Meet the Makers - Model Display Table 6

Table 6 - Place 1

Model Owner: Mitch Gibbs

Model Builder: Unknown

Vessel: Myrtle Burgess

Vessel Type: Ketch

Scale: 19 to 1

Builder: Unknown

Length: 30 m

Beam: 7.5 m

Displacement: 500 tons

Launch Date: 1917

The original model was built around 15 years ago - the builder unfortunately passed away and the model was gifted to the current owner in 2019 by the builders brother.

The hull of the Myrtle Burgess is plank on plank timber construction. The deck and hatches are a combination of plywood, mahogany, and 3D printed parts. A 540 brushed motor drives the boat and powered is supplied by a 2 cell 8Ah Lipo battery.

The Myrtle Burgess, named after the wife of Bernard Burgess, was built in 1917 at Battery Point, Hobart. The Burgess Family fished for many generations in the Bass Strait in Victorian and Tasmanian waters. Bass Strait boats were generally larger than those used in the southern fisheries and Myrtle Burgess was no exception. In 1920 her skipper, Bernard Burgess, was shot and killed by a policeman while using craypots illegally in Tasmanian waters. Cray pots were illegal in Tasmania but not Victoria when Bernard Burgess was caught setting pots from a dinghy near St Helens. When Burgess tried to escape to his boat, the local policeman fired at the dinghy killing him - and also stirring up a heated debate about the legislation. Pots were finally legalised in 1927, after Tom Challenger proved that crayfish did not get stuck and die in them.

The Myrtle Burgess was eventually commandeered for the Second World War and served in New Guinea and unfortunately was left abandoned after the war to the elements.

Table 6 - Place 2

Model Owner: Mitch Gibbs

Model Builder: Mitch Gibbs

Vessel: K-278 Komsomolets

Vessel Type: Soviet Mike Class Submarine

Scale: 200 to 1

Builder: USSR Navy

Length: 117.5 m

Beam: 10.5 m

Displacement: 8,000 tons

Launch Date: 3 Jun 1983

Design Depth and speed: 1250m (1500m crush) 30 knots max

Armament: Nuclear Starfish missiles and Skval torpedoes

The models hull is comprised of fibre glass with resin and 3D printed details. The dive module is Perspex with poly endcaps.

The Soviet Mike class submarine was unique as it was designed as a test bed for future subs to dive below 1000 metres and beyond the range of any NATO weapons. Double skinned hull with titanium inner hull with an emergency escape module in the sail

section. It was awarded the prestigious Komsomelets name after a rigorous test program of test diving to 1020m and escape module deployment above 1000m - still a record dive depth for nuclear submarines.

The sub was commissioned in June 1983 and was lost in April 1989 in the Barent Sea. A fire in the aft engineering section.

Table 6 - Place 3

Model Owner: Mitch Gibbs

Model Builder: Mitch Gibbs

Vessel: Seawolf Submarine

Vessel Type: Seawolf Class Submarine Nuclear powered fast attack.

Scale: Unknown

Builder: USS Navy

Length: 108 m

Beam: 12 m

Displacement: 8,600 tons

Launch Date: First in class launched in 1989

There were three Seawolf class submarines built of the 12 planned. The end of the cold war meant that the need for a large number of these vessels was no longer required. The Seawolf replaced the aging Los Angles class.