The Ship Model Forum

Thanks for posting the photos - some beautiful models there! Amazing craftsmanship and a very interesting and varied selection of subject matter.

A couple of questions to Robert Wilson - What techniques + materials do you use to build the hulls? (carved from solid or laminated wood, or built up over a frame?) Do you use casting and/or etching to produce the fittings and finer parts (railings etc.) or are they all individually built up from scratch?

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Model Ship Kit Reviews

The hulls are carved from solid, but the raised decks are stuck on separately. The hulls are either plated or planked with paper strips. The rails are 38 swg tinned copper wire wound onto a frame & soldered together. There are no shop bought parts in them. The masts & spars are a combination of brass tube & rod, copper rod & silver steel rod. The rigging is 100% copper wire. The ratlines are soldered across the shrouds, but the rest of the rigging is glued on. I make any panelling on the computer using "boxes lines & squares" font in Microsoft Word. Sails have light grey lines printed onto them (white airmail paper) to represent seams. Deck machinery is turned from brass rod. Everything is just bits & pieces & the materials cost virtually nothing.
Bob

Sounds like an interesting process! I am just discovering the world of scratchbuilding for me

From the magazines you listed for me earlier, I located a large number of old issues in my university's library (The motor ship from 1925 to 54 (minus war years), Shipbuilder from 1948 to 54), and will probably try to get some of these over christmas. If you are interested in specific issues from these timeframes, I can also grab that year band for you, and get a scan, I'd assume scanning copyrights would be no problem for such old magazines...

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Model kit manufacturer and distributor: https://b2b.modellbaudienst.de
Distributor of Very Fire, Snowman, Milania Master Korabel, Falkonet, Microdisign in EU
1:350 HMS Diana 1794 - nearly released
Further kits in preparation.

I have been struggling to complete a few short stories (although my stories never end up short...) and I was looking for some ships for an early 30's thriller/spy story based around... I'm not saying. Thing is I was absolutely marveled by these models and some of them provided just the inspiration I needed to think up one of the ships involved in the story, notably the Braemar Castle.

I do loathe modern cruise ships, but those old liners, especially those with mixed propulsion, there's just something about them that fits well in eerie stories. I love the anachronism between the steam propulsion of those ships and the sails, perhaps because those are the simple definition of "collective mind" when ships had extra funnels to look safe (you know the story how TSS Transylvania (III) had three funnels when her single funneled sister-ships sold poorly? Or the riots that occurred on the occasions when passengers would find out that companies had advertised their ships with more funnels than they had in reality?) and extra masts for no other purpose than to look classic. They were symbols and remain symbols, with a charm, a dramatic presence that modern white elephants lack.

So thank you for the great models and your insights of how to scratchbuild them. They are beautiful and inspiring and I would buy Braemar Castle and a couple others right away, alas I live out of a PhD scholarship and you know college students live in perpetual poverty. Good luck in finding suitable owners for those children.

Cheers:
Marco

Thanks for all the comments. Sadly, models like this are very much "out of fashion" at the moment. Of late, I have found myself slowed down to almost a standstill. Lack of interest seems to be infections (not referring to this forum).
I really expected BRAEMAR CASTLE to go at the last sale in London, but there was not a single bid for it - so there it remains until the next sale in April. I feel no urgency to send them more at present as I don't really want them to pile up unsold & they have two left over from last sale. At present, I am just coasting along rigging the four-masted barque LOCH TORRIDON, but at nowhere near my normal speed & enthusiasm. A lot of this is due to the time of year. I really dislke the dark days. Can't wait until next Monday when the days start to get longer at last. No doubt I will recover as daylight grows longer, but at the moment, I am pretty fed up with the weather - haven't been able to work outside for weeks. I can stand the cold, but not the rain & wind!
Bob

At first I would like to say; Jim thank you very much for sharing!

Second and most important, Mr . Bob Wilson, thank you very much for a quick insight into some of your incredible fine ship models! It was nice to see so many lovely build civilian ships!
It would be a pleasure to see a buildup of one of your fine ships here on Modelwarships! It would be interesting to know some of your scratch build secrets. Also I like the way you make the water in your displays. As Rui already described, your ship models and the water are looking most realistic.

Well, I will take a further look to all the photos!

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Cheers,
Christian
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AKA "Painter"
VMF'06 - German Gamblers
Veritable Modelling Friends 2006, Germany

Thanks for posting this incredible collection. I am inspired!

My wife & I recently cruised the Caribbean aboard the Wind Spirit, a fantastic, high-tech tall ship - now there's a paradox - of the Windstar lines; everything those massive people-boxes are not. (Maybe a model is in order here?)

Reason for my post: There *is indeed* a solid market for fine ship models like this. I had the opportunity to chat with the owner of the wonderful SOS Maritime Antiques shop in the port of Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. I asked why there were no ship models for sale, anywhere in town. She said that she could sell zillions of them to the tourists, to include very fine ones, but she can't find any to sell and doesn't know anybody who will build them for sale.

See the Frommer's website at http://www.frommers.com/destinations/st ... 34976.html for the shop's contact info. Or the preferred option: Take a WindStar cruise out of Charlotte Amalie, stop by the SOS shop on the waterfront...and enjoy!

Fight's On, fellaz!

Thanks for replies. Although there are plenty of prospective buyers scattered throught the world, it has now become impossible to obtain realistically priced transport insurance for them. With the present world-wide financial turmoil, the demand even so is decreasing. I am very fortunate in the fact that I am now only about two months off retirement age, so it doesn't matter a great deal to me anymore. From now on, I will only be building what appeals to me rather than try to build something popular in the hope of a sale. My own preferences are generally not the most popular subjects for models. Iron & steel square riggers, tramp steamer, oil tankers & more obscure types. I am continually being asked to build models for people, but they generally want larger models and usually tell me that it is easier to build larger ones than smaller ones, but although that may be true for most ship modellers, it is not for me. I am happy with miniatures, but anything over about 18 inches long is really too big & too difficult for me. I am also hopless at building Napoleonic ships as I find them too complicated (all that decoration & guns etc) and not all that attractive.
Bob

Here is Mr Wilsons very latest completed model ship....

Loch Torridon 1915-- a four masted iron hulled Barque

a fine model indeed!

enjoy!

JIM B

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....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Absolutely fantastic work, just so sharp and lovely.

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"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

Hi Gents

Here is a new image of Loch Torridon for your viewing pleasure...

As a sailing chap myself I love the way Mr Wilson has captured the progressive twist of the rig....

_________________
....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Regarding the twist of the sails. As Jim says, this is how it should be, but, I must admit, it was never done (by me) intentionally. Even before I knew the sails should have a twist on them, it just came out that way as I worked my way up the masts. I don't know why this should be, because it happens on every model I make. Getting the set of the courses (the lowest square sail) was a far greater problem. For years, I could never get them to set correctly. Eventually, I realised that when these sails were set and wind-filled on the actual ship, they were, in fact, pulled out of shape. I now cut them to the distorted shape, mould them round an ostrich egg and they set correctly with the weather clew hove down forward. The above photograph of the LOCH TORRIDON was taken with a digital camera from a low angle with a white card background. I then "airbrushed" the base woodwork away with good effect.
Bob

The ever prolific Mr Wilson has recently completed another interesting ship model...



Scale is 32'=1"
M/V SELANDIA 1912
This vessel was the world’s first ocean-going motor ship. She was completed in 1912 for the East Asiatic Co. (Denmark). She had a gross tonnage of 4,964 and was about 400 feet in length She was a twin screw vessel driven by two 8 cylinder single-acting engines and her service speed was 11 to 12 knots. Provision was made for 26 first class passengers. In her first 12 years of life, she travelled over 600,000 miles and during that time, engine problems only amounted to ten days port delays. She was sold to Norway in 1936 and renamed NORSEMAN. In 1940, she was sold to Finland and renamed TORNATOR, but was wrecked off the coast of Japan in 1942.

Because the funnel was so short and thin, it looks like it doesn't have one at all and so looks rather like an "unfinished" steamer or an "unfinished" sailing ship!

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....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Hi Jim & Robert

as a naval engineer, more specialized in Diesel engines, "Selandia" is my favourite cargo ship ever, with as a second choice the MS "Kedoe", bought by the dutch "Rotterdamsche lloyd" in 1921, she also had been built by "Burmeister & Wain" at Copenhague




they put two shafts with two diesels on Selandia, and on other motor ships as well in those years, to be sure the ships would sail further on if one of the engines would fail, which almost never happened.

I went in 1985 to Copenhague and visited the "Burmeister & wain" museum, which is wonderful, there are a lot of diesel engines models at big scale, there is also a marvelous painting of "Selandia" at sea.

Many years ago , I contacted the "B&W" museum to get a set of plans of Selandia, but they told me that those archives were lost.

I also contacted another museum somewhere in Scandinavia to get the plans of "Kedoe", the only plan that remains is a general plan with a profile and a deck view ( they sent it to me ), but no hull lines at all...

Robert,

as usual, you did a tremendous job on "Selandia" !

you're da boss

Regards,

Laurent

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Scared of Nothing , Always Thirsty

Just call me the "Cereals Box Killer" , I guess

Beautiful work on Selandia, a ship which I knew nothing about until I saw this model. You learn something new everyday! It is interesting to note that they're have since been at least three "Selandias" and they seem to have a habit of hanging around. One is currently operating, one is a nightclub and the third (a former container ship) was extensively rebuilt in the 90s is operating as USNS Gilliland, a Military Sealift Command Roll on/Roll-off ship. Fascinating stuff.

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"It is best to remain silent and let others assume you are dumb than to speak up and remove all doubt"

http://nssavannah.wordpress.com/

Hi Laurent,
there seems to be a book by Johannes Lehmann about this Selandia. It's called 'M/S Selandia, 1912-1937 ', published in 1937 by Petersen. It's in the online catalogue of the Rotterdam Maritime Museum as B 26004 so if you're ever in Rotterdam on a weekday you might want to make a visit.

Hi Pieter,

Thanks for that !

I'm going to Heemskerk on May 16 to sail with my "Zinnia", for the MMI day, will I see you there ?
http://www.fred-modelschepen.nl/pageID_6906086.html

I'll be there again the 21 of May for the "work ship day", open to all RC ( or not ) supplies, tugs, cargo ships, reefers, what ever
http://www.modelbouwforum.nl/forums/wer ... teren.html

but I won't have the occasion to stop at Rotterdam ( the whom I have to obey to is with me, and she dislike ships & museas... )

Regards,

Laurent

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Scared of Nothing , Always Thirsty

Just call me the "Cereals Box Killer" , I guess

Hi Laurent, the museum library's only open on weekdays so saturday the 16th would have been pointless anyway. I will have to be in Rotterdam a number of times during the next few months so I will try if I can squeeze in some library time and maybe copy a few things down for you .
Even though I'm a static 1/700 modeler I was actually thinking of going to the MMI day as its within cycling distance from where I live. So maybe see you there.

here is another ship of Robert Wilson's

NEWTON HALL

which was a later name for DRUMGEITH--the 1/700 scale subject of the latest kit from Battlefleet Models....
tara

JIM B

_________________
....I buy them at three times the speed I build 'em.... will I live long enough to empty my stash...?
http://www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery ... index.html

IPMS UK SIG (special interest group) www.finewaterline.com

Absolutely superb models.I need to find out how these are mounted ,with the waves of the ocean etc.