A retired sailor's half-century long quest to build a model of HMS Victory has been thwarted at the last moment - as he can't find anyone to make the final parts. Michael Byard, who started the work on the 5ft-long replica of Nelson's flagship way back in 1969, is 'really desperate' to get the last pieces of the extraordinary replica finished.
Fifty-three years after he first began work on the vessel, the 82-year-old says he feels like he is 'bashing my head against a brick wall' having been this close to completion for nearly two years. He is now resigned to the fact that he may never finish it - as he simply can't find anyone willing to 3D print the missing parts.
Currently, the striking model is enclosed in a bespoke museum quality case in his conservatory - in need of only a print of the sternworks - the decorative part on the rear of the ship. Appealing for help, father of two Michael, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said: “I need someone who can make the sternworks in 3D print."
He has found a website that provides exactly this - but it appears dormant, as he has repeatedly contacted it to no avail. He added: “There’s a company in America called Shipways who have done 3D printing.
“However, I contacted them and six months later there was no reply. I’ve contacted them 14 times since and heard nothing. Over the last year I’m getting nowhere. Looking at the website, there’s been no movement in the last two years."
The HMS Victory model consists of over 3,000 pieces, the vast majority of which he cut himself. The former naval reserve and shipping company worker has all but completed the model to a 1:48 scale.
The actual HMS Victory, launched in 1765, achieved lasting fame as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Nelson in Britain’s greatest naval victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Mr Byard’s model, which features gun ports, lifeboats and cannons, stands 4ft 11inches long, 14 inches wide and 16 inches tall.
"HMS Victory has so much history and really she's the only surviving ship of the Napoleonic era in the Royal Navy so she's very special," he said.
Mr Byard began building the model in 1969 when he was working at a shipping company in Melbourne, Australia, where he had emigrated as a child. He has had interest from people here in the UK but nothing of substance has materialised yet.
He continued: “I’ve tried a few local people around as well. And when I’ve tried, they’re all very keen at the beginning but then tail off. One chap was keen on doing it. I heard nothing and then eventually he said ‘sorry I’m busy’ and said it would cost £1000 - which is steep. I’m really desperate to get anyone to do them - I don’t really know where to turn.
Mr Byard added: “It is frustrating because I could have completed the model.”
He has had contact with seven potential crafters here in the UK but with the same result. Mr Byard added: “I need somebody who can make a 3D print out of a 2D drawing. I think they use computers for that.
“The website shows that it can be done - it seems to be quite easy to do. The proof is on that website. Yes it can be done – it has been done."
Finding even potential printers is a drawn-out process – with the first man in question taking four months of time.
He said: “Another guy in Somerset said it was too difficult. I’m just bashing my head against a brick wall at the minute. I don’t know where else to turn. It looks as though I’ll never get that part done.”
At the minute Mr Byard has 2D prints of the stern works but they are not to the level of detail that a project that has taken over 600 hours deserves.
He added: “From a distance they look okay. But up close you can see it a print out when it should be raised. Somebody out there that might [be able to] do something.”
