Category Archives: Modelers

The purpose of this Category is to be the Parent category of Individual modeler posts.

Republic

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Bob Fivehouse’s Republic from October 2023 Exhibit

Period Ship Sailed: 1903 – 1909

Type of Model: Scratch waterline

Build Time: About 8 months

Scale: 1” = 32’

Description of build: The model has a solid basswood hull and basswood deck houses with paper overlays for the cut-out windows. The decks are holly and the funnel is brass. The masts are wood turned to a pater. The boats are carved wood and the rigging is copper wire. The rails and stairs are photoetched brass. The model was built from plans drawn by Mr. Fivehouse based on the original rigging plan supplied by the builders.

Ship’s History: The Republic was built by Marland & Wolff in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1903 as the Columbus for the Dominion Line service to Boston. Her main particulars were: Length = 570’ Breadth – 67.8’.

After only three voyages she was switched to the White Star Line and renamed Republic for the service from Boston and New York to the Mediterranean (usually Genoa, Italy). She was on such a voyage in 1909 when on January 23, after leaving New York, she was rammed in the port side amidship by the Italian line Florida in heavy fog just off the Nantucket lightship. Her wireless operator made the first known call for help using a radio and and number of ocean liners leaving New York. An attempt was made to tow her to shore but the next day she sank. She was the largest ship in the world to sink prior to the Titanic.

Her wreckage has been located in about 270’ of water. She was purported to have had gold on board worth 1.6 billion dollars by today’s (2023) value. The has not yet been recovered but more about the Republic can be found at Treasure of the RMS Republic

Atlantic Luxury Yacht

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Ralph Buckwalter’s Atlantic from October 2023 Exhibit

Period Ship Sailed: 1903 – 1982

Type of Model: Scratch built using the bread and butter lift method

Build Time: One year

Scale: 3”/32’

Description of build: The plans for the model were from Bluejacket’s kit of the Atlantic. The hull is popular, the rigging is black for the standing rigging and tan for the running rigging. The sails are hand made from a light muslin material.

Ship’s History: The Atlantic was a luxury yacht built for the millionaire Wilson Marshall. Marshall raced her under the auspices of the New York Yacht club. She was the largest private yacht of her day with an overall length of 227’ 8” displacing 303 tonnes. She was launched in 1903 and scrapped in 1982. She set a record for the transatlantic race in 1905 sailing 3,006 miles in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 19 seconds which lasted until 1988. She served in both World War 1, in the US Navy and World War 2 in the Coast Guard.

Fergus

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Ralph Buckwalter’s Fergus from October 2023 Exhibit

Period Ship Sailed: Civil war

Type of Model: Scratch-built based on the builders’ plans from the US National Museum, Smithsonian Institution in June 1959.

Build Time: Under construction

Scale: 3”/32’

Description of build: This is a multiple lift construction “Bread and Butter” for the hull. The hull is —wood and the deck furniture is basswood. This vessel with steam and sail power. The steam drives side paddle wheels which are articulating, which means the paddles rotate as the wheel rotates, which improves the efficiency and speed. The vessel is 217.5 feet long, 23 feet wide with a very shallow draft of 4 feet.

Ship’s History: Fergus, aka Presto, was built by Alex Stephens and Sons in Glascow Scotland on the river Clyde and launched on August 1, 1803. She had an all-steel riveted hull. She sailed from Glasgow to the U.S. due to the limited amount of coal for her boilers for such a long trip. Her narrow hull and shallow draft and steam and sail power made a perfect vessel to run the blockades of the North. However, on her second run went aground on Sullivan’s Island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor and was destroyed by shell fire from the Union Fort on Morris Island.

L’Hermione

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Ralph Buckwalter’s L’Hermione from October 2023 Exhibit

Modeler’s Name: Ralph Buckwalter

Period Ship Sailed: 1773 – 2014

Type of Model: Wooden plank on bulwark kit

Build Time: 13 months

Scale:

Description of build: This model is based on plans used in the reconstruction of a full-sized replica which was completed in 2014 in the same Rochefort Arsenal as the original. This replica visited the United States during a world tour.

Ship’s History: L’Hermione transported he Marquis de Lafayette to join the American revolution on March 21, 1780. She was built at the Rochefort Arsenal in 1778. L’Hermione was a French 32-gun light Frigate, 214.5 feet long, rated at 1,200 tons, and carried over 16,335 sq. ft. of sails on three masts. She carried 32 cannons, twenty-six 12-pounders, and six 6-pounders. L’Hermione was involved in two battles in Chesapeake Bay and at the Battle of Yorktown. She left American waters on February 2, 1782, returning to France.

Paper Models

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Modeler’s Name: Jay Phillips

Type of Model: Paper

Description of build: Simplified for easy construction. Few parts. Scissors, glue, and tape construction. Models downloaded from the Internet.

Jay Phillips’ paper models from October 2023 Exhibit
  • H.L. Hunley: Confederate Submarine, 1864 CE
  • U-96 “Das Boot”: WWII German U-Boat. 1942 CE
Jay Phillips’ paper models from October 2023 Exhibit
  • Xebec (zee-beck): A favorite of Mediterranean pirates. 1650 CE
  • Depet m Kemet: Ship of Egypt. Ancient Egyptian cargo ship. 18th Dynasty; circa 1500 BCE. Scale 1:75. Length 66 feet
Jay Phillips’ paper models from October 2023 Exhibit
  • Fide Ship: Cog cargo ship, first use of a stern rudder, 1225 CE
  • USS Independence LCS-2: Littoral Combat Ship. 1:300 scale. 2010 CE
  • ORU Folding Kayak, Bay Model: Length 12 feet. 1:10 scale. Present day.

Martin Jelsema

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Modeler’s Bio:
This is Martin Jelsema’s fourth build since “retiring” as a marketing consultant four years ago. As a teenager he built the wooden schooner model of the Bluenose. He collected tools for the next 50 years in anticipation of renewing the hobby while pursuing a career in advertising and market consulting.

Ranger

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This model of an 1824 U.S. revenue cutter was built from a kit by Martin Jelsema.

Description of Model

This model of an 1824 U.S. revenue cutter was built from a kit by Martin Jelsema. It is a plank-on-bulwark model consisting of several types of wood, cast fixtures, cord and wire.

History of the ship

The model represents a class of square-sail schooner used by the U.S. Revenue Service (later the U.S. Coast Guard) in the early 19th Century. They were fast, designed to confront smugglers and slave ships in our coastal waters.

Scale: 1-50

17” x 16”

Obelisk Barge of Queen Hatshepsuit

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This model was scratch-built by John McGann and he travelled to Egypt to bring back the pink granite.

Description of model

This model was scratch–built by John McGann. He produced the drawings from Bjorn Liandstrom’s book, Ships of the Pharaohs. The obelisks are pink granite from the  quarry in Aswan from which the original obelisks were fashioned. The model is constructed of sycamore just as the original barge was.

History of the ship

The barge was used to transport two 98-feet long granite obelisks from Aswan to Karnak. The ship is depicted on the wall of Hatshepsuit’s funerary temple, Deir El Bahri.

Scale: 1/8” 34” x 14” x 15

Royal Barge of Pharaoh Khufu

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The model was scratch-built by John McGann using western red cedar.

Description of the model

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.

Scale: 1/8”=1” (1/96)

21” x 11” x 12”