Bill Brady honed his skills throughout his life, making model ships for his private collection and as gifts for friends and family
Photo by Milton Morris
Bill Brady
Age: 79.
Home turf: Litchfield Beach.
Claim to fame: Expert model shipwright.
Previous gigs: Associate professor of aerospace studies at Auburn University; director of procurement at The Citadel.
Secret weapon: A 3D printer that he uses to make small objects for his ships—lifebuoys, fire extinguishers, anchors, winches, oyster traps, even a YETI cooler. “I love the details,” he says.
Divine inspiration: A stained-glass window depicting Jesus and the apostles on the Sea of Galilee prompted Brady to research 1st century fishing vessels and build a model that he donated to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.
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Oyster sloops. Lobster smacks. Dinghies. Skiffs. Dories. Prams. Shrimp boats. Skipjacks. Kayaks. Spanish galleons. Bill Brady has built models of them all.
“Most model shipwrights stick to a theme—tall ships, clipper ships. Well, I tried that,” he says. “Now, whatever I see that looks nice, I pursue it until I can build it.”
Brady fell in love with building model ships in the late 1970s as a way to pass the time while stationed in Spain with the U.S. Air Force.
“I didn’t know anything about boats. But it’s the challenge of taking some wood and building something that looks like that sitting over there,” he says, pointing to a Herreshoff sailing yacht, one of the dozens of models that adorn his Litchfield Beach home. “It’s looking at that and saying, ‘How do I build it?’ And then doing it.”
Brady honed his skills throughout his life, making model ships for his private collection and as gifts for friends and family. Today he builds mostly from scratch in a workshop chock-full of tools, materials and intricate plans.
Several of his boats are on display at the South Carolina Maritime Museum in Georgetown, including a stunning model of Henrietta, the 201-foot, three-masted clipper ship that was the largest wooden boat ever built in South Carolina.
Although Henrietta was a unique challenge, Brady says each model he builds requires careful attention to all the intricate details.
“It takes a lot of patience,” he says of his hobby. “It takes a lot of time.”