1/700 MV Wild Goose. John Wayne's Yacht '62-'79. TLAR #124

[Rhino]

YMS-1 class Minesweeper YMS-328 in the WWII fit. Long before her conversion to The Duke's Wild Goose yacht. The build begins with the original Minesweeper deck plan drawing, a digital caliper and a calculator.
Her skipper during 16 years of the Wayne family's ownership of this yacht was an Englishman named Bert Minshall.
A copy of Captain Minshall's book "On Board with the Duke. John Wayne and the Wild Goose" is on it's way.

The version of this ship I will labor to produce will be her 1969 Fit. Right after the addition of the master cabin on the 01 deck with overhead clearance high enough for a tall man to stand comfortably, without ducking. The starting place is, oddly enough, the starting place. Never mind Blue Crab Cay. It's not for this kit.

The Minesweeper hull remained largely unchanged. The powerplants remained 2 General Motors 8-268A 880bhp each. The same diesel engine that powers locomotives on our nation's rail system.

I introduced Wild Goose in the RV Calypso thread, so I won't bang on so very much about her in the beginning of this thread.

Eskimos cleaned snow and started frigid cars today. If we had 13 more degrees Fahrenheit, the mercury would read "0".
Stay warm! Clear the snow from around the exhausts of your furnaces and water heaters!

 

[Rhino]

The Duke (Not Mark. sorry!) owned quite a few boats and ships in his time.

The stern-wheeler from the 1955 film Blood Alley lies along the banks of the Sacramento river.

 

[moon puppy]

:duke

Thought we had a Duke emote...

 

[Rhino]

"Is sage Dich, Pferdlein soldat, Das ist ganz genau umbumsengemachen!"
German John Wayne.

 

[Rhino]

The book came yesterday. It contains less technical information about Wild Goose than I wished for. This volume is chock-full of anecdotes and first hand experiences with the man that ran his tri-cycle into my Gramma Rhiner and her sister's shins in front of the Montross Drug Store, as a much younger boy. Duke was on his third and final Mrs. Wayne while he owned the Wild Goose. I admire him.
Son, Ethan does his dad proud on the set of True Grit. Ethan's "One-eyed, fat man" impression.

Anyway, that's not really model related. Please don't banish me to FaceHole or make me listen to Anne Murray music!? Horrors!

(Bert Minshall photo)
I was working on the Bar on the afterdeck. My meager effort will not begin to entail the grandeur of this part of the yacht.
3 tries. #1, Too chunky. #2, Too big. #3, That looks about right. Still, could Duke have had too big a Bar on his vessel? Well, a snazzy staircase does go next to it.

Like the Reliance class cutters, USS Potomac and Calypso models, Wild Goose is another "Covered Wagon" style Master. The overhead frames are marked for drilling supports to the railing below. this also helps stiffen the main deck for molding and casting.
Thanks again for looking in!

 

[moon puppy]

ran his tri-cycle into my Gramma Rhiner and her sister's shins in front of the Montross Drug Store

Say what?

 

[Rhino]

Say what?

No Kiddin'! Gramma grew up in Winterset. Lil' Marion Morrison was quite the pistol!

 

[Rhino]

First go at the Master salon, flying bridge and pilot house. The flying bridge is cool, but it's curved front part is slightly undersized.
This pilot house doesn't have the needed elevated bridge, this Master salon (Duke's taller bedroom) is 120 scale inches tall.
John Wayne was 6'4" so It should be closer to 96 scale inches.
Oops.
Do-Over coming up!
Much of making these model ship parts is finding out if I can do it. I will still mold and cast them for future use.
Thanks fer lookin' in Pil-grim.

 

[Rhino]

From 1962 to 1979 Duke's Wild Goose underwent many alterations to her upperworks.
The version I hope to market is the manlier "I'ma goin' ta 'Laska to catch some salmon, wah-ha" Wild Goose.
This iteration had no friggin' flying bridge.

Do-Over progresses. Nobody said the big spray shield had to be part of the deck house.
I expect her to come together something like this.

There is some conjecture that the Frankie Laine version of "Wild Goose" had a hand in Duke's choice of names for his largest yacht.
Frankie was a wildly popular western singer in those days. We recognize Frankie for other of his songs. "Rawhide", "Cool Water" and.....

 

[moon puppy]

Shaping up nicely.

 

[Gator]

Nice work.

 

[Rhino]

Wild Goose has her stack. A start has been made on p/e door/window details. Her foc'sle need more contour details and this vessel will have her Danforth anchors mastered on the hull. It should be an easy, fun build of a largely unknown ship.
Thanks fer lookin' in pil-grim. wah-ha.