A few weeks ago I was contacted by someone who had heard that I build model ships.  He had a model given him 60 years ago by his uncle that needed repairs.  I told him I would look at it.

Sure enough it had many broken parts.  A model of a Brigantine built in Boston probably around 1820 (the ship not the model)   It had been stored poorly in a box and as it rattled around the tips of the yards and other parts were snapped off..  I agreed to repair it.

The fellow assured me that his uncle was a shipwright and hand built it but it was obvious it was originally a kit and not well made. I did not tell him that.  Furthermore he had tried to repair it himself years before and made more errors.  I replaced all the yards and many brackets and parts with new wood, but the more I looked at it the more errors in the rigging I found so I ended up replacing or reworking almost all the running rigging.  I also fixed up some of the botched painting.

This is a 1/96 scale model which I do not like because everything is so tight it is difficult to get at.  Anyway I finished it and the fellow picked it up yesterday and gave me a bottle of rum for payment.  It is now going to have a place of pride on his mantle.  The large picture is the completed model