Modeller of the Month - June 2009 - Bede Masters

Model ship building is a craft as old as the construction of ships itself. From Ancient times ships have had very important roles, the most obvious being transportation and the collecting of provisions.

The vessels of Ancient times provided technologically advanced means of extended travel which was economical, practical and vital to the development of societies.

Ships were also built for warfare purposes providing a method of protecting land from invaders. As ships held a great deal of significance to the people of the Ancient world they expressed this through the creation of models.

Ancient Egyptian cultures created model ships to place in the burial chambers of loved ones believing that the ornaments would assist in the afterlife. Model ships were also created as ornamental house displays, Art works and toys.

The construction of model ships has survived from Ancient traditions to the present day. Model ships are created for many of the same reasons and have become a worldwide past time.

One such shipwright to continue this tradition is Bede Masters. Bede began the model of the Port Jackson Schooner around 12 to 14 months ago and has recently completed the model.

Bede, proud of his finished product as any modeller would know, has the Port Jackson Schooner on display in his home just like Ancient traditions.

Bede a woodworking enthusiast was introduced to the world of model ship building by a book that his granddaughter gave him. From the book to the internet to Modeller’s Shipyard, Bede found a hobby in which he could use his wood working skills to good effect.

It was lucky that model ship building found Bede; he was trying to find a hobby that would occupy his mind without having to stand for long periods of time.

“I can’t stand for long which began to make woodworking difficult. With model ship building I can sit and work at my own pace.” Bede said.

Bede recalls his modelling experience with the Port Jackson Schooner and said that while it was enjoyable and interesting he felt that the learning involved was a large part of model creating. With model ship building putting the theory into practice is not always an easy task.

“I made mistakes on this model that I will remember not to make on the next one. I made mistakes that I didn’t change and they haven’t altered the appearance but I know where they are.” Bede said of his first model making experience.

Bede’s advice to anyone taking up the hobby or even still progressing would be to find out how to use the equipment and techniques before applying to the model as practicing will improve the quality of the finished product.

Bede admits that he is not a patient man by nature and had a tendency to rush the processes involved with his model ship. Bede said that model ship making has shown him the importance of patience.

“Model ship building has taught me patience and has kept my mind active. It’s great fun, enjoyable and quite pleasing when you finish a stage; this pushes you to finish the model.” Bede said.

Like with most modellers’ one model is not enough and Bede hopes to build the Cutty Sark which is a clipper ship built in 1869. The etymology of the name Cutty Sark is humorous in its origins as Cutty Sark meant undergarment and was made popular through the poem by author Robert Burns. Today the ship is maintained in the dry dock in Greenwich, London.

Model making is very popular and stems back throughout history, by creating model ships old traditions are being kept alive.

Modeller of the Month - May 2009 - Michael Butcher

“When your hobbies get in the way of your work – that’s ok; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves… well…” - Steve Martin

A general consensus appears to be that when you retire you do not fall into a state of relaxation and spend all your time doing what you thought you would while you were busy working.

Rather it seems that instead of relaxing by the pool with a good drink and something good to read, retirement is spent indulging in a hobby. Such hobbies can create more work than a full time job.

One such hobby enthusiast is Michael Butcher who has spent many years building and researching his favourite pastime – the creating of model ships.

Michael is a Master Mariner FG who left the sea in 1961 to pursue a career ashore, eventually retiring from his position as a company executive in 1992. He formed his own consultancy business but, in 1999, Michael needed a practical way of occupying his spare time and he decided he couldn’t spend his retirement doing nothing.

“After you spend so much time being busy it is hard to just stop completely,” Michael said. As a young boy during WWII Michael crafted balsa wood models, mainly of aircraft. It was an obvious option for him to put the skills he had learned in his youth to use in retirement. With a hobby like model ship building there is always room to improve and refine the skills required to create these magnificent master pieces.

Every modeller has a preference to the type of ships they create. Whether the ships belong to a certain period, have special purposes, or a certain style - a modeller will try to make as many of their favourites as possible.

Michael is no exception to the modelling rule - he has a collection of fifteen static model ships and is currently working on his sixteenth, the Amerigo Vespucci. The models which Michael initially constructed were eighteenth and nineteenth century sailing vessels with their intricate details on deck and interesting decorative gilding. Now he has a leaning toward clipper ships “I particularly like the sleek lines of the hulls of these vessels.” Michael said.

Of course he finds the task of choosing a favourite difficult - after all there are many to choose from. However Michael after careful consideration comes to the conclusion that his favourite model would have to be the Roger. B. Taney. But wait, no, maybe it is the Thermopylae; after all it is a good looking model - Michael reconsiders. No, no maybe it would have to be the older model of the very neat Bomb Ketch.

Perhaps that wasn’t a fair question for a man with so many models.

Then again another of Michael’s favourites would have to be the Victory. He speaks of this model with fondness, perhaps it is because this particular model has a very interesting story. Michael won this model in a competition on the gardening program Burke’s Backyard- following Don Burke’s visit to the ship in Portsmouth in 2004.

“What an excellent way to commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005,” Michael recalls.

Michael received the Victory kit and built the model, donating the completed ship to Retina Australia. The Victory was auctioned for $5500 – raising quite a bit of money indeed!

Michael’s advice to fellow modellers would be the importance of research. Through researching the particular model you are building gives the modeller the history, the story and more understanding of the ship. The more research the better the finished model will be. Michael said that he always begins with the colours of the ships.

“I research colours and how they were painted. What the ships were used for, anything I can find out makes the finished product that much better,” Michael said.

When one takes up a hobby like model ship building, there are plenty of things to learn and a vast amount of information to aid the process. Model ship building is a well known and highly regarded pastime. Michael believes that is it important to take up a hobby that is interesting and enjoyable.

“It doesn’t matter what hobby you embark on as long as you find something you can enjoy,” Michael said.

When you find a hobby you take pleasure in, immersing yourself in every facet of that hobby makes it more enjoyable. Model ship building is a great hobby because in the end you have a beautiful model which you built with your own hands.

Modeller of the Month - April 2009 - Ray Holwill

Ray’s story

My story is a little different to most; you see I started to build model boats as a means of kick starting my brain after experiencing a minor stroke!

The first model that I built was the “Port Jackson” it was small enough and reasonably uncomplicated and the brochure said that it could be done by a child.

The exercise worked wonderfully well, and within 4 months I was back at work. The next model was started, the Endeavour a Corel model. Perhaps it was too good, as the 2nd stroke hit me some 6 months later, this time it did some real damage!

After 7 months in hospital where I actually took the model to work on it in hospital as part of my Occupational Therapy I was discharged, having totally lost the use of my right arm, right hand and 60% of my right leg. The Endeavour was continued and is now under “glass” as a reminder to me that challenges must be overcome!

Friends came to my assistance and remodelled my work area, my “Boat Shed” and the production of models continued. Three America’s Cup models for my friends, The Bounty was next, by now the challenge was really on and so the VICTORY a Corel model was obtained and 3 years later and about 1800 knots tied by one hand and my teeth it was finished! A 12 month break was called for, after all, after a Victory in more ways than one, what is next? I had a go of the Norsk Love a lovely model but it was too big to handle physically, it seems that I had reached my limits. It is still in my shed, I call it “Ray’s Folly” a reminder that there can be a limit of what one can do.

So downsizing, I obtained a model of the “Half Moon” a lovely little ship and an excellent size to handle. Being located in Perth WA it was fantastic to see the “Duyfken” being built in Fremantle, this inspired me to build the “DUYFKEN” by modifying the Half Moon using photographs of the now finished replica and also using the then recently printed book called “TO BUILD A SHIP” by Robert Garvey was obtained, it had just been printed and was a fantastic pictorial guide for me to build my model with the accuracy of detail needed to do justice to this wonderful Dutch: Yacht

My model took 9 months to build, the kit gave me the frames and keel, and I purchased planks for the hull so that I could stain them with Antique Baltic Pine stain to look like the oak that the replica was made from. There was a considerable modification required on the fore castle and the typical sloping Dutch poop deck, so scrap 3mm ply was used. Attention to the masts and rigging with the help of the book allowed me to obtain the correct Dead Eyes of tear shape, round was not good enough!

The very flexible strips of wood from the kit were also needed as there were some very difficult bends as fitting with one hand was bad enough. Painting could make or break the Duyfken, so meticulous care was needed to copy the Replica as close as possible. Do not throw away the little Half Moon emblem as it was cut in half, stuck on a piece of 3mm 3ply and using a piece of tooth pick with one end flared out to represent the doves tail it became the little dove emblem seen on the replica! Having said that, there are no documentary proof that the Replica is “as built” a true copy as the Dutch authorities could not find any records of the manufacturing plans. I do hope that more people take up the challenge to build a Duyfken as I found that the finished article is a pleasure to exhibit.

Actually being a cheeky person that I am my Duyfken was exhibited in the 2003 Perth Royal Show and it was awarded 1st Prize in the Disability Section of the Show.

I finished a model of a Chinese Pirate Junk 18 months ago, and this was actually surprisingly more difficult than the Duyfken! Perhaps the shape had something to do with it or I am just slowing down?

Finally a model of the UNICORN was obtained from Modeller’s Shipyard as the size and shape could be adjusted to represent a merchant ship called the ELIZABETH, a plan of the Elizabeth was obtained from the London Maritime Museum, it was single plan view no water line or elevations at all and just a scale of ¼’ to the foot to guide me. This model is being intensively modified with a crews quarters and a saloon on deck again a bit more than I bargained for, it is due to be finished December 2009.

From the team here at Modellers Shipyard we would like to Thank Ray Holwill for writing this story.

Modellers Shipyard New Model Kit - Mermaid

Modeller’s Shipyard is proud to present another wooden model ship in our Australian colonial vessel series. We are the only manufacturer of wooden model ships in Australia.

Our model of the HM Cutter Mermaid was designed and built by Leon Griffiths, Master Period Ship Modeller. It is based on a typical English cutter of the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century. Additional information was gathered from “King of the Australian Coast: The Voyages of Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid and Bathurst” by Marsden Hordern, “The Mermaid Tree” by Robert Tiley, “Rigging Period Fore–and-Aft Craft” by Lennarth Petersson and Anatomy of the Ship “Naval Cutter Alert 1777” by Peter Goodwin.

Our kit of the HM Cutter Mermaid is double planked on bulkhead construction with laser cut plywood. The kit comes complete with all timber, rigging cord and fittings. All parts and fittings are of the highest quality.

The HM Cutter Mermaid was very small, being only 56ft (17m) from stem to stern, with a beam of 18ft 6inches (5.6m) and a draft of 9ft (2.7m). Weighing 84 tons and having been built of teak in Calcutta, she was less than a year old when commissioned on 16 October 1817. For the next 3 years Lieutenant Phillip Parker King, RN, used her for her designated task of “Exploring and Surveying the Coast of Australia”. Mermaid survived three voyages of discovery under King’s command but it was the third voyage involving a complete circumnavigation of the Australian mainland which draws closest scrutiny.

On 8 May 1819 Mermaid sailed north, for the Torres Strait, conducting the first reliable survey of the Great Barrier Reef Inner Route, opening it to commercial traffic. Next she sailed due west for Arnhem Land, sighting the Wessel Islands in July 1819. From then onwards King ran running surveys along the entire coastline until, on reaching Prince Frederic’s Harbour with Mermaid leaking badly, he knew this survey was over. Inspection required her to be inspected beneath her copper plating clear of the water, or careened. Therefore it was a gently shelving beach, at the location King named Careening Bay, the hull was patched up for 3 weeks until 9 October. During this time King carved “HMC Mermaid 1820” on the single Boab tree at the rear of the bay. This example of historic graffiti remains to this day.

Mermaid sailed and entered the calm waters of Sydney Cove on 9 December 1820, some 25 weeks and 3 days since sailing, having circumnavigated the continent. Unfortunately, after hard years in Government service Mermaid’s fate was sealed when, ironically, she ran aground in the very route she had opened to shipping off the present site of Cairns, in 1829, and was lost. In January 2009 the wreck of the Mermaid was found by a team of marine archaeologists from the Australian National Maritime Museum. The site of the wreck has now been declared a maritime heritage site.

Lieutenant Phillip Parker King, RN, one of Australia’s foremost hydrographers commanded the Mermaid from 1817 to 1820. He was born on Norfolk Island 13 December 1791, his father being Phillip Gidley King a future governor of New South Wales. King entered the Royal Navy at age 15 and served continuously at sea for eight years, including operational service in the Napoleonic war. He served under offices with notable survey credentials such as Admirals Otway and Pellew, and was acquainted with Matthew Flinders who encouraged him in his career choice.

Phillip Parker King is perhaps one of Australia’s greatest yet largely unsung early maritime surveyors. He charted most of the north-west coast of Australia from the eastern tip of Arnhem Land all the way to Cape Leeuwin and King George Sound on the southern shore of West Australia. He surveyed Macquarie Harbour in Van Diemen’s Land and the treacherous waters inside the Great Barrier Reef, filling in the work of his famous predecessors. King may have been overshadowed by Cook and Flinders but his legacy has been enduring—more than a century later his charts, still in use, have guided countless ships through dangerous waters to safety. In 1855 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue, the first Australian born officer to achieve Flag rank. King died 25 February 1856 and is buried in the grounds of the Anglican Church at St Marys, western Sydney, NSW, Australia.

With a skill level 2 grading, scale 1:48, length 590mm, height 450mm and width 265mm. The cost of this wonderful new kit is only $299.

If building a kit of this model is not what you are after, we also have plans and instructions available for $45.

If you would like to purchase this new kit of the Mermaid you can purchase it online at our website or call our office on 02 47393899.

We also have available a 2 DVD set on How to Build the Mermaid. This DVD set takes the modeller through planking the hull and deck, building the deck furniture and completing the rigging. Many tips and techniques of building a period wooden model ships are presented. The cost for this 2 DVD set is $46.20.

Why is a Ship Called a She?

A ship is called she because there is always a great deal of bustle around her; there is usually a gang of men. She has a waist and stays; it takes a lot of paint to keep her looking good. It's not the initial expense that breaks you, it is the upkeep. She can be all decked out. It takes an experienced man to handle her correctly; and without a man at the helm, she is absolutely uncontrollable. She shows her topsides, hides her bottom and when coming into port, always heads for the buoys.

Modeller of the Month - March 2009 - Ron Cameron

Building model ships is so much more than a hobby, it is a passion to discover and recreate moments in history, to piece together the adventures and travels of seafarers past. Recreating the travels of ships which sailed to discover Australia has made modeller Ron Cameron one very keen modeller indeed.

A tool maker by profession, Ron Cameron, 65, retired and soon found he missed the finer details that construction of well made tools requires. To fill the void which retirement had left, Ron went in search of a way to continue to use the skills he had gained during his working years and he found model ship building.

Fascinated by Early Australian Exploration, Ron pursued this interest by conducting extensive amounts of research. What most people do not realise is that the first documented European sighting and landing on the continent was in 1606 by the Dutch aboard the Duyfken. “Captain Cook was using 100 year old Dutch maps,” Ron said of some of his research findings.

Ron was extremely interested in the Duyfken and visited the replica which came to port in Queensland near where he lives and this visit fuelled his quest to learn more. “Visiting the Duyfken was a sensational experience, it really captured my interest,” Ron said.

Ron began his model making days with the popular Port Jackson Schooner, which he feels didn’t turn out too bad. Soon after finishing the Port Jackson Schooner Ron began building the Endeavour, making alterations to match the book Anatomy of the Ship: Endeavour. After completing the Endeavour Ron continued his research on the Duyfken.

Ron embarked on a journey of his own pursuing his quest for knowledge and travelled to Perth. While in Perth Ron spent his time finding out all he could about the Duyfken. The reason for travelling to Perth is because there is evidence that Dutch explores landed on the Western Australian coast. As Ron learned more about the Duyfken the Batavia kept emerging in history books. Ron soon found some books on the Batavia.

Still needing to satisfy his want for crafting and building, Ron began to sketch out plans to build the Batavia from scratch. Drawing up plans can prove to be difficult at times and so Ron bought the plans for the Wasa, very similar to the Batavia and modified the plans to suit. This meant redrawing the plans which included widening the hull and lowering the deck.

When Ron completes the Batavia he will return to the ship which caught his first interests. Now with his knowledge and research the Duyfken should provide an excellent scratch model to create, accompanied by plans of the Half Moon it could turn out to be a truly fine scaled down piece of remarkable Australian history.

Modeller of the Month - December 2008 - Bill Harvey

Bill Harvey a modeller from Kiama, who is 76 years old, has been fascinated by model boats from a very early age. Bill remembers that his family had a boatshed which housed his parents sailing dingy.

Bill began creating model ships in his childhood using scraps of pinewood and old bed sheets for sails. Bill used his own abstract techniques to create model ships which enabled him to develop sophisticated skills as he grew more experienced.

A huge influence on Bill’s model ship building in his teenage years was his grandfather.

“Under the tuition of my grandfather, we built a tin canoe, using tar from the road on a hot day, to make the stem and stern joins watertight, and an old sheet for a sail.” Bill recalls.

Bill remembers building a canvas canoe and a Vaucluse Junior an 11ft sailing boat with the guidance of his grandfather.

A modeller will always cherish the first ships they create and Bill has built a Blue Bird Yacht 22ft, a Contessa Yacht 25ft and his favourite a Joe Adams designed 34ft centre cockpit sloop.

“All these I raced offshore with the exception of the Bluebird. She was for inshore racing.” Bill said.

Modeller’s can often find that they experience peaks and troughs in their modelling hobby and Bill was no exception, he too found that there were periods when he was unable to work on his model ships. Bill recalls visiting a friend who was building the Flying Fish. Bill had not modelled for sometime and seeing a friend enjoying the hobby encouraged him to begin again.

“I was immediately hooked and over the next couple of days started into the wonderful world of model shipbuilding,” Bill said. “Within a week or two I had visited Modeller’s Shipyard and purchased the Port Jackson, which was a single planked simplified version of today’s model. My next model was the Dolphyn.”

Unfortunately Bill’s modelling had to stop for a few years due to a bad accident. At the beginning of this year Bill’s wife encouraged him to model again. He began again with the H.M.S. Bounty and then the Bounty Life Boat (Jolly Boat). Bill is currently working on Baltimore Clipper, Harvey and his next model on the list is the H.M.S Endeavour.

“I find complete peace and relaxation in model ship building and loose all track of time. It is a wonderful hobby.” Bill said.