FEW PEOPLE CAN BOAST OWNING A SPANISH GALLEON, A PADDLEWHEEL DROGHER, A COUPLE OF SAIL BOATS AND AN AMPHIBIOUS COMBAT VEHICLE – LET ALONE CLAIM TO HAVE BUILT THEM BY HAND – BUT GEMLIFE WOODEND’S GORDON RAY CAN.
Currently, he is building a model of the Santa Maria, the 15th century caravel which was one of the three ships that Christopher Columbus used on his journey to the New World.
“Those ships really weren’t designed for oceangoing, they were usually used for trading around the Mediterranean, which makes their voyage even more remarkable,” he said.
Learning the history of the boats he builds is all part of the enjoyment of modelmaking, which Gordon says he first took up in the early 1970s and then came back to in 2009.
“The models I build are about three feet in length and they’re built from scratch,” said Gordon. “The only exception is a plastic model of an amphibious combat vehicle including the German Schwimmerwagen created by Ferdinand Porsche and used in World War Two.”
Using plywood, along with wooden ice cream craft sticks, larger models such as a Spanish galleon can take up to one year to make.
“I start by looking around the internet to see what I’d like to build first, then look for plans, good profile images, and scale up from that,” says Gordon.
“The models are fairly detailed but not like museum-quality pieces. I call them tenfooters because they look at their very best from ten feet away.”
One of Gordon’s models holds special significance – a replica of the river-going drogher, a flat-bottomed vessel with paddle wheels at the rear.
“My great grandfather was captain of one of these vessels in the NSW Hunter Valley,” he said.
“These cargo vessels plied the Clarence and Richmond Rivers, taking cargo from the ports to the communities situated upriver.”
Gordon’s models are more than just gorgeous to look at, they’re also designed to sail on lakes and ponds too.
“The models of tall-masted ships like the caravel are difficult because one gust of wind can capsize them, so sometimes they receive false keels – because what goes on under the water is no one else’s business!” he said with a laugh.
“Often with these elaborate models, they’ll go out on the water a couple of times before being put up on display. I have a couple of plastic sail boats that I use when I want to get out on the water and watch them perform.”