USCGC Eagle Touring the West Coast

June 6, 2025June 6, 2025 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

For those of you in our neck of the woods, there is an opportunity to visit a real, operational tall ship this Summer. The Eagle, ex-Horst Wessel, is the U.S. Coast Guard’s training vessel. She’s a 295 foot long, steel hulled, 3-masted barque, meaning her fore and main masts are square-rigged, while her mizzen mast is fore-and-aft rigged.

The ship is scheduled to visit San Francisco on June 25 and again on July 25. However, there’s a possibility that the June date may change. In any case, she will be open to the public, so here’s a chance to go aboard.

San Francisco has been home to a couple tall ships for many years – the 3-masted ship Balclutha, and the 3-masted lumber schooner C.A.Thayer have been open to visitors at the San Francisco Maritime National Park’s Hyde Street Pier. However, those ships have been temporarily relocated the Mare Island while the pier is under repair.

Unfortunately, there are no longer any kits available of this ship, at least from our wooden ship model kit manufacturers. However, the Eagle is a Gorch Fock class ship, and we do carry a couple kits of the Gorch Fock. It should be possible to model the Eagle from one of these kits, though the Eagle has been modernized, so some modifications to deck structures and fittings would be necessary to accurately portray this ship.

OcCre’s Gorch Fock wooden model ship kit.

You can see the Eagle’s full West Coast tour schedule here.

You can also keep track of just where the ship is at any given time, using this ship tracker. Ω

The Endurance – New Model Kit from OcCre

March 28, 2021November 11, 2025 / agesofsail / 1 Comment

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…

Get your wooden model ship kit at Ages of Sail!

Shipments Just In – November 6 Update

November 6, 2020 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

Those of you who have been wanting to buy one of OcCre’s popular HMS Terror or HMS Beagle kits will be glad to know that we just received a big shipment of these kits, which we’re hoping will last us through the holiday season.

Terror, as you may recall, is the British bomb vessel turned Arctic explorer and was part of the ill-fated Franklin expedition, which disappeared in the search for the Northwest Passage.

OcCre’s 1/75-scale HMS Terror wooden ship model kit

The deck of the Terror

The ship was also the subject of the first season of AMC’s anthology television series, The Terror, which told a fictional account of the disappearance of the Franklin expedition. This model kit is based on the same information used to create the sets for the TV series, so fans of the show will recognize many of the details, such as the deck lights, the heavy rigging, the companionways, etc. OcCre’s 1/75-scale model measures just over 26-1/2″ long and includes a full set of pre-sewn sails.

Terror’s stern showing the accommodations made to the ship for the propeller.

Buy HMS Terror here: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/occre/occre-ship-model-kits/hms-terror-occre-oc12004.html

But, of course, many people have been waiting for us to restock OcCre’s HMS Beagle kit. This kit is, in our opinion, the ship model kit that most closely recreates the ship that carried famed naturalist Charles Darwin on a voyage of exploration and discovery into the Pacific Ocean.

OcCre’s HMS Beagle kit

Beagle’s forecastle deck showing carronade

This 1/60-scale wooden ship model kit is another of our most popular kits, which is why we keep running out of them. This model measures just over 28″ when complete, and the kit that we sell includes a set of sixteen pre-sewn sails.

Buy HMS Beagle here: https://www.agesofsail.com/ecommerce/occre/occre-ship-model-kits/hms-beagle-(occre-1:60).html

Big Savings on New Golden Hind Deluxe Combo

April 10, 2018 / agesofsail / 2 Comments

We created a fully-equipped deluxe combo set based on the new Gold Hind kit from OcCre of Spain.

This is a very complete set that includes a wide selection of tools, paints, glues, and ship modeling book. This is a more than $370 value, specially prices to move at only $299 – Save over $70!

This pre-packaged set makes a perfect gift and includes all of the following:

OC12003 Golden Hind wooden ship model kit from OcCre
AM7205 Amati Electric Plank Bender
Ship Modeling Simplified book – The classic guide by Frank Mastini
PTK1015 15-piece Model Craft Tool Set
PFL6020 20mm sanding block
PPU8174G Pen Grip Pin Pusher w/pins
PSA35/050 Superfine Razor Saw
PKN4302/S Soft Grip Craft Knife no.1 size with blades
BSI101 1/2 oz. Thin Insta-Cure Super Glue
BSI106 1/2 oz. Gap Filling Insta-Cure Super Glue
6 Jars of Historic Ships Acrylic Paints

Click Here to see the full listings and to purchase yours!

If you already have all the tools and the book, you can purchase the kit by itself, of course, for only $149 here at Ages of Sail.

Introducing the Latest from Spain – Disar Model

May 25, 2016 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

Ages of Sail is proud to introduce a new product line from the Spanish company Disar Model. We’ve got 11 new kits that include some very unique subjects.

Atrevida Lancha Cañonera, Spanish Gunboat, 1779

The kits feature quality wood and fittings in wood and metal. Each kit also includes a handy compartmentalized parts box with a snap-tight lid, keeping all the parts sorted and protected.

Many of the kits offered by Disar represent smaller subjects in large scale. The Atrevida Lancha Cañonera is a Spanish Gunboat kit at a scale of 1:30, and the model measures just under 28″ long.

Up close on the Atrevida Lancha Cañonera kit.

Disar also produces three different ship’s boats kit, including the launches of Nelson’s favorite, HMS Agamemnon, the French flagship, Bucentaure, and the Spanish Ship of the Line, Salvador del Mundo. All three kits are in the scale of 1:30 and range in length from about 19″ to 24″.

Agamemnon’s Launch

Salvador del Mundo’s ships boat up close

Stern view of Le Bucentaure’s launch.

Here’s a new combat station kit with three decks of details in 1:32 scale. A beautifully display of the Spanish Navy’s 80-gun ship of the line, Rayo, from the mid-18th/early 19th century, this expert level kit details 5 gun stations at the mainmast.

Combat station of the 80-gun Spanish Royal Navy ship of the line, Rayo.

Want to see more? Visit us a www.agesofsail.com and check out the new kits from Disar Model and find your next model project!

Ages of Sail and Model Craft Tool Shop Grand Opening, Saturday May 14, 2016!

April 30, 2016 / agesofsail / Leave a comment

If you’re anywhere near the Bay Area, you’re going to want to mark this on your calendar. Only two weeks away, Ages of Sail is officially opening it’s all new store!

Ages of Sail and Model Craft Tool Store

Grand Opening!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Time: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Free Refreshments
Door Prizes and Raffle
10% Discount on all In-Store Purchases

Come Join Us! Bring a Friend!

Where: 676 Bockman Road, San Lorenzo, CA

Questions? Call us at 510-889-6000

or email us at

agesofsail@gmail.com

Join us and local Bay Area ship modelers in celebration of the new Ages of Sail and Model Craft Tool Shop!

Check out aisle after aisle of wooden ship model kits and RC kits, multimedia kits, and paper kits, ships in bottles, cross-section models, ship modeling books, Amati ship model fittings, Billing Boats ship model fittings, craft tools, jeweler’s tools, specialty ship modeling tools, Proxxon power tools, glues and accessories.

Plus architectural kits, replica swords, and more!

And be sure to take advantage of our special, one day, Grand Opening In-Store Discount and take 10% off that ship model kit you’ve been waiting to get.

Find the right tool for those tricky tasks, stock up on supplies, get those anchors you need to finish your model, pick out your next project…

Find just the right kit for your next project or that kit that you read about online or in a magazine…

We carry kits from: Amati, Artesania Latina, Billing Boats, BlueJacket, Caldercraft, CCV Model, Constructo, Corel, Cottage Industry Models, Deans Marine, Domus Architectural Models, Dumas, Dusek, Euromodel, Flagship Models, Krick Models, Mantua/Sergal/Panart, Mount Fleet, Nordic Class Boats, Occre, Saito Manufacturing, Shipyard, Soclaine, and Turk Model.

We even have some hard to find, out of production kits from Mamoli and Yankee Model Works.

Don’t know what any of these product lines are? Come by and check them out. You may discover something you’ll really like.