The Building of "Great Eastern" . An amusing account of how legendary R/C Sailboat modeler Mike Taylor (Founder of the Scale sailing Association) built a huge model more than 14‘ long into what was probably the largest 1:48 scale model paddle steamer ever built. It's
not so much HOW Mike built it, but WHERE...and part of a saga which started over 30 years ago in a small town just outside London, England.
The Great Britain was something of an ambitious project for Mike. It was only the second ship he had ever builtt in a 'modest' 1:48 (¼" to the foot) scale that rendered her about 7' 4" from stern to tip of bowsprit. His next project was to be even more challenging, as he decided to build Brunel's third and last ship, the Great Eastern, also to 1:48 scale. At 692 feet full size, this model would be a massive 14' 4" long, making it probably the
world's largest scale working model of a paddle steamer at the time.
Plans were purchased from The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich London, but Mike had one small problem which was one of building space. Luck came his way when his grandmother, who owned the house Mike and his wife lived in and who lived on the ground floor, decided to
visit her son in Australia for six months, which gave Mike a golden opportunity. He drove her to the airport for her flight and returned home to photograph her bedroom. Next he carefully took all her stuff out of the room and stored it in another and after creating a long work bench, laid the fourteen feet keel and began work on the boat. Work progressed
quickly and eleven weeks later, he had finished the hull, paddle boxes, propeller, rudder and under deck.
Disaster struck when Mike's mother phoned him one Thursday evening informing him that his grandmother had argued with her daughter-in-law and was on the flight home and would he pick her up at Heathrow the following morning at 8 am! Not being the 'panicky' type, he phoned round a few friends to enlist their immediate help. When they arrived, the fun began as, try as they may, they couldn't get the boat out of the room and did so eventually but only after the door and it's stops were removed. He had measured the door opening prior to building and discovered to his great delight that there was plenty of room to get the ship through the door on it's side. Unfortunately, he didn't allow for the height of the paddle
boxes, which ate up the rest of his space plus a bit more!
The second big hurdle came a few feet later when the boat wouldn't navigate round the stair rails and into the hallway. The short passageway leading from his grandmother's bedroom to the main hall is dog-legged into an 'L' shape with the staircase descending to the right. A lot of shoving and eventually standing the boat on her stern then finally wiggling it round the stairs and out into the street produced the desired result and the ship was out of the house. The full size ship took thirteen months to launch and Mike reflected on this while spending four hours getting it out of the house and round to his garage.
Once out, the arduous task of cleaning the 'boatyard' and returning it back into a bedroom once more began. The photos he took of the room came in very handy as he could see where everything went once the room was cleared and cleaned. This took him the rest of the night
and at 4 in the morning, fearing he would oversleep if he went to bed, exhausted he made his way to Heathrow Airport and found a nice comfortable seat in the arrivals lounge where he slept there until her arrival. She was indeed very grateful to Mike for keeping her room
spotless while she was away and made him a present of a free week's rent for doing so.
I came across the preceeding article on a Website, and e-mailed Mike Taylor to ask him what ever became of this huge model. Here is his answer.
"Sadly, the Great Eastern never did get finished although a good bit of her has been made. I think two complete fully rigged masts have also been made but not fitted. The prop, a bit of one paddlewheel, some of the deck cabins, skylights and some other bits and bobs were made in the early 70's but due to her size, it was difficult to work on her. When she was initially wiggled out of the house, she was taken round to a garage I had rented and a pulley system made so I could hoist her up to the
ceiling for storage. After a year or two and a very hard financial time, I had to let the garage go so had to find somewhere to store her. A good friend near Epsom racecourse offered space in his garage, so the Great Eastern was loaded on top of my Jaguar and eventually slung in my friend's garage.
Epsom being some 30 odd miles from Crouch End, it was now impossible to 'pop down' to see if something would fit so work halted completely until something came along so I would have her closer to home.
About six or seven years after dumping it in my pals garage he wanted it out as he had gone onto full sailing stuff and wanted the ceiling space for his boat. Thankfully a solution came along when I bought my place. The only room in which I could keep the ship was the ground floor front room which has a large bay window. I placed two wardrobes in
the room and with a bit of help, managed to wiggle it through the window and onto the tops of the wardrobes. The ship just went in and with the bows pressing up against the centre wall of the house, the window just slid up with an inch or two to spare. This was during 1980 and the Great Eastern has remained there ever since.
She had an outing around 1987(ish) when I took both her and the Great Britain to Broomfield Park, Palmers Green in north London when she was floated and I actually climbed in her and hand paddled her round the lake while Ray Brigdon snapped away for a spread in Model Boats
magazine. Even with my weight of 217lbs didn't make much impression and she drew just two inches more water with a further six or seven to go to her marks.
The article Ray did never did get published. The ship has now been in my front room for 21 years now (2001) and absolutely nothing has been done on it since the early 1970's as she is too awkward to move about with any dexterity as like the ship, I too have got old at the same rate and she is now nearly thirty years old. I built her when I was 27 and was still full of it - and fit, or at least fitter than I am now. I still have poo for brains but the fog has cleared somewhat since then."
So there you have it...for almost 30 years Mike has shared his living room with a 14' model of 'Great Eastern". I wonder whether that leaves any room for a dining room table.....or maybe "GE" IS the dining room table!!
Mike Taylor is still the President of the Scale Sailing Association and his Website can be found at
http://www.scalesailing.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ . His email address is scale.sailing@blueyonder.co.uk
Compiled by Paul Jordan with files and correspondence from Mike Taylor. April 2001
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