Pearl Kasper model “a treasure”
Model-maker Ron Aaron checks the Pearl Kasper before it was installed in its display case in the Golden Bay Museum this week. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Ron Aaron says he has been a model-maker most of his life - and that's quite a long time.
Ron, who is 87, was in Takaka this week helping to deliver his latest work, a scale model of the scow Pearl Kasper, to the Golden Bay Museum. The Pearl Kasper will sit alongside Ron's earlier work, a model of Abel Tasman's Heemskerck. The Pearl Kasper was a frequent visitor to Golden Bay for about 40 years until about the beginning of World War Two.
Ron explained how the project came about.
"When I finished the Heemskerck two years ago, the museum committee and Jane McDonald asked me what my next project was going to be," said Ron. "I was pretty keen to do another one and at first we thought the Lady Barkly might be a good idea. She was a paddle steamer and I hadn't made one of them before. She was also important vessel in Golden Bay's past but I said that I'd need some plans, because I don't want to be guessing. We tried at the Maritime Museum and in Nelson and Melbourne where she was built, but we couldn't find anything. Then Robert Jenkin and John Arcus and Jane started talking to me about the scow Alma that's around here these days. I'd consulted Robert early in the Heemskerck project and he'd been to visit us. I was interested in the unusual shape of a scow so I said I'd have a go at one, so long as I could get hold of some drawings. At this stage I hadn't even heard of the Pearl Kasper. Anyway, there's a scow called the Ted Ashby in Auckland. It was built in 1951 and we discovered that the basic design of all scows is pretty standard. We got some drawings, some really useful historical photographs from magazines and a whole lot of close-up photographs of quite small details like blocks and tackles, hinges and doorknobs."
The Pearl Kasper became a prospect when, in the course of his research, Ron made contact with Gilbert Inkster and Bob Howard, who had served on the scow as teenagers in the 1930s.
"They had very clear recollections of the way the scow looked," said Ron. "They told me it was painted white and when I said that that seemed not very practical for a working scow that carried coal and so on, they said that white was a good colour because you could tell as soon as it was dirty. Anyway, the paint job on the model is faithful to what Gilbert and Bob told me."
Ron started building the model on 4 March last year and finished it on 17 September. He kept a record of his time and says it took him 974 hours.
"The time just flies by," he said. "You work for four or five hours and, because you're making such tiny little bits, there's not much to show. She was 77 feet long with a 22 foot beam. My model is on a scale of round about ¾ of an inch to a foot."
Visitors to the museum will be struck by Ron's attention to detail. The model of the Pearl Kasper has a centreboard, just like the original, that can be raised and lowered and the rudder is similarly adjustable, employing an ingenious adaptation of the scow's steering system. It also has authentic-looking anchor chains and a dinghy that can be lowered.
President of the Golden Bay Museum Society, Dilyse Roberts, described Ron's models as "treasures".
"We are just so fortunate to have this lovely gift to sit alongside the Heemskerck," she said. "A lot of people have been involved in the project, but our archivist and collection manager Jane McDonald has built up a lovely relationship with Ron and his wife Doris. People are going to love getting this close to such a wonderful model scow."
Ron says that another project is not a prospect. "I've almost had enough," he said.
Neil Wilson
