The Flying Cloud was a clipper ship that set the world’s sailing record for the fastest passage between New York and San Francisco, 89 days 8 hours. Solid wood base and brass name plate included.Hand-painted to match the actual tall ship.Figurehead, cannons, anchors, bell, and other fitting made from brass or metal.Highly complex rigging with varied thread gauge, hundreds of blocks and deadeyes.Rosewood, mahogany, teak and other exotic woods are carefully selected to build the model.The model is 100% hand built by artisans from scratch using “plank on bulkhead” construction method.It is mounted on two columns in a glass case and was made to a scale 1/8" to 1'. The model is finished in brass and green with gold-coloured scrollwork bow and stern.
Approximately 3000 brass plates sheathe the hull. The deck planking is 1/16th of an inch wide, butted and individually caulked. The capstan pawls work, the pumps turn and the windlass handles weigh the anchors.
Clipper ship model windows#
The hatch covers all have handles, the deckhouses have doors and windows and the scuttle doors turn back on their hinges. As well as this the model has working examples of the ship's windlass anchor release pump and fore brace winch together with a working windvane on the galley chimney. Its comprehensive deck details include the figurehead of Leonidas, the Spartan king anchors capstans catheads bollards and cleats deck rails and companionways life buoys belaying rails and pins navigational lights deckhouses hatches ship's boat in davits with thwarts and oars tiller, rudder and interior detailing aft ship's wheel and binnacle accommodation ladder with handrails water buckets and two cannons in carriages. The model features the scale miniaturisation of the patent roller reefing and furling system on the main top gallant yard. of the Aberdeen White Star Line on the main skysail pole and signal flags from the mizzen mast. The Red Ensign is flying at the stern, the house flag of George Thompson & Co. It is very detailed, with running and standing rigging, masts, yards and tops. The model is a three-masted sailing ship, fully rigged but without sails. "Thermopylae" took some 8,000 hours to complete and is believed to represent the crowning achievement of his model making career. With all the famous clippers gone from the seas, and "Cutty Sark" preserved in England in a Greenwich dry dock but tragically burnt to the waterline in a fire in 2007, the historical importance of extremely accurate models of these vessels, such as this one, can only increase over time.Ĭyril Hume became a world authority on the clipper ship era and gained international acclaim. The ship was one of the fastest and most renowned clippers engaged in the wool trade between England and Australia in the late 19th century.
Clipper ship model full size#
The full size "Thermopylae" clipper holds a significant place in the maritime history of Australia. Tiny water barrels on deck have individually-coopered staves and one of the blocks, which is less than 1/16th of an inch in length, has a working sheave. The rigging on his model is so painstakingly accurate in scale that a single strand of human hair was used for the signal halliards. Even in the late 1930s he sought out former sailors from the actual "Thermopylae" to ensure all the details were meticulously correct and true to scale. He combined to an exceptional degree, the technical skill of a craftsman and the historical accuracy of a scholar. He began ship modelling as a hobby to occupy his enforced leisure hours, but it quickly developed in to a lifelong pursuit. The term clipper, coined in 1830, was used because such ships clipped or moved swiftly.Ĭyril Hume first became interested in clippers when he was unemployed in Sydney during the Great Depression. They were low in the water and carried enormous amounts of sail. Clippers were extremely fast sailing ships of the 19th built to carry expensive perishable cargo quickly around the world. This magnificent model of the famous tea and wool clipper "Thermopylae" was made by one of Australia's most important maritime historians, authors, ship modellers, and experts on clippers, Cyril Hume (1900-1984).
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