Ex-Navy Pilot Builds Own Fleet of 81 Miniature Warships

Douglas Engineer Adds Airplanes to Hobby

So realistic is the hobby of William P. Tompkins, 28, that naval authorities prior to World War II cautioned him for possession of restricted Navy craft blueprints.

Tompkins, now a Douglas Aircraft engineer, did not have Navy blueprints, investigators learned, but did possess an uncanny accuracy for detail with which he has built a fleet of 81 Navy warships.

Tiny Ships

The miniature fleet ranges in size from an 18½-inch replica of the carrier Lexington to motor launches 1¼ inches in length.

Principal material used in construction of the intricate models, Tompkins yesterday explained at his home, 2524½ 21st Street, Santa Monica, is balsa wood carved with a razor blade.

Sheet aluminum, pins, wires and needles are used for such things as gun emplacements, lifeboats and airplane wings.

Tompkins began his shipbuilding hobby at 16, and today can build the less complicated ships in six weeks. The Lexington model took six months.

Navy Pilot

A Navy pilot during World War II and a graduate of Hollywood High School, Tompkins has been using his model building skill to produce wooden reproductions of future airplanes.

Recently he was transferred to the engineering department of Douglas and is wavering a little in his original desire to become a naval architect.

THE FLEET ARRIVES — William P. Tompkins, 28, Navy pilot during World War II and now an aircraft engineer at Douglas plant, displays part of his fleet of 81 warships. He also models airplanes as part of his hobby. Navy ships vary from 18½ to 1¼ inches in length.

LOOKING AHEAD — William P. Tompkins holds model of what he says will be the approved light cruiser in 1960. On the table is a miniature of the Navy’s light cruiser in present year.

Source: Los Angeles Examiner, February 1953; clipping preserved/reproduced by the Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum.