2015 NRG Conference Update - MYSTIC

[Richard Griffith]

What a great conference~!!!  Major kudos to the Van Dahms for organizing all the details, attendees and speakers.  Cograts also to the entire NRG Board.

 

For me, meeting fellow modelers was the highlight.  Every one is a gentleman, gentlewoman and a pleasure.  Thank you.                       Duff

[Trussben]

Agree Duff, good conference.

 

Ben

[Chuck]

What a wonderful few days indeed......

 

Ben, Duff,  Rusty, Druxey, Ron, Mike, Ryland  and so many others from MSW...It was great to spend time with all of you and chat.   Now its time to start working on Next years Conference in San Diego   .   Get ready

 

Chuck

[druxey]

I'd like to add my applause to Mitch, Kurt, Mary, Toni, Phil, Chuck and everyone else involved behind the scenes for an outstanding Conference!

[GuntherMT]

San Diego is only a 5 hour drive for me.  Will have a much higher chance of attending that one!

[dvm27]

Really sorry I missed this one. Who will be the first to post photos?

[GuntherMT]

Really sorry I missed this one. Who will be the first to post photos?

 

If we count the ones that got texted to my phone, then Frank (Mahuna) wins.  

[mtaylor]

Now its time to start working on Next years Conference in San Diego   .   Get ready

 

Chuck

 

I think we west-coasters are already looking forward to San Diego.     

 

Hmm... 14 hours from Medord to San Diego....  doable.

Keep calendar clear... doable.

Overhaul and refit HMS Visa... doable.

Edited October 26, 2015 by mtaylor

[Jack12477]

This was my first NRG Conference. Had a great time ! Speakers were fantastic. Enjoyed meeting many of you in person.  Seeing the models up close was very impressive.

[Canute]

OK, who took pictures and wants to dazzle the rest of us? The whole (model ship) world wonders?

[Ryland Craze]

I was fortunate to be one of the MSW members who attended the NRG Conference in Mystic Connecticut.  It was the best attended NRG Conferences that I have attended. I met many of the MSW members who were in attendance and saw many of my ship modeling buddies that I have met over the years.  The speakers were excellent and I enjoyed everyone of them.  I liked the workshops and I learned many things that I will use on my models.

 

The hard work that the Directors and Officers of the NRG who planned this Conference was appreciated by everyone who was in attendance. 

 

On the Thursday tour, we went to the Mystic Seaport.  Each tour session took you to areas that were not open to the general public. I especially liked the tour of the Collections Department.  This tour took you into the vault where the models, scrimshaw, figureheads and other items were stored.  I took many pictures with my basic point and shoot camera.  I only wish I had a better camera and more time to spend in the Collections vault.  We were only in the vault for about 30 minutes.  Here are some photos:

 

This is where the collections are housed.  I have always wondered what was in this building.

There are hundred of models in this vault.  The file cabinets are on tracks and you turn a wheel to move a whole row of file cabinets.  The Museum is very selective on which models they accept into their collection.

[Ryland Craze]

Included in the vault were scrimshaw, figureheads and half hull models.  We only saw a fraction of their collection.  You wonder what was in those file cabinets.

[Ryland Craze]

In another section of the Collections Department of Mystic Seaport, they house plans, logbooks, photographs and a massive library.  They try to put as much of their information online as possible.  Here is a link to their research page: http://www.mysticseaport.org/research/

 

For their online library, the link is http://library.mysticseaport.org/

 

Here is another view of the building that houses the Collections Department:

This is where the plans are scanned:

Plans are stored in file cabinets:

[Ryland Craze]

We toured the Small Craft Collection of Mystic Seaport that was housed in two large warehouses behind the Library and Collections Departments.  They have over 500 small craft on display.

[Ryland Craze]

The Small Craft Collection also housed a very large engine collection.

[dvm27]

Thanks for the photos Ryland. I immediatly recognized the beautiful model of Hannah, by William Wiseman, which won the Grand Award at the 1996 Mariner Museum Competition. I always wondered where it ended up. Was this one on display or relegated to a storage room? If the later - what a pity. Take a close look at those sails. They're made of wood.

Edited October 26, 2015 by dvm27

[Canute]

Thanks for sharing, Ryland.

[GuntherMT]

I'm not sure I understand why a museum continues to add models to a collection that are not on display.  Why would they instead direct the model to another museum or location that *could* display it?  After all, what purpose does it serve to simply file the model away in a large filing system where only a very few will ever be able to see it?

I'm sure there's a reason, but it's just never really made much sense to me.  

[Ryland Craze]

I immediatly recognized the beautiful model of Hannah, by William Wiseman, which won the Grand Award at the 1996 Mariner Museum Competition. I always wondered where it ended up. Was this one on display or relegated to a storage room? If the later - what a pity. Take a close look at those sails. They're made of wood.

Greg,

 

I understand that the Seaport just acquired the Wiseman collection from his estate.  Several models were in the hallway in their cases.  There were many discussions among the tour group members as to why these models were not on display.   The curator said it was lack of space as only about 10% of the models are on public display.  They are building a new 5,000 square foot exhibition building and they hope they can display more ship models there.

[Jason]

It was a great conference.  I enjoyed meeting many of you, and seeing your work.

 

The day at Mystic Seaport was fantastic.  The highlight for me was tucked away in a small building way on the corner of the Seaport campus.  On loan from the Royal Museums Greenwich, are John Harrison's famous chronometers.  

 

H1, H2, and H3 are replicas in this display, but the original H4 is in there.  Also contained in this building were Harrison's first clock, a beautiful tall case clock, original items from Sir Isaac Newton, The earliest known portrait of Galileo, an original chronometer from the first and second voyages of Capt. James Cook, and the Bounty's original chronometer.  It was an outstanding collection and display, with excellent interactive displays from the RMG.  

 

The only bad thing about it was the fact that photography in that building was strictly forbidden!

Edited October 26, 2015 by Jason

[Elijah]

Thanks for the photos!

[dgbot]

The photos were grear. I am glad you had a good time.

David B

[dvm27]

I sure hope everyone got to see those Jason! I've had a fascination for his clocks and watches ever since reading Longitute by David Sobel. A great read for anyone on this list. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080271529X?keywords=longitude%20by%20David%20sobel&qid=1445883796&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

[Jack12477]

Ryland has posted many of the same photos I took so I won't duplicate his.

 

As an ice boater I was pleasantly surprised to find three ice boats in the Seaport's collection of small craft. One is shown in Ryland's post #44 photo #3 above.  I have some additional photos of it below:

 

 

It's type and origin are unknown to the Seaport staff (and to me also). The Seaport staffer shown in the picture asked if my ice club members could help identify it; he took my name and email address and promised to send me some additional photos but I neglected to get his name - so if anyone recognizes him please send me a PM with his name and email address if possible. At any rate the ice boat is all metal with some very strange parts. The Seaport does have all the gear for it.

 

The other two ice boats were a skeeter from the Great South Bay of Long Island (Sound) shown below:

 

 

 

(one actually sailing on Hudson River in Feb 2014)

 

and an X-Class ice yacht Polaris from the 1940's which, according to the documentation on the beam next to it,  was built and sailed on Greenwood Lake NJ around 1948. It's shown below

 

Also hidden away in the second wharehouse was an all wood hull Sailfish by Alcort circa 1960 with an Alcort fiberglass hull Sunfish just behind it (My wife still has her 1966 Alcort fiberglass hull Sailfish)

 

 

 

[Chuck Seiler]

 Now its time to start working on Next years Conference in San Diego   .   Get ready

 

Chuck

 

It will be Glorious!!!  

[tlevine]

Thanks to all of the participants in this year's meeting.  It is always fun to put faces to the names.  Thanks, Ryland for the photos at Mystic.   All of the speakers were outstanding.  Grant Walker gave a fascinating presentation on the Rogers Collection.  I was one of the lucky ones who was able to take home a copy of his book on the collection.  I can hardly wait to start reading it.  Other presentations included underwater archeology in the Black Sea, traditional Japanese boat building, 3-D printing and the restoration of the Morgan, as well as how-to round tables on various techniques.  

 

Hope to see many of you again (as well as more new faces) next year in San Diego.

[flying_dutchman2]

Thanks to the van Dahm's, directors, venders, speakers and round table people for making the Mystic conference a great learning experience. I had a great time talking to MSW members I had never met in person and made some new contacts.

Marc

[Ryland Craze]

There was a lot more going on at the NRG Conference than the tours on Thursday.  The pictures I posted were from two of the four tours given at Mystic Seaport.

 

What I liked were the modeling roundtables held on Friday. There were five roundtable sessions given by the following presenters:

     - David Antscherl - Rigging Tips and Tricks

     - Nick Damuck - Making Scale Silk Span Sails

     - Chuck Passaro - Serving Rope

     - Kurt Van Dahm - Airbrushing Basic

     - Steve Wheeler - A Jig for making Oars

 

David Antscherl giving his rigging session

 

 Kurt Van Dahm giving his airbrushing session

 

Steve Wheeler teaching us to make oars using a jig

 

I hope others post their pictures as many had better cameras than mine.

[druxey]

Greg: Longitude was written by Dava Sobel. Her book is a great read, highly recommended!

[Jaxboat]

Great to see the Model collection at least in pictures. Mystic had many of these on display in earlier years. Not sure why they keep them out of sight.

Best Jaxboat