Log Ferry with Train Car – Scratch Built model by Peter Zorn *SOLD*

Log Ferry with Train Car Scratch Built model by Peter Zorn

In checking logging and boat history this Ferry or tug boat was also known as an “Alligator” and it was used for moving logs up and down river.  At times these are also known as “hovercrafts”.  This said, if the current or wind out powered it, the front winch could be used to drag it.

So our Alligator could also winch itself up onto land (like the reptile) and move forward slowly.  In the cases of US and Canadian logging, they used rolling timber under the pontoons to put it into storage or move it to the next destination.  Peter made an ingenious custom train car for such transportation.

Detailing is spectacular from the wheels and train car braking system, to the steam engine powering the boat (non operable).  Even the winch and cable get a master modeler’s touch.  Split logs are set in the back for fuel to power the slow logging beast.

History

Peter Zorn unfortunately has left us, but he was employed as a designer in Miami as well as making custom paper, architectural, and scale models for fun as well as publication.  The paper models could be printed then assembled.

Peter was born on May 8, 1940 in Sandusky, Ohio. He received his BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art, and MFA from the University of Miami, where he was invited to join the faculty. Peter had three careers, and numerous productive avocations. In 1965, Peter was hired as an industrial designer by the Pittsburgh firm of Muller-Munk Associates, whose clients included Westinghouse, Waring and US Steel. In 2015, the Carnegie Museum of Art presented a retrospective of pioneering Muller-Munk designs, with the original designers, including Peter, honored by the museum at the opening ceremonies. On display was Peter’s groundbreaking environmental graphic design for Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, including a photograph of a much younger Peter. Peter later joined the industrial design firm of Stewart-Macdonald Co, in Athens, Ohio, producing graphic and product design for US Dept. of Commerce, US Dept. of Agriculture, Grumman Aviation, and American Packaging Corp., among others. After attaining his master’s degree from the University of Miami, Peter stayed on to become a professor of art and graphic design. He retired from the university in 1993 as a tenured full professor. Peter then joined the Coral Gables design firm of Tom Graboski Associates as senior graphic designer. Peter was still employed by TGA full-time at the time of his death, producing environmental graphic design for botanical gardens, theme parks, and more than twenty Royal Caribbean cruise ships. While at University of Miami, Peter joined forces with Dr. Stephen Bowles, a professor in the film department, to write a series of award winning screenplays. Their screenplay “Florida City” (released as “Small Time Conspiracy”) was produced by Nancy Hector and Paul Lazarus (“Westworld”) and starred Jeannetta Arnette (“Boys Don’t Cry”), Zen Gesner, and William Morgan Sheppard. With Nat Chediak, Steve Bowles and Peter Zorn founded the Miami International Film Festival. Peter was selected as official poster artist for the first festival (1984), and also the tenth, one of the few artists to ever have his work selected twice. Peter’s iconic image for the first Miami Film Festival poster a director’s chair in the sand is displayed in movie theaters and private collections across the country. Other exhibitions of his art and design include: Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables; Hortt Memorial Exhibition, Palm Beach; Viktor Schreckengost Legacy Exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, Mass.; and the PMMA Retrospective Exhibit at Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Peter again teamed with Dr. Bowles and Professor Ron Mangravite to write “The Screenwriter’s Manual: A Complete Reference of Format & Style” (Pearson), the standard textbook used in screenwriting courses nationwide.