Abstract: A small ice model basin (SIMB) has been newly constructed in China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) and put into use for ice-related fundamental researches such as ice modeling, determination of ice mechanics and study on ice-structure interaction, etc. The basin has a dimension of 8 m in length, 2 m in width and 1 m in depth. Columnar saline ice is made from thin sodium chloride solution with an accurately controlled process of pre-cooling, freezing and tempering, which incorporates with seeding at the beginning and micro bubbling in the operation of freezing. A series of measurements of physical and mechanical properties along with microstructure observations of the resulted model ice have verified the main design aspects well, and, the realization of SIMB can make an effective platform for some fundamental researches on ice.