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Hernando Today

Model Citizen

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Tony Marrero

Published: February 8, 2008

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - Nearly six decades ago, little Francis Dellaquila headed to a corner store in Brooklyn, N.Y. to buy his first model airplane kit.

With that first winged piece of balsa wood, a passion took flight and soared.

"I like things in miniature," said Dellaquila, who now lives in Spring Hill. "Always did."

In later years, though, that zeal set sail as Dellaquila shifted to model boats.

Now, at 68, the former handyman's passion is still steaming along.

He recently finished one of his crowning achievements: a paddlewheel riverboat called "The Spirit of the Mississippi."

It's the kind of craft that might make Mark Twain marvel.

"This is what I put the most effort into," Dellaquila said as he spun the Spirit's custom maple and glass display case to give a visitor a better look.

The boat, about 32 inches long, features cutaway panels on one side to give a look inside. The painstaking detail achievement you have to get close to appreciate, especially the customizations that Dellaquila made after buying the model kit for $250.

A modeler can build a kit as it comes. Others feel compelled to, as Dellaquila puts it, "put your own self into it. That's what I did."

Note the real stamped brass smokestacks that take the place of the wooden stacks that came with the kit.

The boat's support cables are real steel.

The hanging lamps in the saloon? Costume jewelry pieces from Michaels craft store.

The tiny flowers on the table of the gambling room? Straight from Dellaquila's garden.

And the paddle? Completely custom, made of hardwood and plywood, with straight pins for rivets.

Dellaquila will bring the Spirit and another paddlewheel riverboat, La Madeleine, to the annual Suncoast Ship Model Society's annual show today, Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Weeki Wachee Senior Center, 3357 Susan Drive. Admission is free, but a $1 donation is requested.

Members of the club will bring their handiwork, from frigates to fishing schooners, whalers to warships. Some will be in bottles, others radio-controlled.

Dellaquila and fellow modelers will be on hand to answer questions about their products born of steady hands and much time and patience.

Dellaquila, who worked as a maintenance supervisor for Adirondack Community College in New York, said he has always enjoyed working with his hands.

His home in Timber Pines, which he shares with his wife Madeline, is a museum of his creations, from the Spanish galleon ship to the modern sailboat he christened the F. Dellaquila, all docked in custom wooden cases that Dellaquila built himself.

He says his secret is simple.

"You have to think tiny," he said. He cited an old saying that, when sanding such petite pieces of wood, a modeler must pretend the sawdust that rains down is "made of boulders."

The ability to join such small pieces of wood and other materials with such a fine finish "is a pretty high level skill," said Jim Kerr, a Hernando Beach resident who is past president of the ship model society and the group's current display coordinator.

"It's hard enough to do that with a big piece of furniture," Kerr said.

The term for buying a kit and replacing its materials is "kit-bashing." Kerr said Dellaquila isn't the only kit-basher in the society; that is, members who order a kit and then throw away much of the materials in favor of their own custom additions. One member cast aside all the wood in a ship model kit and sent away for Swiss pearwood to complete his vision.

Dellaquila admits that it is tough to call a project finished. Madeline Dellaquila confirmed this.

"He beats himself up," she said. "He's really humble."

"There's always something you can do better," Francis said. "And I try to do that with the next kit."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

If you go

WHAT: The Suncoast Ship Model Society of Spring Hill's annual show.

WHEN: Today, Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

WHERE: Weeki Wachee Senior Center, 3357 Susan Drive (one mile east of U.S. 19).

CONTACT: Jim Kerr, 592-6419.

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