SS Great Britain

Scale: 1:300 Status: completed

Historical Context

During my research for this project, I learned about the ship’s significance in maritime history. The SS Great Britain was a revolutionary passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Launched in 1843, she was the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic.

The SS Great Britain represents a pivotal moment in naval engineering - the first ocean-going ship with an iron hull and screw propeller, designed by one of history’s greatest engineers. Launched in 1843 in Bristol, England, she revolutionized transatlantic travel with speed and reliability. She is now beautifully restored as a museum ship in Bristol’s Great Western Dockyard, where the restoration work is magnificent and inspired me to capture it in miniature.

Historical information gathered from Wikipedia and Stephens and Kenau during research for this build.

Why This Project?

I would love to say that my fascination with building this is related to the SS Great Britain historic significance or the engineering genius of Brunel. It was however driven much more by the pure joy of visiting the Dockyard with the family, observing the fascination with old vessels on their faces and seeing the magnificently built model in the entrance.

This simply lead to a promise that this ship is my next project for them. In no doubt this would be the most ambitious project undertaken so far, requiring new skills, extensive research, and dedication to historical accuracy. I just assumed that I will be able to source a kit to make it easier.

Project Overview

Build Type: Scratch build from pictures
Scale: 1:300
Status: Completed
Start Date: February 2022
Completion: May 2022
Skill Level: Advanced
Difficulty: Expert - No plans or kit, Complex rigging, iron hull detailing, steam machinery

Project Goals

Source kit or build from scratch
Accurately represent the iron hull construction with proper plating detail
Reproduce the complex rigging system (combination of steam and sail)
Imitate the on deck features of the period
Weather and detail to show the ship in her prime operational period

I steered away from including the interiors of the ship that was equilly facinating but beyond my ambition.

Build

The build process is described in more detail and include my journey into discovering the world of scatch build, a term that I did not know even exist when I started the journey:

Planning and research - Research building options and background of the ship
Hull construction - Building the hull
Decking - Laying out and constructing all the elements of the deck, including the masts.
Sails and rigging - Preparing the sails and installing all the rigging
Decoration - Painting the model
Finish - Finishing it off to get it presentation ready

View SS Great Britain build logs →

Gorch Fock training ship - This kit build of a sailing ship provided an excelent frame of reference, especially for the sails and rigging and different parts of the deck.

Have you built the SS Great Britain or a similar iron steamship? Share your experiences in the comments!