IN SEARCH OF SHIP MODELS
Sid Siegel
About three hours drive
south of Chicago, in the small town
of Sadorus, Illinois is the National Museum of Ship Models
and Sea History. Situated in a restored 1878 two story
brick building in the shadow of immense grain elevators,
the museum collection is the life work of Dr. Charles
Lozar, an architect with an intense love of maritime
history. It would be fair to say that the collection
includes examples of models of almost every type of vessel
from every historical era, from the most ancient to the
most modern. A number of movie models are present, notably
a copper Roman galley from the original “Ben Hur”, and an
HMS Victory that was probably used in “That Hamilton
Woman”. There are at least six others, including
steamboats from “Jezebel” and “Showboat”, demonstrating how
models used for movie props differ from conventional ship
models. A rare decorative large-scale model of an 18th
century warship was built for the Belgian consulate in the
1920’s. Particularly nice selections of Asian watercraft
are shown, including some of ivory and fish bone
construction. It’s impossible to mention even the
highlights of this extensive collection. Many of the
hundreds of modern scale models are in need of restoration,
attesting to Dr. Lozar’s zeal in assembling the collection
and accepting donations that had not been properly cared
for. But there are other really fine models and dioramas,
as well as a broad array of marine art, posters,
memorabilia, charts, instruments and all sorts of things
nautical, even a steel model of the Nautilus nuclear engine
from Annapolis. Open by appointment only see
www.lincolnshireprop.com/museum.
The annual Showcase of models by the Maritime Ship Modelers
Guild is held in April at the Maritime Museum of the
Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the premier
nautical museums in North America. These skilled and
dedicated ship modelers include a number of professionals,
and their work reflects the rich traditions of Canada’s
Atlantic Maritime Provinces. As a group, they recently
restored a thirteen foot long builder’s model of the Cunard
liner RMS Franconia which was heavily damaged when the case
fell on the model some years ago. Museum staff and club
carefully planned and executed the restoration, and the
result is superb. Other highlights of the show were both modern and
traditional fishing craft, with a really fantastic stateof-
the-art purse seiner model by Lowell Briggs. Mark
Boudreau’s historic steamship models are unique, and there
are so many fine models representing every aspect of the
ship modeler’s art, from miniatures to speedboats, ferries,
Canadian naval vessels, and even a collection of really
beautiful canoes. It is quite a different array of models
than we are used to seeing, and it is enhanced by the warm
hospitality of the Nova Scotia ship modeling community.
As part of the visit, we toured the Canadian Flower class
corvette Sackville, last of her kind, and also went to the
Luneberg Fisheries Museum, where we saw a superb set of
models by Ben Verburgh in dioramas illustrating the history
of the cod fishery, and were given a tour of Bluenose II by
her captain Phil Watkins. I am especially grateful to
John Green who arranged the special tours.
Like any artist, the ship modeler needs to see the work of
colleagues. That is one of the principle benefits of
membership in ship modeling organizations, aside from the
pleasure of associating with people of like interests and
intelligence. Such contacts help inform and infuse the
modeler’s work with authenticity and sophistication. It
was a distinct pleasure during my trip to attend a meeting
in Chicago of the Midwest Model Shipwrights, whose
newsletter we enjoy. In my view, you can never see enough
ship models.