1:100 Scale Halcon Baltimore Schooner NTJK Models - Part One

I immensely enjoyed my recent foray into wooden model boat building, learning new skills and working with unfamiliar materials so I thought I would have another go with another cheap chinese kit from Aliexpress.

1:100 Halcon Wooden Sailing Boat - NTJK Models - £5.99

This is another kit from NTJK Models and comes in a little plastic bag with all the basic things needed to make a passable model.  Five laser cut sheets of varying thicknesses of wood, some lengths of dowel for masts, a sheet of linen for sails and a reel of cotton for rigging. 

At the super low bargain price of £5.99 (that's cheaper than a Big Mac) there literally is no downside.

The History of The Halcon 

Doing a bit of research turned up some interesting documents:

A 1933 court report documents that on February 15, 1932 the Spanish Honduran registered ship The Halcon was found off the coast of New Orleans with a cargo of "intoxicating liquor".  She was escorted to Mobile Alabama and seized by US Customs. 

Model Research 

Building my last kit from NTJK models taught me that the assembly instructions are somewhat lacking in the actual instruction department.  Nothing has changed with this wooden boat kit and there are some pretty critical instructions missing including: 

• Sail Plans - How big are the sails and what shape?
• Mast Dimensions - All those dowels need to be cut to lengths but how long do they need to be.
• Rigging Plan - What ropes need to go where and what blocks and dead eyes are needed.
  

Some intense internet browsing was therefore required.

Ships of Scale - This build log has a number of great pictures and also illustrates how there can be differences in the kit supplied and that an accessory kit is also available containing brass cannons and fixtures.  These I will of course be replacing with 3D Printed parts.  Also useful is a set of deck and rigging plans showing the routing of the anchor chains and various other deck accessories. 

There are a few other builders on there who have documented their builds of the Halcon, so this was a must community to join.

HIS Models - There are plenty of different models of the Halcon and companies supporting the model making fraternity with accessories.  One such company is HISModels who provide a set of CNC wooden blocks and deadeyes.  They illustrate the content of their kit with this extensive rigging plan. 

Best Ship Models - is another great resource site for model boat building and they have another set of plans. 

Tune in for the Part Two when I actually start building this boat.