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Author Topic: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit  (Read 7656 times)

Edward Pinniger

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Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« on: October 15, 2011, 04:25:42 pm »

As Francis Chichester's Gipsy Moth IV is still one of the most famous sailing yachts in history, you'd think there would be plenty of plans and reference material available for modellers. However, this seems not to be the case! An extensive web search has turned up absolutely no links to, or mentions of, any commercially available scale drawings of Gipsy Moth IV. (It doesn't help that there are a lot of pages + forum threads relating to the De Havilland biplane of the same name!) I can't even find any decent high-res photos of the real boat - either in its current seaworthy condition, or on public display at Greenwich. All I can find is this document on the boat's restoration - http://media.wiley.com/assets/1326/49/GMIV.pdf - which is an interesting read, and has some useful photos + drawings, but not really enough to build a model from.

Earlier this year, a friend of my fathers' gave me an old kit he found in his loft, to build a 26.5" sailing model of Gipsy Moth IV. The kit is produced by Hobbies and I would guess is from the late . It has a vacformed hull and cabin, wood deck and spars, and a few plastic fittings. Looks very basic but could build into a very nice working model with the help of a lot of scratchbuilding work. Unfortunately, the instructions and, most importantly, plans are missing from the kit!
Without proper scale plans, or at least some half-decent closeup photos I can't really do much with the kit. Can anyone help? I'd like to build this kit as my next R/C sail project - I completed a restoration of a Graupner "Optimist" earlier this year, and the Gipsy Moth looks like it might make a good subject for my next project - with its two-masted ketch rig, it should be an interesting challenge to build and sail - and at 26in long the kit is a lot more compact and easily transportable than the large and heavy Optimist! Gipsy Moth IV is also an interesting and historically significant boat which is very rarely seen in model form.


For anyone interested, here are some photos of the kit:









 The 6"/15cm ruler gives an idea of the hull size. The plywood deck is rather thick and heavy, and fits on top of a flange moulded around the hull top. When/if I build the model, I'm planning to remove the flange and scratchbuild a new, lighter deck. Most of the plastic fittings appear to be missing (the kit on eBay, linked to below, looks to have a lot more plastic parts in it) - not a great problem, as they are so crude + chunky as to be better rebuilt from scratch.

Also, here's another kit which sold on eBay in August - link - the buyer certainly got a bargain here at under £20 including postage! Unlike mine, this one is unstarted and complete (including plans, by the look of it). I didn't spot this auction when it was up, otherwise at this price I'd have been tempted to bid on it for the plans alone.
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joppyuk

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2011, 07:25:15 pm »

If this is a Hobbies proiduct, have you thought of contacting them direct? Before they moved from Dereham they used to run an archive search service, though any resultant plans came as A4 sheets that had to be put together.
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tigertiger

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2011, 01:14:36 am »

The original full size Gipsy Moth IV was built by Camper and Nicholsons, Gosport, Hants. who are still in business.

They may be able to offer some help with drawings and plans.

Just a thought
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2011, 03:15:20 pm »

I'll try contacting Hobbies, I'll post again here if I have any luck (or not). It didn't occur to me to contact them as the kit is so old and hasn't been produced for decades - but if they have an archive of printed material the kit plans + instructions might well be in there somewhere! I may attempt contacting Camper and Nicholsons as a last resort, but I would imagine getting plans from them could end up being very expensive, assuming they're willing to supply them.

I'm still amazed that there are no commercial plans, or kits/hulls, available for Gipsy Moth IV! There are any number of kits and plans for yachts like Enterprise, Britannia and America, and whilst Gipsy Moth doesn't have the size, glamour or period charm of those boats, it's still a very famous and quite attractive vessel.
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pugwash

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2011, 04:27:06 pm »

Edward have you tried contacting the UKSA who are now running the yacht - they are surely going to be in possession of some plans
and are always looking for donations to keep her seaworthy.  They may be worth a try.


Geoff



http://www.gipsymoth.org/
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Edward Pinniger

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2011, 06:37:47 pm »

Edward have you tried contacting the UKSA who are now running the yacht - they are surely going to be in possession of some plans
and are always looking for donations to keep her seaworthy.  They may be worth a try.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely give this a try - unfortunately I got a reply from Hobbies stating that they no longer have the plans or any other documentation for the kit, so no luck there!
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Bowow

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #6 on: March 03, 2012, 07:45:48 pm »

Hi Edward Pinnager, I read your post some time ago just after someone passed onto me a Hobbies Gipsy Moth they found in a skip. I was so intrigued by the the model that I embarked upon research that would enable me to rebuild the model. I was equally frustrated about the lack of information available but decided to go ahead using the plastic model and images from the UKSA Gipsy Moth site. I decided I would build the model just like the original ie cold molded. So far I have completed the hull (two diagonal layers of veneer) and now I'm preparing to resin sheave. So far so good but i need more information regarding deck layout, rigging, cockpit, hatch positions etc etc. I am wondering if you have had any success in finding drawings or photographs that would enable me to complete a scale model that hopefully will be a sailable vessel r/c and all. 



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cluffy

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Re: Plans needed for "Gipsy Moth IV" - Building the old Hobbies kit
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2014, 03:32:14 pm »

Hi,

I know you posted this a long time ago but did you ever find the plans?
I think I may have the same kit and have the plans :-)

Cluffy
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