Ship Model Collections

[Sam Willis]

Hello Everyone – I’m working on a ship model project – and to start with I need to know where the best ship models are…suggestions please, and not just in the UK.

[William M]

Sam W. — I am sure “best” means accurate and with attention to verifiable detail from source documents — as in a model’s hull having enough frames to achieve smooth lines — You might want to look at HMS SPEEDY – MASTER SHIPWRIGHT VERSION via https://vanguardmodels.co.uk as an example of a kit or raw plans from a well known model creator’s setting up shop on his own. He is, however “hands-on” and accessible; not someone buried in a corporate “Model Making Mill”. It has been several months since he and I last exchanged emails. Hopefully his solo venture is still alive. If you contact him tell him Wm. from Portland Or says Hello.
Wm. Maris

[Malcolm Lewis]

A few suggestions: –
National Marine Museum, Trocadero Gardens 75116, Paris. Wonderful large collection of fine models.
Ville de Lorient. Musee La Campagne des Indeses. Collection of East Indiamen models in the home of the French East India Company.
All Hallows by the Tower, London a collection of votive models hanging in the nave of this city church.
Many of the beautiful ship models had embellishments which were not replicated in the full-sized vessel possibly because they were too costly or time consuming to reproduce.
Bone models were made by French prisoners and whilst often very fine they are generally inaccurate as they were made from memory. The only model of HMS Temeraire, which is in the Southampton Maritime Museum, is a French prisoner’s bone model and is clearly not accurate but would have been very desirable for a collector.

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