Looking at hand-built models built and created by a masters craftsman

Building and collecting scale model vehicles has been a popular hobby for hundreds of years. Although when it comes to wooden models, there seems to be a nostalgic appeal that plastic and die-cast models sadly lack, as wooden models encourage the use of imagination, art and engineering skills to turn pieces of wood into replicas of favourite cars, boats and just about anything else for that matter which, if done properly, can look unbelievably realistic.

Royston Lake has been involved in the art of wooden model making since the late ’80s, when he retired from the work force to take care of his aging mother. An athlete in his earlier years growing up in England, Royston was a champion cyclist with an accomplished amateur international cycle racing career spanning 13 years from 1947 to 1960. During that time he also held numerous British National Records in 1952, 1953, and 1954 before heading off to race in Italy.

Alas, unlike the professional cyclists of today, Royston did not have access to sponsorship dollars during his cycling career. As such, he completed a joinery apprenticeship during the late ’40s in order to earn an income.

After seeing an advertisement for a free passage to New Zealand, Royston figured it would be a fantastic opportunity to start a new life and see the world with his new wife, the girl next door, who he had married only one week before setting sail, finally arriving here in April 1961.

In New Zealand

Once in New Zealand, Royston set out to work building houses in Auckland’s rapidly expanding suburbs, as well as teaching joinery at Auckland Technical Institute.

During a visit to a new housing subdivision on Auckland’s North Shore, Royston spotted a section that he liked and built his own home, which he and his wife moved into exactly one year to the day after arriving in New Zealand, and still lives there today.

With cycling still very much in Royston’s blood, he decided to make a comeback and in 1967 returned to Europe for nine months of successful racing. This time he was eminently more successful than his first stint in Europe, winning several major international races.

In 1980 Royston also became New Zealand Nation Veterans Champion, and continued to ride for many years after retiring from the workforce in 1988.

Creative Genius

Using his talents as a master craftsman of wood, Royston started off building boats and joined the Scale Marine Modellers’ Club. Royston’s first model was an old tugboat, followed soon after by numerous paddle steamers, cargo ships, coasters and four-masted schooners, all built with precision, accuracy and astounding attention to detail. All these models are completely operational with radio controls, and several are on display at Model World on Auckland’s North Shore.

Royston showed me a photograph of an old model displacement launch he had made that was floating in a calm bay with beaches and rugged coastline in the background, and to be perfectly honest I could not tell that it was a model. Even the person on board attending to the anchor looked so real it was uncanny.

Each one of Royston’s wooden model ships are skilfully hand built-to-scale representations of modern or ancient sea-faring vessels of their time. Traditionally, most types of model ships have been constructed of wood, though with the introduction of contemporary plastics and metals, these have proven more popular for amateur kits. Without doubt, Royston’s wooden models project grandeur and finesse not present in modern kitset models available today.

In actual fact the ancient Egyptians were the original pioneers who built incredibly detailed model ships, crafted as part of funeral rituals, forcing the builders to strive for absolute precision and excellence, or else the deceased’s soul would beleaguer them forever. The model ships were kept inside the coffin and were believed to transport the person’s soul to the next world.

Contemporary seafarers received a great deal of direction from these carefully preserved, 5000-year-old specimens which can be found today in the British Museum, Louvre Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many other museums around the world.

Modern-day model ships were born during the construction of many eighteenth-and nineteenth-century warships, known as Admiralty or Shipyard models. A large number of these models did not show the fine detail found in the actual vessel, but illustrated the form of the hull and details of the deck furnishings, masts, spars, and general frame, offering non-sea-faring admirers a bird’s-eye view of the vessel. There are several ways to construct a wooden model ship, including some that are carved from a single block of wood, others by gluing together blocks of wood, or by gluing together slabs of wood into a laminated block. Others are built in the traditional plank-on frame style, built just as the full-size ships were constructed, which is exactly the way Royston builds his model ships, testament to the hours of dedicated workmanship that he has spend on each model.

From Sails to Wheels

Back in the UK, Royston had a friend that once owned a 1928 Bugatti Type 35 which inspired him to make his first model car. The first challenge was to decide on the scale to work with, in this case 1:9, before choosing the final finishing touches that would most suit the car’s unique design features. Most model car makers get their inspiration by browsing through car magazines and car books, or walking around car shows and the like, as well as looking at model car kits to see what models are available. Royston has basically kept to the cars that he has always liked and admired.
His second model was an incredible 1928 Blower Bentley, one of Royston’s favourite cars.

To be perfectly honest, when a friend of Royston’s contacted us regarding his amazing talents, he included a photograph of Royston holding a fabulous model of a 1925 Austin Chummy, and when we contacted him to make arrangements to meet at his house he never mentioned any other examples and we never in our wildest dreams expected to come across such an incredible collection of truly amazing models. Royston took us out to his double garage, which had been totally overtaken by everything imaginable relating to model making.

Some of the specialist wood working and carving tools once belonged to his grandfather, and are probably irreplaceable today, as I’m sure are many of his other tools, not to mention the myriad of wood-working machinery that was scattered around. There were models at various stages of build, and Royston’s immense skills, talent, attention to detail and sheer patience was clearly evident. It seemed that everywhere we looked was another completed masterpiece, and the more I looked the more gob-smacked I became. For example one model, a 1:6-scale 1928 Bugatti Type 44, was so unbelievably detailed that the interior boasted functional map pockets on the inside door panels, including perfectly scaled maps folded up inside the pockets; the instrumentation was complete with dials and gauges which had been painstakingly cut from clock advertisements in magazines, scaled to size and laminated into position; and the perfectly sculptured and textured bucket seats folded forward, exactly like the original car.

It was hard to imagine that almost everything was hand crafted from balsa wood, including engines, manifolds, interior seats and wheels with wire carefully threaded for spokes all finished to look like the original car.

Another model, a 1:9 scale, 1909 Silver Ghost Rolls-Royce took over 300 hours to hand craft, and is made entire from balsa wood, wire and pieces of aluminium. The interior seats are carved from cedar, and the roof constructed from old umbrella ribs and wood. Each one of Royston’s models is created in the most realistic way possible, selecting paint colours and decals carefully. For the most authentic effect he chooses to use car manufacturers’ specific colours, with hand painted details and decals to replicate fine details, especially necessary when working with a small scale wooden model cars.

Research

Before starting any model, Royston spends countless hours researching every detail, searching through magazines and technical books for specifications and measurements useful for determining the ratio required between the intended model and the actual size of the car he is trying to replicate.

Royston has also been known to climb under cars on more than one occasion to take actual measurements. The first number in this ratio is one, and it relates to the model’s size. The second number is the number of times larger the actual car is compared to the wooden model car Royston intends to build. The larger the second number is, the smaller the model will be. For example, a model ratio 1:18 will be larger than a model car with a ratio of 1:20.

Some of Royston’s other fabulous models include a 1931 Type 51 Bugatti, 1934 Type 59 Bugatti, two 1911 Monmouthshire hay wagons, a 1934 Duisenberg and a 1921 Model T truck.
Spending time with Royston was an absolutely eye-opening experience, and I could have quite easily spend the entire day listening to the fascinating trials and tribulations of model making with someone so passionate. He not only is a true gentleman, but every inch a real ‘Model Man.’

Words: Ashley Webb Photos: Adam Croy