Big! Merchant ship model restoration

[Tim A.]

Well, with all the stuff piling in my workroom of other peoples my own keeps getting shoved farther away!

This builders model of a 300' steamer arrived yesterday for some resto work. The model is 9' long with the base.
Not to much is known about it other than it represents a screw steamer named ALEXANDROS MICHALINOS and sank before 1920. There is also a builder's name and a date of 1894?
It is a half hull that is designed to butt against a full length mirrior to give the illusion of a full breadth model when displayed in it's case, which is being restored at a local Millwright shop.

The cargo hatches, hatchways etc. are outlined beautifully in ink.

The major issue is with the masts. There is definite evidence that there were masts on the model fore and aft but not sure what they looked like yet.

The model is to large to get good pics in my room and I apologize for all the background clutter.

This should be fun to work on

Tim

 

[moon puppy]

Dear lord! it's gorgeous now, what do you have in plan?

I could see reworking the rails and of course the mast.

You have a major set to take on such a project, you really think this model was build in 1894 or is it talking about the ship?

 

[chukw]

So cool! My brother works as a modeler at General Motors and has made many a 1/2 car model to be set against a mirror. A real space saver with a 9-foot ship! I'm intrigued by the drawn-on details.

Cheers!
chuk

 

[moon puppy]

Looks like it's suppose to be some sort of wainscot or some such.

There's a guy at FSM who does airliners on mirrors as if they are in flight, really neat affect.

 

[Tim A.]

Chukw, what a job!

I'm trying to dig up the history of the model. The wood shows age on the bare backside and the case could be from late 1800's, the finish looks french polished.

Was the model used to lift the lines for the real one? don't now yet. It may have been and then finished out at some point for display. The Model maker's and the owner of the shipping company according to the plaque are the same which indicates it was built "in house". The plaque though, appears newer than the model and case.
The ships design feature's are from the date given, the open bridge gives that away. But I would really like to know if this model was the actual builder's model.

I'm supposed to fix the poop deck, you can see where it has seperated from the hull in the stern view pic. There is also a ventilator funnel missing and as moon pup mentioned the railing needs some work. Still looking into the mast situation.

 

[Tim A.]

Well, spent the better part of the evening trying to dig up info on the model. The real ship was built by Joseph L. Thompson & sons. Sunderland England. When I first looked the project over the owner asked what I thought the masts looked like. I'm no expert on ships but I did see that the mast holes were raked to the stern suggesting it was equipped with sail. He disagreed but this ship was built in the transition period from sail to steam power. I came across this photo of a tramp steamer from the same period and this is how I think they were on our ship. These are clearly sail masts. There are fore and aft booms on each mast as well as the gaff boom for loading.

I also came across a half hull model of a smaller tramp steamer built in the same style as ours. The deck fittings (brass funnels and railing stanchions) are exactly like ours so they may have been commercially produced items. It also has the ink drawn details in the same style too. That model's discription read it was from the 1890's so i think it's safe to say thats when ours is from.

Tim

 

[moon puppy]

Hey Tim, I was telling Rhino about this thread.

Looks like in our migration we lost some post, I know you posted far more on this thread than what's here. Do you have these photos still? I'd love to see this again. Thanks!

 

[Rhino]

Oh yes, Please!