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Hello from Ireland

Joined
Aug 21, 2025
Messages
4
Points
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Hello Everyone,

My name is Gordon living in Ireland. I've not build a model ship before, although I had started the Titanic in the early 2000's and still incomplete. I just love model ships, expecially the older sailing ships such as Galleons, Scooners and Frigates - one day I'll get to build a smaller one before attempting something like the HMS Victory, Cutty Sark and some of the more famous French and Spanish ships among many others. I also love model cars, but that's for another forum.

What I do is make bespoke model ship display bases (excluding the plexiglass cover) and display bases for model cars too, the latter being in planning - there are a number in the design stage with a few variants I'm planning for the cars and two more ship bases also in design phase. I'll attempt to add an image here if I can (this is my first post) but would appreciate some guidance on the most appropriate place to post more images.

Here is one image of a display base for OCCRE's "The Beagle" I made for a customer in the UK. This ship is his build and the base made by me. I made a lot of customisation (customization) to his specification including the mounting of the diplay lights and the mounting of the ship's display stand. This photo was taken by him in their living room before making place for the display in his study. I have not seen this setup in the flesh since shipping off the base.

IMG_2262.JPEG
 
I just love model ships, expecially the older sailing ships such as Galleons, Scooners and Frigates - one day I'll get to build a smaller one before attempting something like the HMS Victory, Cutty Sark and some of the more famous French and Spanish ships among many others.

May I suggest you "dance with the gal ya brung?" After all, you live on an island, man! :D Ireland is a goldmine of ship modeling subject matter that seems to be going begging these days. There's more to ship modeling than prefabricated assembly kits of the "usual suspects" of the "cannon and gingerbread" genre. ;) For starters, you've got the Galway hookers for a first project. It would be easy to learn basic rigging techniques on with their fore and aft gaff rigs. You've got the now-extinct Kinsale hookers for schooner rigs, not to mention a host of schooners, especially in the late 19th century. There's no shortage of well-documented sailing ships that wrecked on local shores that nobody's modeled yet. Basil Greenhill's Inshore Craft of the British Isles covers over 200 indigenous watercraft of all sizes that are ripe subjects for modeling. The "coffin ships" of the Great Famine haven't been modeled much. (E.g., Hannah, see wikipedia.) A ship modeler couldn't ask for more inspiration.

See The School for Model Ship Building section of this forum for all the information you'll need to start researching some vessel you'd like to build. See: https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/forums/class-2.384/ For many of us, the research is as much, if not more fun than the modeling. Local maritime museums and such are treasure troves of lines drawings that are just begging to be modeled. The guys in the School for Ship Model Building will give you all the help you might want.
 
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May I suggest you "dance with the gal ya brung?" After all, you live on an island, man! :D Ireland is a goldmine of ship modeling subject matter that seems to be going begging these days. There's more to ship modeling than prefabricated assembly kits of the "usual suspects" of the "cannon and gingerbread" genre. ;) For starters, you've got the Galway hookers for a first project. It would be easy to learn basic rigging techniques on with their fore and aft gaff rigs. You've got the now-extinct Kinsale hookers for schooner rigs, not to mention a host of schooners, especially in the late 19th century. There's no shortage of well-documented sailing ships that wrecked on local shores that nobody's modeled yet. Basil Greenhill's Inshore Craft of the British Isles covers over 200 indigenous watercraft of all sizes that are ripe subjects for modeling. The "coffin ships" of the Great Famine haven't been modeled much. (E.g., Hannah, see wikipedia.) A ship modeler couldn't ask for more inspiration.

See The School for Model Ship Building section of this forum for all the information you'll need to start researching some vessel you'd like to build. See: https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/forums/class-2.384/ For many of us, the research is as much, if not more fun than the modeling. Local maritime museums and such are treasure troves of lines drawings that are just begging to be modeled. The guys in the School for Ship Model Building will give you all the help you might want.
Thanks for the good advice Bob! :)

What I failed to mention is that I have a Lego set of Schackleton's Endurance. It's similar in size to The Beagle shown above. I know it's not a wooden ship and I will get one someday. Thanks for the local knowledge share - I've been here 25-years this year and have very little knowledge of these historical facts.
 
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