Iron barque completed

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Completed this morning. 25 feet to 1 inch – Completly scratchbuilt. It took 84 hours (timed on a stopwatch), spread over 53 days. Once again, a bit of a "damp squib" as far as fellow model shipbuilders are concerned, with very little interest being shown! Stlll – I enjoyed the build!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

A lovely model, Bob

Could be one of your best?

The sails and rigging are most convincing…….Full of wind and as tight as a drum!

Bob ABELL

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Agree, it probably is. Sails molded round an ostrich egg when wet – nothing worse than a flat sail or flag!

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

That is a really beautiful model Bob. You have captured her perfectly. Has she got a good home lined up?

Colin

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

I entirely agree with previous comments – a truly beautiful model, as always when coming out of your hands, Bob!

Mattias

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Fantastic model, and the sails are just great. You are a real master, Bob.

Ashley

ps  do you have different size eggs for different size models??

Edited By ashley needham on 10/06/2018 17:43:23

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I do have six eggs that I got in Cape Town many years ago for about £1. Got them for decoration really, and they are all in a wicker basket. Eventually, I began to use them for making sails, but they are all of similar size, but with a blunt end and a more pointed end, there are a selection of curves to choose from. They are very strong, and I have never broken any of them.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Gulf Stream – Sold 12th June, 2018. Going to the Continent – Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

This model was damaged beyond repair in transit from here to Belgium – received the news today.

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Oh no!

Colin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It was insured, but they are already laying the foundations of wriggling out of it.

Bob

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Bob

Clearly they have no parents

Regards Ray

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Whatever the insurance payout it won't bring back such an exquisite model.

Colin

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Bob,

That is very distressing news indeed, and a real pity with such a lovely model — please accept my sincere sympathies!

Mattias

PS. For the benefit of clarity, although, as Bob says, the package was on its way to Belgium, I was not the intended recipient; there are +/- 11 million others within the borders of said entity, one or a few of whom will now be sorely disappointed, I'm sure …

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks for comments. I still have a large number of photographs of it, so the memory will live on for me, but the buyer will be very disappointed, as he already has a number of my models. They are asking me to prove it was as valuable as I claim, which is practically impossible, although I have found a similar one in the online archives of Charles Miller Ltd Maritime Auctions Ltd London (Norman Court – See below) with a sale price of £600 (hammer) plus £90 buyers premium, making a total cost to the buyer of £690, on top of which they would have to pay delivery, and that was a smaller model at 32 feet to 1 inch. Whatever happens, it has made me reluctant to send anything ever again, leaving it to "collection only." This will, of course vastly curtail my activities, as not many will want to collect personally, and storage space is always a problem. We will have to see what happens, and I will keep you informed as safe transport for models is not something confined to myself. Unfurtunalely, EEC law insists that the seller is fully responsible to make good loss or damage, but at the same time, they do not enforce any law on couriers to be fully responsible for items in their care! A bit of a "flexirule," that does not apply to large delivery firms. I will be refunding in full today – "hard come, easy go!" Oh well – that's life!

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 28/06/2018 08:15:47

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I have refunded the buyer in full, but things are not looking too promising about insurance with hints of "cost of repair" only!. The remains are presumably on the way back to me now. A further blow is that any insurance money I do receive, will be taxable!!

"If you can meet with triumph, or disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same!" (If by Rudyard Kipling).

So, from now on it will be "collection only," and only what I choose to build! I stopped taking private commisions years ago! A change of direction is now required, and as damage limitation, I will be writing a book on modelling the Gulf Stream, that I will publish on my own account. Strangely enough, I have entered a new era of "calm" and in some ways, it is like a millstone has been lifted from my neck. I feel rather like I did on leaving the sea after 32 years – a feeling of "freedom at last!!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It is now on its way back, but travelling a lot slower than when it went. It arrived at Tamworth (Near Birmingham) at 0134 bst this morning, so I suppose the earliest I can expect it will be Monday, more likely Tuesday. Absolute silence on the insurance claim!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Bob

I sad story really, but depending on the condition of the model, could the model not be reclaimed by recycling it, into a realistic wreck scene?

It has an interesting provenance?

All the best……Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Bob,

That same thought did occur to me. At one stage in her career, the Gulf Stream was partially dismasted. A damaged ship running for port under a jury rig of reduced spars and sails. I will decide after I see it. If I do decide to restore it completely, it would mean a new set of masts and rigging. The masting and rigging of it took 39 hours, as I have all the work recorded in my build log. The total building hours actually came to 90.1, a bit more than my original calculation, because in the computer log, I had put a / instead of a dot in one of the earliest timings, so it had only added the column up after the mistake. But whatever happens, I will not offer it for sale again, and as I liked it so much, I was a bit reluctant to sell it in the first place!

Incidentally, when she was dismasted, one of the seamen was working aloft at a height of about 150 feet from the deck. As the mast broke beneath him, the sail folded over, and engulfed him completely as the who lot went crashing to the deck. As they were clearing the tangled wreckage, they found him inside the folds of the sail, bruised and shaken, but otherwise unharmed. Such tales I find far more intersting than the never-ending and ever- popular Napolenoic sea battles!

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Arrived back this morning! – Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Looks as if she has been through some heavy weather! Are repairs possible? Damage appears to be confined to sails and rigging from your photo

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop on 13/07/2018 15:49:54

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It will certainly never be as good as it was when completed! It will also be much harder to repair because it is stuck in the sea, and not as easy to manoeuvre about the table during repair. At the moment, I am not doing anything to it, but waiting to see what the insurance people say. The delivery firm just said "It doesn't look too bad. Just requires a few sails re-positioning, and a bit of re-threading of the rigging!" It is really the "straw that broke the camel's back!" It marks the end of me sending them by courier, even in the UK. It will be a case of "collection only" from now one, and very few will want to do that!

Bob

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

It is difficult to know what to say really. Presuming it was adequately packed (as I sure it was), then it seems hard to believe that the courier company are not responsible for the damage.

As for value…its value was surely worth what the purchaser paid for it??? If you sold it for (whatever…£10 say), then that is what it is worth? It cannot suffer depreciation like a car…

Ashley

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I insured it for £500, but sold it for considerably more than that!. The law insists that the seller is fully responsible to make good any damage. In this case, I just refunded the whole lot, so the buyer has not lost a penny. But the law does not insist that couriers be fully responsible for goods in their care! It is a good example of a "flexirrule!"

Bob

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