Welcome to the Art of Age of Sail

Commissioned custom scale models and half hulls of
historic sailing vessels and modern yachts, built from
original draughts, photographs and period paintings

At the Art of Age of Sail we focus on custom hand-building fine ship models and half-hulls which will enhance your decor at home, office or just about anywhere. Perfect for corporate gifts or as an always appreciated gift for the yachting enthusiast. A model ship will also make an attractive addition to any restaurant, marina, yacht club or lobby.

All ship models are hand-made at our studio/workshop in Whitby Ontario, Canada from fine wood materials such as birch, mahogany, maple, oak, pear, teak and walnut. Sails are hand-sewn and aged, hulls are either solid, plank-on-frame or bulkhead construction. The ships are stained, painted and/or varnished to protect your ship model for decades to come. Think of us as a miniature shipyard ready to research, design and build that ship or boat with special significance or aesthetic value.

Each Admiral Class limited edition model comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

We use Computer Aided Design technology (CATIA, AutoCAD, ComputerVision) to design the scaled replica hull and a host of other features, to assure authentic and accurate models. Not unlike the way ships are designed and engineered today and this enables us to do prototyping of motor-yachts, sailing-yachts and other modern vessels. We have over 20 years of experience in design engineering.

Even though we can provide you with a model which looks like it left the dockyards yesterday, such as our USS Constellation or modern yachts, we specialize, through weathering techniques and the creative use of oil-paints, pastels and stains, in creating the illusion of a ship which has survived horrendous storms and epic voyages. This is not easily achieved, but an art-form we strive to perfect. Our Gouden Leeuw and HMS Endeavour are prime examples. In this respect we feel that the Art of Age of Sail is rather unique and we hope you'll share our vision that the over-all visual realism is as important as historic accuracy.

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Our 'Samples' section has some typical examples of classic and historic tall ships. Use this only as a guide, as we encourage you to talk to us about what it is you're looking for. It may be the HMS Surprise (Master and Commander), the Deliverance (Bahamas), a Chinese junk, an Arabian dhow, an ancient Greek galley or a scale model of your yacht you're interested in. The possibilities are endless.

Please feel free to visit our extensive Age of Sail ship & shipbuilding terminology database, we've taken great care in being accurate, or visit our history section, with bits and pieces of historical information and literature of interest to the Age of Sail enthusiast. We hope you stay a while and enjoy our web-site, and if there's anything we can do for you, your comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome and much appreciated.

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