The Launch of the Elsie - A Ship Model by Erik Ronnberg, Jr. [building]

I've been watching a lot of videos by Adam Savage, who was a model-maker in the film industry before becoming co-host of MythBusters. A lot of his videos involve model building of various kinds, whether from scratch or from kits, including Lego kits. A lot of the issues he talks about in constructing those models come up in this video where my cousin, Erik Ronnberg, Jr., talks about building a museum-quality model of a fishing schoner.

The over-riding issue is that of narrative, the model implies a narrative. For Savage this comes most strongly into play in the last stage of model building, "weathering." How do you finish the model's surfaces so that it looks used? What particular history gave it that look.

Erik doesn't illustrate building his model, which took 1800 hours or so. This is a presentation made and the model's unveiling. But he does point out the features of the model, starting at about 20:45. Erik points out that he chose to depict the model when it was under full sail and coming close to the fishing grounds. He arranged figures of the crew to show them preparing to commence fishing.

VL31 - The Launch of the Elsie - A Ship Model by Erik Ronnberg, Jr. - 04-09-2011 from Cape Ann Museum on Vimeo.

About the video:

This event commemorates the unveiling of a model of the fishing schooner Elsie that was constructed by Cape Ann Museum maritime curator Erik Ronnberg, Jr., who learned the intricate art of ship model building from his father, Erik Ronnberg, Sr. The model was commissioned by Wilbur James who is a Rockport native, a member of the museum’s Board of Directors, and the great-grandson of a former owner of the real Elsie, Charles River Pearce. Assembled in the crowd are relatives of the Elsie’s past captains, additional owners, builders, designer, and crew. Along with a slide show that highlights the model’s incredible detail, Ronnberg speaks about the process of building such an exact replica, down to the four-strand left-hand turned anchor cable and lucky horseshoe attached to the windlass. In the course of the discussion that follows the lecture, many harrowing experiences of the crew who earned their living fishing on these great ships are recounted.