Wooden Boat Building in WA: Model making talk and workshop

Join experienced model maker Gerry Westenberg and other local model builders for a talk and workshop about crafting detailed technical models of ships and other fascinating projects.

You’ll get a chance to share discussion about some of the passion projects that have been created by our experts, and learn some tips and tricks to lift your model-building skills to a new level.

Come and enjoy a session of model magic!

MEET YOUR PRESENTER | GERRY WESTENBERG

I was born in 1957 in Perth, Western Australia and started modelling mainly aircraft interspersed with ships when I was 5.

When I was 16, I wanted to build a model of HMAS Perth and decided to attack an Airfix 1/600 scale model of HMS Ajax. When completed, if you closed both eyes and squinted, it almost looked like HMAS Perth. I became a little more adept at remodeling Airfix kits until the day I discovered balsa wood!

I started building warships to the 1/600 scale when I was in my early teens and then one day purchased a set of plans for the modified Leander Class cruiser HMAS Perth (I) that were drawn to 1/192 scale. This combined with the discovery of balsa wood set me on the path of accurate scale model scratch building that has seen me build well over 100 ships during my career as a ship modeler.

I have always kept to the same scale which has had its good and bad points. The scale is large enough to provide the opportunity for detail but small enough that I don’t have to house them in a huge shed.

If I am building a ship from a class of ships, I will often choose one that sank, as a way of paying tribute to those who went down with the ship. Unfortunately, this can be quite challenging, as there is usually a small number of photographs that I can use as a reference. I use photos as much as I can to inform my model building, as I have found over the years that many plans are drawn incorrectly and this is usually only discovered when you are half-way through the build.