The Historical Research

A technical drawing of the SS Christopher Columbus.

The research phase of historical model building is both my favorite and the most challenging. It is delightful to pour over the historical records and artifacts to learn about the subject matter. It’s a bonus when travel is required to go hunt through museums or archives searching for reference material. My goal is always to represent the original subject as best as possible given the available time, materials, and scale. The challenge, however, is when there isn’t enough reference material available to authentically reproduce the entire model. Artistic license may be necessary to fill in the missing details, though that is always minimized as much as possible.

Fortunately for this project, there are two primary sources that provide most of the information needed. A set of technical drawings was found at a Michigan library. However, the drawings are missing key details. The second source comes from a recent visit I made to the SS Meteor Museum in Superior, Wisconsin which has on display another model of the SS Christopher Columbus (just like the one I am building).

The next challenge to deal with is reconciling some of the major changes that have occurred throughout the life of the ship. Historical photos show that the Columbus had several different paint schemes throughout its life. Even more dramatically, certain photos show that an entire deck was added to the ship in its later years. All of these variances require working with the client to determine what is required and feasible with the reference material that’s available.