Classic Ship Models

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

A type of model that   reveals more than just the outside detail

This is a model of the Atlantic Conveyor  seen at the MMM showing  the method of storage throughout the ship .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

This Classic  model   of  the Dutch  Research vessel  Zirfaea was seen at  this years Dortmund . Built to a scale of 1:75 by  well known German Model Maker  Werner Toller a Naviga gold medalist and like Jim Woods in the UK  concentrates on quite complex builds .  A  full report   on   the Dortmund Intermodellbau  will feature  in Model Boats  in due course .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Thinking of the Great Eastern and her role laying the first successful transAtlantic  cable,  brings to mind another classic model  from the Jim Woods ship yard in  the form of the Cable Retriever. The full size vessel is operated mainly in the South East Asia region by Global Marine  and  is an all stern working cable ship having  a cable load capacity  is  2475 tons. The vessel is also equiped and fitted to operate its own ROV.  

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

We mustn`t miss out the magnificent MATCHSTICK FLEET!

These photos were taken about 2002, when the fleet sailed into Ellesmere Model Boat Show………………One word to describe this spectacle is………………AWESOME!

More to follow!………………….Bob

 

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Take a close discerning eye to these little beauties!

Every one is precise and identical!……………..and made from matches and matchboxes!

More to follow……………….Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Can you imagine the infinite patience, that this genius of a builder, Phil Warren must possess!…………………They take one`s breath away!

More to follow……………….Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Final picture………………Beauty in miniature!

Such fine precision and all hand painted too!

That`s all folks!

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob Couldn’t agree more. Phil Warren’s Fleet is awe inspiring .

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

When it comes to an “atmospheric”  model  Ted Parr’s Nimitz is certainly  one of the most extraordinary  I have ever seen .Built  20 years ago,  over 2.5m long  and to a scale of 1:144 . Totally scratch built and   took 2 yeas to build. Even the deck crew are kitted in the right colours.

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Here`s another picture of GOLIATH……………..Built by Geoff Abell, my brother, and has since absconded to the model railway scene

 

Working copy of a Victorian tinplate battleship, bread and butter hull, that cracked the paintwork after every voyage, due to wood instability and required 65lb of lead to get it down to the waterline.

 

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The Half block model.  Seldom seen but can be very useful indeed to the model builder, particularly in the absence of drawings  as  information, for example    lines , stations  and shell plating  can be lifted from this type of model.   , Sadly many half block models were disposed off and in the age of CAD the need for such have passed.  Could they be considered classic that of course depends on the vessel but as they are no longer produced then their rarity value increases. >>

The example here is from the Cammell Laird collection at the Williamson art Gallery Birkenhead.>>

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Dave Wooley >

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The River Mersey has had many types of Ferry boats  except a chain ferry . This was indeed considered in 1865 .  What makes this model Classic is perhaps its originality. The concept never left the drawing board  but  in 1865  a  1:48 scale model was built  and this is the result .

Available to see at the MMM

Dave Wooley

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

The Dortmund Intermodellbau  is one of  the largest model exhibitions in Europe  and you can always count on a good number of  exceptionally fine and very unusual models being exhibited.

One particular model that  could be classed as a classic  is this  River Diving bell vessel the Carl Straat.  As well as being an unusual ship  it is certainly an  unusual  subject for a working  model. Built in 1963  for the Shipping Directorate It purpose is to inspect  river beds from inside a diving bell attached to a long access cylinder both of which are lowered  through the ship on  to the river bed.

Dave Wooley

Edited By David Wooley on 21/05/2009 09:42:40

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

I’m in awe at the level of detail on what is generically referred to as French POW models. Much has been documented about why they were made and the materials that were used even down to human hair for the rigging .  After the Napoleonic period a veritable industry was established producing these models and many were commissioned by the great and the good. This particular model of a 32 ore Maltese Xebec rigged galley formed part of what was the Pilkington Collection, and is  now  on display at the  Merseyside Maritime Museumlace. These are true classic models in every sense of the word.  

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Dave Wooley

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Edited By David Wooley on 22/05/2009 18:13:33

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Dave

 

Have you got any Scrimmage models to show us?

 

How anyone can carve bone in the way they did……………is beyond me!

 

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob What is a Scrimmage model?   I only know one Scrimmage and that was an Admirable Class  USN minesweeper circa 1943, atractive little ships.

 

Dave Wooley

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Well!…………..You`ve let the side down, this time, Dave!

 

The captured French sailors in Nelson`s era………………made lovely Man o` War models all out of bones………….using a rusty old cutlass!………..and they sell for large sums of dosh these days!

 

It`s called Scrimshaw…………..now I come to think of it………….or something like that?

 

Paul will know?

 

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hold it!…………Hold it just there!

 

Got it wrong again Dave!……………Scrimshaw is bone carving!

 

Don`t know the correct name for the model building from bone……………but I know a man who might!……………….Paul?

 

Bob

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

HMS Kent has been a popular   subject with modelers   since the original article first appeared in the then very new Model Boats magazine of April 1966. There have been a number of very fine examples  of this “Classic” armoured cruiser over the intervening  years, with John Hollis building his Kent in her all grey 1914 livery. But   for many the classic HMS Kent is seen in her quintessential Victorian livery, as depicted here by Mark Hawkins.  The original Plan  was at 1:96 .A GRP hull and fittings are available from Deans Marine

Dave Wooley

Edited By David Wooley on 25/05/2009 23:54:43

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Returning to the builders model

There are those that say   that the  most attractive cargo vessels built were those owned and operated by Alfred Holt  and were known as the Blue Funnel Line.  

The “Priam” class   were  built at the beginning of the container ship revolution and were  the last of the conventional cargo vessels built for Alfred Holt  to carry  bulk liquids , refrigerated and general cargo . Priam an elegant vessel with a   truly Classical name was built at Vickers Armstrong on the Tyne in 1966,    this builder model of the Priam can be seen at the MMM. The original vessel unlike the model ended her days being scrapped at Kaohsiung  end  between late 1985 early 1986.

 

Blue Funnel Priam

Dave Wooley

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Edited By David Wooley on 26/05/2009 16:21:29

Edited By David Wooley on 26/05/2009 16:23:46

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Yet another “Classical ship” the cargo vessel Telemachus in her Blue Funnel livery, The original was built by Joseph L Thompson and Sons Sunderland and launched in 1950 as the Silver Elm for the Silver line. Later acquired by the Ocean SS co and renamed Telemachus.   As a child and living within a short distance of Vittoria dock Birkenhead  I would often see vessels belonging to the Blue Funnel Line   bound to ports around the globe. They were elegant vessels and this particular model captures some of that    elegance  of an ago of maritime trade long gone,   but like many “builders’ models” were embellished, some with nickel silver fittings, and perhaps that is what makes these models so noticeable to the eye. None the less a Classic model of a classical ship from a period when function followed form.   The original was sold on in 1971  only to be scrapped in China  in 1973.

Dave Wooley

Edited By David Wooley on 28/05/2009 10:05:48

Edited By David Wooley on 28/05/2009 10:07:16

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Model ships come in all shapes and sizes but few are built were   interior  detailing  is  as important as the exterior and , not just  the electrics but how the model maker rises to the challenge of reproducing each and every  fitting   down to the last chair or plate! . Cliff Robertson is a past master of  the art of  making a model almost come alive. Many perhaps will recall Cliff’s beautifully constructed and elegantly fitted Royal Yacht Britannia, at the 2007 Model Engineer Exhibition.  Yet few may be aware that there was another Britannia built by Cliff . The original   a Rhine  cruise ship and as a model  was built some years before his   Royal Yacht. But none the less a fascinating study into what can be achieved both within and with out.

 

Dave Wooley

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Edited By David Wooley on 29/05/2009 21:39:40

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

That’s interesting Dave, we travelled on the Viking Britannia’s sister ship Viking Deutschland  four years ago. Great trip!

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I don’t know whether this one can be considered a classic.    It didn’t take very long to build and presented no difficulties or challenge.   It shows the steam whaling barque ESQUIMAUX  laid alongside an ice shelf sometime about 1900.    It is another miniature and every time  I look at the photograph of the model, I get a great satisfaction.    I liked it so much, I had it turned into a Christmas card.   It is definitely one of my favourites.

Bob

 

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

Hi Bob wonderful piece of work and a fitting choice as a Seasons greeting card . How you work at such micro scales is beyond me but the results speak for themselves.

Dave Wooley

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