Bob, I suspect there may be those out there such as myself who simply haven't got the time to put together a model ship from scratch but who have a particular interest in it because they have maybe sailed on it, or some other family member has.

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Richard,

I hear this statement so often. But when I ask anyone how long it takes to build a kit, it is usually months, or even years. I don't have that sort of patience, and like to see results within the first few hours. I rarely take more than a total of 60 hours to build a model, spread over a few weeks, often working less than half an hour or so a day. I time everything on a stopwatch, and total building time includes making the display case and sea.

I am not highly skilled, and certainly not a perfectionist, but if try and show anyone how to do it, the usual statement is "I could never do that!" And there the matter ends. The odd person who tried, found like I did, that they could do it if they applied themselves.

I felt the same as yourself about Facebook, but after starting my closed group, (Merchant Ships in Miniature) I find them all very well-behaved, and anyone who tries to disrupt it are removed immediately, but these are very rare. It has been running several years now and is extremely active.

Anyway, here as a dandy little model of Manchester Regiment that I built some time ago – It took 37 hours to build, including the display case and carryng case –  PS – Note – No sheer – The hull was actually built like that in the real ship.   Flat, with slight tilt on forecastle –

Edited By Bob Wilson on 05/04/2021 09:08:16

Beautiful Bob, absolutely beautiful. I feel very privileged to have seen the very end of the British Merchant Navy at its peak. My first ship, while being a Manchester Liner's container ship, still had all officers eating in the Officer's Mess in full blue uniform and having their cabin serviced every day by a steward. If you were on the 4-8 you would finish at 08.00, shower and put your full uniform on, have a full breakfast, including a starter of kedgeree, kippers or devilled kidneys etc. then put your boiler suit back on for a couple of hours of general shipwide maintenance in the morning. You would then change again for lunch before a couple of hours in bed before your call at 15.45.

Nowadays officer's can't even be bothered to get out of their boiler suits to eat if you let them! Sadly I witnessed first hand the long slow decline in the industry but I did appreciate those very early days of Manchester Liners where I at least saw the end of the best of the standards! Obviously driven by economics when we were using 35 men to operate a ship carrying 850 TEUs compared to nowadays where they use 12 men to operate a ship carrying 20,000 TEUs!

Hi All,

Well 5 months of lockdown produced MS Oldenburg in my spare time, only a few details to finish off but she is ballasted with 5lbs of steel, new radio and all ready to go when my club re-opens on 14th April

Regards Ray

Very nice little ship Ray. Built in record time too (compared to me).

I note you have the same issues as I do when taking photos indoors. Often a plant pot, salt&pepper or chair-back sticking out of the model

Look forward to seeing her on the water. We're having unusual April snow-storms here these days so we're battened down for a day or two.

George

Hi All,

Thanks for your generous comments, she is the build I had to get out of my system, I'm only slightly miffed that I missed the twin rudders as several of her past crew have pointed out to me

Regards Ray

Another little beauty Bob, in a way its a shame you will never see them all together as they would make for quite a display.

It reminds me in a way of a visit to the Blohm & Voss shipyard, Hamburg, in around 2010. I was walking around the yard with the ship's doctor and we wandered into the old office building just to enjoy the architecture and character of the place. Also we had just stood on the slip where the Bismarck was built and, being December, we needed warming up! We were approached by some gent who asked who we were. I told him and asked whether it would be possible to see the 1/10th scale Bismarck model that I knew was housed somewhere at the yard. Follow me he says. We went through a door with a fancy keypad lock and I sort of got the impression that this gent was pretty high up in the yard. We went down a long corridor and the full length of the right hand side was a glass case containing a 1/1200th scale model of every ship that the yard had ever built. It was incredibly interesting to see how the ship designs had changed over the years. During the war years of course they produced large numbers of U-Boats and every one had its own little model.

We then walked into this large room and there, sat in a massive glass case was the original 1/10th scale builder's model of the Bismarck. It was huge and I could have looked at it for hours! He finished by giving us a couple of sea trials pictures with specifications marked on it which I have since had framed and put it up in my workshop. I still don't know who the guy was!

They could form the basis of a very nice book Bob. I take it you are familiar with the CV Waine series of books? Something along those lines, perhaps grouping the ships together of a certain type.

PS – I should have said my model ship output fell to below 12 a year, so I couldn't manage one a month for my column!

Not forgetting the Part completed Billing Dragen that got finished and fitted with r/c. Two out of the four projects have actually seen water!

Cheers Tim.

Bearing in mind, the Dragen was part/almost finished when I bought it, (all my projects are rebuilds) it wasn't too difficult to get r/c into with a couple of Howes "Mini" servos. I took some video of it on the day and, true to it's heritage, it's pretty quick. Give me a shout if you want any ideas.

Nigel

Excellent build, and will look good on the water if radio controlled, but I can't imagine how it could be transported. I always did like the style and colour of the old Cunarders.

Bob

Adding embellishments to kits soon clocks up the hours

The builders doing sea trials on the Hudson 1941