Wooden Sailing Ship Models I've Built

Since I was a young boy in the 1940's, I have been interested in building models. Back then, model airplanes were the things to build. We were in the middle of World War II and it was a thrill to make models of WWII airplanes. I remember my first model, a balsa wood and paper model of the P40 Flying Tiger. Any resemblance of this model to a P40 was ridiculous. One of the most important requirements to model building is patience. As a lad of 12 or 13, I had no understanding of that word. Now at 75, going on 76, I am just beginning to understand. If you are going to build a model of anything, you must have patience and a willingness to undo what isn't right and redo it. You must also be aware that glue and paint must set before disturbing.

I continued building model airplanes through early high school until my interests turned to other things; girls, etc; building model planes was now a very distant interest. Other things that occupied my time in those years was; music ( I played the guitar and occasionally, worked with a band); I worked at the newspaper office after school; I was active with the church CYO; I joined the National Guard and enjoyed the summer camps at Cape Cod's Camp Edwards and New York state's Pine Camp (now Fort Drum).

The first model ship that I built was the result of a kit I found when my wife Bobbie and I and Kurt moved to a Texas Drive apartment in Bridgeport CT. There was a box in a closet that contained a plastic model kit of the clipper ship, Thermopylae, an English sister ship of the Cutty Sark. That find rekindled my interest in model building. While I did finish building that model, and it turned out pretty good, I have no idea whatever happened to it.

Somewhere about 1990 or before, Bobbie bought me a wood model kit of the Dapper Tom (a Baltimore Clipper) for my birthday. It was a rather small ship compared to what I eventually would be interested in building, but I finished it and it turned out rather nice. Michele bought me a fish tank to house the ship. Unfortunately, our cat got on top of the tank cover and both the cat and the cover crashed down on the ship. Though I repaired it, the same fate fell on that ship a second time. It's been through wars and lost.
I decided in 2005 that I would make a new Baltimore Clipper and since I had plans for the model, I did build a new one from scratch.

One of the supply houses for ship modeling kits and parts is in El Paso. so naturally, when we moved to El Paso in 1991 we went to visit the Dromedary Ship Modeler's Center. There I picked up a kit of the for $75.00. Someone had purchased the kit and later returned it. So Lois Roth, the owner of the Dromedary, sold it to me at quite a discount. The kit proved to be inadequate in many respects. Most parts were out of scale, and the drawings were terrible. (That's why the kit was returned.) That's where I learned to do "kit bashing"; buying parts outside the kit to keep the model in scale. I also bought a set of plans derived from the actual ship.
I was pleased with the result. I brought it back to CT with me in 1995, but gave it to Kurt when we moved to Fort Worth in 2003.

Since then, all of my builds have been scratch built; that is, I buy the plans and parts and build it from scratch, no kits (With a single exception- The UNITED STATES).
The UNITED STATES brig was a kit that was given to me by a friend for my efforts in repairing and reconstructing of an old model that he had bought as an antique that was badly in need of repair.

While on a trip to the Mystic seaport in Mystic, CT in '92 or '93, and browsing through the book store, I came across a copy of the "Benj F. Packard", a downeaster windjammer built in Bath ME in the mid 1800's and was sunk in Long Island sound in 1939 after being badly damaged in a hurricane. The Captain's cabin and other artifacts were saved and reconstructed for display in a building in the Mystic seaport. I bought the book and the plans and started on my first scratch build. It took me over two years to build it, but I was extremely pleased with the result.

Also at the Mystic seaport, sometime later, I came across a book by Portia Takakjian about the Revolutionary War 32 gun frigate, ESSEX. This was to be a much b

igger challenge, as this was a plank on frame model. The Cutty Sark and the Benj Packard were both plank on bulkhead models.
That is, the hull construction consisted of a profile centerboard that pretty well described the profile or side view of the hull. Bulkheads were then cut and shaped and installed perpendicular to the profile. Planks were then attached to the bulkheads to fill out the shape of the hull.

A Plank on Frame model on the other hand, is built more as a real hull would be built in the shipyard. That is, a keel is laid, and timbers, called frames, are cut and shaped to form the outer structure, leaving open the interior space for whatever the ship's purpose in life would be. The frames are spaced much closer together than bulkheads.

One interesting point about POF models is that the planking is usually left open so that the interior construction is visible. There would be no point in going to all the

trouble of making frames if they would later be covered and unseen. In that case, a POB construction would be a better choice, saving time and money.
My intention at the time was to just build the hull as a showcase of a POF model. It remained as such for about 10 years or so, then in 2005 I decided to complete the whole model. With help from the book by Portia Takakjian, "Anatomy Of The Ship - The 32 Gun Frigate ESSEX", I finished the superstructure. I am much more satisfied with it. In 2000 I bought a finished (???) model of the Lord Nelson's HMS Victory at an antique store in Canton CT. This is the English ship that won the Battle of Trafalgar, where Lord Nelson was mortally wounded. This model is extremely intricate and I doubted that I would have the time or patience to build a copy.

Later, as I viewed pictures of other models of the VICTORY, I came to see this particular model's shortcomings. So again in 2005, as I did with the ESSEX, I dismantled the rigging, took down the spars and masts and with the help of new plans, photos and the book "Anatomy Of The Ship - The 100 Gun Ship Victory" by John McKay, I reworked the hull and superstructure. This was a restoration project that turned out better than I had hoped. though I was very reluctant to take the first cut of the rigging. But it turned out very nicely.

In one of my books "American Ship Models" by V. R. Grimwood were drawings of a peculiarly American boat called a BUGEYE, a Chesapeake Bay oyster boat, a close cousin of the Chesapeake Bay Skipjack. What is peculiar about this boat is t

hat it is flat bottomed, canoe shaped (that is, pointed both fore and aft) has a raised platform in the rear and carries a powered boat on its davits. It was originally built with logs bolted together. This particular boat was well suited to navigate shallow waters for oystering or to make landings at waterside farms to load farm produce during the non-oystering season.
A different approach to this model is in its construction as a bread
and butter type model. That is, the model is made up of lifts, or vertical layers, that are shaped to the hull configuration, then hollowed out inside, more like bread with the inside removed leaving only the crust. This Bugeye is named the "EDITH F. TODD" While browsing the internet, I came across a Practicum (a set of instructions, if

you will) of the early American Continental Navy Brigantine Lexington, (1776-1777) written by Clayton Feldman M.D. It looked like an interesting project with drawings and photos. I completed it in a few months and the results to me were very satisfactory.

My present project is that of a ship that I've wanted to build since I went aboard her

in Boston Harbor; namely the "CONSTITUTION", or "OLD IRONSIDES". In my library I have a book called "The Frigate Constitution and other Historic Ships" by F. Alexander Magoun. In the book are drawings of the ship, copyrighted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1927. I was able to expand these drawings and I am now in the process of putting it all together.
In addition to full size models, I have also tried my hand
at building half hull model

I built three of these types; the RAVEN, a cargo ship built in the Prince Edward Islands in 1875, the Bluenose, a schooner built in Nova Scotia in 1921 and the Cutty Sark. Historically, these models were built to show the lines of a ship about to be built. I am making these available at $200.00 each. They will all be backed by a Mahogany board as seen in the picture of the RAVEN.

Building these great models has been a joy to me, and has kept me off the streets and out of trouble. I would like to keep so doing, but we are running out of space and money. Retirement is a double edged sword. Plenty of time to do what you like, but not enough money to indulge. Therefore, I am offering for sale those models that I have completed. At my age and since each model takes almost two years to complete, I would like to build from a kit. The kits available today are a far cry from what was available just a few years ago. Technology, particularly laser cutting has made the kits more accurate and in scale, although some kit bashing may still be needed.

So, if you're interested in acquiring any of the models listed on the left, click on the picture to see more close-ups, get a little history and a price that we can haggle over. Shipping charges, insurance and payment methods will, of course, need to be figured in. Don't hesitate to contact me here.

Updated on: 12/12/2012