Customer Reviews

Hornblower's Ships : Their History and Their Models

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Though the number of recreational ship modelers is legion, few have achieved such breadth of knowledge and mastery of craft as author Martin Saville, who served as senior supervisor and consultant for the Emmy award-winning Horatio Hornblower films.

Anyone with even a passing interest in tall masted ships is apt to be enthralled with the Hornblower series, due in large part to the quantity and exceptional quality of the models used to depict the English, French and Spanish ships. The sailing and combat footage, complete with flame-spewing cannon, billowing sails and multiple-vessel horizon perspective shots, is so realistic that even expert model builders may find their disbelief inadvertently and momentarily suspended.

Saville's book admirably answers the dominant question that rings in your ears after seeing each episode: "How did they do all that?"

He provides a fascinating behind-the scenes account of the design, construction, and filming of the eleven model ships that were constructed for filming, complete with revealing photos during the various stages of construction.

One of the delightful things about Saville's approach is that he assumes that the reader has little or no prior knowledge about period ships and sailing. In addition to providing an understandable and novice-friendly explanation of each aspect of ship design and construction (hulls, masts, rigging, armament, etc.), he also includes concise summaries of the actual historical people and events upon which the Hornblower series is based.

For ship modelers, this book answers many of the nagging questions that may have been gnawing at you as you watched the films. To accommodate the requirements of the film cameras, most of the models were 4 meters (13 feet) in length and were designed to remain afloat for weeks at a time, thus requiring an innovative combination of the skills of shipwright and modeler to achieve such convincing success. Saville's book gives an interesting and detailed description of the headaches endured and triumphs enjoyed by the design team in making the project a reality. And yes, he even describes the electrical firing system they rigged for the cannon.

Saville also includes an excellent biblography listing the best reference materials regarding the history of the period and details of ships, masting and rigging.

In short, this book is a satisfying read for those interested in the Hornblower books, in tall masted ships, in shipbuilding, in ship modeling, and in the mystical methods of Hollywood moviemakers in capturing these images on film.

I got this book because I just loved the Horatio Hornblower mini series on A & E. This book really shows how they did the special effects in the movie. The detail in the writing as well as the great photographs is amazing. It goes into how they copied to scale perfectly the old ships to make the models for the movie.It also goes into detail about the actual ships they modeled the models after. I must say after I read this book I watched the movies again and found myself looking for the models! The book is a must have though if you love Hornblower. Its well done in every way.

This fills an important segment in the history of iron men and wooden ships and it is a must for those enjoying RC model square rigged ships. 5 stars

As a hobbiest and model ship builder, I fell in love with the TV series which resulted from this book. So when I bought the book I thought I knew what I was getting. Wow, was I surprised! There are plenty of photos, model drawings and descriptions in here to keep me building for years to come! Now I can't wait for them to re-air the series so I can compare my ships with theirs!