SMALL WORLDS; MARITIME MUSEUM SPOTLIGHTS MINIATURES OF NAUTICAL VESSELS.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Centuries ago, ship builders used small-scale models of vessels as building guides instead of blueprints, because many shipyard workers were illiterate. Builders simply looked at the small model and expanded the dimensions into a full-sized ship.

Today, model builders do just the opposite, transforming oceangoing giants into detailed scale models.

Dozens of such hand-carved models are now on display this month at the Maritime Museum in Oxnard. Visitors can even see members of the museum's model guild carefully carving tiny pieces of wood into cannons, masts and yardarms at one-sixty-fourth or one-forty-eighth actual size.

Model ship building draws on a range of disciplines, said modeler Richard Walton of Oxnard, who has been building model ships on and off for more than 40 years.

``When you build these things, you learn about history, you learn construction techniques, you learn painting,'' Walton said.

The current display includes whaling boats, pirate ships and war vessels. Most of the ships re-create actual vessels, while a few are purely fiction, he said.

Model builders try to make their ships as historically accurate as possible, Walton said. But that accuracy can depend on the time the information was recorded, because ships often received several modifications during their lifetime, he said.

Walton has traveled to English museums and records offices for information about various ships.

``There's a lot of things piecing together what does something look like,'' he said. ``There's a whole bunch of different sources. . . . You have to have a historical knowledge of what's on there.''

Model ships can take between three weeks and six years to build.

``It depends on the level of difficulty, the skill of the builder, the extent of research that they want to do,'' Walton said.

One large ship in progress on display at the museum is the first re-creation built from scratch attempted by model guild president and Ventura resident David Sherwood. His previous two offerings were model kits, but his rendition of the 74-gun British ship Alfred is carved and assembled entirely from drawings.

Sherwood, who retired from a navigational instrument shop, has spent about 40 hours a week for the past three years working on the Alfred. Despite the ship's intricate, hand-carved lattice work and detailed statuettes that include tiny cherubs with hair and eyes, Sherwood said he simply bases his work on what he sees in books.

``I'm not an artist,'' he said. ``I'm a copier. I duplicate.''

To build the Alfred, Sherwood started with 250 pounds of wood. He estimates that the ship will weigh less than 25 pounds when complete.

The model ships will be on display 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through the end of the month at the Maritime Museum, 2731 S. Victoria Ave. in Oxnard. For more information, call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) David Sherwood examines a model of an 18th-century ship during a demonstration Sunday at the Maritime Museum in Oxnard.

(2) (Ran in Simi and Conejo Editions only) Sherwood inspects the deck of his model in progress, a miniature version of the British fighting ship Alfred. Sherwood is building the vessel from scratch.

(3) (Ran in Valley Edition only) Carved from boxwood, Sherwood's model includes many details.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News