JAUNTS : Master Ship Modelers Thrive on Precision, Authenticity : Famous vessels re-created by local craftsmen will be on display at the Ventura County Maritime Museum.

The delicate touch that Jim Azbill needs to build a model ship--with its intricate rigging, tiny knots, miniature pulleys that actually work--is impressive, but his real mastery isn’t even noticed.

Below deck, the ship is completely furnished. The cabin has bunks for the crew. The galley has a metal sink with faucet handles.

Authenticity, whether visible or not, counts with Azbill, whose models and those of other local builders will be on display at the Ventura County Maritime Museum beginning Saturday.

The museum’s ship-model guild is holding its third annual show through Oct. 2. As many as 35 models will be exhibited at the museum at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard.

The highlight of the show is when builders actually work on models in the courtyard outside the museum on Saturday and Sunday and on Oct. 1 and 2 from noon to 3 p.m. It’s a chance to chat with them about ships, and witness some precise handiwork.

Visitors will see Azbill hunched over a model of the frigate “Confederacy.” The original vessel was built in 1778 and fitted with 34 guns. It was retired with the dubious honor of never having fought in a battle.

Inside the museum, another of Azbill’s works is on display: a two-foot-long model of the schooner L.A. Dunton, a fishing vessel built in 1921. It took Azbill, a retired machine-shop owner, about six months to build it. That’s not much compared to the 4,000 hours he expects to put into the “Confederacy.”

This is not a hobby for impatient klutzes. Some builders use kits, but not Azbill. He builds his models from scratch, using plans similar to the original ship’s blueprints. He hunts down the materials he needs, handcrafting each part.

“There’s not a store-bought part on this,” he said, surveying the L.A. Dunton.

Why does he furnish the inside when no one can see it? “ I know it’s there,” he said emphatically.

Ironically, he lives on a 45-foot ketch at Channel Islands Harbor and sets up his work on the dining-room table. “You wear magnifying glasses and every five years you get a stronger lens,” he joked.

He has been at this hobby for 12 years, having completed eight models. “You build one and you hate to see it finished,” he said.

Azbill is among 40 members of the shipbuilding guild that formed at the museum in 1991. They meet each month for a kind of show-and-tell session in which the topic might be anything from rigging to making planks.

The median age of the group is 55 and nearly all are men, according to the museum’s curator, Dick Cunningham.

“It’s an off-the-wall hobby,” he said. “They’re all terminally addicted.”

Before they even begin building, they have to research the ship’s history. Most were built anywhere from the 15th Century to the beginning of the 20th Century.

They construct models as small as one-eighth inch to the foot and as large as one-half inch to the foot. They haunt bait and tackle shops and fabric stores, searching for just the right linen line for the rigging.

“The well-rigged ship has up to 10 different weights of line,” Cunningham said.

At the museum, the guild members have their own hero, the late Edward Marple. Nine model ships built by the master modeler are part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Details

* WHAT: Model ship show and demonstration.

* WHERE: Ventura County Maritime Museum, Channel Islands Harbor, 2731 S. Victoria Blvd., Oxnard.

* WHEN: Exhibit opens Saturday and runs through Oct. 2. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Monday. Shipbuilding demonstrations are Saturday and Sunday and Oct. 1 and 2 from noon to 3 p.m.

* COST: Admission to the museum is free but donations are welcome.

* FYI: The museum’s model shipbuilding guild will offer a series of Saturday classes for novices beginning after Jan. 1. For information about the classes and membership in the guild, call 984-6260.