Posted by - WalzBear
Post date - 06-28-2009, 08:32 PM
Hello all. My name is Barry. I'm sure to learn a lot from many of you and I know I will have questions for sure. I've undertaken a project that, although I'm excited about, there will be some challenges ahead.
I've done my fair share of model making over the years. From plastic to balsa. But after my first attempt at a tall ship when I was a kid, I steered far away from anything that had rigging. It was just too much for my little brain to wrap itself around. I always figured that "when I got older" I'd give it another shot. Well, if pushing 50 isn't old enough then I don't know how a few more years is going to help. ;-)
So here's what I got myself into. I belong to a local woodcarving club and we put a display up at our library of member's carvings. The Librarian mentioned an old model ship that had been carved by an infirmed 14 year-old back in 1884. It had been donated to "the children of the county" via the Library and for many years had been on display. Unfortunately, with the display case in ill repair, the model was stored in 1958 and the public hasn't seen it since.
The Librarian mentioned that this 5 foot long model needed to be refurbished which caught the attention of a number of us in the club. Sight unseen, we offered our help to get the ship (the Olivette) back in condition to be displayed and with a new case to go along with it. There is SOME minor things that need to be replaced/re-carved, but most of it is the old rigging is simply disintegrating. Also a refurbishing that took place back in 1925 left the model with a less than desirable, and sloppy, paint job that needs to be removed.
Now it wouldn't be too bad if there had been plans that had been followed for the rigging. But the kid that originally made it seems to have built it which ever way that looked best to him. Probably using paintings to decide where things should be or even what size. This makes it hard to know where some of the lines go that have broken away from their original location. We'd rather not change the history of the model too much if we can. Like I said, it is going to be a challenge.
But I'm sure with the help of those on this forum, I'll be able to at least reconstruct the Olivette into something that will continue to spur on the imagination of generations of children for years to come. And all this has rekindled a desire to build my own, (more accurate), ship model when I get done with this. Perhaps a Barque like my grandfather sailed on.
I've done my fair share of model making over the years. From plastic to balsa. But after my first attempt at a tall ship when I was a kid, I steered far away from anything that had rigging. It was just too much for my little brain to wrap itself around. I always figured that "when I got older" I'd give it another shot. Well, if pushing 50 isn't old enough then I don't know how a few more years is going to help. ;-)
So here's what I got myself into. I belong to a local woodcarving club and we put a display up at our library of member's carvings. The Librarian mentioned an old model ship that had been carved by an infirmed 14 year-old back in 1884. It had been donated to "the children of the county" via the Library and for many years had been on display. Unfortunately, with the display case in ill repair, the model was stored in 1958 and the public hasn't seen it since.
The Librarian mentioned that this 5 foot long model needed to be refurbished which caught the attention of a number of us in the club. Sight unseen, we offered our help to get the ship (the Olivette) back in condition to be displayed and with a new case to go along with it. There is SOME minor things that need to be replaced/re-carved, but most of it is the old rigging is simply disintegrating. Also a refurbishing that took place back in 1925 left the model with a less than desirable, and sloppy, paint job that needs to be removed.
Now it wouldn't be too bad if there had been plans that had been followed for the rigging. But the kid that originally made it seems to have built it which ever way that looked best to him. Probably using paintings to decide where things should be or even what size. This makes it hard to know where some of the lines go that have broken away from their original location. We'd rather not change the history of the model too much if we can. Like I said, it is going to be a challenge.
But I'm sure with the help of those on this forum, I'll be able to at least reconstruct the Olivette into something that will continue to spur on the imagination of generations of children for years to come. And all this has rekindled a desire to build my own, (more accurate), ship model when I get done with this. Perhaps a Barque like my grandfather sailed on.