small scale sailing ships

Mike,

I, too, am a Yankees fan suffering through a disappointing but fully expected season. John Tilley (a Red Sox fan) should be enjoying this very much!  Anyway, thanks for that link!

Bill

What a collection of gems!

Beautiful models indeed.  This gentleman used to post frequently over at the Model Ship World site, but he...had some problems with the management.

Here's another one to drool over - donaldmcnarryshipmodels.com .

When I look at a McNarry model I'm tempted to give up.

I'm not exactly a Red Sox fan, though they do hold a place in my heart.  Mostly, I... dislike the Yankees.  But nowadays, in this era of steroids and multi-million-dollar contracts, I can't get excited about any major league team.  I was a fan of the Cincinnati Reds in their glory days of the seventies, when the game was relatively clean and the salaries were rational.  Living in Columbus, I could fill the tank of my VW Beetle, drive to Cincinnati, buy a ticket in the upper deck, buy a hot dog, a program, and a Coke, and drive back home for (drum roll please) $10.00.  Those were the days.

John,

I used to do the same in San Francisco to see Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, et.al. at Candlestick Park. Those were the days! Oh yeah! I could buy a new ship model for less than $1.00!

Bill Morrison

Yeah..Bob is a friend of mine..he's quite a builder and historian...he's translated himself into more of an author these days...but he is always available to discuss deep water steel hulled full rigged ships.

Rob

I believe Bob Wilson personally new McNarry......Or at lease he was extremely aware of him.

Rob,

If I ever get to my Heller 1/150 Pruessen I'll remember to ask him questions . That #@$% hull is longer than both the 1/96 Cutty Sark and U.S.S. Constitution! After having given lots of hours to rigging shrouds and ratlines in my Cutty Sark (not a great job but a learning experience) I honestly am not as enthusiastic about rigging the Pruessen as when I first bought the kit - five masts!! How Robert Wilson ever rigged his Pruessen I can't begin to understand. (even it he didn't rig every line it sure looks like he did most of them!). At 1/150 scale at least I'll have some room to work with but at the scale he chooses to build, I'm astonished .

Mike

Yes..Bob built a gig for making his ratlines and then he solders all the shrouds and ratlines..before he installs them.  all the rigging on his models is wire.  He's very tallented..even though he thinks these models are far easier to build then larger scale models..like my scale of 1/96.

Rob

One major skill of modeling at such small scales is figuring out what to leave off.  (ExceptIon - Mr. McNarry, who left off virtually nothing.)  Because Mr. Wilson's ratlines are so neatly done, one doesn't notice that they're a little too far apart for the scale, and don't droop between the shrouds.  There is, of course, a running debate over whether ship modeling is a genuine art form.  (My personal answer is yes, at least in some cases.)  There are those who say that working at very small scales requires a particularly artistic approach.

Unless I'm mistaken (an increasingly likely possibility these days), the ratlines on the great German steel ships like the Preussen were, at least on the lower masts, iron bars.  Easier to do on 1/150 scale. 

Yes..I believe they were bars...and at Bob's scale it doesn't matter..the sheer detail in the scale compensates for any deficiency we can come up with.  If the builder is building anything from scratch..it can easily be construed as an art form(IMV)

Bob is an artisan in my humble view.

I'm a hack.:)

Both those galleries were a pleasure to stare at longingly! Thanks for sharing them, almost hard to believe building so many beautiful ship models is possible for a single person