Model Ships

There is something both aesthetic and romantic about model ships. Ship modelling is a craft as old as shipbuilding itself, stretching back to ancient times when water transport was first developed. Ancient ship and boat models from ancient Greece, Egypt, and Phoenicia have been discovered throughout the Mediterranean. These model ships provide archaeologists with valuable information regarding seafaring technology and the sociological and economic importance of seafaring. In spite of how helpful ancient boat and ship models are to archaeologists, they are not always easily or correctly interpreted due to artists’ mistakes, ambiguity in the model design, and wear and tear over the centuries. Some of the oldest surviving European model ships have been those of early craft such as galleys, galleons, and possibly carracks, dating from the 12th through to the 15th centuries and found occasionally mounted in churches, where they were used in ceremonies to bless ships and those who sailed in them.

In the early part of the 20th Century, amateur model ship kits became available from companies such as Bassett-Lowke in Great Britain and Boucher's in the United States. Early 20th century models comprised a combination of wooden hulls and cast lead for anchors, deadeyes, and rigging blocks. These materials gradually gave way to plastic pre-cast sets. Modelling precision and lightweight design can be achieved by creating a hollow hull. The plank on bulkhead technique of building model ships inserts a series of shaped bulkheads along the keel to form a shaped stage that will be covered with planks to form the hull of the model. Plank on frame designs build the model ships in the same way as the full size wooden ship would have been constructed. The keel is laid down in a manner that keeps it straight and true. The sternpost and stem are erected; deadwood and strengthening pieces inserted, and a series of shaped frames are built and erected along the keel to form the internal framework of the model. The planks are then applied over the frame to form the external covering.

The Model Shipyard
Tel: +27 44 691 1531 | Email: model.shipyard@pixie.co.za
Dock of the Bay Studio
Shop16, Ocean View Mall
Mossel Bay, 6506
South Africa

Historic Model Ship Builder