Structural Model Works 4 of 4

I had always wanted to work on a structural model but had hesitated because of the hurdles involved. This time, based on Mr. Iizawa's and Mr. Baba's drawings, I started the project with the help of senior staff members. It has been three and a half years, and I am finally at the point where I can make one more effort. It is not as easy as I would like it to be, but I would like to enjoy the production slowly.

Pandora was built in England and dispatched to the South Pacific to suppress a rebellion on the warship Bounty. The crew members who were detained were housed in a cage built on the stern deck of the Pandora. They called the cage "Pandora's Box".

A 24-gun frigate of the Royal Navy built in 1779. After the famous movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" recaptured the ship, she ran aground and sank on the Great Barrier Reef.

The headrail, stern gallery window frames, and lantern installation are the results of this past year. Most of the time was spent on prototyping and redoing the deformed octagonal lantern. My final goal is to produce a figurehead.

I took the opportunity of encountering a Western book that introduced an efficient production method that was completely different from conventional structural model making methods, and I decided to build it to see if I, as an inexperienced structural modeler, could also build it. As a result, I was able to complete the structural parts of the frame and deck in only two months without using any special power tools. This was the first time for me to work on a British ship, so I was able to learn a lot about British design, which was a great harvest. There were many flaws in this project, so I would like to revisit them in the future. The entire production period, including outfitting, took six months. The process of the construction is introduced on our website, so if you are interested, please take a look.

Several members interested in structural models have been meeting once a month for about a year since last April to study the structure of actual ships from the 18th century and how to make structural models. The exhibited works are a practice model of the central part of a British frigate of the 18th century, which is easy to make of the member, and parts of each part that are being prepared for full-scale production. 

At that time, Mr. Miyajima was the only one who made a structural model of the Britannia among the members of the club. I also wanted to make a structural model, so I visited his house on my days off to get his advice, and I made it with the help of his photographs. There is no end to the stories of my struggles. Anyway, there were a lot of things I didn't understand, and after 3 years and 6 months of trial and error, it was completed. The most interesting part is that you can look through the windows of the stern gallery from the upper deck to the lower deck. The materials used are Cherry, Magnolia, and Japanese cypress.

Built in 1779 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.A., she was a small three-masted ship with a crew of 85 and 20 cannons and served as an American privateer during the Revolutionary War due to her speed and excellent maneuverability. In 1781, she was captured by the 44-gun ship Ashulance of the Royal Navy and incorporated into the Royal Navy.

The model is the first frame model I built based on Harold Hearn's drawings. However, when I built the model up to the hull skeleton, I realized some technical problems (mistakes) and lost the desire to build it. I cheated and started to build the second model. So, I summarized this ship in a shipyard diorama style.

Since before, we have been developing and providing frame fabrication drawings using graphics software, for frame models, and now we have discovered that these drawing data can be used for laser cutting of parts and 3D printings. This was expected to make it possible to process complex and diverse parts quickly and easily such as frames, but it was also necessary to overcome the challenges of each processing machine to put this technology to practical use. After several trials, we were able to develop a data conversion method that addressed these issues and maintained the accuracy of the shapes and dimensions. It is expected that scratch building of structural models, etc. will become even more applicable to beginners.

Statenjacht means official ship. The peace treaty of 1713 between the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of Princess Anne in North America was concluded in Utrecht, the central city of Dutch independence, with British superiority. The ship was named after that city, had luxurious decorations and small-caliber gun armament, and was used for VIP transportation, patrol, and liaison duties.

In 1996, the Veilinghaven Yard in Utrecht began studying a replica, which was completed in May 2003.

With many decorative carvings, the challenge was too much for me, and I anticipate many difficulties until its completion.