pictures from the USNA Museum Workshop

Drydock Models and Parts (There's a link on this forum)is good, or make your own. We're pretty much casting about like everybody else. Syren models has been good in the past. Don't know what the status of their supply is currently, but they do have a rope walk and instructions. Chuck Passaro donated a load of various samples to the Academy workshop just before Syren suspended production of their rope. I don't know if they are back in production. There are also elliptical(?) rope walks that work very well in confined spaces. One of our guys used one very effectively on a project in the shop. He got it from Eastern Europe. I would have been glad to email him for details, but he recently passed away leaving a great gaping hole in our shop and in the hearts of his compatriots. I think Jimsky ,or one or another administrators can expand on the subject. Sick
You are right, most often the line is brittle, fragile and beyond repair, as are any other materials susceptible to UV light which is the biggest culprit in model decay next to just plain mishandling and unconscionably thoughtless storage.:mad:

Pete
 
Last edited:
a wonderfull view inside this workshop
please do not stop to show us more, maybe also some kind of progress report of some restaurations
- for me these things are very interesting to see and to follow
 
Unfortunately (Or not) :rolleyes: I was behind the camera, not in front of it.
Thanks to all, I'll pass all the appreciation along to the workshop crew.

"Through centuries of hard work, knowledge such as that embodied by [the] canoe can reach a stable and usable form. The disruptive technology and population growth of our time can wipe away such an achievement in a few generations. This is why we have museums; they can catch the falling pieces of our history and set them aside for us to view, so we may better understand the future that's been so long in the making." --- Richard Benson in "A MARITIME ALBUM, 100 Photographs and Their Stories." The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

Some of us are here to catch "the falling pieces" and put them back together for the elucidation of those future generations. Is this not essentially the purpose of this forum and its' participants?;)

Pete
 
Last edited:
Peter Gutterman said:
Unfortunately (Or not) :rolleyes: I was behind the camera, not in front of it.
Thanks to all, I'll pass all the appreciation along to the workshop crew.

"Through centuries of hard work, knowledge such as that embodied by [the] canoe can reach a stable and usable form. The disruptive technology and population growth of our time can wipe away such an achievement in a few generations. This is why we have museums; they can catch the falling pieces of our history and set them aside for us to view, so we may better understand the future that's been so long in the making." --- Richard Benson in "A MARITIME ALBUM, 100 Photographs and Their Stories." The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA

Some of us are here to catch "the falling pieces" and put them back together for the elucidation of those future generations. Is this not essentially the purpose of this forum and its' participants?;)

Pete
Click to expand...
Hallo Peter,
many thanks for the hint with this book
It is looking very interesting - something for the naval soul
with some look inside
www.antikvariat-olomouc.cz

Szarkowski, Benson - A Maritime Album - 100 Photographs and Their Stories (1997)

Publisher: Newport News, Virginia: The Mariner's Museum and Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1997, 245 stran, velmi dobrý stav, brožovaná, malý ohyb u spodního předního rohu obálky, razíko školy. (X2355)
www.antikvariat-olomouc.cz www.antikvariat-olomouc.cz
 
In the virtual tour of the USNA museum exhibit "The Ages of Sail" on this forum is a picture of the street level entrance to the basement level of the museum. walk through those doors, go all the way to the back and enter the shop on any Saturday or Thursday afternoon (times vary) and talk to the first gentelman at the nearest corner of the first work bench you see. This will be Jack ; USMC ret'd., master modeler, USNA class of'63, decades long volunteer model shipwright, all around Old Salt, and introduce yourself. Being, as described: USMC Vet, and all around Old Salt, he's likely to reply:" How th' H*** are ya? What th' f*** can I do for ya?" And he'll give you the grand tour! Either that or find Don Preul, the Curator of models, maybe in his office straight back past Jack and the long workbench, or floating around in the general vicinity. From there all you have to do is ask, secure a volunteer pass ( a typically arduous bureaucratic USN ordeal) and show up at the appropriate time on the appropriate days and hours. It's going to be a long commute from Woodland Park, Colorado! ;)

Pete
 
Peter Gutterman said:
In the virtual tour of the USNA museum exhibit "The Ages of Sail" on this forum is a picture of the street level entrance to the basement level of the museum. walk through those doors, go all the way to the back and enter the shop on any Saturday or Thursday afternoon (times vary) and talk to the first gentelman at the nearest corner of the first work bench you see. This will be Jack ; USMC ret'd., master modeler, USNA class of'63, decades long volunteer model shipwright, all around Old Salt, and introduce yourself. Being, as described: USMC Vet, and all around Old Salt, he's likely to reply:" How th' H*** are ya? What th' f*** can I do for ya?" And he'll give you the grand tour! Either that or find Don Preul, the Curator of models, maybe in his office straight back past Jack and the long workbench, or floating around in the general vicinity. From there all you have to do is ask, secure a volunteer pass ( a typically arduous bureaucratic USN ordeal) and show up at the appropriate time on the appropriate days and hours. It's going to be a long commute from Woodland Park, Colorado! ;)

Pete
Click to expand...
Thank you Peter! We're actually thinking of moving to the east coast - somewhere
 
Last edited:
Thank you muchly for sharing these fascinating behind the scenes images.
I confess to being flummoxed by the identity of the pre-Dreadnought battleship (?) with the en echelon turret arrangement and what appears to be USN Great White Fleet-era livery. She certainly is neither the USS Maine ACR-1 nor the similarly arranged, contemporary battleship USS Texas. Three pole masts!? Augh! Any light you can shed on the matter when you have a spare moment would be greatly appreciated. She's a good-looking Victorian-style gal and would make a great next POF scratchbuild project...IF I ever finish what's already on my overburdened bench. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
You are right! She is the Maine! This was the original builder's model, created as she was originally designed to be a steam/ ship rigged hybrid. When they actually built her, the Navy, which heretofore had clung to the vestiges of the age of sail, finally decided to do away with the ship rig. The Maine was delivered without it and the model never completed. The model has languished there on the workbench for as long as I (or anyone else) can remember. It was decided to finish the model, restoring it to its' original intent with the ship rig. A lot has been accomplished especially to the decks and all the accouterment on them, including the ships' boats, The rig is under way. As improbable as it may seem up to the Maine's time, the Navy still clung to the ship rig for their otherwise modern wardships, fearful of sailing beyond their line of supply ( or so was the excuse by an institution infamously resistant to change Cautious).

Pete:cool:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top