Introducing myself

[TheMad]

Hello, my name is Steve Perron from Montreal, Canada. I am a jeweller, goldsmith and silversmith, and a CAD designer on the Rhino 5 software. 

 

I have to say I am really happy to be here! I just arrived and I can't stop reading all the wonderful posts that this forum has to offer. What wonderful work all of you do here!

 

I have made things with my hands most of my life, and even my vacations are spent building stuff. I built a few ship models in my youth, and it always was a dream of mine to build a ship in metal. I already use brass and silver in many shapes and forms, to make jewelry, silverware and other goods. So I am planning to build a ship, in sterling silver. The construction will need some adapting since building a ship in metal requires specific fabrication methods, different from woodwork because you can't simply glue metal together. Soldering, assembling at this scale, is more complex than making jewellery. Does anyone in this wonderful group have experience in this regard? I am looking forward to know you all and learn, best as I can whatever you have to teach me.

 

Anyway, I hope to contribute as well as I progress in this. My first step was to research and decide what ship could be appropriate for the project. For now I am leaning towards a viking longboat, maybe not a reproduction of one, but a model adapted from two ships that I have studied. I would not want to build a gigantic longboat, and a very small one either, I am trying to design a "medium" size one, a bit like the Helga Holm, the 22.5m replica of the boat #5 from Helgeandsholmen. I am currently designing it in Rhino 5 (scale undecided yet), and have made some progress. Excuse my marine knowledge, I will get better.

 

Thanks for reading me,

 

Steve

Edited December 19, 2017 by TheMad

[geoff]

Welcome to MSW Steve. Would love to see pics. of some of your work when available! All the best, Geoff

[Richard Griffith]

Welcome aboard Steve TheMad~!  I see you are also an early riser or a late lurker............

 

Models of metal ships are relatively rare and the skill set is different as you know.  Nevertheless, you will find excellent histories, techniques and advice on this forum, and many very helpful modelers.  No questions go unanswered.  

 

I would also like to see a couple of pix of your recent work, and a progress report of your Viking long boat.                      Duff

 

 

[spars]

LOVE the beard. I have one too! A Bing search will uncover many, many sites covering ship building. I like the ones from England and Russia where shipwrights are building the real thing. Mystic Seaport is a destination for ship restoration. In any event, you are creating an heirloom for your family.

[ccoyle]

Welcome, Steve! We have a number of members here who are well-versed in metalworking techniques for models, but I can't think of any off the top of my head who have done a whole model that way. I have seen pictures of such models, though. I look forward to seeing your work.

 

Regards,

[kurtvd19]

Welcome to MSW Steve.  Gerald Wingrove, a true master in metal is building a metal hull and I am sure his build will be of interest to you.  His work is exceptional and highly detailed.  A bit different than I think you are considering, but your time will not be wasted in checking his work out.

Again, welcome to MSW.

Kurt

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Hello Steve, and a warm welcome to MSW from 'Down Under'.

 

John

[Estoy_Listo]

Welcome Steve.  Looking forward to seeing what you get up to.  

 

Mark

[MEDDO]

Welcome.  Always interested in seeing different techniques.

[Geoff Matson]

Welcome Steve, Looking forward to your build log.

[dvm27]

Welcome aboard Steve. You may be interested in the work of Olof Erikson. Olof  has built a Cutty Sark as well as Victory and Constitution...all in steel. Of course he has the advantage of being a master machinist and owns a large industrial manufacturing company where he also built his models in his spare time (or on the clock since it's his company). Here's a link to some photos of one of his models http://uniquesystems.com/u-s-s-constitution/. Do consider that a fully rigged (steel rigging of course) steel model of Constitution weighs 1300 pounds and requires a case 15' x 8' x 10'. This could upset some spouses. His Victory Model is featured in a two part Scale Ship Modeler Magazine (1990) article and this stainless steel model is an exact duplicate of Longridge's model in London, right down to the anchor stock planking of the hull.

[pirozzi]

 

Welcome aboard mate!

 

Vince P.