Wooden Model Ships

Wooden model ships have been a passion of mine for several years now. The first model wooden ship I had was actually one of my dads cast off models. We found it when we were cleaning out the garage, and he actually almost threw it out. By the standard of many model wooden ships, I was kind of crude. It was basically a ship in a bottle from a museum gift shop he had visited years ago. The details were not historically accurate, and the ship was very simply built, but I was actually fascinated by it. I was about eight years old at the time, and I couldn't figure out how you could possibly get a ship into a bottle.

At that point, I knew that I wanted to build wooden model ships of my own. My dad is pretty busy, and he didn't really have time to build model wooden ships with me, so I had to figure it all out by myself. The first few attempt I made were failures. I was not a very patient boy, and I wasn't all that skilled with my hands. I could play sports alright, but when it came to fine motor coordination I was awful. That is why I almost gave up on my hobby when the first wooden ship provoked laughter when I brought it in to show and tell. That is when my dad took me under his arm. He started making time to work on wooden model ships with me.

We made a model of the USS Constitution together that summer. “Old Ironsides” as it is known is one of the most famous tall ships in this country. It is named that because it had such a firm hull that cannonballs would simply bounce off the sides. It was a three-masted ship as I recall, and quite an impressive model. It had something like 40 guns on each side, and each of them had to be hand painted. It was no small task – particularly for a beginning wooden model shipbuilder like myself. Nonetheless, with some help from my dad I was able to accomplish it.

I have been building wooden model ships ever since then. I think I have made something like 350 of them in my life so far, but most of them have been given away to various friends. For me the joys is not in collecting them, but simply in making them. Putting together something with my own hands always gives me a feeling of satisfaction.

Summary