Gallery
MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Imagine a business in which you are using your gifts to create precision, quality products, sought after worldwide.
Where your commitment is to excellence and there is no such thing as a rushed, botched job. You manage a team of dedicated craftsmen, passionate about their work. Attention to detail is paramount, neatness reigns supreme. You're in control of the final product and it turns out beautifully.
Such is the satisfying enterprise of Sakkie Hough, who owns The Model Shipyard in Mossel Bay. No mass production here. The work is time and labour intensive.
Click here for a photo gallery.
Hough's latest masterpiece is a miniature diamond dredger, named Debmar Pacific. The client - De Beers Marine in Windhoek, Namibia.
It took four months to create, with four model ship builders working on the vessel. It was shipped out of Mossel Bay to Windhoek on Wednesday this week, 27 March. Hough's scaled down replicas of ships sell for thousands of rands.
His portfolio has included models for movie directors Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Walt Disney.
Hough declines to reveal how much his client is paying for his beautiful creations, but one can imagine the cost.
Teeny weeny paint brushes, the smallest possible instruments, innovation in using unusual materials to create the desired visual effect - these are what model ship building is about.
Hough's collection includes a model of the HMS Victory from the Battle of Trafalgar. It is the picture of fine workmanship - the pale sepia sails plumped out as if in the desired rate of knots, fine toggles and delicate strings making up the intricate rigging.
The little lifeboats on the model vessels are made with the exact same dedication as the larger details.
The neatness of Hough's business premises is remarkable. And it is always neat and tidy. Orderliness is the order of the day. One simply cannot be sloppy or untidy with work of this nature.
Hough is an accountant by profession, but has always had a passion for model building.
His skills with number crunching and his technical prowess combine to make his business a success and he has been in this game for 23 years.
Fittingly he is based at Ocean View Mall in Bland Street and has a spectacular view of the harbour and the ships coming and going.
He does not have much to say about his enterprise.
His products are enough of a testimony. Hough says simply: "It's an amazing business and it's great to live out your art and technical skills in this way."
'We bring you the latest Mossel Bay, Garden Route news'
