Ship shape
Thiren Smallman’s model vessels on display at Lefurgey Centre
When winter sets in and things start to slow down a bit, that’s when O’Leary carpenter, truck driver and jack of all trades Thiren Smallman builds ships.
The 69-year-old Lloyd Street resident has built 35 model ships since 2002. Because they are toscale representations of some of the world’s best-known ships, he is able to build them in his workshop and put on the finishing touches in his basement.
“I always tried to build famous ships that mean something to somebody,” he said in describing his hobby that began when he constructed a model of the Bluenose.
“She was always a hero of mine because it was a Maritime ship and it was never defeated in a race,” he said.
He described how the original Bluenose sank after being sold to a shipping company in the West Indies.
He can share stories about all the ships he built.
“Any time I build anything, I always want to know about it before I build it,” he said.
He estimates it was 50 years ago that he heard a song about the USS Reuben James. He wanted to build it, but until he asked his nephew about it, he had no pictures of it. His nephew’s quick internet search provided him with the details he needed to get started.
Smallman does not own a computer so he relies on others to print off photos or sketches of the ships taken from different angles.
Patience, he said, is a good characteristic to have when building model ships.
“If you don’t have patience when you start, you will, I guarantee, before it’s over.”
Tweezers and needle-nose pliers also come in handy, he said.
“The Titanic, she was obvious,” he said, but he admitted it took a little convincing before he got the courage to build it.
He’s since built six more models of it, mostly for people who requested it.
Many of his ships, including the Titanic, are built on a one-inch to 20-feet scale. The Titanic model measures 44 inches in length.
The Queen Mary model is 52 inches. His wife, Ruthie, claimed it.
“I just love it,” she said. “I just love the way he did it.”
The Queen Mary is one of the nine model ships Smallman currently has on display at the Lefurgey Centre, at 205 Prince St. in Summerside. They are there until the end of August and are available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
The models are very detailed, said Marlene Campbell, cultural programming co-ordinator for Culture Summerside, she noted, referencing a war ship with a plane, guns, life boats, flags and propellers. “You name it, it’s here,” she says of the detail.
Campbell is particularly pleased to have a model ship display in this location because the centre was once the home of John Lefurgey, one of Summerside’s most prominent shipbuilders.
Three of the nine boats had to be borrowed back from the new owners. It required a van and a car to transport the nine models to the Lefurgey Centre.
Although it is not part of the Lefurgey Centre display, Smallman’s personal collection also includes a model of Northumberland Strait’s legendary Burning Ship. The way he has red Christmas lights and a barbecue rotisserie arranged below the ship, it
gives off the appearance of being on fire.
He has also gotten started on a model of the fictional Black Pearl, but the finishing details are now on hold until next winter.
“Once I go back to work I don’t work on them until the fall.”