Jump, I have a few pics of the "Emma" in my harbor. If you want more I can post them. Thanks for the comments.
Also, I saw the "Emma" along side the whaler Charles Morgan some 70 years ago.
Lew

Beautiful Jumpugly, I hope you rebuild it soon.

Trimmed down to a sloop rig the Emma C. Berry is still at Mystic Seaport fitted out as a "well smack." She was given to the seaport in 1969 and is over 150 years old. And the big, schooner rigged, Sterling kit is about 4 feet long if memory serves. I lost my Emma C. in the house fire in 2009. I hope someday to build her again.
👍😊

Roy - Et al,

I know where there is (or was a couple months ago) an unbuilt Emma C Berry.
It is part of an estate that the widow is selling off.
If anybody is interested, I can contact her to see if it is still available.

Dave B

I agree the Emma C Berry is a great looking model, at the time the cost in the UK was just too high for me, but she does look good on the water.
Roy

Ian!
Your last paragraph making the distinction from "beginner" to "experienced" was spot on! I had a good laugh and it made my day!

And yes, I am still a fan of the old Sterling kits, even their airplanes. For someone who openly bitches about the oldies I have three Dumas kits built and on display and two Sterlings either built or NIB including Airplanes!!!
LOL!
Lew! The Emma C. Berry is highly prized today and fetches HUGE $$$. Post a pix or two please!!!!

So, in essence, I am full of you know what...from time to time.
😂😂😂😂😂

PS: I will always try to keep it "light" considering the crap we are going through right now both nationally and internationally.

Quite a few interesting thoughts nicely packed :
«Engineers and accountants» - an eternal contradiction ! Let’s be a bit provocative: That is why engineers love « turbulent times » like today. The accountants have much less say when the fighter plane, the destroyer or the rocket must prove to be perfect. Just too bad the guys operating this perfect stuff aren’t quite as perfect . . .

As for the Sterling (and Dumas) kits: I built a Chris Craft 63 foot motor yacht in the late sixties. I was not half as experienced as today and it went together perfectly. I would buy one immediately if the kit still existed or rebuild one based on a 40 inch fiberglass hull. (Why the original one no longer exists is a not-so-happy private story.)

« For experienced builders only » is still better than «suitable for beginners». The savvy builder will look at the kit and decide for himself whether he is sufficiently experienced. The so-called beginners kit might be bought by an uninformed father and result in a frustrated kid with a mess on his hands. (How responsibly do model shops coach their customers?)
Ian

The only Sterling kit I built was the Emma C. Berry. This was my second RC build, back in the early 1970's. Yeah, 1/8 inch thick Balsa covered hull. I glased it with the intention of running it. Only thing is, it was only in a pool (at a shopping mall) once. Not a bad build. Some things were out of scale and some too simple. Sits on a shelf in my billiard room and see it every day.
Lew

Hi Ronald I am there now writing a review of our recent March club evening. see our website https://stalbansmes.com

I organise our club evenings, which can be seen for content by going to the bottom of the pages and clicking on the picture.

We manage 10 evenings per year from internal sources, members. The others are Auction and visit to club track. Usually around 30+ members present in our excellent church venue.
I am currently typing and this is my view from the patio at rear of our son's house. Lovely warm and bright sunlight with a cool breeze.
Roy

Roy,
Well said. I agree totally with your take on the Accountants. IMHO they ruled at Dumas. Then again I’m an engineer. Engineers & accountants go together like a fish & a bicycle.
Jump,
As I think I said herein I am not a kit builder, Dumas having a lot to do with that philosophy. Give me a f’glass hull, & access to interesting boat photos & I’ll come up with something.
I’m not a fan of 3D printing for models but I appreciate the results that folks exhibit. It takes a lot of skill plus knowledge & experience with CAD so I applaud the efforts. Just not my cup of tea. I had a rudimentary knowledge of CAD for architectural purposes but never made the effort to learn it’s application in other fields.

Hi Roy!
Truth be told, the Sterling American Scout exhausted me and while the effort can be it’s own reward, I’ve hit the wall either way with the rigging. So, I will move it up to the lake and complete the booms and rigging there.

As far as Sterling goes their boats and ships build so much better than their aircraft kits and their instructions are usually quite good with excellent illustrations. But, what’s drawn and what is reality is an issue. Especially the “now take the 4” square balsa block and sand to shape your bow.” Yow! lol!

This is in stark contrast to many of the Dumas kit instructions which are lacking in so many ways. How did Dumas fix this? With the easy-way-out catchphrase “for experienced builders!”
Uggh, that was always like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to me, if I say so myself!
All in all days work. 🤣🤣🤣

I hear you are visiting the island continent?

The dinosaurs as a species were very resilient having ruled for 170 milllion years, we have a long way to go, providing we can get some better leaders than we have now.
All current would-be warriors included in this.
Roy

Hi Jump, I always wanted the Sterling freighter kit. A few years ago one was put in for sale at our club shop I went through it and was not impressed with the contents. A disappointment and one I wish I did not know.
As you say Dumas also qualifies for the worst wood ever, I am sure better wood was available and I there were accountants involved where the profit line is more important than the quality of the product.

I have an old kit of the American Beauty towboat still not completed. The under water fittings kit was way over the cost of what it should have been. Having seen it I made my own from mainly brass which was a small reward apart from the negligible cost to myself, just time. I bought 2 props (£60) made 6 rudders and 2 kort nozzles.
I will post a picture when I find it!
Roy

LOL Ron! You got that right! Wood dust, splinters and everything that comes with my three day running knife fights with my old Dumas and Sterling kits.

Gary! Thanks so much for your kind words! Best to keep it light as from time to time as I wake up screaming at night thinking of ballast issues! And that's with the boats and not my gall bladder!
😉🤣

Jump…
You said “ I consider myself something of a "dinosaur" builder and purest.”

What is a dinosaur builder? Laying down a keel cut from wood? Cutting frames and other parts of wood?
Then gluing with an appropriate wood glue which requires being clamped to male a good adhesion? Then walk away while it dries.
🪵

Hi Jump, and personally I always enjoy your comments and dry humour, so please keep them coming. this web site needs characters like your self, as they are a little thin on the ground. So many in recent years have joined that huge lake in the sky. God bless them all.