Bespoke Model Boats

[Robert Jones 11Participant @robertjones11]

Good morning everyone,

I am trying to find someone or a company that can produce a bespoke model boat of the royal yacht britannia at around 1800mm in length and supply a rough price guideline so that I can show a price to the client I am woking for.

I have contacted johnrhaynes, bespokemodelboats, modelbuiltbuilders and fineartmodels and have thus far been unsuccessful.

Could anyone help me by suggesting any alternatives?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Rob

[Robert Jones 11Participant @robertjones11]

[John ShireParticipant @johnshire55937]

Rob

A few names spring to mind Paul Thomason, Neil Howard Pritchard, Bob Wilson. I don't know if any of these chaps would want to take the commission, or if Bob would work at that scale, nor how much it would cost but I do know that it will not come cheap.

John

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

John

Thanks for the recommendation but I will rule myself out of this, as whilst the size is right up my street I'm not really a fan of the Britannia and as such it wouldn't present me with a challenge.

Now if it was the new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier it would be a different story.

Paul

Robert it would help if you completed your member profile

Edited By Paul T on 26/02/2013 14:27:09

[Paul FreshneyParticipant @paulfreshney24971]

Robert works for Rawls and Co, a design studio, and he contacted me direct before posting here. Unfortunately the obvious names he had already contacted and they are fully committed for the near future it would seem. 1800mm long is quite a large model as well.

The oher problem may be obtaining detailed plans of HM Royal Yacht Britannia so as to commence the project – they don't seem to be readily available – unless anyone knows better, but I have seen a very fine and well detailed model of Britannia at the Model Boat Convention, so they must be accessible from somewhere.

Paul Freshney – Editor

[Robert Jones 11Participant @robertjones11]

Thank you to everyone that has posted here with suggestions and help. John thank you for putting those names forward. Sorry to hear its not your cup of tea Paul.

I have access to the plans for the Royal Yacht Britannia so this would not be a problem.

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Robert

You have piqued my curiosity, would this be a static or working model and what kind of time scale are you looking at?

Paul

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

This may be a daft question, but……

Are we talking about The Royal Yacht Britannia with the sails or the giant motor cruiser?

Any info on why the model is required?

Bob

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Morning Captain

I hadn't even thought about that as I just assumed it was the Queens motor cruiser, this thread has had me thinking all night about the tasks that must to be completed to build this model.

Large amounts of research including a visit to the ship, because at this scale the devil will be in the details, a redraw of the plan to suit the 1800mm requirement and a bucket full of time to finally build the beast.

Certainly not suited to a part time model builder as it would take years, I understand why Robert went to the pro builders first.

Paul

Do you fancy it?

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Paul

It`s not for me, old chap!

Having lost our little dog at Christmas time, after 13 happy years, we are getting out and about more these days and wouldn`t like to spend our precious hours in the workshop! Hence the rigour mortice on Glasgow job!

Same should apply to you, Paul! It would be two years hard labour before the Royal Mast! Hang loose and watch the world float by!

Better leave it to the pros who do it as a job of work?

There could be examples in museums, gathering dust, that may be for sale somewhere?

Capt Bob

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Bob

I don't think that it would take that long to build, I would have said 12 months but I agree that it would be a full time project and as such would cost a lot of money (which would probably be a problem)

Perhaps there is one in a museum somewhere.

Paul

Sorry to hear about your little dog I did wonder why the Abell production line had slowed down.

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

The one seen at the various shows in the North West took about 3 and a half years in the building, and was the subject of a lot of research, including correcting some bits of the original plans to make the model agree with the photographs and theship as seen in real life. This might well equate to a full time job for getting on for a year – how much is a years worth of a good craftsman's time, skill and effort worth?

A kit is listed at http://www.deansmarine.co.uk/shop/product_info.php/cPath/10_31/products_id/463

Its 1:96, 1.3 metres long, smaller than the 1.8m mentioned.

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

I thought that one was at 1:72 scale Malcolm…….I'm sure Ray told me it was,

.or do you mean the Deans at 1:96.think they've stopped doing that one though as a kit.

neil.

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Good afternoon, Neil.

Yes, Rays is 1:72, partly to fit in with the RM band.

I looked on Dean's site before I posted, that's where I copied the link from. It is quite possible that if wanted, there will be all of the required bits n pieces available to gather a kit together if the hull mould is still available.

[Robert Jones 11Participant @robertjones11]

Thank you to all that have replied to this thread with suggestions, help and ideas. Unfortunately we do not have the time scale for it to be a 2 year or 12 month job as we need it by around the end of August. Model kits are also out of the question for us as we dont have the time, man power or skill to build this boat from a kit as well as this we want it to be quite a bit larger than the kits that can be found on the internet.

Could anyone possibly suggest a company or two that could produce this bespoke model boat? At this currrent moment in time I only have one quote back at around £7000 to meet at the time scale we have provided and we are looking for a few more to give the client a choice.

I am not an avid boat fan and do not actually know the difference between the two boats in question. I do know its bearthed in Edinburgh and it was for the Queen. This is its website.

http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk/

I cannot, for confidential reasons, give more details as to why we need the model boat as we are an interior design agency and our client has stressed strict confidentiality.

Again gaining plans for the boat is not a worry as I have spoken to the museum and they would be more than happy to supply these through myself.

[shipwrightParticipant @shipwright]

Just a thought – a bit of a long shot – in days long gone shipyard apprentices would be asked to make scale models of ships relevant to their yard. Have you tried approaching any of the very few shipyards left in UK ? Most of the shipyards have closed in UK though BAe still run one or two yards. Basically constructing a model ship would exercise useful skills for the apprentices. Issues might be scale (they would normally construct quite large models), timescale start to completion (you've only got about 5 months), cost (unless they were prepared to do the work for not much more than cost of materials the potential cost would be very large).

Ian

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Robert

If you have a quote of £7000 with a guaranteed finish by August then take the deal before the fools realise just how much work is involved,

To complete that amount of work within the time scale I would be asking for more than twice that amount.(and that would be just for a static model)

I appreciate that you don't know much about model boats but don't underestimate the level of design work that will have to be undertaken just to redraft the drawings to the correct scale, all of which will have to be done before the building starts. There will also have to be a full photographic survey done to collect information on all exterior details and at this scale the details would have to include things like door handles and window catches.

Paul

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

I told robert where there was one that would fit his needs in a private message, but he hasn't even read it…….and that was weeks ago?????

 

I would have thought he would be more on the ball if he needed one in that hurry???

 

Don't you agree Malcolm.

 

Mind you…………….I'll sell them a nice old classic lifeboat or two for that price…………and the clients can have those tomorrow…….

Edited By neil howard-pritchard on 11/03/2013 23:17:11

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Hi Neil,

He's probably unaware of things like PMs on forums. If my memory is in working order, I will mention this thread to Ray at tomorrow nights meeting.

Come to that, I'll post him the link.

MalcolmF

[Robert Jones 11Participant @robertjones11]

Neil I apologise that I have not replied to your message I was, indeed, unaware that I had any private messages and I have since replied. Thank you for the suggestion and it would be much appreciated if it was still on the table.

Malcolm thank you for offering to mention it in your meeting tomorrow night. What is the link you will be posting?

Paul, I 100% do not underestimate the level of work that would go into the build and fully appreciate that ideally it would take a lot longer than the time frame I've been given. Unfortunately its what I have been given by the client and is what I have to work with. I'm just trying my best to meet client expectations

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

No problems Richard, and from what you have just said to Malcolm……..I think we arre both working towards the same ends with the club member mentioned in my PM to you.

neil.

[Malcolm FraryParticipant @malcolmfrary95515]

Malcolm thank you for offering to mention it in your meeting tomorrow night. What is the link you will be posting?

I have sent Ray a link to this thread. Unlike me, he spends more time modelling that on 'tinterweb.

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