Lee Smithson: The Yorkshire miniature master who is watched over by his swearing parrot

Take one look at his models and the level of detail is stunning.

Currently he’s working on a miniature of a working canal boat which used to carry fuel up and down the Alvecote Canal in the Midlands - watched over by Bob, his African Grey parrot who swears at him if he drops anything.

He’s put in dozens of tiny rivets and is using a 3D printer to make the cargo of gas cylinders and bags of coal.

Lee said: “For this narrow boat I’ve made the shape of the hull three times and binned the first three. It has to look right.”

He got into modelmaking as a child making plastic Airfix kits. Now he uses wood, clay, plastic and metals to make the miniatures for display in box frames or in perspex display cubes.

He works three days a week at Northern General Hospital repairing and servicing medical equipment, but the rest of the week, including evenings and weekend, he’s working to keep up with demand for his models. Wife Jenni gives him a hand sometimes with the painting.

Neither the pandemic, nor the cost of living crisis has dented his order book. Currently he has 25 orders and he says it never drops below 20.

His mum came up with the idea for what is his best-seller - making the front of iconic buildings and putting them in a box frame so people can display them at home.

There’s been lots of unusual commissions - from an RAF rescue launch to a scene from the film Top Gun: Maverick. A bee retirement hotel for a charity even featured a working sugar water fountain and he is going to do a model of Glastonbury.

As an electronics engineer he can add details like lighting, flowing water and mechanical movement to bring the objects further to life.

But he never does model people: “I don’t think they look very good. I just don’t bother.”

The most challenging miniature to date was a working model of Kelham Island Museums’ River Don Engine.

“I first visited the museum to take some detailed photos and also managed to download an image of the original drawings as well as working from YouTube videos of the engine running to get the mechanical components working correctly.”

The models often have a sentimental meaning - in memory of childhood homes or places, or that remind them of lost friends or relatives or for special occasions like birthdays, weddings and anniversaries.

He said: “People often treasure my miniatures, particularly when they have a significant meaning, and I have been told they will be cherished by generations of the same family and that they will be passed down as special keepsakes.

“Even after six years, I still love getting new commissions and taking on the new challenges this may bring.”