One of the important aspects of Maritime Half Hull Ship Models and Nautical Art is to foster and encourage Maritime Restoration. We have found that the role we can play in this effort is to work with the Museums, Maritime Academies or the sponsors of the restoration project and avail ourselves to the art work that is necessary.
The Half Hulls of today are the revival of this working art form. It has only been in recent years that Half Hulls of famous historical ships have been reproduced. Strangely enough they have found their way back into the offices of naval architects, not only as decorative objects but in some cases, as working tools. They are also designed into Awards, Plaques, and Trophies, awarded by nautical groups and organizations for special achievements .
Every major shipyard of the 1800's employed a model maker. The Half - Hull Ship Model Maker held a very special place in the shipyards and in the shipbuilding industry as a whole. Today their skills are being practiced to create scale models which are viewed as an art form taking their place on the walls of offices and homes as much as they did in the earlier days, savoring and preserving some of our Nautical Heritage.
There was a tremendous amount of information taken from the Half Hull model. It was used to make all the determinations that were vital to the construction of the hull. The ship's lines were taken from it as well as the placement of the ballast, the positioning of the plates, the framing and other data that brought the ship together. In essence the model makers were the first naval architects. When the Half Hull was presented to the ship's owner after the completion of the vessel it was with great pride that he hung it on his office wall or in his home.
