
12/16/2021
by 10am
USPS Priority
12/17/2021
by 10am
USPS Express
12/22/2021
by 10am
FedEx Ground/Home Delivery
12/14/2021
by 10am
FedEx Express Saver
12/20/2021
by 10am
FedEx 2-day
12/21/2021
by 10am
FedEx Overnight
12/23/2021
by 10am
All FedEx International
12/13/2021
by 10am
FedEx to AK/ HI Ground
12/09/2021
by 10am
FedEx to AK/ HI Express
12/15/2021
by 10am
All carriers are experiencing delays, and we are not responsible for packages that are delayed and cannot make any ultimate guarantees on deliveries.
Purchase early to help assure you get your items on time!
In case you haven’t noticed yet, the newest release from Vanguard Models, HMS Sphinx, has made it to our shores and is now available at Ages of Sail!
HMS Sphinx was a 20-gun sixth-rate warship of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1775 at Portsmouth Dockyard. Technically, she is not a frigate, but a sloop-of-war. However, she was “frigate built” with connected quarterdeck and forecastle.
The latest release from our friends at OcCre is a new 1/300 scale model of RMS Titanic. From their website:
On April 10, 1912, the world’s largest and most luxurious ocean liner, Titanic, set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.
She took the lives of 1,495 people and gave rise to the greatest legend in the history of maritime navigation. The Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all the passengers, about 1,200 people, but there were about 2,223 on board.
In the early morning of April 15, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. The sinking of the Titanic was the largest shipwreck in the history of maritime navigation in peacetime. 1,518 people died. Only 711 people out of 2,223 survived.
Myths and legends have been created around the fatal shipwreck, making the Titanic probably the most famous ship in history.
For many years historians, treasure hunters, oceanographers and businessmen have searched for the wreck. Finally, the wreckage of the ship was discovered on September 1, 1985 by Robert Ballard during a secret mission in charge of the United States Navy. The wreck of the Titanic was located 3,784 meters deep, about 800 km off the coast of Canada.
The lights of the Titanic went out minutes before she disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean along with the dream of reaching New York.
The kit is on its way to our store, so please watch the store, Ages of Sail, or keep an eye on our blog here for an announcement of its availability. Price TBD. In the meantime, here are some photos of the new kit…
The completed 1/300 scale model measures just over 35″ long with a height of about 9-1/2″.
Amati’s new wooden model kit of the German Battleship Bismarck arrived just today as part of a shipment of 6 big pallets of kits, fittings, tools, wood supplies, and more! But, we were prepared and got our online shop setup with the new kits listing. They are now online and ready for you to buy.
This is a very big kit at 1:200 scale, weighing in at around 20 pounds. This is a single planked plank-on-bulkhead wooden ship model kit, with LOTS of fittings, including more than 2200 photo-etched parts, plus two full-color instruction books, and 7 large plans sheets.This is a master model for those who want to build the ultimate challenge. But, make sure you have room for it. This amazing kit finishes up at over 4 feet long.
Ages of Sail is more than just wooden model sailing ships. Because many of our customers like to build modern ships too, and those are mostly plastic kits, we’ve expanded our inventory, and just added over 100 high-end plastic model kits from Fujimi, Tamiya, ICM, and Trumpeter.
Trumpeter 1:350 scale USS New York LPD-21
Tamiya Japanese Submarine I400
Fujimi 1/350 scale Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu
We wanted to share some progress photos of a build of the Hanse Kogge von Bremen laser-cut card model kit. This kit comes from the Polish manufacturer called Shipyard. It is a 1/72-scale model kit of the Bremen cog, a well preserved ship from 1380 that was uncovered in Bremen, Germany in 1962.
The kit itself is one of Shipyard’s laser-cut models, which means that all the card stock parts are all pre-cut and just need to be cut from the provided sheets. Take a look at this progressing of photos of the model’s construction. Hopefully, we’ll be able to show you some photos of the model once it’s completed.
Shipyard now produces laser-cut cog kits in both card and wood. Both feature parts that are laser-cut, and the kits are in the same 1/72 scale. At present, the cog models are the only ones that are available in wood. The card kits require painting using techniques outlined in the kit instructions to simulate wood. The wood kits can be left natural or enhanced with stains or clear finishing products.
For other types of ships, most subjects, except for the cogs, are available in paper kit format. These kits provided all parts printed out in color on heavy paper, and require you to cut out the parts, and in most cases the parts need to built up with layers of paper or cardboard up to a require thickness. These require more work than laser-cut kits, but are less expensive, and with pre-printed paper, the parts usually need only some coloring of the paper edges.
Whether paper, laser-cut card models, or laser-cut wood models, these kits are ideal for those without a lot of tools or space. They can be built on a small desk with little mess.
Just yesterday, we posted an article, taking a closer look at the Master Korabel kit of the ship St. Gabriel. Well, we found this wonderful build on the NRG’s Model Ship World forum, and got permission from the builder to share some photos here with you. For background on the ship and the explorer Vitus Bering, please see our earlier posting here.
This particular model of Master Korabel’s 1/72-scale kit was built by Mr. Alexander Bulimov, who is an IT engineer, living and working in Dublin, Ireland. He built this model in 2019, and it took him only 4 months to complete. What’s really amazing is that this is only the second wooden ship kit that Alexander has built, the first being a ship’s launch kit from the same manufacturer.
We just received our first shipment of the newest kit from the Spanish wooden ship model kit manufacturer, OcCre. The ship is the 1/70-scale model of Endurance, the Antarctic exploration ship of Sir Ernest Shackleton. A 3-masted barquentine (or barkentine) built in Sandefjord, Norway, the carried Shackleton and his crew of 27 for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914.
The Endurance was a sturdy ship, 144 feet long, and built with a reinforced hull. The ship was equipped with a coal-fired steam engine that could propel the ship at over 10 knots. Though she was considered to be perhaps the strongest wooden ship ever built, she could not overcome the power of nature. In January of 1915, strong winds had piled up thick packs of ice around the ship, and became locked in the Antarctic ice. Ultimately, by October, she was crushed by pressure waves in the ice around her, and her crew was forced to abandon her.
After months on the ice, Shackleton and his crew took to the lifeboats and made it to the uninhabited Elephant Island. Shackleton and five of his men then continued to sail 800 miles in an open boat to get help and mount a rescue expedition for the rest of his men. The crew of the Endurance survived the ordeal without a single loss of life.
OcCre’s kit features an MDF (medium density fiberboard) keel piece with laser-cut plywood bulkheads. Major structural parts are also laser-cut for ease of construction. A healthy supply of strip woods are provided for the planking of the hull, which is accomplished in two layers. Two sheets of photo-etched brass and a supply of wooden, cast metal, and brass fittings are provided to detail your model. To finish up the model, several spools of rigging line, pre-sewn sails, and printed flag sheet is provided.
The included instructions are in a step-by-step, pictorial format, and you can download and preview a copy of them here: Endurance Instructions
Want more help with your build? OcCre has you covered, with a 30-part series of instructional videos on Youtube, designed to guide you through the construction of the hull. Here’s a link to the video series: Endurance Build Videos
We received a limited initial supply of this kit, so hurry if you want one. We have more coming in soon, though. So, if you don’t manage to get one right away, you shouldn’t have to wait long.
As an introductory special, we’re listing this kit for only $199.95, which should be good through the end of April. Get your’s here: Endurance on Ages of Sail
In the meantime, here are some more photos of the completed kit…
Ages of Sail 