Help identifying my model boat

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

Hello

i have just joined this forum because I’m wondering if anyone may be able to identify or provide any information about my model boat which was passed down to me by my Grandad (who would have been around 140 years old by now, so it’s quite old). He often collected antiques so it may have been old even when he acquired it!

Apologies for the condition, it sits on display on a book cabinet but is hell to dust and much of the rigging has deteriorated, the sales poor and the paint faded.

I don’t imagine it reflects a real boat as the scale of the windows at the stern end and the rigging would indicate a very small boat.

Many thanks for any advice. It’s a pretty little model that I’d like to have restored one day,

Richard

ps I just realised that I can’t work out how to post pictures. D’oh. Working on it…

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Wow! Quite a piece. I bet if that was very carefully and sympathetically cleaned up some surprising colours might just emerge.

I suspect a one of scratch built item but certainly an interesting talking point.

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

Thank you Richard. Yes, it’s a very nice, well crafted model.

How would I get it restored, anyone?

Many thanks

Richard L

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Richard L. I have something very similar in my loft, also in need of restoration.

Mine was made by my Dads Dad as a wedding present I believe, and was called ”Joybell” after mums name (Joyce).

Unfortunately the rigging is rotting through old age and the bowsprit has broken, although I have all the bits. The sails appear to be parchment or varnished paper.

If yours is “of an age” it was likely to have been shed built, perhaps even to Hobbies plan, or something from a similar craf/hobby sort of publication, although that’s just conjecture.

Getting it restored either means paying someone a fair chunk of money, or you can tackle it yourself. Giving it a jolly good clean would be a start, and then all it might need is a bit of re-rigging with linen carpet thread, simply replacing whatever’s broken.

Where about s are you?

Ashley

 

Edited By ashley needham on 09/10/2022 07:51:35

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

Just food for thought, as Ashley says paying someone else is likely to be eye wateringly expensive because it is going to be quite a time consuming job.

I was once given a fairly old fishing boat model that has sat in a garage collecting dust and muck for years. It was thick with it. I sat it in a bath of tepid soapy water and washed it down with an old paint brush, simply dipping it in the water and brushing the muck off. When complete the model was rinsed of carefully with a shower head.

Yours might be trickier as it is obviously not a working model and therefore probably not as water resistant but a similar approach might work. I would hold it over a sink of warm soapy water and gently start the process of washing it down. I would avoid using too much water and I would do test areas before getting too stuck in to ensure the paint, materials and glues are not affected. You might even find some parts are made of papier mache so take great care and go very slowly. If the paint is water based it might even wash off but, as with so many of these things, you simply don't know until you try. Just about any other solvent has a higher risk of disturbing the paint so warm soapy water is probably the safest to start with.

If the paint is affected by water then you might only be left with a combination of dry brushing and vacuuming the dust off. Try taping a tube into the end of a vacuum cleaner nozzle to give you a nice fine controllable vacuum tip.

You might also find that the paint is resilient for brief wetting in which case doing small areas at a time and drying it off quickly again with a hair dryer might work.

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Be careful with adding a tube to a vacuum cleaner. I did that to a Hoover cylinder vacuum to clean out some holes I'd drilled in a brick wall. After a short while there was a horrible smell of burning! Had to buy a new one!

Chris

[John W EParticipant @johnwe]

Hi there

I think Ashley may have hit the nail on the head there thinking this may have come from a Hobbies plan. The chances are pretty high. Here is a scan which comes from an 'old' Hobbies magazine that belonged to my dad which shows model of Santa Maria.

I think to clean it – obtain specialist advice – or ask The Repair Shop on BBC – this would be a good project for them to restore for you.

John

[Richard SimpsonParticipant @richardsimpson88330]

I don't think it is high enough up the tear jerker scale for them John!

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

Thank you all for responding, I very much appreciate it. There is a very good chance my Grandad built the boat from a magazine as he was very handy and arty, including carving and building his own car!

I can definitely see that the materials match the suggestions made – I was struggling to imagine what the sails were made from but parchment or paper varnished makes absolute sense. I don’t know if I will risk washing it. It’s quite fragile such is it’s age. I had thought of the ‘Repair Shop’. Don’t worry Richard I’m sure I can suitably embellish some family history. A lot easier potentially than Car SOS for which in desperation, I considered the ‘benefit’ of serious illness to get my old motor restored. Alas, my conscious prevailed and I sorted out the old car the ‘difficult’ but most rewarding route!

in my defence, it was a very brief consideration!

many thanks all ok

Richard L

[Richard Lloyd 1Participant @richardlloyd1]

Thank you all for responding, I very much appreciate it. There is a very good chance my Grandad built the boat from a magazine as he was very handy and arty, including carving and building his own car!

I can definitely see that the materials match the suggestions made – I was struggling to imagine what the sails were made from but parchment or paper varnished makes absolute sense. I don’t know if I will risk washing it. It’s quite fragile such is it’s age. I had thought of the ‘Repair Shop’. Don’t worry Richard I’m sure I can suitably embellish some family history. A lot easier potentially than Car SOS for which in desperation, I considered the ‘benefit’ of serious illness to get my old motor restored. Alas, my conscious prevailed and I sorted out the old car the ‘difficult’ but most rewarding route!

in my defence, it was a very brief consideration!

many thanks all ok

Richard L

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I am sure the repair shop is a semi commercial operation and will restore anything, for a price. The stuff you see on the telly is deliberately chosen for interest in the item and the back story.

The very first thing they would do is clean it! It needs a good dry brushing to remove a lot of dust and then A small bit of sponge moistened with soapy water (not sopping wet) to follow. It is unlikely to do much harm but obviously you need to test a few area first.

if you dont at least clean it, it will spend another 50 years as a dark dirty broken ornament on a shelf somewhere and will eventually be thrown away as not worth keeping, just as a devils advocate thought.

Re-rigging will be easy as it’s not a working model, the rigging is just “for effect” and is easily done with suitable cord, tweezers, PVA or superglue and a sharp knife/scissors.

Ashley

[Author]

Posts