Dave Chelmow
My first ship model was an old yellow-box Model Shipways solid hull Dapper Tom, which had been sitting in my father’s attic. I built plastic models growing up, and tried to get back into them when I finished training and bought my first house. My workspace was in the basement with the cat litter box and dryer, and serial paint jobs ruined by lint and cat hair made me branch out. Progress was interrupted by the birth of my kids, but when I finally got to finish and rig, I realized I had found a hobby that I both really enjoyed and could do in my available time and space.
I built a Caldercraft plank on bulkhead brig Supply next. This was a way better kit, and I built it in a year, which turned out to be light speed for me. I started accumulating tools, and figuring out what I liked, which was working with wood. When it got time to finish the hull, I couldn’t bear to paint the wood, which drove future directions. I had accumulated books, including Harold Hahn’s Ships of the American Revolution, and his “painting with wood”, using different colored woods instead of paint.
This led to choosing to kit bash the Model Shipways Rattlesnake next using the Bob Hunt practicum, which included information on how to mill wood and replace most of the kit parts. I had a small tool explosion including large and small table saws and a scroll saw. I really liked working with the boxwood, pear, holly, and ebony. At the end, I realized that the only kit parts I had used were the plywood bulkheads, anchors, and cannon barrels, which led to a scratch build as the next project.
I built Hannah from Harold Hahn plans. This turned into a six year project with my move to Virginia in the middle. The move gave me a dedicated room in which to work, which eventually expanded into a three room workshop, and the accumulation of more wood and metal working tools. It also let me join HRSMS. Before that, I mostly learned from books and internet forums, and it has been great to get to learn from master modelers.
Most recently, I have been working on the Echo Cross Section from David Antscherl’s plans. I’ve enjoyed going to the Admiralty Models and NRG workshops and meetings. This has also turned into a prolonged project, about 5 years so far. It has been a great project as it has been amenable to progress in short, random increments, and is in danger of completion in the next year or two.
I get great peace from my time in the workshop. It is a source of huge enjoyment and relaxation for me (and probably has prevented my needing years of therapy). I’m looking forward to having more time as some of my work commitments wind down, and my kids become more independent. I have enough wood, tools, books, and plans for several centuries of future projects, and have aspirations of doing a fully framed Echo at some point. I’m truly fortunate to have my hobby supported by my wonderful wife, Fay, who has encouraged me to build my work-shop and enjoy my time in it.