Bill Barker age 88 spoke with Key Records one month after retiring from his hobby of building "scratch-built" models of ships. OThe models he built are exact replicas of the real ships they were modeled after. Bill explained to us that his model building method was to go through all the same steps that the original shipbuilders had to.
Bill's works of art are so impressive that he was honored with the title Dr. William Barker. His model ships have also been awarded first place in several of the competitions that he has entered in. Newspapers have also written articles about Bill and his impressive skills of precision. Self-taught from books, Bill also found time to teach others how to build model ships. He enjoys sharing his knowledge in hopes of encouraging others to keep active and develop patience.
Considering the time commitment required in making each ship, (approx. 3000 hours each), Bill decided to retire due to his battle with arthritis and alzheimers. These days Bill keeps himself busy with his other hobby interests such as Marquetry. For more information read Dave Brown's article about Bill published in The Ottawa Citizen, May 11, 2009. "See Page Two of Bill's models"
Video interview of Bill Barker recorded May 27, 2009 in Kanata, Ontario, Canada