Noah's Ark

As portrayed in the film, Evan Almighty.

Having a fascination with Noah’s Ark, I did a search on the web. I found a site which described the making of a model which the gentleman had made for his grand children. His ark was set in a scene of appropriate animals, two by two.

To portray the immense size of the ark, about 140m long*, it is necessary to have other objects included in the surrounds. I decided that it would be easier to source modern day extras. As with the SkyCab model, N scale, 1:160 was chosen. The model would be 1000mm long x 500mm wide. I constructed a prototype in 'GoogleSketchUp' to plan the layout.

The box base was constructed from particle board and the ark itself from 5mm MDF board. Originally the sides were ‘grooved’ to represent planks and then painted matt black. (The bible original was covered with pitch or tar) Someone suggested to me that the covering for the Ark may not have been black pitch. Deposits of this may not have existed pre flood. But rather, tree resin or sap, showing the wood colour through it. Later I planked one side and one end with balsa wood, which I stained to represent this.

 There are two portaloos at one end, and 100 people in various locations around the Ark.

The Ark sits on a standard rugby field and easily overhangs the ends, showing its vast size.

It was an interesting project making the play ground equipment. I have included what I consider to be a real slide and sea-saws. Not the 'PC' ones that we are seeing more of now.

On another matter, the Ark is usually shown like a ‘bath tub’ in children’s books and cartoons. The giraffe heads typically stick out through windows and it is shown as a vey crowded vessel.

To demonstrate the absurdity of this concept of size, I have added my own version of one of these.

There is a ‘Where's Wally’ for children to find.

I had a clear plastic cover made commercially to fit over the model. See Fab Plastics (ask for John)

The model has been publicly displayed on a number of occasions.

I have since designed a thin cardboard version of Noah's Ark at a scale of 1:1000 which fits onto an A4 sheet. This can be cut out and coloured in by children and then put together with glue stick. Some adult help and supervision may well be needed as scissors and a sharp knife are required.

To down load a .pdf file of the artwork click here, and the instructions Click here.

* The Bible describes the Ark as being 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Assuming a cubit of 18", elbow to finger tips, gives the following sizes:                              137m x 23m x 14m or 450ft x 75ft x 45ft.

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