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Model Boat Builder Gallery - Display Models

Model Boat Builder Gallery

Display, Working and Pre-Owned Models.


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Shamrock V (J Class)609 viewsDesigned by Charles Nicholson, she was planked in mahogany over galvanised steel frames. This was an unusual form of construction for a J. Apart from the American "Whirlwind", all had metal hulls. Her lines are very graceful. She is noticeably narrower than most J boats, a feature which our model faithfully reproduces. This makes her a little tender in strong winds, but very slippery indeed in light airs. On one occasion, she won a race by shooting straight for the line over a distance of three miles, her skipper relying on her ability to carry her way through the light fluky breeze and patches of calm.
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Shamrock V (J Class)558 viewsShe set off for the Americas Cup after an extremely successful season in British waters. At the time, she had a wooden mast, laminated from about fifty pieces of silver spruce. Many of her lines were rope, where their equivalents in "Enterpise" were wire. She relied heavily on tackles, having few winches. It also seems that her afterguard were less expert than Vanderbilt's team, while at the same time being reluctant to take advice from the professional crew. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that she was badly defeated, never looking likely to win a single race of the series.
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Shamrock V (J Class)523 views"Shamrock V" survives. At the time of writing (2001), she has just completed a magnificent restoration at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth. She has been restored to a condition very close to the original. The closest attention has been paid to everything, down to the details and materials of her cabin furnishings. However, despite appearances, in many ways she is now a very different boat. A conspicuous radar aerial decorates her modern mast, she has twin engines, and a full set of modern winches to control her rig. There is only one conundrum. Whereas in the 1930s, she seemed to manage with about 19 professional racing crew, and few winches, today, with the benefit of a full outfit of modern winches and other labour saving equipment, she seems to need about 30 hands.
It would be churlish to nitpick. Anyone who has seen that lovely dark green hull, endlessly graceful, slicing through the water, can only stand and wonder. Our model is a tiny tribute to a very lovely yacht. We hope you may feel it will grace your home or office.
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Small Colin Archer, Port Bow view.668 viewsBuilt to a tight deadline for a wedding present, she makes a pretty picture.
(Model by John Davies)
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Small Colin Archer; deck detail693 viewsEven on a small display model, we try to get the detail right. It's surprising how many models show the sails hoisted and the lines coming down to a pin rail or cleat and cut off there. Imagine you're on the real boat. You go to lower a sail. You cast off the rope; the end vanishes up the mast...... that's why pin rails, as here, have the bights of the ropes coiled down and hanging from them.
(Model by John Davies)
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Small Colin Archer; Port Quarter view.636 viewsBuilt to a tight deadline for a wedding present, she makes a pretty picture.
(Model by John Davies)
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Sovereign of the Seas.548 viewsThe "Sovereign of the Seas was launched in 1637. For her day she was an astonishingly advanced vessel. She was the first three-deck hundred gun line of battle ship, setting a pattern which was to be recogniseably followed for most of the next two hundred years, until fighting sail was superceded by steam. She was a sharp departure from the galleons and their developments which had preceded her. Her rig was similarly advanced for its day. She was the first Royal Naval vessel to cross royal yards. Her decoration was more ornate than any vessel before or since, causing the Dutch, against whom she fought, to call her the "Golden Devil"
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Sovereign of the Seas.542 viewsShe cost £65,187, at a time when a workman might earn £5 per year. Today's protestors against Trident might reflect cynically that extravagant expenditure on the ultimate weapon of its day is obviously nothing new. However, in those days the British populace was less docile. The Ship Money tax which Charles the First raised to pay for her was a major contributory factor to the Civil War, in which his Government was overthrown, and he was executed
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Sovereign of the Seas.572 viewsShe makes a magnificent and spectacular model. The client for this example chose to have her built without her rig. Many museums have models which are displayed in this fashion. It sets off the magnificence of the hull without distractions, and considerably reduces storage space and the risk of damage.
(Model by Frank Hasted)
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SYLVIA663 viewsThese coastal trading barges used to feed London. I have an old photograph of the Pool of London, absolutely full of them. The riverside warehouses which are now fashionable apartments used to be the city's granary.
The Thames Barge was an astonishingly efficient sailing craft. They had a capacity of up to about a hundred and eighty tons. The crew consisted of a man, a boy and a dog. It was said the dog's job was to bite the boy if he didn't move fast enough. With their shallow draft and leeboards, they could sail in waters where few other craft could venture.
There is a very pleasant pub at Snape, in Suffolk, called the "Plough and Sail", a name which neatly encapsulates the essence of the Suffolk agricultural economy until the advent of the large articulated lorry. It is well inland, up a narrow channel. The barges would work up it to the warehouse. The Snape channel was known to bargemen as one of the most difficult. Then they would load up with corn, slip down-channel, and sail through the narrow channels, or swatchways, that threaded between the many sandbanks of the Thames estuary, going where no other commercial craft would dare to go. If the channel had shifted and they ran aground, their massive timbers and immensely strong construction would save them until the tide rose again. Then it would be up the London River to discharge.
This model, the "Sylvia", was built for a descendant of the Shrubsall family, who were one of the most famous families of barge builders. He now lives in the U.S.A., and his model occupies an honoured place in his house.
(model by John Davies)
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Thames Barge620 viewsThis is a typical "heirloom model". The client's father had built about the first half of it, before he passed on. He had done a nice job, too. We completed it, so it can take an honoured place in the family home. We always treat a job like this with especial respect.

(model by private builder, completed by John Davies)
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Torrens646 viewsThe lovely "Torrens" was the crack ship on the Australian passenger run. She was the favorite ship of the author Joseph Conrad.
This fine model, a family heirloom, was badly damaged in a house fire. We re-planked three large holes in the hull, cleaned off all traces of charring, and refurbished all the deck fittings.
Due to pressure of time in our own workshop, we contracted out the re-rigging to a local expert. He re-rigged the mizzen mast, which had survived the fire. The fore and main masts were charred stumps, so he replaced them in their entirety. He did a lovely job.
Throughout the entire restoration, it is hard to tell where the old ends and the new begins. This is one of the most sensitive aspects of restoration, and one in which we take great pride. It is a difficult balance, taking great judgement. One has to restore a model to its former glory, without incorpotating so much new material that it loses that lovely patina of age. We feel we succeeded here, and are proud to offer this illustration for your consideration.
(model by unknown builder, circa 1947, hull restoration by John Davies, re-rigged by John Hatchett)
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