His 54th (and by far the most difficult to date) commission, she was built for a private collector in the States and just before she was shipped abroad Julian (who qualified as a shipwright at the same time as Malcolm) was invited to a private viewing. Says Julian: “I have had the privilege of seeing many fine models over the years but I have to say this one of Minerva is quite exquisite in appearance and the attention to the tiniest detail truly incredible.”

alcolm undertook his shipwright training on the world-famous Hamble river in the 1960s. After ten years in the trade he started building showcase models in Salcombe, Devon, where he still works in a sun-lit studio on the waterfront. He specialises in 19th and early 20th century ship models. Malcolm's previous works include the steel barque Moshulu, commissioned and exported to the States in 1986, Pamir, and Tern III, Claud Worth's famous cruising yacht. Most of Malcolm's models are in private hands but several years ago he was commissioned to build 1.24th models of the local RNLI's entire fleet (from 1869 to the present day) and these are on display at the Salcombe Lifeboat House Museum.

HMS Minerva was launched on June 4, 1780 at Woolwich Royal Dockyard on the south bank of the Thames, the first of the Minerva class frigates, a series of four ships built to a 1778 design by Sir Edward Hunt. The characteristics of her class were: 940 tons burthen, 141 feet length, 38 feet 10 inches beam, 13 feet 9 inches depth of hold and 28 18-pounder guns on the upperdeck complemented by 9-pounders on the quarterdeck and foc'sle. Her complement was 270, later raised to 280.

Minerva was one of the first frigates to be copper sheathed at launch, also an early ship to use some carronades. She saw service around the world - in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, the Mediterranean, the English Channel and the North Sea - and was very successful in capturing a number of prizes and sharing subsequent prize money.

During her time in the East Indies she was Rear Admiral Cornwallis's flagship in 1793 during the blockade of Pondicherry.

Minerva returned to Britain and was paid off in April 1794. The following year she was recommissioned, attached to the main British fleet.

In 1798 she became a troop ship and was renamed Pallas. Sadly, she went rotten through fresh water ingress and was broken up at Chatham Dockyard in 1803.

Malcolm's extensive research for this project included assistance from the National Maritime Museum, the National Archive in London and the Annapolis Navy Academy Museum, where the original Admiralty Board model of the as-fitted Minerva now resides.

The model took 6741 hours to build, 38 months of 6-day weeks. Fittings are made from brass and copper, with a scale-thickness acetate used for the glazing of the stern gallery as glass would have been too vulnerable to damage during shipment to the States.

One of the fascinating features of the model is the detail that can be viewed peeking through the windows of the ship. For example, you can see the gundeck, cleared for action, perfect in every detail.

Her rigging was spun from scratch on a miniature ropewalk to ensure accurancy of dimensions and lay. The model's carving and structure is from dense and fine-grained English boxwood. The timber is also one of the best timbers for steaming, needed to achieve the extreme curves of the hull in the model.

An ornate painted frieze depicting the mythology of the Roman goddess, Minerva, runs the length of the model.

The ships boats included with the model are (from the back of the photo) the launch, showing the arrangement for the stern davit; the 30-ft pinnace, stowed midships on the skid beams - the first of the two cutters is nested inside - the other cutter sits directly on the skid beams in the foreground.

Inside each model Malcolm includes the “Darch logo”, a composite of his initials within an elipse which is impressed in a hidden location. As is the case with all his models, Malcolm compiled a dossier, many hundreds of pages in length, on the ship's history, captain's logs, crew muster lists, voyages etc.

This wonderful model now has pride of place in the home of an American collector (who lives in Minerva, New York), having taken a full year longer to build than it took Woolwich Dockyard to construct HMS Minerva back in 1780.

Malcolm may be contacted via email at malcolm.darchshipmodels@virgin.net