Man spends five years building model of French research ship

Daníel Jakob Pálsson has spent about five years building a detailed model of the French research ship Pourquoi-pas?, mbl.is reports. The project was completed about a year ago, as the 90th anniversary of the ship’s sinking at Straumfjörður in Mýrar was recently commemorated.

“I think it turned out well, although perhaps I am not the best judge of that myself,” Daníel said.

His interest began when Friðrik Rafnsson, the father-in-law of Daníel’s son Snorri, gave him a book he had translated from French. The book describes the life of Jean-Baptiste Charcot, the captain who had Pourquoi-pas? built.

Daníel, who has worked at sea and has long been interested in ships and ship models, then obtained additional material about the vessel. With Friðrik’s help, he found drawings at a hobby shop in France, although the drawings were no longer being produced. He also used photographs.

The model required precise work, which Daníel carried out intermittently over five years. He used tweezers and similar tools, along with a magnifying glass, for the finer details.

“The key is to have good tools suited to the work. You also need some ingenuity, because you cannot necessarily buy ready-made parts for the model,” he said.

Repeated tasks tested his concentration. After working for about two hours, his eyes would become tired from looking through the magnifying glass, so he would take a break and have a cup of coffee.

For now, the model is displayed in Daníel’s living room, although he has not decided what to do with it next. He said the main purpose of the project was to have something interesting to occupy himself with.

Daníel is in his seventies, trained as an engineer, and retired some time ago after running a lubrication service station for decades.