My models were recently featured in Lancashire Magazine. Please see article below written by the journalist Alex Preston  and some of the many photographs taken at the time. 

                                        PUSHING THE BOAT OUT

Alex Preston sets sail for Southport to see some model ships with a difference

Photographs by: Bill Wilkinson


Richard Hughes can sometimes be found lying on the deck of a ship, taking photographs. He also wanders around markets or toy shops, searching for miniature items such as tiny oars, bells and bits he can convert to a ships fitting

It’s all part of his magnificent obsession with building model ships. And not just any model, Richard, a modeller of some 20 years experience builds scale models of the Tall Ships: he is not satisfied with a model until it mimics the original version, down to the last tiny lifeboat oar. After taking up to 300 photographs of an existing ship (RRS Discovery), he spends months, even years creating an exact scale replica model.

His model of the RRS Discovery is partially built from the ship’s original wood. The Discovery, which was sailed to the Antarctic by Captain Scott in 1906, was being restored at Discovery Point in Dundee when Richard went to photograph her.
“I just decided to build a model of her”, he says. “I kept going up there on business and one day somebody asked: “What on earth are you lying on the deck for?” Richard explained that he was trying to photograph a particular fitting. In order to make an accurate model.

This gentleman told me to wait and he came back with a piece of the original wood planking. This was later used to finish the bow of the model. Richards model of the RRS Discovery took two years to build and is some 5ft 6inchs in length and can be sailed on water by remote control. Richard is a member of Southport Model Boat Club and sails his models at the lake on Rotten Row Southport along with other members.

His most recent model is the Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian sail training ship built in 1930. Whilst the original ship is more that 60m in length. Richard’s model is around 2m (6 feet). This model is the biggest Richard has built so far and weighs a hefty 40 lbs.

After building a model of the Amerigo Vespucci from plans. He happened to visit the Maritime Museum Barcelona, where he started chatting to one of the resident model builders “He didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish, but we managed to get across what we both did. I mentioned the Amerigo Vespucci and following many “Ah Si” this chap produced a big poster-sized photograph of the real ship. After excitedly buying the photograph, Richard returned home to find a number of discrepancies between the plans and the picture of the actual ship. “So I rebuilt her” he explains to mirror the ship at the time the picture was taken.

The models of the tall ships are built from scratch using fine woods. Ships fittings are made by Richard when ever possible but failing this are acquired from model shops, markets or where Richard can find them. “When my daughter was growing up with her Barbie and Sindy dolls, her room was like a treasure chest full of potential things that he could modify to make a ship fitting.


But how did this fascination with model ships begin? “It really started out as a bit of a joke”, Richard laughs. One Christmas about 20 years ago his wife bought him a model boat kit of the Spanish sail training ship the Juan Sebastian Elcano to build and put on the mantle piece “I am sorry to say I put it in a draw and forgot about it”.

One weekend months later Richard remembered the model and decided to start making it. The model was plank on frame, of wood construction, about 30 inches long and took about 6 months to build. He was hooked; his new found fascination with model making led him to build a bigger version of the Juan Sebastian Elcano, this time from scratch and some 6 foot long. The masterpiece was snapped up by an enthusiast at a model show “He just got his cheque book out and said he wanted her for his own display and made me an offer I could not refuse”.

Richards other models are also for sale if the price is right “I need the room, I would like to build models of some of the other tall ships such as the Russian Sedov .I may also build the Juan Sebastian again”, he said.

When not building tall ships Richard restores old pond yachts including “A” and “ J class.

More information about Richard’s boats can be found on his website www.tallshipmodels.co.uk