All started with ship models

I was around 10 years old when I made my first self-designed ship model. It was built from toothpicks, and its shape was mostly determined by intuition rather than any plan or drawing. It became rough, but it also served as the starting point of a long journey. I built one ship model after another, always refining something, whether it be the technique of construction or the design. Even with the first models, I considered the aesthetic look to be as important as seaworthiness. So, I sealed the hull of every model and put ballast at the bottom. As I considered sailboats to be prettier – and I didn’t have any electric motors for other types of propulsion – I mostly built sailboat models, mostly historical ones.

The first big breakthrough point came around the age of 14. At that time, I met Nagy Zoltán, a former naval architect and passionate model maker. He taught me how to calculate and design both ribs and waterlines. This knowledge gave me a huge progress in the field of quality. During high school, I also spent most of my free time working on my models. This time I made my most ambitious and biggest projects. I made 15-20 ship models, of various sizes and complexities. In the following, I will introduce only some of them.

In the summer of 2016, I decided to build the biggest model I had ever built, a model of a brigg with a LOA around 60 cm. The first version was about 90% ready by the autumn of 2017, more than a year after I started the project. Some small details were missing, but most of the boat was ready. The hull was sealed, stones as ballast were placed in the bottom, the mast and the sails were placed, and also the electricity that enabled remote control of the rudder was more or less done. Since then, two major refinements have been made. As I started university and had less time to work on it, the process of making the boat 100% ready also slowed down. At the moment, the rudder mechanism is under construction, with the goal of replacing the old wooden mechanism with a more precise 3D-printed system.

My second model ever built was a Viking boat. It was rough and lacked detail compared to my latest ones, but at that time it was a great achievement. Many years later, inspired by the series Vikings, I decided to make a reboot of that type of boat. This time, I had more experience in the design, so I made precise drawings of the ribs. The result was much better than the old one, with more details and smoother lines.

Another project was the building of a traditional keel sailboat model, inspired by the j class, and some traditional hungarian sailboats. As I have no experience, how to calculate the exact amount of ballast, I decide to over design the size of the keel, just for sure. As a resoult I got a very satble, however overweighted model.

As I went to university, and moved from home, in age of 17 I had less time in my shedule and also less space on my desk to work with real life boat models. So I started to learn 3D modeling, to continue my passion. I consider the next technological step in the future would be the merge of both skills. As I also get experinced in 3D printing, and CAD, I would like to create a new generation of models, with 3D printed parts, laser cutted ribs, and generaly with even more percision than the previous ones. Only one prototype is done yet, I hope I can share more soon!