Fishing Trawler
by Paul Helfrich

1/90 North Atlantic Fishing Trawler (Lindberg)

Lindberg ship kits are well known for being uneven in quality. I've built quite a few of their products, and I will say this: sure, they have produced some kits that aren't close to the current state of the art (their motorized Hood and Bismarck kits come to mind) but their good kits are excellent.

I'd count among those good kits some historic sailing ships and in particular, their series of four commercial work boats that was out about 12 years ago: the Shrimp Boat, the North Atlantic Fishing Trawler, the Diesel Tug, and the Tuna Clipper. Those were nice, generously sized kits that built up well right out of the box and offered tremendous possibilities for the superdetailer and scratchbuilder. Plus, they were reasonably priced and widely available, when they were in production.

I'm pretty much of an out of the box builder myself, and that's what you see here, with the 1/90 North Atlantic Fishing Trawler. I added rigging, shrouds, and filled in the windows with KristalKleer. It's a fun kit because, since it doesn't represent any one ship, it can be painted any way you like - you can base it on a ship from real life, or just choose a scheme that appeals to you. That can be a nice break from warship models, where you're typically trying to capture the appearance of a real ship at a particular point in its history.

Another cool thing about this kit is it's big enough to convert to RC, if you're so inclined.

I have the Tuna Clipper, too, and may some day photograph that as well, if I can get it off the back shelf where it resides.