It’s Just a Hobby

Have you had the opportunity to visit the Marco Island Library? If you had, you might have observed three replica models of the United States Coast Guard Cutters (USCGCs) painstakingly created by Marco Island’s own, Richard Heinrich.

Who is Heinrich and what inspired him to create these works of art?

Heinrich enlisted in the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in 1962, and nine years later, he was commissioned as an officer.

Sadly, in 1977, tragedy struck Heinrich and his family. Married with a nine-year-old daughter, he lost his wife to cancer, as well as his mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, and an uncle. Heinrich recalled: “That was the worst year of my life. I never planned to be a single parent, and I was also responsible for probating five separate wills.” However, with perseverance, resilience, and faith, Heinrich became a steward of his family affairs. Today at 83 years old, retired, remarried, with a daughter and three grandchildren, he still finds time for service to his community and country.

A passion of Heinrich is his hobby of building USCGCs from scratch. Over four decades, he has meticulously built twenty-two models, each consuming hundreds of hours and as much as two years to complete. At the recent dedication of two models at the Marco Island Library, Heinrich credits his hobby to his daughter: “I was a single parent, and my daughter was off to college at Texas A&M (1987).” He continued: “She said, Dad, you need a hobby.” And so, it began…

His most challenging build was the USCGC MUNRO (WHEC-724), completed in 2012. It is now prominently displayed at the entrance to the library. The USCGC MUNRO was the tenth of the twelve “High Endurance” 378-foot cutters built. It was commissioned in 1971 and was named after Douglas Munro, the Coast Guard’s only Medal of Honor recipient in World War II.

The MUNRO model began in 2010 with design plans from the USCG, which Heinrich converted to scale drawings, with 1 inch equivalent to 8 feet. At this scale, the model would be just shy of four feet in length, an imposing size to recreate in his small workshop.

Heinrich’s next step was to make a complete paper model of the MUNRO, with each part numbered and taped into place. To demonstrate the complexity and details of the project, Heinrich unrolled a near four-foot-long piece of tracing paper, with over forty numbered sections, each section representing one piece to be cut from balsa wood his preferred canvas.

Heinrich’s MUNRO “files” contains dozens of unrolled paper sections, each connected to his original paper template from 2010. Hundreds of hand-constructed model parts individually glued into place begin a process that, for Heinrich, is not complete until six or seven coats of paint are applied.

“The advent of superglue helped speed the original process of clamps, fans and model glue when I first began my hobby in 1987,” says Heinrich with a wry smile.

The main difference between a ship model built by Heinrich and a model built from a kit is… there are NO seams! Heinrich explains that the trick is the beeswax bead he places on every edge after each deck piece is hand-beveled to exactly fit. There are no seams visible anywhere on the finished models: the hull, the keel, the deck, the weapon mounts, the life rafts, etc. Each piece on the model is crafted with attention to detail so that each model is an exact replica (albeit considerably smaller) than the cutter it represents. Heinrich stated: “I have a certain attachment to each model I have built, and I would never build the same ship twice.”

The USCGC BLACKTHORN (WLB-391), a 180-foot seagoing buoy tender, holds a unique attachment to Heinrich. In 1980 Heinrich was directed by the USCG to be recertified on board the BLACKTHORN, then based in Tampa, FL for a trip to Galveston, TX. Heinrich, at the time a Lieutenant Commander based in Houston, TX, was concerned about his daughter getting to and from school each day during the 14 days at sea. He searched, albeit in vain, for a suitable caregiver, and he declined the assignment.

Today, Heinrich’s model of the BLACKTHORN resides in a display case at the USCGAux-Marco Island facility, with an inscription: “USCGC BLACKTHORN sank in a collision near Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980, resulting in 23 crew member fatalities.”

In addition to this fascinating hobby, Heinrich volunteers as a docent at the Military History Museum located at the Naples Airport, where his model of the USS Chicago (CA-29) is proudly displayed at the entrance. The actual 600-foot Northampton-class heavy cruiser, built in 1930, which the model is based, sank in January 1943 following a Japanese aerial torpedo attack during the Battle of Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands.

Heinrich added: “I’m always amazed at the pleasure people get from my models, but to me, it’s just a hobby.” In addition to being a history buff, a mathematician, and an artisan craftsman, Heinrich has proudly served for 30 years in the USCG, and 16 years in the USCGAux. Currently, Heinrich is the steward of his church’s cemetery.

Heinrich and his wife, Marcia, retired to Marco Island in early 1999. His daughter married a minister and relocated from California back home to Texas. In 2001 his then 30 thirty-year-old daughter was thinking about starting a family and asked Marcia if she would officially adopt her as her daughter.

One month after her first son was born in 2002, Heinrich’s daughter developed an aggressive malignant tumor. After four months of chemotherapy the tumor was surgically removed, and a final “last gasp” experimental therapy was employed. While Heinrich sat vigil with his daughter one November evening at the cancer center in Texas, Heinrich swears he heard a voice clearly say: “she is NOT going to die!” He stated that before now, he never told anyone about the incident, lest they think he was mad. One year later his daughter gave birth to a baby girl.  Heinrich’s faith is omnipresent in his life.

In the Fall of 2022, Hurricane Ian destroyed much of Heinrich’s first floor workshop, forcing him to take a hiatus from his model building. After nearly four decades of “just a hobby” he finds comfort in a new construction challenge; a mine countermeasure vessel. Like a teen trying out a new video game, Heinrich displays photographs on his phone of mine vessels as research for the upcoming project. Today’s modern mine countermeasure ship exhibits complexities unlike any he has encountered, including communications systems, the rigging, the mast, and the hull that only a master craftsman like Heinrich can appreciate. “There must be hundreds of parts on just that mast alone,” he related at a recent interview at the Military History Museum. Heinrich mused: “If I did decide to build it, where would I put it, and who would really want it or care?”

Although Heinrich takes pride in the history of all twenty-two models he has built over the decades and is still motivated by the ever-increasing complexities of newer ship designs, his ultimate satisfaction comes from the accolades from those who view his “masterpieces,” including this simple remark: “it’s so nice!”