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| These models represent a lifetime of historical research. Most of them are what I call plan-built as opposed to kit-built. The time and expense of getting good plans are sort of a tribute to historical honesty. Builder's plans may be obtained from museums, but even these must be checked against contemporary photographs, because few ships are built just as designed. |
| This process is all a part of trying to learn what history really looked like. Building an accurate ship model is a lot like looking at old portraits and old movies and wondering what the people really looked like. Inevitably there may be guess work involved. For ships of recent past, one may meet veterans of naval and merchant ships who are usually eager to help. Color is the hardest thing to reconstruct. |
| Most of my ships were written up for Model Ship Builder magazine, still available on line. My descriptions of construction also include descriptions of research, so the accuracy may be appraised. In 1987 MSB published my anthology, Ships of the Great Lakes in Miniature. This includes an excellent bibliography. |
| Many museums have my ships, and many private collectors. The total number of the fleet must be over a hundred by now, because over 70 were published in MSB and other journals. I don't claim to be a miniature engineer—the likeness of the thing is what I am after—the look that these beautiful things had on the horizon. |
| All art and craft on this site is mine unless credited otherwise. |
| John Heinz, Aurora, Illinois, 2005. |
and Before
and After
Darkness
