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Classic Pond Yachts

'Scholar Gypsy' What is the design?

I saw her advertised in the VMYG pond site news letter, she was for sale at the bottom of the page, she looked really nice, so I bought her, another model to re build! advert pictures below. "The Scholar-Gipsy" (1853) is a poem by Matthew Arnold, a very long poem! already old when this model was built.

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Here are the words from the description of the model -

"The model yacht is some 41 inches in length, it was built by her father in law and late husbands’ brother during the late 40’s or early 50’s.  There are no sails but spars are available and the mast measures about 50 inches.  I feel she could have been built at an earlier date as her lines are not unlike some of the 18 footer class boats.  Alternatively she could have been built to the 5 Rater class rule although her lines equally reflect a 1920/30’s Meter design."

I suspect she may have been built simply as the model of a full size yacht of the period, a very fine bow for a model racing yacht design.

Here are some pictures.

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She was sat very bow down when I got her, so I have made a new forward support so she sits slightly bow up. Much more work required on the whole stand to make it look nice.

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A very pretty transom, when repainted she will look great.

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A very fine bow, it will be interesting to see how she sails.

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Nice deck gear, well made. Interesting forestay fitting arrangement, it is angled to allow the jib to slide aft, it only just clears the boom when all the way forward, what advantage is there in it being able to slide?? Also the Jib sheet track is angled, you would think it would be hard for the sheet to go all the way out when tacking?? it would seem to want to stay in the middle of the boat??

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A nice Brain gear and mainsheet track fitted.

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Quite a nice deck hatch fitted, most of the deck gear and build quality very nice, she will be a nice model. Also you can see from the pictures, the builders had a good knowledge of model yachts.

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The sails are very old, and a good indication of the models age, sadly only good for Templates and to maybe repair to set for display.

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Some internal pictures, I can't see any joints in the timber, so wonder if she was very nicely carved from solid ?? I have done a couple of simple measurements, and the hull midships is 10mm thick, more work to find out how she was built.

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A nice model, some work to get her at her best, a repaint and varnish, will be the first job, but she is in a queue !!

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