| Most viewed |
Solomon Browne1101 viewsOn December 19th, 1981, the
coaster "Union Star" suffered engine failure off Mount's Bay, in a violent gale. It seems possible that the captain failed to realise how close in he was. The Penlee lifeboat "Solomon Browne" approached the casualty not in the huge rollers offshore, which would have been dangerous enough, but in the boiling cauldron of rocks and broken water close inshore, in darkness, amidst enormous breakers and hurricane force winds.
They made repeated runs alongside in the most appalling conditions. Twice, the lifeboat, all twenty-three tons of her, was picked up and beached on the casualty's hatch covers. Despite this terrible battering, they kept coming back. They took off four of the eight people aboard, but were overwhelmed before they could rescue the others. There were no survivors.
The small village of Mousehole was thown into deep grief. Then they showed true heroism. They mustered a new crew and asked for a replacement boat within hours.
As well as being a justly honoured piece of lifeboat history, the "Solomon Browne" makes a wonderful model. At 1/12th scale, fittings are sturdy. She fits in the car. She is as seaworthy as you would expect. While she is a lovely display model, she really comes into her own on the water, where she is startlingly evocative of the real boat. She makes a tiny, but not unworthy, tribute to some very brave men.
She will usually draw an audience. Rattle an RNLI collection box at them. The lifeboats need your help. Remember, they might be out again tonight.
(model by John Davies)
|
|
Agnes1075 viewsThis is the same wonderful model of a pilot cutter that is featured in the "Pre-Owned" section. Sometimes a model comes back. The gentleman I sold her to said she was quite splendid, but not the right model for him. So I bought her back in. This time, she is staying. She is a beautiful boat, and I am having so much fun sailing her. But I could build one like her for you.
(Built by Mike Mayhew of Waverley Models, rigging modified by John Davies, featured in "Marine Modelling" March 2011)
|
|
Dragon class keelboat.1053 viewsThe International Dragon racing keelboat was designed in Scandinavia in the 1930s. Scandinavian vessels are a byword for grace and beauty of line. The lines of the Dragon are absolutely classic. In my opinion, they cannot be improved on.
|
|
HMS Cossack1036 viewsWarship models demand a particular set of skills. With their limited reserves of both buoyancy and stability, they can all too easily want to float upside-down, if the builder does not know what they are doing. Fortunately, we do.
|
|
Ryhope1019 viewsThis little tug was built for the same client for whom I built "Peggy", the large steam drifter model. She is an example of our "part completion" service. He had already made a competent job of the hull, but had got stuck on the superstructure, which is a good deal more complicated and difficult than it looks.
|
|
Agnes1014 viewsHere she is in about 5-7 knots of breeze, in which she can happily carry everything, including a big topsail. She moves well, and has one of those lovely hulls that slips through the water without disturbing it much. She handles remarkably like a full-sized gaff cutter, and I can say that as someone whom once lived aboard one and cruised her extensively.
(Built by Mike Mayhew of Waverley Models, rigging modified by John Davies, featured in "Marine Modelling" March 2011)
|
|
Peggy (detail)1005 viewsA professional commission for a model of this nature is usually a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. I have had some extremely satisfied clients for models of this size. It will bring you the most enormous pleasure, and it will continue to do so for many years.
Eagle-eyed readers may recognise one of the photos from "Model Boats" magazine, in which it has featured.
(model by John Davies)
|
|
ASR 102999 viewsAir Sea Rescue Launch 102 is preserved in full running order by Power Boat Restorations, at Hythe, on the Solent. She makes a lovely prototype for a scale launch.
The model is not too big, elaborate or expensive, but she carries a satisfying level of detail, and has a lively performance. She is a good model to take to the water on impulse, and blast around until the batteries run out.
These boats are of great historic interest. They were the first high-speed planing vessels designed to operate in the open sea. Previously, planing boats had been confined to inshore racing courses, and "fast" offshore rescue craft had been exemplified by the RNLI's "Sir William Hillary", a displacement type boat with a top speed of seventeen knots. In contrast, these ASRs would make forty knots. Every fast motor yacht, and all of the modern breed of lifeboat, owe a design debt to these launches.
This model was featured in "Marine Modelling" magazine, April 1999, and is now in the famous Childe Beale collection.
(model by John Davies)
|
|
Waveney class lifeboat (miniature)999 views
|
|
Peggy995 viewsThis fine model of a North Sea Herring Drifter represents a vanished era. They were built in their thousands, but now only one remains in preservation. They evoke not only a vanished industry, but a major change in our attitudes to the natural world.
|
|
HMS Victory (Restoration)995 viewsThis family heirloom came to us with the fore topgallant mast and jib-boom badly shattered, plus a good deal of other rigging damage. After about a hundred hours very close work, she left our workshop looking like this. As much original material as possible was preserved and incorporated, and new material was carefully matched. It's quite hard to tell where the old ends and the new begins, which for a restoration is right and proper.
(Model by family builder, restored by John Davies)
|
|
Blue narrowboat984 viewsWe built two narrowboats, for a gentleman whose garden is given over to a large and splendid live-steam narrow-gauge system.
Visitors on open days say they make a marvellous sight, gliding silently along the cut, while the little trains chuff along the quays, and passing the two without mishap is as interesting as in a real canal.
Check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgTcQzjB1K8
|
|
| 162 files on 14 page(s) |
 |
|
2 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Login