Vanguard Models

Saucy Jack – New from Vanguard Models

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It was barely over 2 months ago that we announced having two new fishing boat kits in stock from Vanguard Models, and here we are announcing that we now have yet another new release in stock, the well-smack Saucy Jack.

A well-smack is a type of fishing boat that keep it’s catch fresh by use of a large internal tank of seawater. The method was a good way to keep the catch fresh, but the extra weight of the water she carried, made her slow. Boats of this type were used in the 1800s and up into the 1950s.

Saucy Jack is a typical example of this type of fishing boat. She was built in 1836 and operated until 1880. Vanguard Models kit is a 1/64 scale reproduction of the 51 ton well-smack, and measures just under 17″ long and 14″ tall.

The kit features laser cut and engraved parts in MDF (medium density fiberboard) and pear wood, laser-etched and cut maple deck with planking and treenail detail, photo-etched brass parts, 3D printed parts, a double-planked hull with a lime wood first layer and a high quality pear wood outer planking layer.

Included is a comprehensive, full-color instruction manual and 12 plan sheets. This kit is quite a treat for any ship modeler.

For more details and ordering information, check it out at Ages of Sail here. Ω

Two New Fishing Boat Kits from Vanguard Models – In Stock Now

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Lately, it seems that Vanguard Models has been releasing new kits faster than we can stock them. The two newest kits to be released are a pair of 19th century fishing boats, the Nisha, a Brixham “Mumble Bee”, and the Erycina, a Plymouth Trawler.

Erycina

Nisha

The Nisha, 1907 – The ‘Mumble Bee’ was cutter rigged, full bowed and broad beamed. They were strongly built and many survived to a good old age. Because of their fine lines, a few of these vessels were converted to yachts in their later life. Those fishing off the Welsh coast out of Tenby, working the fishing grounds in Mumbles Bay, acquired the collective term ‘Mumble-Bees’. In part, this was coined because of the large numbers of them ‘buzzing’ around the Mumbles like bees around a hive, and also arose by them adopting some of the features of the established Mumbles boats. Nisha had an overall length of 59 feet 3 inches, moulded beam of of 14 feet. She had a deep drag aft with a draft of 7 foot 10 inches but only 4 feet forward. Her fine lines translate into a very pleasing hull shape, making a very attractive display model.

The Erycina, 1882 – Originally built as a cutter designed by H.V. Prigg and built by W.H. Shilston, Coxside, Sutton Harbour in 1882. She was converted to a ketch rig in 1894. Due to her pedigree, Erycina has unusually beautiful lines, described as a ‘Crack Ketch’, and handled more like a racing yacht than a fishing vessel. Erycina fished along the South West UK coast for over 50 years, an incredibly long career for such a vessel. Her overall length was 71 feet, with a length between perpendiculars of 63 feet. The moulded bredth of 17 foot 2 inches was rather more fine than that of the average trawler, but she was built for speed, and of- ten raced at regattas with with the crack Brixham Smack, Ibex. In 22 races at Plymouth regattas, Erycina won 15 first, 4 second and 2 third prizes.

Both kits are in 1/64 scale that incorporate the latest design techniques, but are both suitable for the total beginner, as well as the seasoned modeler who may want to take a very scale accurate and detailed kit and add their own additional detailing.

Both feature laser cut and engraved parts in MDF and pear wood, laser cut pear wood ladders and companionway, laser etched and cut maple decks with treenail detail, photo etched brass detailing, and more.

Check out the specifics of each kit or order yours on our Ages of Sail shop here:

Nisha – Brixham ‘Mumble Bee’

Erycina – Portsmouth Trawler

Available Now at Ages of Sail

Vanguard’s Lady Eleanor – A First Time Build

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It’s always a pleasure when customers send us photos of their completed models, so we were particularly happy to start off the new year when customer tomsimon of Chino Hills, CA, shared with us the final photos of the wooden ship model he just completed, the Lady Eleanor from Vanguard Models. He gave us permission to share these photos on our social media sites, so we’re happy to post them here for you.

Tomsimon tells us that this Lady Eleanor is his first ever wooden ship model, and we think he’s done a wonderful job!

Lady Eleanor is a 1/64 scale wooden model kit of a Scottish fishing boat type called a Fifie. It’s described as a type that was commonly seen off the east coast of Scotland from the 1850s through the 1950s, and was known as a workhorse in the fishing community. Continue reading →

More Vanguard Models News

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In addition to the new ships boats kits, we just restocked some of the more popular Vanguard Models kits that we ran out of before the holidays including HMS Speedy, HMS Flirt, and the Duchess of Kingston kits.

Vanguard Models Duchess of Kingston

HMS Speedy

HMS Flirt

What’s more, there are two brand new fishing boat kits that we should be getting in, perhaps by the end of the year. Sorry, they’re not in time for Christmas. But, when things settle down at home, and thoughts turn to your next ship model project, they should be here waiting for you.

Both kits are fishing boats with beautiful, fine lines. We’ll have more details later. For now, here’s a little sneek peek…

Watch here for more information!

 

 

Ship’s Boats kits from Vanguard Models – Now in Stock

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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

 

HMS Sphinx from Vanguard Models Now in Stock

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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.

Continue reading →

Vanguard Models Shipment Received

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After a long hold up by the shipping company, we finally received our shipment from Chris Watton’s Vanguard Models company in England!

Vanguard Models, as you may already know, is one of the newest ship model manufacturers on the market, and already they make some of the finest kits available. Their kits are popular, interesting, and challenging. But, Chris has gone out of his way to make the kits as easy to build as possible, providing clear instructions in english, and advanced engineering, using computer aided design to come up with ways to simplify construction.

HMS Speedy

HMS Speedy, shown above, is a model of a 14-gun British Royal Navy brig. We ran out of stock of these following the holidays, so we’re happy to announce that they’re back in stock, and ready to ship to you!

There are four other ship model kits available from Vanguard Models besides HMS Speedy: HMS Flirt, HMS Alert, the Royal Yacht ‘Duchess of Kingston’, the Scottish Zulu ‘Lady Isabella’ and the Scottish Fifie ‘Lady Eleanor’.

HMS Flirt

HMS Alert

Duchess of Kingston

Scottish Zulu ‘Lady Isabella’

Scottish Fifie ‘Lady Eleanor’

Detailed instructions are provided in english, with lots of photos to help you through every step of the build. Below is a sample of one page from the Duchess of Kingston kit’s 80-page instruction set.

Want to see more from the instructions? Download the whole set in pdf format here.

Check out all five of these wonderful kits from Vanguard Models, in stock now, at Ages of Sail: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/new-vanguard-models.html

 

Sail Sets for Vanguard Models Kits

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Ages of Sail now carries Vanguard Models’ pre-made sail sets for their Fifie ‘Lady Eleanor’ kit and for their Zulu ‘Lady Isabella’ kit. Each sail set is beautifully detailed and complete with bolt ropes sewn into place.

Zulu sail set for the Lady Isabella kit.

Fifie sail set for the Lady Eleanor kit.

These are beautifully done sails, so if you want to add sails to your model, but don’t feel like trying the difficult task of sewing the seams so nice and straight, hemming the edges, and sewing on the bolt ropes, you can save yourself time and effort with these sets.

Check out the detail…

Click HERE to visit our updated Vanguard Models page on Ages of Sail.

New HMS Flirt from Vanguard Models

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The two-masted brig HMS Flirt is a brand new release from Vanguard Models of the UK, and Ages of Sail has it in stock. Designer Chris Watton has outdone himself again with yet another fantastic 1/64-scale wooden ship model kit.

HMS Flirt was a 14-gun ship that was one of the new flush decked brig-sloops built in the latter part of the 18th century. She and HMS Speedy (another Vanguard Models kit) are of the same class. In terms of kits, the most obvious difference is the hull of the HMS Flirt kit is not copper sheathed.

This new kit from Vanguard models features internal structural parts laser-cut from sturdy MDF sheets and birch plywood. All the visible parts are laser-cut from beautiful pear wood sheets, including details such as ladders and gratings. Meanwhile, making construction perfect and simplified, the deck comes as a laser-scribed lime wood, complete with all planking and treenail detail.

Note that photo is from a limited Special Edition version of the kit. The only difference in materials that the Standard Edition kit that Ages of Sail sells is the wood type.

The hull of this kit is double-planked, using high quality lime wood for the first layer, and pear wood for the outer finish layer. For masts and yards, the kit includes walnut dowels. The 14 4-pdr cannon barrels and 1/2-pdr swivel guns are cast in black resin for maximum detail, and the kit includes black acrylic cannon balls. For the metalwork, 3 sheets of photo-etched brass parts are included.

If you are interest in seeing the instructions, you are free to download them from the Vanguard Models website here: Instruction Manual PDF

Click HERE to check out HMS FLIRT at Ages of Sail!

 

Vanguard Models – Now at Ages of Sail!

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We at Ages of Sail are proud to announce that we are now the U.S. Distributor for the newest  line of wooden ship model kits from England,  Vanguard Models.

This company is a new venture by world-renowned kit designer and developer Chris Watton, who designed some of the industry’s most popular ship model kits. But now, with direct control of production, he is able to release kits with the best possible attention to accuracy in scale and detail.

HMS Alert

Begun in 2019, the recent release of his Scottish Fifie kit brings the number of available kits to four, with rapid development taking place on future kits. Currently, all kits are produced at the popular ship modeling scale of 1:64 (3/16″=1′).

Scottish Fifie

HMS Speedy

Scottish Zulu “Lady Isabella”

All kits feature laser-cut MDF hull framing, and double-planked hulls with the finish planking in pearwood. Decks come as detailed laser-engraved sheet. The full-color instruction booklets are written in english, as are the plan sheets.  And, all the kits include a custom designed clear acrylic stand for display of the finished model.

These are beautiful kits made primarily for beginning and intermediate modelers, but advanced modelers will also love the subjects, materials, and design, and will no doubt find unique and creative ways to make their own models even more special.

People interested in these kits should bear in mind that these kits are produced by a small company, and in relatively limited quantity production runs, so availability may vary greatly.

Check out the new kits at Ages of Sail here: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/new-vanguard-models.html

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