Project description
I need a scale model of a three-masted sailing ship built to order as a gift for my father, who has been collecting maritime prints for years and has an empty shelf waiting for exactly this. The scale I have in mind is somewhere around 1:75, and the finished model should end up roughly 55 to 65 cm long and about 50 cm tall from the base to the top of the main mast, because that is what the shelf and the cabinet above it allow. I am not asking for a plastic snap-together kit assembled over a weekend. I want a hull built the traditional way: a keel with sawn frames, faired properly, then planked with thin strips, sanded smooth and finished so the planking lines are still visible but the seams are tight.
Deck work matters as much as the hull to me. I would like a planked deck with visible caulking lines, a wheel and binnacle, gratings, hatch covers, capstan, ship's boats on their skids, ladders and rails that actually look like joinery and not like moulded blobs. Masts and spars should be turned or shaped from wood with proper tapers, with tops, crosstrees and yards in scale. The rigging is the part I care about most: standing rigging with deadeyes and lanyards, running rigging belayed to pin rails, thread thicknesses chosen so the shrouds read heavier than the braces, and everything tensioned evenly so nothing sags after a month on the shelf. Please seal or wax the thread so it does not fuzz.
On sails I am open to advice. A model with furled or no sails often looks cleaner and shows the rigging better, but if you recommend cloth sails, use a fine natural fabric, tea-tinted rather than bright white, with stitched bolt ropes. Finish should be satin, not glossy plastic-looking varnish. The order includes a wooden base with brass pedestals or a cradle, an engraved plaque, and a dust case with clear panels and a wooden frame that matches the base. Please quote the case as part of the job, not as an afterthought.
What I need from you:
— your scale and dimension proposal with a sketch or drawing set you plan to work from;
— photos of at least two finished plank-on-frame models you built yourself;
— a staged schedule: hull, deck fittings, masts and spars, rigging, case;
— progress photos at each stage before you move on;
— crate packing for fragile freight, with the masts protected and the case shipped separately if that is safer.
Timing is flexible within reason, but I would like it finished and delivered in about ten weeks. Tell me what is realistic and what the price covers.
Deck work matters as much as the hull to me. I would like a planked deck with visible caulking lines, a wheel and binnacle, gratings, hatch covers, capstan, ship's boats on their skids, ladders and rails that actually look like joinery and not like moulded blobs. Masts and spars should be turned or shaped from wood with proper tapers, with tops, crosstrees and yards in scale. The rigging is the part I care about most: standing rigging with deadeyes and lanyards, running rigging belayed to pin rails, thread thicknesses chosen so the shrouds read heavier than the braces, and everything tensioned evenly so nothing sags after a month on the shelf. Please seal or wax the thread so it does not fuzz.
On sails I am open to advice. A model with furled or no sails often looks cleaner and shows the rigging better, but if you recommend cloth sails, use a fine natural fabric, tea-tinted rather than bright white, with stitched bolt ropes. Finish should be satin, not glossy plastic-looking varnish. The order includes a wooden base with brass pedestals or a cradle, an engraved plaque, and a dust case with clear panels and a wooden frame that matches the base. Please quote the case as part of the job, not as an afterthought.
What I need from you:
— your scale and dimension proposal with a sketch or drawing set you plan to work from;
— photos of at least two finished plank-on-frame models you built yourself;
— a staged schedule: hull, deck fittings, masts and spars, rigging, case;
— progress photos at each stage before you move on;
— crate packing for fragile freight, with the masts protected and the case shipped separately if that is safer.
Timing is flexible within reason, but I would like it finished and delivered in about ten weeks. Tell me what is realistic and what the price covers.
Other / Miscellaneous Cash, Bank transfer
