Scale: 1:48. A contemporary waterline model of an armed brig (1830) fully rigged and under sail on a painted scenic base. It is complete with three boats rigged from stern and quarter davits, a capstan and binnacle on deck and 14 guns mounted on carriages along a single gun deck. The figurehead depicts a half bust of a Greek or Roman warrior, with a pair of trail boards either side aft inscribed with the name ‘Orion’.

Although this model cannot be identified against an actual vessel of this name, the absence of a fourth reef in the topsail makes it almost certain that this is not a regular man-of-war. It does not have the required beam introduced by Sir William Symonds in the 1830s, but at this scale, the model represents a vessel measuring 104 feet along the gun deck by 28 feet in the beam. However, the presence of the gaff instead of the spritsail yard dates the rigging no earlier than 1830.

The model is known to have been made by Thomas W. Smith when only 15 years old, taking four years to complete. Apart from the cannon and a few of the metal fittings, the model was made from scratch entirely by his own hands.