Scale 1:100

Photos by the author

The Original:

The imperial yacht (�Kaiseryacht� in German) Meteor I was built by D. & W. Henderson shipyard based on a design from G.L. Watson. Originally named �Thistle� this racing cutter had a quite innovative design at its time being assembled entirely from steel, and its nicely curved bow and the large pelmets gave the yacht an elegant appearance. Though unsuccessful in its fight for the America�s Cup in 1887, where she lost against the �Volunteer�, the Thistle proved herself in many successful races in the following years. In 1891 the German Emperor Wilhelm II bought the Thistle for 110.000 Mark to participate with her in the Cowes Week, and renamed her as Meteor I.

You can find pictures from the original yacht with some text (in German) under:

http://www.klaus-kramer.de/Schiff/Staatsyacht/Deutschland/Meteor_I/Meteor_1_top.html

The Kit:

The Construction:

The assembly was straightforward and the pieces fitted well.

Some care should be taken to fit the deck parts onto the framework of the hull. Note, that the deck�s outer edge has to be slanted, e.g. by some sandpaper as I have used. This should not be forgotten, as the outer surface of the hull is rather tight.

The kit provides red and black strips to cover the edges where white or grey cardboard would otherwise be seen.

The parts of component 15 provide the stand for the model. Again I used my own wood-like texture to cover the sides and the backs of the parts.

After the hull was placed on the stand (actually, I did not glue it), a number of small pieces were added to the deck (components 16 to 25). It was easy and fast work.

With component 26 the construction of the mast and yards started. The photos given below show you how most of them are assembled from layers of cardboard, which gives the pieces the necessary strength to hold the rigging.

Only the mast is to be rolled from a long piece of paper to give it strength. I did not do so, but preferred to use a 5 mm round wood, which I sanded into some kind of conic shape until it fitted into the mast.

The photo above shows you further the instructions for the use of the special frame provided with the model to build the grid-like ratlines. The technique is similar to making your own railings from thread. After rolling the string crosswise around the frame, pull it tight and fix it with a knot or some glue. Then apply some layers of glue to the string and let it dry well. I used here �Bondo� diluted with some water, which is most likely the same stuff as Wisccoll in Europe.

The frame is a very useful piece of equipment, which you may wish to keep for another sailing boot, e.g. the Yacht �America� from the same publisher described by Ron Hoolwerf in the April 2003 issue of the card model e-magazine (a very nice kit recommended to everybody).

The final components of the kit (32 to 42) provided the parts for the yards and sails. In addition different flags were included to decorate your model.

Having all sails and yards ready, the rigging of the model can start. Initially I thought about making my own blocks from cardboard, but then I discovered by chance some wooden blocks in a German toy store, where my daughter wanted to take a look. I decided to change my mind for the better. The blocks are bit larger than the ones given in the kit, but I used them anyway.

The rigging of a sailing ship can be tedious work, and even for a rather small yacht like this you can spend some time on it. As I did not believe that the rigging information in the instructions is complete, and I added here and there some more strings, where I felt they could be �useful�. Therefore my rigging is probably in part not quite right, but I had no original plans. Also with respect to the string used (just taken from our sewing box), I was not very careful, as there are special strings out there for model building. Furthermore, usually the �standing� rigging is black (tarred to protect against the water), while the running ropes have commonly a lighter color (at least on old ships). Finally, it is good advice to attach first the blocks to the mast, yards, and sails before starting the rigging. At the end it is good to �paint� the rigging with some glue (I used the same as for the ratlines) to give it some strength and to avoid that the threads become covered in fluff with time.

As you can see on the photos, I made a mistake in adjusting the ratlines, which ended up too be to high, and I decided not to use the big outer sail (component 38). A photo on the Polish Internet page mentioned above gave me the idea to omit this sail and to place the yard on the side of the mast.� This saves a lot of space when you are looking for a place to put the model. The flagstaff on top of the mast is not included in the kit. I prepared it from some 1 mm wire covered by my wood-like texture topped by a round piece of cardboard. And so the assembly of the model ended by adding three flags to the yacht.

This model was great fun to build, though I made some small mistakes here and there. At the end the kits offers everything needed to give you a very nice showpiece for your collection. The texture of the wood and the printing are so good, that from some angles it is hard to believe that this model is �just� made from paper. Even if you have only little experience in card modeling, you will find this model a pleasure to build as the pieces fit together very well. And when you have developed a taste for it, there are many more nice and interesting boat/ship models out there in the same scale and designed by Alvar Hansen to keep you going for some time.

Summary:

Photos from the Assembled Model: