Hi Len, The older you get the worse it gets 🤔🤣All working perfectly now (I think)

JB

Hi jb I did not know that Optimist was a model of an actual full size yacht.

I have a model of the Gracia very similar to the Optimist but is 36 inches loa. One of my favourite models. Funnily enough I made a very similar winch control unit with a pulley on a stick which locates in the bow in a hard to get at peg.

Do you know if this had a prototype.

regards
Roy

Hi JB, the reference icon you put up for the Graupner yachts reminded me that I had built a Libera Ocean. It was for the Int Marine modelling magazine, I had been in Germany where our son lived at that time and I ordered one from a Model shop in Munich.
It was taking a while to arrive. In the meantime I had a phone call from the editor re the next build review. I mentioned my German order and he said that he had one to hand and I could build that one.
A hurriied phone call to Germany and my son cancelled the shop order. Well no response in over 3 weeks was a bit too long.

I did the review and the kit went together very nicely. The hull is built in an odd way. The bulkheads and a lot of the insides are assembled upside down on the upturned deck and when this is done the whole lot is inserted into the hull.

It is about 40 inches long and I decided to have a rehearsal first! Wth a mix of wood and plastic the recommended glue was Stablit Express. This is a 2 part glue with a 10 minute shelf life!

So I had an 80 inch+ glue line to do plus internal bulkhead attachment within the time limit! I did the rehearsal and gathered all the things I needed. This included quarter inch square pine lengths 4 feet long so that the plastic to plastic joint along the deck edge did not show pinch marks where the spring clamps were positioned.

It went OK but was glad I had done a dry run. Looking back I would have used bathroom sealer as all the reinforced parts for supporting the rigging were through the deck into the bulkheads.

She was the fastest sailing boat I ever had and the only one that would plane at speed to the disbelief of on-lookers.

I sold her on about 8 years ago as the 2 masts with all the rigging took ages to set up at the pond side!

Regards
Roy

Hi Roy, the Gracia is a nice looking Yacht, you did a great job restoring it,- I especially like the cabin style. Was the hull planked,? if so it must have been before they started using ABS (as in the Optimist, Commodore etc). Your deck planking looks good as well, much better than printed.

Re keel material,--I had to make my own lead keel (front half lead, rear half ply) as the original was cast iron, but the small model shop on Norfolk Island (5 miles x 3 miles in size, between Aust and NZ) I bought the kit from back in 78, did not bring the keels in with the kits, as the freight was too expensive. The Optimist kit I bought was the only one in the shop, (and the only one they brought in due to its' size) so I was lucky to get it.

The shop was called 'The Mini Golf Shop', - a tiny shop, owned by a lovely lady named Agnes,- packed to the roof with models, and was known round the world due to its' size and the range of models they carried, plus the fact that Norfolk Island was tax and duty free in those days. They had many Graupner boat and plane models, and I bought and flew 3 different planes, plus a helicopter, and built the Optimist and Commodore boat kits when I came back to NZ (nowhere to run them there). I bought 4 plane kits from other companies and many OS, Supertigre, K&B Veco and other IC motors as well. I Probably had one of the first new OS 4 stroke FS 60 engines in NZ, then as the price on Norfolk was around $180 Aust (tax free) and in NZ they were around $1000! It was a modelers paradise. Spent 2.5 years there.

They opened a bigger store called 'The Bounty Center,' which at one stage sold the most Lego in the world from one shop. I bought many Hornby and Lima model trains from there also.

I built 2 Graupner repro planes from the assembly plans about 5 yrs ago, due to the fact that Graupner plans were all full size with overlays, and you could just copy most parts. The original wings were Obechi over foam, so I had to design built up wings for both planes as well as reproducing all the decals. They fly as well as the originals which were long gone. I've posted all the Graupner models I've built, (most in the 70s and early 80s) and the recent repros, (pics 4,5,6,7,8.) I still have the plans for the Terry, Taxi, Cub, Optimist and Commodore as well as the original boxes for the Cub and helicopter. I also have a Graupner catalogue from 1978 which has an amazing volume of Graupner models and accessories, plus a Graupner Multilader (multi charger) from back then for Nicads.

I've taken pics of the Optimist plans and I'll post them together as a separate post, as they might be useful for reference if anyone has an Optimist they are rebuilding. They can possibly be downloaded and blown up to full size if needed, or if anyone wants a copy of them, they can PM me. The beauty of the old Graupner plans was that you could reproduce the entire model (except for maybe helicopters) with a bit of work and thought, (probably even the Optimist as a planked hull).

JB

Michel c
You are really an asset to th forum!!!!!

Dear Hermank,
I still owe you one, don't forget it. You organised plans for me back then too! I haven't forgotten!
Michel-C.

Heiho JB-Kiwi!
Actually, I'm a bit jealous because your Optimist is sailing ... while mine is waiting to be revived. But on the other hand, I'm glad that these models still exist. (Of course, this also applies to all other models)
It bothers me that my paddle steamer requires so many solutions.
One day, I hope, mine will be back on the see.
Tinkerer's greetings
Michel-C.

Hi what a lovely venue! I have found inserting a flexible length of piano wire into the seem at the foot of the jib sail stops it wrapping itself around the fore stay.

My best yacht is my Graupner Gracia, she still looks lovely on the water every time I sail her. I restored / finished the build of her nearly 20 years ago now. Interesting to note she has a cast iron keel weight!
Roy