Category Archives: Modelers

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

Die Kogge von Bremen

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John McGann built this model from scratch using drawings produced by the shipwright responsible for recovering and restoring the sunken ship.

Description of the model

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.

Scale: 1-40

30” x 16” x 17”

Ed Quam

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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.

USS Maine

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Description of the model

Ed Quam built this limited edition kit( # 10) by Bluejacket.  Highly modified.  Bass wood solid hull.  Resin castings, metal guns and masts, etched brass

History of the ship

Ship was sunk in Havana harbor as a result of “Spanish” sabotage, thus starting the Spanish American War.

38” x 13”

Kate Cory

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Description of the model:

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. 

Fair America

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Quam_Fair_America
Fair America is a semi scratch built model by Ed Quam. All carvings are out of box wood and done by hand.

Brief history of the ship:

One of America’s first Naval ships in the Colonial Navy.  She was captured by the British and so admired that they took her lines off to be copied.

30” x 15”

USS Olympia

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Brief history of the ship:

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.

Red Dragon Chinese Junk

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Erik Collett’s Red Dragon Chinese Junk from a modified kit.

Modeler’s Name: Erik Collette
Period: last 300 years
Scale: 1:60
Type of Model: Modified kit
Build Time: 150 hrs.

Build Materials:
Boxwood, Sapelli, Walnut, Brass fittings

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.

Oseberg Viking Ship

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Erik Collett spent 150 hours building this Norwegian Viking Ship model. The hull is built from oak planks, glued together and then glued to the ribs. The wood was then sealed with flat varnish. The sail is cotton.

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.

Christopher Columbus

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John McGann’s scratch built model of the Christopher Columbus, an excursion boat on Lake Michigan. It sailed from Chicago during the 1903 World’s Fair. The model won a Silver at the Manitowac Show last month.

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

CSS Alabama

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Martin Jelsema modified the CSS Alabama from the Mamoli kit

Martin Jelsema modified the CSS Alabama from the Mamoli kit

Modeler’s Name: Martin Jelsema

Period: Civil War
Scale: 1:120
Type of Model: Modified kit – plank on frame
Build Time: 700hrs

Build Materials:
This Model is a modified plank on bulkhead Mamoli kit build. Both deck configuration and rigging deviated from the Mamoli plans to follow the details illustrated in the book by Andrew Bowcock, Anatomy of a Confederate Raider. Hull is double planked in basswood and walnut. The “hammocks” on the rails are Q-tips. Completed with wood, cord and metal fittings.

Ship’s Story:
The CSS Alabama was Confederate raider whose mission was to interrupt Union merchant trade during the Civil War. During it’s two years of raiding it captured 63 American merchant ships and one War Ship. It was in port at Cherbourg, France when “called out” by the USS Kearsarge. It was sunk by the Kearsarge. It was discovered by divers and is being raised little by little by the French.