HIstory/Models at The Rooms

IPMS SJ member Steve F. would have recently alerted us to an exhibit at the "The Rooms" Museum/Archives/Art Gallery cultural facility here in St. John's NL. http://www.therooms.ca/

"I visited The Rooms yesterday to renew my membership there and checked out a couple of exhibits in the museum. Outside the entrance to the 2nd floor level in the wall display cases is an exhibit on the uses of black powder from the15th - 19th centuries when black powder ceased to be used as a primary military explosive. There are several small - probably period models- of field guns in this display.

The best models on display however are on the 3rd floor in a small room off the main display area. This consists of two ship models on loan from the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, U.K. One is a dockyard model of H.M.S. Amranth to 1/25 scale. The real ship was stationed in St. John's for part of the Napoleonic Wars. The other is a very small yet highly detailed model of a British man-of war carved from soup bones by French prisoners-of-war during their incarceration.

Any members interested model building generally should find the exhibit interesting... and humbling...the models are over 200 years old! The skill and attention to detail are exceptional. More details are available on The Rooms website including a discussion at some point by curator Bernard Ransom. Good chance to see the work of model builders of 200 years ago."

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IPMS SJ member Rob would have went out for a visit to that exhibit on Saturday past and shared his impressions..

"Just to let you know that I went to the Rooms on Saturday past, to see the two ship models on loan from the UK's National Maritime Museum.
Gob-smacked is the best way to describe my reaction !    The HM Brig Amaranth in 1/25 scale is huge and completely detailed. ( and it was built 206 years ago ! )

And the French POW bone model is just the opposite, size-wise.........it looks about 1/700 or smaller.  (They used horse hairs and human hairs for the rigging......I guess its 19th century aftermarket :-)

If any of you have even a >tiny< bit of appreciation for sailing ship modeling, you need to see this exhibit !
Cheers/Rob"


Thanks guys for letting us know about this!