KENYA 32’=2″ Complete at Last.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Completed today at about 1600 Bst.

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

British India Passenger Liner, 1951

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Now that really is lovely Bob. One of your best in my view.

 

Colin

[MzeeParticipant @mzee]

MAGNIFICENT!  ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT!  Your pic created a serious lump in my throat as i wandered back through my cerebral archives watching many a BI ship enter and leave Mombasa’s Kilindini harbour in the ‘good old days’.  Those were the days, my friend …..

 

Robin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks,

I am inclined to agree that it is the best I have done so far in this sort of thing.   My prevous favourite was WINCHESTER CASTLE.    Although I started KENYA  on 17th April 2009, I kept losing interest in it.    Finally started putting my mind to it a few weeks ago.     Since starting it, I have worked on it for 39 days.   The total number of hours from start to finish was exactly 83.   And that includes building the display case and carrying case.

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

A magnificent model, Bob!….Very well done

 

Absolutely perfect, I trust you will get a good price for it!

 

Regards………….Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks Bob,

Not very hopeful, I am afraid, I suppose the recession has dampened any interest that there was in this sort of thing.

Bob

[Robin LeeParticipant @robinlee31938]

Hi Bob,

Another superb model. I still can’t get over the short time it takes you to build these. 83 hours!

Robin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks Robin,

It was spread over more than a year though, because I kept losing interest.    Whilst KENYA was being built, I completed ten others!

Bob

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

Absolutely magnificent, Bob. I cannot comprehend how you can incorporate so much fine detail in such a small model.

 

Outstanding!!

 

Peter. 

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thanks Peter,

I could not comprehend how miniatures were made either when I first saw the ships of Donald McNarry in a South African Museum in the late 1960s and early 70s.   They seemed well beyond my humble capabilities.   But where most modellers will simply think “I could never do anything like that,” I took the attitude of “I will make it my business to find out!”    I contacted Mr. McNarry and asked him to point me in the right direction.    He was very helpful and said that he had written a small book called Shipbuilding in Miniature that covered both sail and steam.     Also sent me a packet of model pictures to further “inspire” me.     I obtained the book and followed in his wake and have never looked back.    In all honesty, I found them easier to make than large scales from day one.   Special techniques are used and there are no knots or anything like that.      Here is a link to his website:    http://www.donaldmcnarryshipmodels.com/menu.html    They are infinitely superior to my own and regularly sell for in excess of £10,000 each!      He is still alive and well, but in his 90s.

 

The KENYA build has met with mixed interest, on other forums where  the viewing figures exceeded 2,000 and 5,000 respectively, but  didn’t really attract much interest here,  so I stopped updating it.   But am very pleased to see a final appreciation.    Sadly, merchant ships like this are now out-of-fashion in the modelling world, so I am now turning more to writing.

 

Bob

[Peter FitnessParticipant @peterfitness34857]

Thanks for the information, Bob.

 

You have hit the nail on the head by mentioning “attitude”. If a problem is approached with a negative attitude, a solution will be very difficult to find, whereas if a positive attitude is adopted the problem is far more likely to be resolved.

 

I hope that you continue to post pictures of your models here, as they absolutely fascinate me. However, I am unlikely to attempt any myself at the moment, as my modelling time is fully occupied with RC models. Perhaps at some future date.

 

Peter. 

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Latest update on KENYA.

This one, despite being my best so far, turned out to be a bit of a “damp squib” at the London maritime auction yesterday (27th October, 2010).    It didn’t sell, and attracted very little interest!

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

That really does surprise me Bob, it’s not as if it is an obscure ship either.

 

Colin

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Colin

I can’t say I was really all that surprised as this sort of thing has been happening to me for years.   Often, models that I build very quickly and attached little significance to would go for vast amounts, whilst the superior ones either fail to sell, or bring abysmal prices.

 

Similar experience today.    The tiny coaster AUSTERITY has just sold on Ebay for a good price.  It had 164 views and 13 watchers and bidding started in the final 30 seconds!

 

Not really worth sending any more to London auction as they have now introduced a £50 “marketing” charge per lot.   The KENYA cost me £42 to send, plus £50 “marketing” charge and £10 insurance.   So I am £102 down already and it has not sold.   No guarantee that it will go next time either.

 

AUSTERITY gave me hope for the future.

 

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

which auction house in london was that one, bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

It was

http://www.charlesmillerltd.com 

The past & present catalogues, plus the results for all of them are on the site.

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 28/10/2010 20:45:47

Edited By Bob Wilson on 28/10/2010 20:46:13

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

that surprises me, bob…not that he couldn’t sell, but because he is trying to build a name for himself by selling exactly the sort of model you have.

 

he is of the “old school” from Christies, and when, a few years ago they stopped their maritime sales of anything less than 100k price  wise [ yes one hundred thousand pounds], he set up his own studio, and refuses to go down the way of selling kit built models, and models not in show cases if he has too….and has as such built a clientelle’ of fervant collectors of models like yours.

 

all i can think of is that the cuts are biting hard and frightening folk off buying.

neil.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hi Neil,

Yes,  I have sold them at Christie’s for years until they stopped Maritime for the reasons you give.     It was the same at Christie’s though.    For instance a model I built of tiny exploration ship, HMS CARCASS, stuck in the ice, sold for £780 at Christie’s in 2004.   It took me 32 hours to build.    The Dutch passenger liner KLIPFONTEIN that took me 86 hours to build sold for £350 the same year, if not the same sale.     Sales at his own place have been pretty similar, and no complaints really.   It is just that this £50 marketing charge has proved the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.     When I spoke to him yesterday, he said he started KENYA off at £500, but there was little interest.   All the results are on his website, so you can examine them in depth if interested.    As a matter of interest, three more of my models were there.   These were tramp steamer FRAMLINGTON COURT and cargo liners STIRLINGSHIRE and CLAN SHAW.     These were NOT entered by myself, but be their present owner.   I sold them some years ago.    These were Lots 294, 295 and 296, selling for £480, £396 and £420 respectively.

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

yes, I saw those, Bob. can’t understand why he is putting that marketing charge on………never heard of it before, and I thought that the commission you pay was for that total purpose…..seems as though he’s wanting the cake, with the cherry on top AND eating it as well.

 

Sadly at the moment I have little faith in the auction business…two years ago, my three r/c steam models went unsold down south……I organised a courier to collect….unfortunately it was the start of the snowy season where everything was grid locked, and the courier was delayed( not amazing under the circumstances).

 

The auctioneer, a well known TV celeb phoned me to say that if the chap wasn’t there to collect by 4.00pm he was going home and there was no one else to see them off the premises.

 

He arrived at 4.10pm to find my award winning models sat under the back of a delivery van in an open to the public yard, with snow falling on them……….

i lost all faith from then on.

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Yes, I know exactly how you feel!     Initially, the “marketing fee” was known as “illustration fee” for the catalogue.   At Christie’s this was about £15 for a small picture and if it didn’t sell, no fee!      I have watched the illustration fee slowly evolve to a “marketing fee” (stating –  covers illustration in catalogue)  from about £5 up to £50.      I also feel sure that bidders are put off by the fact that whatever they win the item for, they are saddled with a further 20% “buyers fee.”

 

I would really like to see an auctioneer that specialised in all types of “new” model ships from kits to the finest examples of scratchbuilding.     But I don’t suppose it is going to happen.   

 

Bob

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Looks like I have finally got rid of KENYA, that has been a disaster from start to finish. It has languished in London for a year now, failing to sell. At the last auction on Wednesday 20th of this month (April, 2011), the sale was shown live on the internet. When KENYA came up, they tried to start the bidding at £400, but there was only a deathly silence and so it passed of as unsold! The following day, however, when the official results came out, it was shown as sold at £600! Must have been an after sale offer! The £600 was including buyers commission and the hammer price was £500 and that it what I will get paid on. But that is subject to deductions of 15% commission, £50 marketing charge, £10 insurance, plus a bit of VAT. As well as the £40 it cost to send it, to say nothing of the cost of materials to built it Then, the income tax will come along and take their 20% cut of what is left!

 

Must be grateful for a few crumbs I suppose, but I feel I am now at the end of the line and looking forward to a final retirement! More writing – less building!

 

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

sadly bob, the luck of the draw and the name of the game in this present economic climate.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx7mdBIp3mM&feature=youtu.be

 

 

http://www.justgiving.com/lochnessscalesail

 

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Hi Neil,

 

Not as simple as that, probably just that people don’t really know what they want . At one sale, they will be snapping up pond yachts, at the next, no interest in pond yachts, but tramp steamers, then next time, something else. Auctions are far too hit and miss. If you want to look at the illustrated catalaogue and results for the auction a few days ago, go to http://www.charlesmillerltd.com and it is all there online (plus earlier catalogues & results). You can see the results for all types of modern models from small boats up to passenger liners and it is clear there is still plenty of money about – the catalogues make very interesting reading.

 

Anyway, in the space of three days, I have recovered. I completed the CARMANIA (private commission) in November and then heard nothing from my client for months and now they have turned up, paid and taken it off to the continent with great satisfaction.

 

In an effort to “price myself out of the busness” and retire, I increased the cost of models and now I have another realistic private commission for a 3,500-ton cargo ship.

 

They also seem to go easily enough on Ebay. Just a simple change of direction was required.

 

Bob

[neil hpParticipant @neilhp]

i can’t understand charles miller actually……..

 

he broke away from christies when they set a standard that they wouldn’t sell anything maritime for less than 100k, and then he becomes very picky as to what he himself wants to sell and handle……i’ve tried twice with some nice steam models, and no go…..says they are too big for him to handle…….so gave up. and now just build for myself or charity.

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