Flying Cloud Clipper Ship 6' long, 4 1/2' tall, Pre WWII

[Eric Mannon]

I picked this up at an auction. I know very little about it. I'll post what I know below. If anyone has more info. or recognizes it, please let me know.
Thanks, Eric

The ship is 6’ long and 4 ½’ tall. The glass case is about 7’ long, 5’ wide and 2’ deep. The table is about 30” tall and a bit wider and deeper than the display case.
I believe the owner had a seafood restaurant years ago in the San Francisco, Bay Area and this was part of the décor.
An online model ship club / forum owner reviewed the pictures and thinks the build was pre WWII.
There is a description of the “real” Flying Cloud that was posted with the display. See the pictures.
There is a plaque with the display stating G.W. Duncan was the original builder and that the model had been restored by M.R. Uriburu. No dates. I can’t find anything online about G.W. Duncan but have found some info. on M.R. Uriburu. Mario Roberto Uriburu. He built model ships and boats as well. He did a model of the Marconi, a small fishing boat. Went by the nick name “Bobby”. There is mention of him being associated with the San Francisco Maritime Museum. This is all from Google searches, so question the accuracy.

 

[Roger Pellett]

NICE!

Yes, I believe it to be 1930-45 vintage. During this time there was a resurgence of ship modeling spurred on by serialized articles in Popular Mechanics, Mechanics Illustrated, and a couple of books published by a guy named E. Armitage McCann. I suspect that the depression and WWII rationing helped promote a relatively inexpensive activity that could be done at home. Clipper Ships were featured subjects. People back then were used to working with simple hand tools so didn’t require the highly engineered kits common today.

There were ship modeling kits back then. For large models like this the kit would have furnished wood to be laminated to carve the hull and for other wooden parts. All shaping was left to the builder. The kit also included “fittings”; all those little parts difficult to make, or the builder had the option to just buy the fittings ans a package.

The model appears to have been skillfully made by someone knew about sailing ships. To the informed collector, there are a few picky details that are not up to snuff with the rest of the model; the upper yards (the cross pieces supporting the sails) are overly heavy, the boats are sort of crude, and the angel with the trumpet figurehead looks nothing like that on the actual ship. (See photo) It’s possible that some of this was done by the restorer.

My advice: keep protected in a slightly vented enclosure to protect it and leave it alone! These fittings sold by these old ship modeling fitting were often “white metal” castings, a lead based alloy. Sealed in an air tight glass case these can corrode to powder hence the need for a vent. It remarkable that no such corrosion appears during its long life. It’s a nice find.

Roger

 

[paul ron]

wow at that scale you can detail the heck out of it with sails and complete rigging.

beautiful model, it deserves a nice case and to be properly displayed.

 

[Eric Mannon]

Thanks Roger, that's a big help. This was enclosed in a glass case for years. I doubt it was air tight as you'd suffocate if trapped inside! Would that be acceptable to preserve the white metal or is it possible it is something other than white metal?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Roger Pellett]

Yes on both counts:

The glass cases built by me “leak” without a conscious effort to vent them. The glass just sits in a groove but keeps out the dust.

On the other hand, there were were kit companies that made fittings from other materials. Or, it’s a distinct possibility that the builder made the fittings.

A case of some sort is necessary. It will amaze you how much dirt will collect in a short time, and cleaning it will cause damage.

Roger

 

[Eric Mannon]

I do have the massive glass enclosure and a table to display it. The issue is it's size. It just doesn't fit anywhere in our place.

 

[ilanortho]

Wow!!

 

[Magic Mike]

Eric, If you still can't find a place to display it in your home, please let me know. I don't know where you live but we have room for it here in Texas! Things are bigger and better in Texas you know! Magic Mike

 

[Eric Mannon]

Yeah, yeah, I know!
I am now trying to sell it. The SF Maritime Museum had it's monthly meeting last week and weighed the pros and cons. Unfortunately, the cons won out. One being, they already have a smaller model of the Flying Cloud and the other being it was too big. Really? A museum claiming something was too big? (No museum in Texas would ever say that!)

Roger pointed out I need to get this back in it's glass case to keep it clean (plus, I need to get it out of the living room so no one bumps it). I have found an odd place in the house to set it up where it will remain clean and safe until a buyer comes along ....... maybe a bigger museum ......

 

[Roger Pellett]

Museums used to be like your grandmothers closet, they used to accept all sorts of stuff. Now days they have become quite picky. They have defined missions, and specifications and they don’t want stuff that doesn’t meet their specific requirements. I suggest that you research the guy who built the model. Is there something about him that makes the model unique? That could add a whole new dimension.

Roger

 

[Eric Mannon]

Actually, the guy who restored it was affiliated with a SF Maritime Museum. I thought that was my in for sure. I guess it didn't fit their defined mission. I can't find a thing on the original builder. I've been reaching out to other museums, boat and yacht clubs, seafood restaurants, etc. Someone will jump on it, it will just take time. meanwhile, I need to keep it safe and clean. That's tomorrow project.

 

[Eric Mannon]

Got it back in the glass display on its table in the entry of our ADU. Not the ideal place but the case is all cleaned up and assembled and the Flying Cloud is in a safe and clean place until it finds a new home.

 

[Magic Mike]

Beautiful Eric! Very nice. Mike

 

[Bob Cleek]

Nice model. It looks like the restoration was never completed, though. It appears as though there was plenty of rigging replaced, but the job never got past what you see now. If finished, there would have been coiled falls secured at each belaying pin, etc. It looks like it could use a cleaning... your basic "lube and an oil change."

As a third-generation San Francisco native with a father in the maritime industry, I was very familiar with the San Francisco Maritime Museum from its inception. Unfortunately, all my contacts with the museum's founding fathers have gone under the mainbrace by now. When this museum was taken over by the government bureaucrats, first by the California State Parks Department and absorbed into the NPS's Golden Gate National Recreational Area, a lot of the museum's "institutional culture," which is to say the stuff that was never written down but, rather, only remembered by one old phart or another, was lost. Imagine the management of the largest collection of historic ocean-going vessels afloat in the nation, as well as the most extensive West Coast maritime historical research archive and library, and a world-class museum full of spectacular models and artifacts being taken over by a bunch of guys in Smokey the Bear hats whose last job was cataloging Hopi pots in New Mexico or something.

I'd bet the odds of anybody recognizing the model are slim and none except, on a long shot, you might check with the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights which meets aboard the ferry Eureka (https://hspms.org/) and check with the San Francisco Model Yacht Club at Spreckles Lake in Golden Gate Park. (https://www.sfmyc.org/) The latter is primarily a sailing model club, but there are a number of older life-long modelers there who may have seen and remembered the model.

Unfortunately, there are great old "barn finds" like this one around, but there are two major stumbling blocks to their survival (not to mention their market value!) Firstly, most are simply too damn big to fit in anybody's house. Notably, the money in professional ship modeling today is in the smaller scales, particularly the miniatures, rather than models that fill up a room. Secondly, most of them are of the "usual suspects:" well-known vessels that have been modeled hundreds, if not thousands of times over. Today's collectors are looking for well-done, historically accurate, unique models. Models of the "overdone" subjects have little, if any, chance of joining the ranks of high-value collector's pieces.

 

[Oddessey-28]

My suggestion after the disappointment with the Maritime Museum would be the SF chapter of the Nautical Ship Guild. They may have knowledge about the piece and or leads to sell. All the dealers in SF or Larkspur seem dim to me, although there are at least one restoration source in SF; Google brain may help on that one.

 

[Eric Mannon]

Thanks. I have a list of places I need to reach out to. I'll add these to it.

 

[paul ron]

i cant imagin how you got it in the case. the ship is 4.5' tall... the case probably 5' tall.... so if you lift the case over the top... thats at least 10' to clear. unless the case is built around the ship piece at a time.

seems museums have changed over the years. most museums, to me, have lots of wasted space that could use more phisical items to fill the rooms. they love video displays for some reason. i find myself skipping them, id rather see artifacts and unusual things instead of spending my limited time watching tv monitors.

 

[Oddessey-28]

Correction, my chemo brain meant Nautical Research Guild. https://www.thenrg.org/

 

[Bob Cleek]

seems museums have changed over the years. most museums, to me, have lots of wasted space that could use more phisical items to fill the rooms. they love video displays for some reason. i find myself skipping them, id rather see artifacts and unusual things instead of spending my limited time watching tv monitors.

I'm afraid it's a reflection of today's information age society. People don't read anymore. I recently read that 54% (or close to that... a lot, to be sure) of Americans between 17 and 78 years old cannot read and comprehend above a sixth-grade level! My14 year old grandson, who's a bright kid, has never been taught to write in cursive, let alone type. His school gives each kid an Apple tablet that they dictate into. They call it "the paperless classroom." Most people today get their information from watching a screen. So it has become with museums. You used to have to study a painting or exhibit and carefully read the little information card in the exhibit cases. Now, you watch a screen which shows you the exhibit and tells you what to think about it. If you're lucky, the museum will have "interactive" exhibits, usually ridiculously simplistic, that purport to "teach" you something about the subject matter by pushing buttons. I'm afraid the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater, but these days museums aren't' judged by the quality of their collections, but by the quantity of clicks on their turnstiles.

 

[Yankee Clipper]

Would like to help you find the provenance of your model with the following; The model is very similar to a model which was very prominently displayed in a Four Star restaurant in Honolulu Hawaii named "John Dominus". It appears to be he same size as yours and I remember the brass plaque in front but can't remember what was written. The model was glass cased and bare pole rigged. I believe the restaurant closed in the late 80s and understand their is another restaurant in the location now. It might be a long shot, but models such as yours are never just trashed and someone always has a soft heart just to keep it around. Good luck with your quest.