BIG STEAMER MODELS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1260, 23 April 1896, Page 10

BIG STEAMER MODELS.

TOYS THAT COST A THOUSAND FOUNDS EACH.

It costs as much to build some of tho models of the big ocean steamers as it does to erect the average suburban dwelling. Many people km w, and a good many do not, that in the ollices of the transatlantic and many other steamship companies, are to be found expensive models of the various ocean greyhounds. They are expensive, because it takes years of labour at times to put them together, and, in addition to the cost of material, which has to bo of the finest possible kind, the most export workmen at the command of the shipbuilders have to be employed. A model of the Campania, the fastest steamer in tho world, occupied a dozen of the crack mechanics and riggers of tho Fairfield Company, the builders of the leviathans, rather more than seven months to properly complete. To give an idea of its size and weight, it is only necessary to state that it took a big furniture van, and the united efforts of nine men, to transport it into tho building, where it is now to be seen. With its immense glass case thrown in, it weighs nearly half a ton. This model cost a little under £IOOO. A model of the American Lino steamers Paris and New York is worth considerably over this sum.

The White Star Lino has in its New York offices a model that has received a great deal of praise from landsmen as well as from sailors. It is insured for A 1.800, and represents tho Teutonic and the Majestic, Lhe most modern typo of vessel of the company’s service. This miniature is an exact reproduction, on reduced scales, of the two record breakers, and is fitted with machinery “ that is guaranteed to operate." The workmen engaged in building these models are paid fancy salaries, which, with the cost of lino material, is mainly responsible for the snug sum that is asked for their construction. If for no oilier reason than this, there will never bo by any chance a model drug on the market.

But there is another reason why these miniature craft will not become “ too numerous to mention," etc. Because of the many intricate parts that have to bo put together aloft and below, it is necessary to pick the finest lind of skilled labour to perform the task, and invariably, out of a whole shipyard of several thousand hands, it is impossible to get more than a few men who are really competent to undertake tlie work. Knees, stanchions, bulk-heads, beams, and other salient points of construction have to be finished and placed in position just the same as if the craft were a £20,000 one. With the doing away of top hamper and iliu substitution of pole masts and a fore and aft rig the labour of the model builder has, however, been lessened considerably.