July 2016 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. BJ S J/24 K
SEARSPORT – Every month I go into BlueJacket Shipcrafters in Searsport just to see what is going on. Several months ago they were in the process of putting a new kit together on the very popular J/24 sailboat, and now the kit is available. Owner Nic Demuck said, “We went
into the Bluejacket archives and in some one of the dark recesses we found a model from about 1993, a prototype of the J/24 that Bluejacket was going to put into production. We found plans, but for some reason it never went into production. They were going to do it as a vacuum form plastic hull and I think that is where it fell down. So we took a look at it and said we could resurrect this and make a really nice model. They also knew that it might be popular
as they had a completed version out in their gallery and were constantly asked if this was a kit they could buy. The fi rst thing they did was take the
prototype model and take the lines off of it so they could form a solid wood hull. Al Ross, who develops most of the kits for BlueJack- et, said he did not do much research, saying most of it was done. He added, “Some things I didn’t understand so I went and dug around on the Internet and found that there was certain things that were rather casually reproduced. The original kit was a Laughing Whale kit, so it was meant to be very simple, very basic. For instance the chain-plates weren’t there, the jib tracks were pieces of plastic I-beam and the traveler was just kind of a piece of wood across the cockpit. We made up stainless steel photo etch for those pieces. Then Nic had a friend make up the red and white cord for the running rigging.” The red and white running rigging is a
great tough. Nic said, “I had seen pictures of the boats and they all had color-coded
rigging so I looked and looked and tried to fi nd it. It looks like bakery store twine, but that is way too thick. We needed something that was about 18,000s of an inch in diame- ter, so we had this person I know who twists rigging line for model ships do a custom line just for us for this kit.” This is not a very diffi cult model to do,
and someone who has done models will be able to complete it in several weekends. It is also not very expensive, being off ered at just $199. Now for those that do not have all the items necessary BlueJacket off ers a paint kit for $31.50 and a toolkit for $55. The toolkit contains hobby specifi c tools not normally found in the home. You will also need a few household items, like masking tape, sandpaper, etc. Nic added, “I expect quite a few J boat
owners would like to build this and make it look like their boat. If they have special graphics we can do custom decals.” Over the years there were changes made
to the J/24 and it would not be too diffi cult to make the changes so it is an accurate representation of your boat. Al explained, “Looking through photographs, the rig, while similar, was diff erent. The traveler, I saw a lot of diff erent styles. This kit is ge- neric and you can easily make it your boat.” Another two kits that will soon be avail-
able are small tabletop models of the J-boats RAINBOW and ENDEAVOUR from the 1934 America’s Cup. These models are 8 ½ inches in length and will require putting deck items down, painting and rigging. Nic said that he has to get the box art, fl yer sheets, get the word out and settle on the pricing settled. He added, “I am targeting these to be under $100. For a modeler it is a weekend or two project. It is a cast resin hull, very simple, and the idea here is they make great little
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tabletop models for your offi ce or den. I think they are going to be very popular.” Al is working on a kit of the sardine
The fi nished J/24 model from BlueJackets Shipcrafters of Searsport.
carrier PAULINE. This is going to be in the workboat scale, same as the diesel tugboat. He is also working on the whale ship CHARLES S. MORGAN cut away. This is one that I am waiting for. The kit of PAULINE is probably three to six months out and MORGAN a year plus. Next they are planning to create a kit
of the six-masted schooner WYOMING, another of the battleship OREGON and an- other one that I am waiting for the Civil War gunboat CAIRO, which will be a cut-away model. If you are traveling through Searsport
almost across from Hamilton Marine is a building with a lighthouse attached and this is the home of BlueJacket. They have a great showroom and I am betting most will not be able to resist going home empty handed. Remember those long –cold winters, he is a cure.
The J-boat RAINBOW.
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