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A little while ago I took delivery of the above-mentioned model ship that was in need of some TLC, once I had spoken with the customer and discussed the work required, I could start to then plan the restoration. As with all restorations I took a few photos for future reference as this particular restoration would prove to be quite fiddly in certain areas. I decided to start by trying to untangle the damaged rigging so I could assess the damage to the masts etc, as you can imagine this took a while but in the end I could then see the best way to proceed. The first job was to re-position the main mast and then glue and pin it back into position followed by very carefully cutting a small piece of timber to act as an insert to replace the missing section of mast this was then filled and sanded to match the rest of the original mast. Once I was happy with the main mast repair, I then moved onto repairing the damaged mast heads and broken bow sprit, this was done using the same method as for the main mast. With all the main repairs now completed I moved onto sorting all of the minor repairs to the hull sides and deck area as well as the detailing on the bow, this included replacing one of the ships rear lanterns and several pieces of hull decoration on various parts of the ship.
Now with most of the repairs now completed I then moved onto sorting out the models rigging by replacing some of the damaged or tired rigging threads, this as with all restorations was pretty fiddly but certainly very satisfying when completed. With the model now almost finished the final task asked for by the customer was to give the model a good cleaning but also carefully maintaining an aged look to enhance the end result, this was carried out using several bespoke tools and a very lightly soaped water mix (in very small quantities) to avoid the risk of damaging the models surfaces. The model was now fully restored and ready to be returned to the customer to be enjoyed for years to come.
Overall, this restoration proved to be very satisfying despite offering up some good challenges on the way.
