Be Careful What You Wish For !!!

Yes, it’s my problem this time, and you dear reader are the beneficiary of my injudicious request to Club members for good image cover for the recent get-together at The Pond. My thanks to all those good folks for providing me with such “bounty”. There is some other coverage in this blog, as well, but the weather was great so members made good use of it ……..and why not take lots of images? The meet was well attended, the models worked and none were lost or sunk, and everyone could go home and feel they had a great day.

Starting with the “Other Coverage” first, let’s see what Don has been up to! To pass the time and to keep his delicate touch with the paints and those particularly detailed bits and pieces (and, I expect, to avoid garden chores), he’s completed a small group of WW II Japanese destroyers (1:700 Waterline Models, a gift from the Commodore from a while back). By the time Don got round to making them, the transfers were unusable, so the names are hand painted on the hulls. E-Z line was used for the rigging.

Top-down, they are: the Hatsushimo (First Frost) built in 1933. She hit a mine shortly before the end of WW II and was run aground. At 359 ft LOA, she had a speed of about 36 Knots. The ship was broken up in 1948. The Akishimo (Autumn Frost) was completed in in 1944 and sunk by carrier-based aircraft, in the same year. She was 390 ft LOA and had a speed of about 35 knots. The Arashio (Storm Tide) was built in 1937. At 388 ft LOA, she had a speed of about 35 Knots. She was bombed by aircraft and sunk in1943, while on escort duty.

Don has also finished his WW II Royal Navy Carrier, the Ark Royal (see, also an earlier blog about this model). Images (top-down) show the model, overall; the aft sections have Blackburn Skuas (fighter/dive bomber) and Fairey Fulmars (fighter/reconnaissance) on the flight deck. On the lower image panel, Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers are shown on the for’ard flight deck; around and in the lift (wings folded). Whip aerials are mounted along the edge of the flight deck.

Joe says he’s been making good progress with his Revell model “Firefighter” (a historic New York fire fighting boat). He plans to make the for’ard water canon functional, and has been thinking of installing a small smoke generator if there is space. He’s also looking at the power layout; that is, installing the twin motors side-by-side or stepped one in front of the other (no decision at time of going to press). He’s also considering if stuffing boxes are needed and if he needs to make new props or use the existing plastic props from the kit (not designed for real use).

For some years now I have been looking for an original (unopened) Revell kit of the Fairplay tug. I have been searching the Net on and off for ages, looking all over. A few weeks ago, I hit “pay dirt”! I sent off an order as soon as I could and waited with considerable uncertainty about what would come. Well, the kit arrived, wonderfully packed to protect it, all contents original and unopened, and sourced from France. I’m a very happy model maker with this very small kit to build over the winter. I plan to build the boat as a conversion using coreless motors for the azimuth drives (a similar conversion is shown on uTube), and equip it with a working water canon). Not only do I have a rather small but detailed model to build, but I have to refine the layout for everything required to make it functional ………… and not sink with the weight of the extra parts, fun, fun, fun (I hope).

So, now, let’s go to the Pond. Jeremy’s USN Crockett is finished and looks every bit “The Real Thing”. The finish is really great, especially with all of the “fiddly bits” painted and installed. He took extra care mounting the superbly painted crew even to the point of drilling holes in their boots, so that they could be pegged and glued in place (actually I think his significant other promised dire consequences if he should damage, lose, or otherwise deface her fine contributions to this vessel). You have to agree, the crew members really do look their part and are realistically posed in their tasks. Oh yes, and the model was launched and it did work well. Congratulations Jeremy, it’s a fine piece of work.

We had our “keeners” getting the boats ready and at least they were able to do so in partial shade. We also had the watchful eye of our supervisory staff, also well located.

There was a nice new table waiting for the boats, when they were ready; but, of course, the sailboat had to be the odd-man-out on its cradle. With so much going on it did not get launched but there should be enough depth of water to do so, at the end of the dock. Hopefully, we’ll see it sailing at a future meet (Nathan tells me its a 2M Shundo Ocean Star that he has not sailed for a while, it performs well but takes a bit of time to rig).

Lastly, here’s proof that the Crockett was successfully launched, and Dave launched his Tito Nero, a very fine model tug. Given the ideal conditions, John H. also launched his model of the German battleship Bismarck; something of an occasion, it’s quite a while since this model has been on the water!