Page 1 - Bluebird of Chelsea

Bluebird of Chelsea

It all started with a comment made to me by fellow Margam Park Marine Modelling Club
member, Jim Warren. It was back in April at the 2006 Swansea Model Boat Show when he

appeared from behind a pillar and whispered, “Hey Rick, I’ve just spotted our next build, come
and have a look!” I followed him, at a safe distance of course!, to the ‘Cwmbran’ model boat
stand. There, in pride of place, was one of the most striking models I have ever seen. She was
called ‘Bluebird of Chelsea’ and had been researched and scratch built by Geoff Taylor. The
more we looked, the wider the smiles became. We were hooked for sure. Bluebird was going
to be the next project - for both of us.

Jim took lots of photos and had a long chat with Geoff. He was a great help. Not only did he
offer to pass on details of suppliers and research information but he also gave us specific hints
on potential problem areas which he had encountered during the build. Jim and I are deeply
indebted to him.

The model was originally drawn up by David Metcalf to a scale of 1/24th which resulted in a
26 inch hull length. David also wrote a nine part series on the build of his version and was
published in the ‘Model Boat’ magazine between 1991 and 1992. This is a fantastic reference
for any budding builders. However, our version, like Geoff’s, was to be twice this size at 52
inches. The increase would lend itself to plenty of enjoyable scale work.

Our starting point was the hull. Geoff had purchased his from Harry Green of Birmingham. Jim
made a phone call and ordered two Bluebird hulls at £40 each. Harry produces them with the
correct amount of lead ballast cast into the keel during the manufacturing process. They were
ready for collection ten days later!

All we had to do was drive to Birmingham and pick them up. Now I’ve got a lot of faith in sat
nav systems. “Forget the telephone instructions Jim; I’ve got this little gizmo which will take
us to his door with an accuracy of a cruise missile! Just pop in the target reference, sorry, post
code and Bingo!” Well, all was perfect until shortly after we left the M5. The sat nav did in
fact take us to the street we wanted but all the houses had odd numbers! I asked one of the
residents where the even numbered houses were. She was amazed! No one had ever asked her
that before! She didn’t know anyway. There was, however, a nice street nearby which had lots
of even numbers, maybe I would like to go with her…..I was starting to panic now. There were
strange, large birds circling overhead and as I walked briskly back to
the car I swear I heard a few familiar bars of banjo music. “Quick Jim
drive!” “Where?” “Anywhere, just drive!” After two hours driving
around every district in Brum Jim said, “If all else fails we could try
this”, and passed me a piece of paper with the telephone directions to
Harry’s house”. I thanked him politely, switched off the sat nav and
ten minutes later Harry opened his front door and ushered us in. “Have a good trip? I thought
you’d have been here hours ago”. “Well”, lied Jim, “It was such a nice day we decided to stop
off for a bite to eat, no point rushing these things, is there, look you.” We collected the hulls,
graciously declined the offer of a cup of tea and two hours later were back, safe, in Wales.