The model was scratch-built by John McGann using western red cedar. The case is a copy of a travelling case found by Howard Carter in the tomb of King Tut in 1922.
History of the ship
The Royal Barge was buried in a pit alongside the Great Pyramid in 1209BC. It was discovered in 1954 while clearing debris from the base of the Great Pyramid. The barge was disassembled into 1,200 pieces and reassembled. It took 17 years to do this. The boat is built of cedar and entirely sewn together. It’s 142 feet long and weighs 42 tons.
John McGann built this model from scratch using drawings produced by the shipwright responsible for recovering and restoring the sunken ship. He used apple wood. John reproduced every piece that was recovered from the wreckage, but did not attempt to “add” pieces not found.
History of the ship
The Cog replaced Viking style vessels around 900 AD. They were used throughout Europe until the 1450’s. The Cog of Bremen was being built in Bremen Germany in 1380 when a flood swept it from the yard and into the River Wesser. She capsized and was lost until the dredging of the river in 1962. It is the only known Cog existing and is now preserved and displayed at the Maritime Museum at Bremerhaven, Germany.
Modeler’s Bio: Edward is a retired former Intelligence officer. Born and raised in Colorado educated at CU, DU and Harvard. While stationed in Washington D.C. he was and is a member of the Washington Ship Model Association and a Plank member of the Nautical Research Guild. He has built over 25 models over 60 years of modeling and has displayed them in various venues around the country.
The model was scratch built from the plans noted below by Ed Quam. She is made of bass wood, fiber rigging and copper.
History of the ship:
Whaling ship out of New England owned by the Corey family. She was sunk by the Confederate Navy. The Corey family had all the documents related to her construction and disposition to file for reparations.
A trunk full of these documents were found in the Corey attic in the mid 1970’s Model shipways had the plans drawn up and a kit was produced.
The Olympia was the flag ship of Adm. George Dewey. She was the ship that ended the Spanish American war in Manila Bay. After WWI she was designated to bring home the body of the Unknown Soldier.
As with the Maine the Olympia is a limited edition kit by Bluejacket and again it is #10. The kit was highly modified and consists of a bass wood solid hull, etched brass fittings, cast metal and phenolic parts.
Ship’s Story: The Red Dragon was a Chinese junk. These ships have sailed the Far East oceans as far as Africa for over 3000 years. They navigated with the help of the sun and over 2500 greater stars. Navigation became a lot easier when they invented the compass in the 11th Century. Originally, junks were built with a flat bottom and without a keel, a stem and stern posts. Only when they began to sail on the open ocean did it become a necessity to incorporate a keel to strengthen the ship. The junks were always built with watertight bulkheads which the Chinese learned from studying the structure of the bamboo plant. Junks are still built today, the same way as they were built centuries ago.
Modeler’s Bio: Erik has been a member of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights since he was bitten by the modeling bug after visiting the RMS show in 2003. He completed his first model in 2004. Erik hails from Norway, where he was around boats during most of his youth. He attended the Norwegian Naval Academy and sailed on a merchant ship for a year. He came to the USA in 1962 and earned his BSCE and MBA degrees from the University of Denver. He is currently semi-retired as an engineering consultant.
Modeler’s Name: Erik Collette Period: 815 AD Scale: 1:50 Type of Model: Kit built Build Time: 150 hrs.
Build Materials: Birch plywood, pine and basswood
Ship’s Story: This ship was a Norwegian Viking ship built in approximately 815 AD. It was used as a burial ship in 834. It was discovered in a burial mound on the Oseberg Farm in Norway in 1904. It has been restored and can be seen today at the Viking ship museum in Oslo. It is 71 feet long with a beam of 15 feet. The construction was unique in that it was klinker built with iron nails and then the planks were tied to the ribs. The mast was approximately 35-40 feet tall. Homespun wool, woven into squares, was used for the sail. The squares were sewn together and the sail was reinforced with strips of leather. There were 15 oar holes on each side. The rudder was an enlarged oar fitted on the aft starboard side. In 2011, a full-scale copy was built to evaluate the design and test the ship’s seaworthiness. The ship is docked in Tonsberg.
Modeler’s Bio: Erik has been a member of the Rocky Mountain Shipwrights since he was bitten by the modeling bug after visiting the RMS show in 2003. He completed his first model in 2004. Erik hails from Norway, where he was around boats during most of his youth. He attended the Norwegian Naval Academy and sailed on a merchant ship for a year. He came to the USA in 1962 and earned his BSCE and MBA degrees from the University of Denver. He is currently semi-retired.
Period: 1883-1933 Scale: 3/32″ = 1′ Type of Model: scratch build from original plans Build Time: 500 hrs.
Build Materials: Scratch built from original plans of wood, styrene, and paper.
Ship’s Story: The only passenger ship built to the whaleback design. Built at West Superior, Wisconsin in eighty one days. She served as an excursion liner on the Great Lakes from 1883 until 1933. Scrapped at Manitowoc, Wisconsin 1936. Length 363′ Beam 42′ Tonnage 1,511 tons. Carried more passengers than any other vessels on the Great Lakes.
Modeler’s Bio: Retired construction supt. Model builder for 75 years