Peter Esch - Models of Offshore Support Vessels

Edda Sun was my first model of an OSV. I received some drawings and photos in 1983. The model was build in scale 1:75 in two years and is still sailing. Of course, new electronical equipment was installed in the meantime as well as new batteries. I really like my "oldie" because she is easy to transport. At that time I didn´t have a lathe and other useful tools that I am using today. The result is a simple model like the original vessel was. A report on the model was published in the German magazine Modellwerft January 1987.

Barra Supplier was a "state of the art" ship in the eighties. The design was named ME 303. Maritime Engineering from Norway developed a modern Anchor Handling Tug Supplier - AHTS. Several vessels of this type were build. Due to the very low main deck she was a so-called wet ship. As far as I know the original is still sailing. New Name is Artemis. My model was build in scale 1:75 again and took three years. I had a few drawings and some sixty photos. The hull was made from GRP, the superstructure is from Polystyrene. Many smaller parts are from brass. Some are produced on a mini lathe. A report on the model was published in the German magazine Schiffsmodell January 1992

UT 712 N Far Scout is part of series of three. The well known design was made by Ulstein where she was build also. But she is different from her sisters due to some equipment for cold areas. I never heard of her doing any job in the arctic. When she was sold she sailed for DOF and and at least Malaviya from India purchased the ship. During her life a heli deck was added. But I decided to build this ship as it was in 1989 when I saw it in Aberdeen. Again the scale is 1:75. The hull is from GRP, the superstructure is from electronical circuit boards. Most parts of the equipment are made from brass. This model is sailing very well. I made trips to Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands and she was reliable all the time. The model has been shown to the shipping company and the designers. Time of building was from 1990 - 1995. A report on the model was published in the German magazine Schiffsmodell June - August 1996

My fourth model of an Anchor Handler is UT 740 Normand Neptun. Only two ships of this type were build by Ulstein Verft in Norway. The mighty winch produces a pull of 500 tonnes on the first layer. Due to fantastic hull lines the max. speed is 17.3 knts.The bollard pull of 222 tonnes was the world record at the time of building. My model in scale 1:75 has a vacuum formed hull from Polystyrene based on a core that I made from Obechi wood. Polystyrene is also used for the superstructure. Equipment is made from brass and acrylic glass mainly. Building the model was time consuming: some 6.000 hours in seven years and three months. The model was presented to the yard and the ship owner as well as on board. It has been sailed in Germany, Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands. A report on the model was published in the German magazine Schiffsmodell September - Novenber 2016.

Seems to be an everlasting project because the model is under construction for more than 18 years. But she still is a dream ship for me due to all the details. UT 741 Far Sovereign was designed to dig and refill trenches for pipelines. 27.000 BHP with a bollard pull of 280 tons can pull a plough of 130 tons weight on the seabed. The vessel ended at the breakers in 2022. Very sad. The hull of my model is made from GRP, the superstructure and most of the equipment is from metal. Once the model is finished a report will be published

Western Regent is a Seismic Research Vessel of the type UT 747 designed by Ulstein. I chose Western Regent as I wanted to build one of the more unusaul types of OSV. My biggest problem was finding detailed Information on these speciailzed vessels. Especially about how they are working. It seems to be top secret. Anyway I like Western Regent very much. She has been heavily converted since I started the model but I will build her as on delivery. The hull is made from GRP, the superstructure is from Polystyrene but have not worked on it for quite a while and I intend rebuilding the superstructure with Bronze sheet when I restart this project. The main deck contains several meters of brass profiles already. The scale is 1:75.

This model in scale 1:50 was built by Udo who has a good range of very different OSV models.

This very special ERRV - Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel was build by my friend Alexander in scale 1:75

This AHTS model of a UT 722 type - ex Rolls Royce - was made by Alexander. He prefers the scale of 1:75. Please note all the fine details