BlueJacket Builds and the Final Week of our Jubilee Sale

July 24, 2024 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

As we approach the end of July, now is a good time to remind our customers that our Independence Day Jubilee Sale is nearing an end. You’re last chance to order your American made BlueJacket Shipcrafters model kits with a 10% discount. Simply place your order with us using the coupon code USA10. Note that this only works AFTER you have placed the item in your shopping cart.

And today, we want to share with you some photos from local ship modeler Steve Cowdin, of Elk Grove, CA, whose models are featured at the Battleship Iowa museum in Los Angeles, CA, and elsewhere. Steve sent some photos of his BlueJacket builds to share with you.

Side paddlewheel steamship Portland

Steve comments that he really likes Bluejacket kits, because of their superb workmanship, detail, plans and instructions, and all their kits are made right here in the USA.

The famous American clipper ship Flying Cloud, currently out of production.

One of Steve’s most recent builds is this 1/96 scale model of the American 44-gun frigate U.S.S. Constitution “Old Ironsides” (see below). Steve completed this model in 2021, taking nearly 2 years to build. He had been building a Revell plastic model of the Constitution when he switched to building the BlueJacket kit. Because the two kits were of the same scale, he actually took some of the plastic kit’s pieces from the captain’s cabin and incorporated them into his wooden model.

Steve comments “I chose the Bluejacket vs other kits because I trusted them to accurately reproduce the ship as she appeared in war of 1812.” BlueJacket notes that as an attestation to their model’s authenticity, their kit has been named “The Official Kit of the U.S.S. Constitution Museum.”

It’s difficult to see in these photos, but Steve used BlueJacket’s optional copper sheathing plates to cover the hull bottom. There are about 2000 plates!

The U.S.S. Constitution where she is berthed today in Boston Harbor.

Our friend Steve in 2018, getting some inspiration and ideas for his build

Special thanks to Steve Cowdin for sharing photos of his incredible BlueJacket models with us! We hope to be able to share photos of more of his work in the future.

BlueJacket, founded in 1905, has been producing quality American kits and fittings ever since, and we’re proud to carry the full line of BlueJacket kits. If you’re interested in building your own, you can check them out here: BlueJacket Kits at Ages of Sail Ω

All BlueJacket Kits Now at Ages of Sail

September 11, 2020 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

Things are progressing at Ages of Sail, and we’re getting in more and more shipments in every week, restocking our inventory, and adding more new items and new suppliers.

Today, we just added the full range of kits from the classic American ship model manufacturer BlueJacket of Maine. We’ve carried their kits for a long time, but for some reason, we never listed all of their kits. That’s finally changed, and we’re finally carrying the full range.

BlueJacket is a specialist in classic American ship modeling subject from the early frigate USS Constitution and the even early Continental Navy Ship Alfred, to World War II ships, like the Fletcher class destroyer USS Kidd, to the modern day AEGIS guided missile destroyer Arleigh Burke.

Most of their ship model kits feature solid wooden hull construction, but their small workboats and pleasure boats, like the classic Swampscott Dory, are plank on frame kits.

Take a look at their full line of wooden ship model kits and you’ll understand why BlueJacket has been around for so long, with a history dating back more than a century! Old product have been revived, while new ones are continually being developed, like their big whale ship Charles W. Morgan cross section kit.

See the full range of kits at Ages of Sail here: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/bluejacket.html

BlueJacket is Back at Ages of Sail

May 26, 2016May 26, 2016 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

While we’ve carried BlueJacket kits, for a long time, we only had a small handful of kits in stock. The problem with this is that there are so few American ship modeling subjects offered by the many manufacturers we carry, which are almost all from Europe. There are a few American subjects here and there, but for the most part, they are very few and far between. Also with the demise of the Midwest model boat kits, that left us with a lack of small boat kits.

The Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack. A big kit for display or RC.

So, we recently worked with BlueJacket to bring back the whole range of BlueJacket products. We’ve started listing them on Ages of Sail and we’re about half-way done.

3-Masted Schooner, Atlantic.

This gives us access to BlueJackets fine line of solid-hull sailing ships and power vessels, their new plank-on-bulkhead releases like the C.S.S. Alabama and U.S.S. Kearsarge, two of the finest kits on the market, plus the old Laughing Whale line of small boat kits.

U.S.S. Kearsarge

C.S.S. Alabama

What’s more, we finally have an nice kit of an American Clipper Ship, which is such an important symbol of American maritime heritage. It’s great to be able to include The Red Jacket on our list of products!

American Clipper Ship, Red Jacket, 1853.

Not to mention we now have what’s probably the most accurate kit of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, in her War of 1812 configuration. This solid-hull kit is open from the gun duck up, allowing you to detail her interior – Another expert-level kit with over 2600 fittings!

We don’t have everything up online yet, so if you don’t see what you’re looking for, just give us a call or send us an email. We should have the rest of the BlueJacket line of kits online in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned and check them out at Ages of Sail.