Fairfield Heritage - An in-depth look at ship model-making over the years

Throughout the centuries, ship-building companies, including those titans of the industry on the Clyde, have made use of intricate models for design, planning and marketing purposes. Complete in every detail, marine models have long attracted world-wide artistic fascination to these remarkable works of technical achievement. Even with the contemporary introduction of digitally-aided design in marine architecture, the ship-building industry continues to make extensive use of models as an integral feature of bringing every type of vessel to the seas.

Cemal Ozturk, long one of Scotland’s leading modelmakers, will share his engrossing experience of creating marine models in his Glasgow studio.. By sharing historical information on the techniques employed by model craftsmen and women down the years, he will invite you to enjoy the fine work, composure and respect invested into the manufacture of these scale models. Cemal will bring marine modelmaking bang up to date by discussing the 21st century techniques and materials, including 3D printing and CAD software, now employed alongside the highly-prized traditional skills that make up the modern modelmaking industry.

Cemal Ozturk of Ozturk Model Makers is a BAE-approved contractor and the only remaining professional marine modelmaker on the Clyde. Born in Istanbul, a fabled port city of ships and bridges, Cemal studied his craft in Turkey before transferring to Glasgow where he established one of Scotland’s largest modelmakers, creating such model-works as The Great Hall at Stirling Castle and Scottish Parliament. His internationally renowned models exhibition of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Unbuilt Designs, Unbuilt Mackintosh was a central feature within the collections in The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Design Centre. His studio has produced scale models across all genres – marine, architectural, product design, industrial and robotics.