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Miniature shipyard

It wasn't so much that the Falls of Foyers was unpopular, but the whole range of merchant sailing ships (apart from the obligatory Cutty Sark and a few tea clippers) are very unpopular as far as ship model builders are concerned. The proof of the matter is that very few models of them are ever built these days! But I am continually being asked by collecters to produce more, because they don't seem to be able to find them elsewhere, unless you count the ones that were built years ago, before they faded from popularity, and they cost a fortune, often tens of thousands of dollars! Fulwood.jpg
 
Yes, the pen eventually became my "Trade Mark" and if I forget it for some reason, I get asked where it is. The Parker pen seems to be the most photogenic, but I did use different ones before settling on the Parker! City of Bombay under construction -
17 (Large).JPG
 
Hi Bob, it is forum program that associates predefined words with meaningful pictures.
 
Hello Shipbuilder, very nice models you have made. I have also thought many times to build smaller models because building them doesn't necessarily need so much space and materials as bigger ones that I have built. But I think what you need more are the skills, because everything, including details, are so much smaller.
But in which scale are you building? And what kind of tools are necessary for these miniature models? And is there somewhere a book or tutorial to teach which materials and building methods are needed?
 
Hello Moxis. I use various scales: 32 feet to 1 inch (1/384), 25 feet to 1 inch (1:300), even up to 16 feet to 1 inch (1:192), it all depends on the size of the ship I am building. A common mistake is to decide that you don't have the skills to build in miniature, mainly because they are easier to build than large ones. As I have sai before, the rigging is fine copper wire that has been stretched slightly with two small pairs of pliers. It does not spring back like an elastic band when released, but remains straight. The rigging is cut off in short lengths, picked up with tweezers, each end dipped in glue and just place in position on the model - no nts anywhere. Please see the book section here on SOS -
https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/threads/how-to-build-a-miniature-british-collier-brig.3517/ There is a linkt to my comprehensive download on how to built a small model of the collier brig Sicily. The download contains the plans and building details. I do charge for these downloas, becaus they have taken me hundreds of hours to compile, but the Sicily download is only £1.49 that is less than the price of a cup of coffee.
RobertSicily for blog 17th March 2018 (Large).JPG
 
Here is a link to all the downloads. Click on any image and scroll down a bit after it opens to read the synopsis. Then, if you wish to purchase a download, a Paypal/cards button is provided in each synopsis. Prices range from free to £8 for the most comprehensive (158 pages), but most are about £2.
https://payhip.com/Shipbuilder/collection/miniature-merchant-ship-construction-history
The materials cost virtually nothing. The glue is the most expensive item. A lot of miniature modelling is illusion, but the effect can be startling! There is a download on how to build the Gulf Stream (see below), but that is very comprehensive and contains details of display case construction and every aspect of building the model, plus the plans - £4.99 for 102 pages -
Gulf Stream completed (Large).JPG
 
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