Jim Hastings

Welcome Stee, I agree that your grandfather's model of the Leon looks to be very nicely done and is well worth preserving. I find that the best way to transport a finished model is to secure the base to a flat piece of wood large enough to serve as the bottom of a box. You will also want to ensure that the hull is well secured to the base. The sides, ends and top of the box can be wood (if your only interest is in shipping it safely) or plexiglass (if you want to build a permanent display case). If you are shipping it commercially, make sure the box is clearly marked as being "fragile" and "this end up". Your grandfather's model is almost certainly based on Harold Underhill's "Plank on Frame Models", a two volume treatise for serious modelers, which takes the reader, step by step, through how to complete a model of a very nice little Norwegian sailing ship. It also happens to be the source for my first attempt at scratch modelling many years ago, so it was enjoyable seeing another modeler's version of this ship. According to Underhill the Leon was built at Larvik in 1880, with a home port of Porsgrund and she spent most of her life rigged as a brigantine, but was later cut down to the schooner rig as shown in your grandfather's model. She spent most, if not all, of her life sailing the North Sea until October 30, 1915 on a passage from Granton to Porsgrund with a cargo of coal, she developed a leak which could not be controlled, and she quietly sank from under the crew with no loss of life. Jim Hastings Rapid City, SD, USA

My first scratch model was based on the two volume "Plank on Frame Models" by Harold Underhill. There may be a better way to begin, but if there is, I'm not aware of it. Jim Hastings Rapid City, SD USA

Welcome to the group, Joel. I was confused about this matter many years ago when I gave up on kits and delved into scratch building. Do I have to grow my own trees or can I buy wood from a hobby store? Must I grow my own cotton and flax so I can rig a model and still call it scratch built? Some years ago I saw an article on the subject, and while it may not have been authoritative, it said that no, you don't have to grow your own raw materials. In fact it went on to say that you can not only buy thread and lumber produced by somebody else, you can also buy blocks, deadeyes and belaying pins if you can find the right sizes and shapes. So at least one published author has set a fairly loose definition for "scratch" modeling. And to think of all the blocks and belaying pins I laboriously manufactured way back when! I don't know if there is a hard and fast ruling on just what constitutes scratch building. And I don't think there is any authority who has the power to make such a ruling. I think you can all a model scratch built if it was never a kit and everything in it was made by you or bought as a raw material. Jim Hastings Rapid City, SD, USA

We'll be looking for them. Jim

She does appear to be a clipper, although not one of the earlier ones, which were what came to be called extreme clippers (with very clean lines). Later clippers surrendered some of the cleanliness of the lines in favor of greater cargo carrying capacity (an economic trade off, less speed but greater profit, the so called medium clippers.) Judging by the design and finish of the deck houses she could be the Cutty Sark, although some of the other details are a bit different. But if she was scratch built, it is possible that some inaccuracies may have crept in. Jim

Welcome aboard, Robbert, If you can find a copy, get Longridge's "The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships". It has all the plans you'll ever need, plus any number of photographs of the ship itself. Jim in Rapid City