My Dad the Model Builder

One of my dad's hobbies was building wooden models of ships and cannons. He would spend hundreds of hours on the cannons and probably thousands of hours on the ships. He had tiny drills and hammers, two sets of carving chisels, tiny Dremel tools with sanders and buffers and routers, magnifying lights, tweezers, small pliers, clips and clamps, glue and varnish, and countless other tools. He bought me a model kit when I was a teenager; I remember that it was called the Katy. I sanded the hull for what seemed like a year, never having enough patience or focus to complete the model. Dad hung onto that kit long after I left home, and when I was in my 30s, he presented it to me, perfectly crafted and ready to sail.

Below is a selection of cannons that my mom keeps in her living room. My dad made a lot more than this; he gave a lot of them away. Note the expert knots, the cannon balls glued into perfect piles, the chains hanging just right, the excellent woodmanship. My, how he had patience and skill.

Check out the detail below on this ship's cannon. Each little brad was inserted into a tiny hand drilled hole to make it look like the decking of a ship. The little door was on tiny brass hinges and could be swung open. The cannon could swivel on the brass rail, ready for the skilled sailor to position it quickly and get the first mortal shot at his enemy. Each thread (rope) was laced carefully through the miniature pulleys and meticulously tied into the exact type of knot that would have been used in the application. He used dozens of different knots.

This is one of his largest ships, the Sea Witch. This ship has everything from tiny rowboats to coils of rope laid on the deck. The hull is actually copper plated with little copper plates about the size of a match head, evenly and individually laid below the entire water line. There must be thousands of them! There are tiny pulleys and shackles and no less than 500 knots; each one tied and laid just so; ready for the tiny people to sail away on it tomorrow. He must have threaded a football field length of rope on this model. You can see the tiny anchor on its tiny chains if you look closely. This model is about 3 feet long and 2 feet high. It is beautiful. He made at least two of these size models.

And a smaller sailing vessel, I believe that it is a Schooner?

And a rowing boat, complete with hand carved paddles.

While I was going through dad's things, I found a big yellow box in one of the cabinet's in his office. I opened it and there was a model kit, untouched! I brought it home. I'm going to build a model just like my dad used to do. This time, I think I can finish it.