- Joined
- Jun 30, 2012
- Messages
- 1,114
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- 383
I have started this as an offshoot from "Copyright" because Gemma brought it up in "Copyright!" This is something I know quite a lot about. Having grown weary of life at sea (31 years), I took voluntary redundancy in late 1992 at the age of 48. I took up model shipbuilding and writing full time. That was 25 years ago now, and it was a successful move, and I have never been unemployed or on benefits of any kind! There are, however, some unpalatable truths that must be accepted in order to make a success of it. The first is to accept the fact that if a "serious" collector wants to purchase a model, he does not want a kit, however good! He wants something that no-one else, or very few others have. Cutty Sark, Bounty, Victory, Titanic, Constitution etc have been modelled to death - it is as simple as that! Size and transport is another factor. To transport a large model, even in the same country can be very expensive, and transit insurance is usually "phoney," in the fact that most couriers will only pay out on cost of materials. Therefore, if the model is squashed flat, you get a few pounds or dollars fro the materials, but nothing from the many hours of work lost. If a model is damaged, the cry often goes up from the courier "insufficient packaging!" I got around this by building miniatures, and building them fast! At one time, I could produce about 14 models a year. I use acrylic for the display cases because of its strength. I built models of the obscure, or semi obscure, and chose merchant ships because they are more colourful and attractive than warships and the plans are more readily available, often in books. And, most importantly. they are more collectable. I have been retired from this sort of thing for a number of years now, and only build what I feel like. Shortly after completion, someone usually sees them on my blog, and purchases them. I do not advertise models specifically - they sell of their own accord. At the moment, I am completely sold out, and am currently working on the 270th ship model since I started counting in October 1992. The model below, the tiny schooner Mary Sinclair, took 28 hours to build. I timed the work on a stopwatch, and if I stopped for any reason, I stopped the watch. It sold for £400! The work was spread over a couple of weeks. I wrote for Model Shipwright for a number of years until they ceased publication, and am continually writing short to medium sized downloads ranging from free of charge to a few pounds each. These are very popular, and the few modellers who have taken up this form of ship modelling have generally been very successful with it. But generally, the modeller decides that they could never do anything like this, and there the matter rests - despite the fact that it is actually fare easier than using conventional methods.
Food for thought - but I doubt if many modellers will follow it up!
Bob
Here is a utube presentation of my models (All sold) https://youtu.be/oUm3A3tXDc4
Food for thought - but I doubt if many modellers will follow it up!
Bob
Here is a utube presentation of my models (All sold) https://youtu.be/oUm3A3tXDc4