Midwest Chesapeake Flattie

Bought this for my 20 year old, who loves crafty things. She never put a model ship together and found this was a great first model ship. It was challenging, taking time and patience but not overly difficult. She asked me to get her another model ship because she enjoyed this one so much. Everything she needed was included in the kit.

Full disclosure, I received this free of charge. I am an avid modeler so I was interested in doing my first model of a sailing ship, which Model Expo seems to specialize in. The box contents include all the parts needed (but not all the tools! see the photos if you are a beginner to model making), a Model Expo catalog, and a comprehensive instruction booklet of over 40 pages. This is considered a “Skill Level 1” kit for beginners but wow, this is very labor intensive compared to the plastic scale models I’m used to building. While it will take quite a bit of time, the instructions seems clear, and the parts seem high quality, with nicely laser cut basswood pieces, a roll of plans to aid in assembly, rigging, sailcloth, cast metal parts, and so on. It will be a while before I get around to building this kit, but I am glad I picked it up when I did. I will very likely buy more Model Expo kits in the future.

I was looking forward to an easy build with this beginner model. Nothing can be further from the truth. The instructions called for 11+7/8 strip wood for several applications. The problem being the supplied pieces were all 7+7/8. Try contacting the company . No phone number.

Not for a novice. Instructions not always clear.

The pictures on the listing show the model fully assembled. The company does state that this is for "self assembly", however, you may struggle with assembly unless you are a very experienced scale modeler and have woodworking tools (small files, sand paper etc.) Every knot on the sail has to be hand tied with a proper nautical knot. The hull has to be constructed, primed, painted and epoxied, if you plan to place it in water.I am anticipating a build time of 40-50 hours and I have a complete stand alone scale model workshop with all kinds of tools.Just wanted to let anyone who had not made this type of model that it is well made but needs a lot of skill and tools.

All parts are actually cut and present