Albatross - Games Industries

By Anthony Warren

There were two ranges of model yachts called "Albatross", made by two different and unconnected manufacturers in two different eras. The use of the name by the second manufacturer was pure chance, a coincidence.

The first range was manufactured by Games Industries of London, and consisted of Bermuda-rigged sloops in the following lengths, 16", 21", 25", 30" and 36".
They were advertised by Gamages in The Meccano Magazine, dated June 1954, (page xvii), and March 1956, (page xvii). To see these pages, go to www.nzmeccano.com and click on the header “Meccano Magazine”.

(The second range of Albatross yachts, was manufactured in Paignton in Devon between 1988 and 1996 by Ian G Cornish.) 

21" Albatross

Made by Games Industries in the early 50's and available in a variety of lengths and models this one is the 21" auto steering costing 73/- in 1954 from Gamages.  Clearly expensive for the time, it was a quality product.
Characterised by flat booms, this example is unusual in being varnished, Sails were bent to the spars by being wound through eyelets with sheets mounted below;  the mainsail luff used rings to the mast.  (The mast is not original in this case).  The ‘automatic’ steering was achieved by a simple Braine gear with a forward mounted horse for beating and reaching, with sheets led through eyelets to the tiller quadrant for running.

The red example is 30" long and shows more elegant proportions.  The mast is original, but the spars being round may not be, unless this was a production quirk.  The bottom picture, the startling red of both sails and hull are almost certainly original.

 

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