Usually known as a Gypsy caravan, the Romani peoples prefer the term "Vardo", Romani for 'living waggon'. There is one other waggon of a similar type, the Open Lot.

The Bow top is probably the cheapest travelling waggon to build (full size) and was a very hardy vehicle withstanding the poor roads of the mid to late 1800s on. This waggon was also a favourite with Victorian families who used them for holidays, 'roughing it'.

A Bow top photo that keeps turning up on the web is a van named Esmeralda which was owned and used by the London Poets Society who played gypsy in the Welsh hills as an escape from Victorian London.

This was my first waggon and was the result of a challenge made when I was almost dismissive of a 'cheap' plywood model purchased in London by a family member.

As I said in the intro, very basic tools were used on this model; it was made one cold winter sitting on the floor in the evenings in front of a nice warm fire. The model was made from line drawings and written descriptions; it was not till later I discovered this van should have been half timbered with the roof being layers of painted cotton/cloth material.

Lights on each side of the door are not normal, that's my touch, and they are made from pieces of scrap brass fittings and the tops from glass medical vials (snap offs).



Heart Rimu, old house framing timber (150 x 50mm rough sawn), milled down to individual planks to mimic the old penny board favoured by the Romani in the UK.

Floor is a piece of off-cut ply with a Rimu sapwood veneer, scored to mimic floor boards running front to back. Door is Rimu sapwood, steps are Rewarewa (new wood).
Shafts are heart Rimu with leather bindings, all finished with two coats of varnish.

Wheels and running gear are Rimu sapwood, unvarnished but stained with a red 'leather stain', one of the very few times I have used a stain on timber.

Tyres are formed from rubber stripped from the inside of old gas tubing which gives a good tyre like tread.

Springs are aluminium with brass hangers. The straps over the roof are shielding from old electronic cables. All metal apart from the springs are brass including the 5th wheel.