THE MIDDLETON
The "MIDDLETON" is a museum quality model of a ship built by one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Arthur Middleton. The ship was built to provide support to the family's estate on the Charles River near Charleston South Carolina but was subsequently used to raid British ships during the Revolutionary War.
I chose this ship as a model to build because of its unique design, unlike ships of that era with a rather blunt bow and broad beam, this ship had a piercing bow and a narrower beam. This allowed the ship to sail closer to the wind and was therefore much more manoeuvrable. Using plans provided by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, I constructed this model in much the same way as the ship would have been built in the late 1700's. The only deviation I allowed was the type of wood - I chose woods that would highlight various construction characteristics and did not use any paint. Everything from cannons to rope and anchors to running tackle was made by my hands - there are over 6000 maple treenails in the hull holding the planking in place and another 4500 walnut pins hold down the deck. Scale - 1/24 Size 72 in long and 72 in high Price - (SOLD) |
WALNUT CLOCK RESTORATION
No... I didn't carve this beautiful walnut clock, but for years it had been missing the "head piece", that of an African Kudu. I used modelling clay to get the size and proportions right and then carved the piece out of Teak, to blend with the walnut yet subtly stand out. The owner was very pleased.
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