Scale Models

Helping the Gulf Coast

SCALE REPRODUCTIONS: DOING THEIR PART FOR THE PORT

Fairhope, Ala.-based Scale Reproductions is in the business of building model vessels for Alabama State Docks vendors like Bender Shipbuilding, C&G Marine, Atlantic Marine and Seabulk Towing. Their small, hand crafted reproductions are "exact replicas," according to the company spokesperson, Stephanie Mansmann.

"Our reproductions are museum quality, with accuracy down to the smallest details, like lobsters in the nets of fishing boats," said Mansmann.

Using a Fuse Deposition Machine (FDM), the components of the vessels are formed based on a computer image, and the pieces then are cut out by a laser. The art and technology of model shipbuilding has come a long way in the 25 years Scale Reproductions has been in business.

Randy Skinner, the company's founder, assembled his first model vessel when he was 19. A reproduction of his father's shrimp boat, the model was made without lasers, FDMs, or even a kit.

Following up that seemingly inauspicious start with more than 1,000 additional scale reproductions, Skinner and his staff have had their work placed in numerous museums and businesses throughout the country.

"These reproductions are more than just something unique to look at in the lobby of a business or under glass in a museum," said Mansmann. "They further the appreciation of maritime vessels by people outside of the industry, but they are much more valuable than that. They are used by those businesses as tools to elicit funding from investors for new projects, which means more business for the port."