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Yacht models & half-hull models
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The BRITANNIAWhen I first saw the wonderful photos of the great yachts taken by Beken of Cowes at the end of the 19th century I was truly fascinated. The BRITANNIA - one of the most elegant yachts ever builtThe BRITANNIA was built 1893 for the Prince of Wales.
She
was one the most famous and most elegant yachts then, and one the most successful
in regattas. Until 1935 she won 231 first prices in
635 races. According to the last will of
King George V she was taken out to sea and scuttled after his death in 1936. She was sunk off the Isle of Wight. The BRITANNIA is a symbol for the "good old times". With a not really that large (and by far not so elegant) ship I sailed across the Atlantic in 1979. The BRITANNIA model ship, photos, description and dimensionsTo build such a sailing ship as a model and to
show the elegance of
the original - that was a challenge! After studying many pictures of the
Beken of Cowes, I decided to use a model ship kit of Mamoli,
to save at least some time with the building of the frames.
Many parts of the work I could do on our terrace. The frames of the Mamoli kit were cut accurately, which the pre-cut parts fitting exactly. Since I wanted to use no paint except clear lacquer, I marked the waterline by a 2 mm strip of padouk wood.
The Mamoli kit had only few points, which appeared to me careless or wrong. The worst was that in the secondary planking no stem was intended. After long considering I, unfortunately, followed the plans and joined the planks one on one. Nevertheless, in the parts below the waterline I included a stem. For the deck, the fittings, the rigging and other equipment the numerous photos of the Beken of Cowes proved very helpful and a good assistance. A good hi-fi system I regard as a substantial component of the workshop equipment.
A small side effect of the building was the introduction to the Italian language. The description was given in Italian, German, English and French. The German text was mostly correct or I could guess the meaning. With some work procedures however, when the same sentences in English and French were poorly translated, too, I had to use some Italian dictionary. The result:
The below-surface planking is walnut, the
waterline and the boom of the large staysails are padouk, the above-surface hull
is pear, the deck
maple, the side panels of the deck houses
mahogany, the roofs and
hatches again walnut, likewise mast and spars. The bulwark is boxwood. I used ten different yarns for
stays, halliards, and sheets. The sails I did myself on the sewing machine of my
mother-in-law
(Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti were very helpful). The mainsail alone has 55
panels of sail cloth. The outcome: a very elegant sleek ship.
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