Model ship testimonials, Jokita model ships

Model Ship and Boat Testimonials

Albatross Pond Yacht Restoration

In the 1960s my parents gave me an Albatross self steering model yacht . This gave my brother and I many hours of pleasure on boating lakes and on Irish lochs.

Over the years the yacht fell into disrepair with broken mast and spars and disintegrating sails .
My son asked me try and repair it so that his sons could also enjoy the yacht on boating lakes here in Suffolk . I rang many different companies finding that none could do the whole restoration . In particular the rigging and self steering mechanism needs real expertise to make it function as originally designed.

After some research I discovered Steve at Maritime models . He was very busy but told me that if I was prepared to wait , he would take the project on . After agreeing the job and price , I waited . At the agreed time Steve received the model and gave me an outline of dates . I received the yacht back fully restored to the agreed spec and in full working order . In short his work is superb and his ability to sensitively refurbish and reassemble complex rigging and steering is second to none .
Getting the yacht back restored , has given me and my family real pleasure and satisfaction . It's a great feeling !

Thank you Steve

Kogge

When Steve took on the restoration of our "Kogge" it had been a part of our family for almost 70 years. Originally given to my parents as a wedding present it had to withstand the often clumsy attention of me and my 3 siblings and after my parents' passing the transport first to my brother in Potsdam and later to me in Hastings. And the transport over land did not suit the old lady at all. The main mast had snapped in two, the bowsprit had also fractured, the rigging looked as if a cat had played with it. It was a sorry sight (see pictures in Portfolio) and ultimately it was my daughter who said enough is enough. She found Steve at Maritime Models and after we reviewed his website and read the many enthusiastic testimonials I had a feeling that he might just be the man for this job.

From the start Steve's approach was thoroughly professional but yet friendly and relaxed. He reviewed the pictures we had submitted to him and then sent back a reply that just simply expressed confident optimism that he should be able to restore the old lady back to her former beauty. Not just 10 years but 70 years younger!

So our "Kogge" made another overland journey from Hastings to Hereford and there she remained until last month when I picked her up again. I have to admit to a few nerves when I approached Steve's house but when I caught sight of the ship all I felt was pure delight and real gratitude towards Steve for the astonishing job he had done. Not only had he repaired to broken woodwork without leaving a trace but had also re-rigged the entire boat and replaced small details that I had not even known were missing until I Steve had pointed it out to me. A sterling job!

Now we have our Kogge back here by the seaside in Hastings where she takes pride of place in our house overlooking the English Channel. My wholehearted thanks again to Steve and I simply could not recommend anyone more than him when it comes to restoring model ships.

Bowman Aeroboat II

I recently acquired a Bowman Aeroboat II, a rubber powered model boat from the 1930s. It was in extremely poor condition, it had been badly repainted grey at some time and the aluminium cowling was missing as was the brass rudder. Steve from Maritime Models was the only restorer I contacted who felt they could try and bring the boat back to its original condition. Steve kept in regular contact as the model was refurbished and I actually picked the Aeroboat up last week, and it has been beautifully restored, every detail had faithfully been replicated down to authentic paint colours and manufacturers markings. It looks like it was just made yesterday and totally met the instructions of the original commission and I can't wait to try it out. Not just that, Steve is an incredibly friendly and helpful person, I can't speak highly enough of his skills except to say he will soon be restoring another Bowman for me soon.

Clipper Restoration

We found an old model Clipper at a French bric-a-brac, which we thought would be a nice feature in our office in London - we own a shipbroking company. On closer examination of the model it appeared to be missing several small parts, it's masts we a mess and sails dirty and moth-eaten. We approached Steve at Maritime Models to have it restored. Steve is friendly, knowledgeable and experienced. He was able to replace cannons, rails; sails etc and give the Clipper's hull a new lick of varnish. It now looks like new. We have no hesitation recommending Steve's services.

Hebridean Princess

Having received a damaged model intended for a 50th birthday present, I was devastated to find that it had been all but destroyed in transit from the sender. I approached Steve at Maritime Models to gain an assessment of whether there was a repair possible, and found Steve to be most professional in his approach to procuring the repair. His positive approach, enthusiasm for the restoration and helpful nature was matched by his helpful and reassuring updates throughout the restoration, keeping me in touch with the detail of any obstacles which he encountered along with honest suggestions to enable them to be surmounted. He left no stone unturned to deliver a superbly restored model and his work is recommended. Top bloke!

The Lark

I can't thank you and your wife enough for all the work you have put into the restoration of The Lark. For far too long The Lark languished, not aided by the attentions of small grandchildren, and until I found your excellent website I despaired as to what to do. I never dared to hope for such a thoroughly complete and professional restoration. The Lark now looks magnificent and I am very much looking forward to giving her a sail when we have better weather.

The Revenge

I first saw this little model when I was 9 years old in 1966 at my Boarding School, Brondesbury at Stocks in Hertfordshire. It was the 'House' Mascot. I was immediately taken by it. Every year near Trafalgar Day on 21st October the school celebrated The Royal Navy and The Revenge naturally formed part of this.

Although no one at the time seemed to know who actually made the original model, there is a most interesting description attached to its unusual mounting:

H.M.S. REVENGE
1577 - 1944
DEO, PATRIAE, AMICIS.
( God, Country and Friends )

The model of Sir Richard Grenville's 'Revenge' is mounted on the metal flag taken from the Admiral's barge of the 25,750 ton Battleship 'Revenge' launched in 1915, the eighth ship of the name in the Royal Navy.

This flag was presented to the school by Deirdre Bacon (1945-1950) in memory of her grandfather Surgeon Rear Admiral Sir William Ireland de Courcy Wheeler M.D., F.R.C.V.S. who died in the service on the 10th September, 1943.

When the school closed down in 1973 the headmistress, knowing my fondness of the model, and assuming she had committed it to safe hands, presented me with The Revenge. I was thrilled.

I have to say that at that time it was not in great condition and in need of re-rigging. Initially this was undertaken by someone in Cheltenham. It was returned with very coarse rigging and I was somewhat disappointed. Nevertheless I placed it on a wide window sill in my sitting room, where it remained for many years.

Sadly my headmistress's assumption took a further knock when last year a friend's dog decided to look out of the window and jumped up on it disaster. The masts were broken, the sails torn and the rigging splayed all over the place, as if the ship had emerged from one of its most furious battles. In desperation I contacted Maritime Models, Hereford.

All I can say is that this was inspired advice. Steve Parks has been fantastic, he took a look at the model and has now completely re-rigged her in authentic materials and has made good the masts, taking great care to keep the original sails.

I am absolutely thrilled and proud to have The Revenge back home. It is now in a cabinet away from naughty paws and I hope at last fulfilling my headmistress's wishes!

Many thanks Steve Parks and Maritime Models

Netley

I asked Steve to make a model of a revolutionary experimental gunboat sloop (the Netley) built in 1792 and fitted with 16 carronades.

Steve built the Netley over a period of 3 months producing a highly accurate and detailed model from the plans I gave him. As an ear surgeon used to carrying out microscopic surgery his attention to detail and accuracy and his ability to rig the ship was remarkable.

Steve sent me photos of his work in progress throughout the build and a happy relationship developed between us. I was happy to pay a deposit at the start and final payment on completion.

Thank you Steve

Chinese Junk

We were overwhelmed with the quality of the job you had undertaken on the Chinese junk. It far surpassed our expectations and we will be recommending you to friends. My wife’s mother and brother came today for my mother in laws birthday. Both of them remember the junk in its previous distressed state and were impressed with the restoration.

The back story to the junk was that my wife’s grandfather was an army chaplain. In the late 1920’s he was posted to China. He purchased the junk whilst in China and brought it back to the UK in 1928. The boat had quite a stormy life including being sailed on the sea in Egypt by my wife’s grandmother when she was in Egypt with her husband and my mother in law during the second world war.

I first remember the boat in the 1970s on the front room mantle shelf of my in law’s house. At this point it was starting to show its age. We rediscovered the junk, when we came to sell my mother in law’s house 3 years ago. At this point it was very distressed and languishing in a dusty box in the attic. I was tempted to take it to a charity shop but given its history and sentimental value we brought it home.

I am so glad we did especially as in its newly restored state it is now sitting very proudly on the window sill of our landing.

Once again thank you for all the work you undertook and the forensic analysis to discover where the missing bit went.

Fishing Boat

Thanks to Steve I now have a fully restored and beautifully clean model fishing boat displayed in pride of place in our front room.

The model was originally made by my Grandfather nearly 40 years ago. After many years of being treated like a toy by my younger self it was in a bit of a sorry state. Many years of dust and grime also exacerbated its run down appearance.

Steve did an absolutely stunning job of cleaning the all parts while maintaining all the boats original looks and character. He also made a couple of recommendations for replacement parts on grounds of scale & cosmetic finish due to the limited choice of materials my Grandfather would have had originally at the time of construction.

All in all, a beautiful restoration complete with a very happy customer.

Jamie Gray
Fernhill Heath
Worcestershire

Pinta Ship

Thank you very much for the magnificent restoration of my Pinta antique boat. Pinta has been in my family for nearly 80 years (it was a 5th birthday gift to my Father) and your restoration is it's first visit to 'dry dock'!

Your attention to detail on the restoration has been nothing short of miraculous- 80 years of dirt and dust have been removed to reveal the original gold paint trims and hull detail. The rigging has been re-strung and the fragile sails have been lightly brushed to reveal details that have been lost for years.

Thanks to your care, love and attention to detail the Pinta is in a great state to sit in pride of place in my study for at least the next two generations.

Good luck for the future
Best wishes
Daniel

Pond Yacht 5

I'm very impressed with the pond yacht and you have done a wonderful job. Thank you very much.

Regards Nadine

Ark Royal

The restored ship is absolutely fabulous - you have done an amazing job! It looks as good as it did when my father first made it 50 years ago! The cabinet you made for it will keep it looking great for years to come. A treasured family heirloom lovingly restored.

My heartfelt thanks for a truly brilliant restoration.

Queen Mary

During the winter of 2014/15, Steve carried out extremely sensitive restoration and repairs on an accurate five foot scale model of the Queen Mary built by my father in the late 1930s. That was around the time that the real thing was under construction. Somehow he obtained the plans. The model had suffered from a number of house moves and clumsy interference. Steve's great achievement was to restore elements of the superstructure, masts and rigging taking care to maintain colour matching consistent with the age of the model, and so as to avoid a shiny 'new' appearance. Altogether a fantastic job!

With gratitude, Ernie Oliver

Trumpeter 1:350 Model, WW-2 German Destroyer

Looking for someone to construct a Trumpeter 1:350 model of a WW-2 German destroyer I located Steve’s website and after contacting him with my requirements he was happy to agree to take the project on. While the model had all its parts I asked if he would be able to place it in a seascape and to use some aftermarket products which included changing all the plastic gun barrels for brass ones – items that are ridiculously fiddly especially when they are 1:350 scale of a 20mm barrel! But Steve proved he was up to the challenge and last week I picked up the finished project and was thrilled with the result.

All the aftermarket items (barrels, wooden bridge deck & anchor cables) were there, with the anchor cables being a definite improvement over the rather flat looking moulded ones that the model originally had. The seascape has the look of a rough sailing in northern waters which is where Z-30 operated in WW-2 and the whole lot was presented on a nicely varnished wooden surround which looks great when it is sitting in its display case along with photos of the actual ship and its officers providing a backdrop.

Steve has done an outstanding job on the whole project, using his skill and time to produce a fantastically crafted model. A great job well done.

Kevin

Pond Yacht

The work carried out on my Pond Yacht was of a very high standard with the Hull finish was fantastic. The remanufacture of the Mast fittings and renewal of missing parts completely transforms the look of the model . The finished product has pride of place in my house and will be admired for a very long time.

Ian

Sailing Ships

I found Steve's website when I was looking for someone who could restore several ships/boats that my late uncle had built. They had been neglected and damaged over the years and really needed some TC.

Steve has been very helpful and has restored all the boats to their former glory, using his own initiative and experience where necessary. I am really delighted with their new look and am so grateful to Steve for his interest and care.

Jane Savery
Wells, Somerset

HMS Southampton

In late September 2013 I decided that I would like Steve Park to build for me the yet another ship. I had already commissioned Steve Park to build the Agamemnon and Victory, but my interests had moved since then to modern, or at least relatively modern warships. The ship I had in mind was a 'batch 2' Type 42 Destroyer. I particularly wanted a version of the class that had been modified 'post Falklands' to reflect the hard lessons learnt. HMS Southampton in its 1983 post refit configuration was chosen, but this did represent a particular challenge for Steve, as while plans for the Sheffield did exist, it was not possible to locate post refit (1983) configuration plans. Thus Steve had to build virtually from scratch, using photographs, and other reference material an accurate 1:196 scale model in all its glory. This would have additional light antiaircraft guns, with special platforms, and the new style 1022 radar, and extra chaff launchers associated with the batch 2 ships of the class. The end results were stunning, as those who access Steve's blog will see. From the perfectly crafted Sea Dart launcher to the very difficult construction of the type 1022 radar the work was perfect. I strongly recommend those who have not seen them to see pictures on the blog.

Well done Steve for another fantastic build.

Gokstad

"Steve has taken the Dusek kit and used the latest archaeological interpretations to produce an outstandingly executed model which has the authentic air of the original. You can almost smell the pitch. A beautiful job."

Thanks again

Diana

Steve Park was commissioned to build HMS Diana for me by my brother, as a reminder that he had named me! The building of the ship involved the most extraordinarily detailed work; hand-carving; tying 2,500 knots by hand; intricate brick patterned copper plates individually attached; rigging of immense complexity and of course the construction of the hull down to giving the figurehead a natty off the shoulder blue toga all hand painted. The workmanship is indeed incredible; canons ready to fire; and wooden planking all perfect. The ship sits in the window of our Georgian house in Hastings, East Sussex itself a town with a long seafaring history. HMS Diana feels very much at home here and is a wonderful piece of workmanship.

Thank you.

Lady Diana Eardley-Wilmot

Titanic

Steve Park has made a number of model ships for me - and restored a few. There are a variety of types here - Napoleonic ships of the line (Victory, Agamemnon, Diana) , 1st and 2nd War battleships (Hannibal, Bismarck, Hood), and along the way some merchant vessels and latterly the ill-fated liner Titanic. Each model has its own method of construction and with it complications - the plank on hull constructions and the intricacies of the superstructure on Bismarck (fabulously detailed) or the rigging on the tall ships.

With one or two exceptions all of the models made by Steve for me have been commissions - some as long as ten years ago. This long acquaintance with Steve has been a pleasure where many a detail of a ship or its history has been the subject of discussions. The models are expertly built and beautifully crafted and I look forward to the arrival of further boats yet.

Robert Rodger
Chester

Schooner

Towards the end of last year we sourced Steve Park on the internet as a model ship restorer. I contacted him and arranged to take my very sad looking four masted schooner to him for his opinion. This ship has been in my family for over 100 years and may have been made by a great great uncle who was a skipper of such vessels. Steve's opinion was that it could be restored to a good standard. I left the ship with him with no time constraints - it had been un-seaworthy for years so what was a few more months in dry dock!!

When Steve told me it was ready a few weeks ago I also commissioned a glass case to protect it . Yesterday I collected the ship and all I can say is "Wow"!! The restoration is far beyond my expectations, the detail in the re-rigging is amazing, the matching of the paint for the hull and surround is perfect, a new anchor meticulously crafted, the repair of the masts etc invisible. A truly superb restoration and exceptional value for money. Thank you Steve for restoring this ship which will sit back on the sideboard in its glass case in my house by the sea for generations of my family to enjoy and admire...... we are but custodians for future generations.

Douglas Butler

Pegasus

"Once again, Steve has produced an exquisite model. The wealth of detail in rigging and on the hull, beautifully executed, draws and holds the eye. Outstanding. Many thanks."

Stephen Middleton

Granado Ship

Granado is my third ship from Steve Park and again I am delighted with the result. Steve has added a number of features I requested, joggled deck planks, butt and shift deck and hull planking, caulking and trennelling. The precision and craftsmanship of his work is outstanding and the ship now takes pride of place inside its beautiful display case (also by Steve) on top of an oak chest of roughly the same date as the original ship.
A superb job.

Many thanks

Steve Middleton

Ark Royal

I do not have words to describe just how superbly rebuilt the Ark Royal is - I cannot help but look at it continuously. The attention to detail is amazing and it reminds me of the detail of the ships in the National Maritime Museum. The transformation from its previous very sorry state is remarkable.

The service and timeliness of the work has been excellent. For the huge amount of craftsmanship, the cost represents excellent value and I have no hesitation in recommending Steve and Maritime Models to others wondering just how to get their precious and sometimes valuable models not just back to their best, but better than they were originally.

The Ark Royal now sits proudly in it's purpose built case in my study, safe from dust and the threat of deterioration again. The kids have pointed out that I won't be around for the 500th anniversary of the Spanish Armada in 2088 and are vying for possession!

Philip Banfield, North Wales

Victory

Steve Park first started to demonstrate his extraordinary skills to me in 2007 when he built the Jotika model 'Agamemnon' for me. I was so pleased with Steve's work on this that I then commissioned him to undertake the much more complex Jotika 'Victory' model. What stands out in Steve's work is that professional quality. There are no rough edges to painting, the ratlines are exactly even with the right tensioning, the rigging is flawless. If I had more room in my London flat, I would be commissioning further work.

Alan David, London

MTB 98

Having lived on a converted motor torpedo boat, we wanted to commemorate our experience by commissioning Steve Park to produce a model of M.T.B. 98 as she would have been during active service. Many original features still existed, but we were most impressed by the painstaking authenticated research that was undertaken by Mr Park prior to commencing the work.

At a size of just under a metre in length, he produced a result far beyond expectations. The stage by stage photographs were fascinating. The model now takes pride of place on our sitting room, set on the wall, within a glass case provided as part of the presentation. It is a delight to be able to switch on the light in the wheelhouse and admire his amazing attention to detail. There we can see the controls for the three engines, a clock, barometer, handrails, the speaking tube, fire extinguisher and oilskins hanging on the wall. The bridge above even has binoculars resting on the ledge.

Expressing his superb craftsmanship, Steve Park is the ultimate model ship builder.

Leon and Sylvia, Pembrookshire

Makes the models beautifully

About ten years ago I bought from Steve the Napoleonic two decker HMS Diana. Beautifully made and a one-off for me having only a passing interest in this sort of thing - I had no idea what would I was letting myself in for.

Ten years later I have ten models and a further one commisioned and a further one being refurbished (a model I bought at auction). Steve makes the models beautifully with his interest in producing something that is spot on - both in authenticity and manufacture.

I wish Steve every success now that he is expanding his enterprise. Happy sailing.

R.K. Rodger, Cheshire

SisaponTrawler

Researching my family's involvement with the Grimsby fishing industry convinced me that I definitely needed a Grimsby trawler on display. Steve took Deans Marine's Sisapon and, working from drawings, photographs and a painting of the vessel, turned out a beautifully accurate model of the trawler. What really makes it special is the detail Steve has added; extensive rigging, a fish washer, fish pounds and all kinds of associated clutter. He has also planked the deck with real wood strips. All in all a first rate piece of work.

T S Middleton