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A while ago I took delivery of what can only be described as a large and very interesting model for restoration, as with all restorations the first job was to carry out a full assessment prior to work commencing. I could then move onto taking a series of photos for reference at a later stage in the restoration, the first job was to remove all the deck fittings for repair or replacement I then removed the planking from the deck before replacing the deck area with all new planking. The next task was to prepare the hull for painting as you can see from the photos this would certainly take some time to achieve whilst preserving the name details on the hull, once the hull had been smoothed over and prepped the new paint scheme was applied along with the hand painted depth markings prior to sealing with a clear varnish.
Now with the hull painted I could move onto the fittings on the deck some of which could be repaired and put back into position as before the remaining fittings were then made up with new ones and re-fitted. The hull was now finished so work could begin on the masts which it has to be said were in reasonable shape but did require some minor repairs and finishing before refitting, only a couple needed replacing with new ones. With the masts now repaired and put to one side for now the task of replacing all of the sails could begin by taking detailed measurements from what was left of the original sails as you can imagine this took some considerable time achieve but the end results speak for themselves.
The final stage of the restoration could now begin the re-rigging of the sails as well as the fixed rigging etc plus the shrouds and ratlines, this was certainly a challenge using various rope sizes and colourings. Now with the rigging and sails refitted the final task was to check over the entire model to make sure everything was as it should be thus completing the restoration.
Overall, this restoration offered up some pretty tough challenges, but the final result is pretty stunning.
