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Gerald Amery Wingrove MBE is a model engineer and author from the United Kingdom. Wingrove produced extremely detailed miniature models of ships and cars for over four decades.
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Gerald A. Wingrove MBE | |
|---|---|
 Gerald Wingrove | |
| Born | 1934 (age 89–90) |
| Occupation | Model engineering |
| Spouse | Phyllis Miller Watt |
| Awards | Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (2000) Metalworking Craftsman of the Year (2005) |
| Website | geraldwingrove |
Building scale models began as a hobby for Wingrove. His model of a Saunders-Roe Princess flying boat was selected as Model of the Month by AeroModdler in 1954.[1] That same year, he built two 1/43 scale models of Maseratis. One was made from a kit, a pre-war model. The other, a post-war model, was about half scratch-built. Both had bodies carved from hard wood.[2]
In a discussion with a model dealer in the mid 1960s, Wingrove was told that there was a shortage of quality scale model automobiles. He began studying and collecting information on cars from books. He was particularly enamored with a Model SJ Duesenberg.[2]
In 1967, Wingrove quit his job as a lathe operator to create models full time after 17 years working for an engineering company in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.[3]
Working with his wife Phyllis, he created about four automobile models a year, always by request and usually on a 1:15 scale.
Early work
Some of the first freelance work done by Wingrove was creating prototype models and designs for Meccano Dinky Toys and Mettoy Playcraft Corgi Toys.[4][5]
Lord Montagu commissions
In 1968, Wingrove wrote to Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to ask about the possibility of making models for the Montagu Motor Museum, now the National Motor Museun, in Beaulieu, Hampshire, England. He was surprised to receive a positive response and an invitation for an interview. Although the only demonstration of his skill was a set of wheels and a partly completed engine, he was asked to undertake two projects for the museum.[2]
The first project was to create a series of 1/20 scale models "to show the evolution of the sports car."[5] The second project was to create a model of the World Champion Grand Prix car each year.[2] Wingrove insisted on personally visiting each car, collecting his own data and creating his own plans for each scale model.
While still working on car models for the motor museum, Lord Montegu also asked Wingrove to make a scale model of Bucklers Hard as it would have appeared in 1803 for the village's newly completed maritime museum. Wingrove researched and then built the 25-square-foot (2.3 m2) diorama showing the village, shipyard and ships. The work of creating the ships for this project was the basis for Wingrove's first book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling.[5]
Individual commissions
Wingrove visited each vehicle that he was to model in order to take accurate measurements and create his plans. When he visited the vehicles for which he was to make models for the museum, some of the vehicle owners asked that he make a model for them as well. Creating special tools and forms to make one model took as much time as making the model itself. Lord Montague's agreed that a second model could be made using the same forms so long as "the models were not produced in any great number".[2]
Personal creations
"They spent 10 years researching their model of the colossal Bugatti Type 41 Royale that is one of the stars of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan."[3]
Wingrove meticulously documented his work with photographs and scale drawings. ...
- The Techniques of Ship Modeling (1974) ISBN 0-85242-366-7
- The Complete Car Modeller (1978) ISBN 0-90456-813-X
- The Model Cars of Gerald Wingrove (1979) ISBN 0-90456-812-1
- Unimat Lathe Projects (1979) ISBN 0-90456-820-2
- Tien karweien voor de Unimat (1981) ISBN 9-02011-547-2
- The Complete Car Modeller 1 (1993) ISBN 1-86126-644-8
- Anatomy of a Bugatti Royale (1993) ISBN 0-85429-856-8
- Art of the Automobile in Miniature(2004) ISBN 1-86126-632-4
- The Complete Car Modeller 2 (2005) ISBN 1-86126-750-9
The Wingrove Collection
| “ | We've been lucky. We've built what we like, for who we like, when we like and for how much we like. Someone up there has always looked kindly on what we have done | ” |
| —
Gerald Wingrove, Small is beautiful | ||
The Wingroves announced their retirement in 2003.[3]
Mag, paper and TV
Wingrove himself considers the following as his "most cherished accolade":[6]
In the year 1885, Alexander III of Russia commissioned Peter Carl Faberge to decorate an egg, to be a gift for his Tsarina. This work of art and the decorated eggs that were subsequently created by the studio of Faberge in St. Petersburg established the interest and worth of fine art in miniature. Gerald Wingrove has created miniatures of some fine automobiles which have great aesthetic appeal. He has done this with such skill and dedication that his models may be compared with the priceless decorated eggs of Faberge.
In 2000, Wingrove was honored when Queen Elizabeth formally inducted him into the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire "for services to Model Engineering. (Lincoln, Lincolnshire)".[7]
The Joe Martin Foundation for Exceptional Craftsmanship named Wingrove the Metalworking Craftsman of the Year in 2005.[2]
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