In the Summertime!

It's time to impose another blog on you poor unsuspecting readers! Fortunately the merry band has been enjoying those lazy, crazy, day's of summer and so have not been taxing themselves too heavily. A couple of great afternoons at the pond to put the world aright and "work" with the boats has been a welcome break from the ever present pandemic (caption, with apologies to the Kinks).

We have added new members to the Club, and I'll add my welcome to John S., and Dave B; glad to have you aboard. Now, where did I leave you readers hanging at the end of my last writing? It seems to me that John McK. was putting the Maid of Styrene in dry dock ............ after he found cracks in the hull (rather a good idea, don't you think?).

Oh, and Don had a fantastic birthday present from the Mrs (no, not a dish cloth) ; it a Trumpeter 1:350 kit of the WW II aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Clearly someone wants to be sure Don does not get up to any nefarious activities for quite a while. Surely it will be another fantastic finish to add to his already amazing constructs of WW ll warships. After seeing the harbour scene that the Commodore has been working on, Don is also thinking that he would like to incorporate some animation (this competitive building is getting interesting, but I can see the budgets for 16 ch radios and multiple servos coming under close scrutiny from our significant others).

I'm told that John is thinking along the lines of a fairly large scale east coast fishing boat, something similar to Bob W's and that Bob, himself, is looking to build a largish scale Clyde Puffer. The Commodore has some plans (ex-Dirk) and will "present" them at the next meeting. By the way, there was an interloper at the pond ............... someone (who shall be nameless) brought a Germany Panzer Tiger Tank to the beach. It didn’t float, but it had road lights, and machine-gun and cannon sound effects with recoil action when the cannon fired; quite the model. It seemed at home on the desert sands by the boat launch.

There have been the usual unexpected happenings at the pond (oxymoron?); actually, it's unusual that we have a pond outing when nothing goes wrong! George found that the heat in his car had caused damage to his model tug (Husky) and careful repairs would be required.

When someone forgets to extend the fm radio antenna, range is very short and soon boats can do weird things at the other end of the pond. Dave B. had his stern wheeler in the pond and all was going well until she sank (of course at the far end of the pond). Tristan McK came to the rescue and recovered the model from 10ft down (while the cows continued to browse in the bush, nearby). He was awarded a Club hat, what else could be expected after such valiant service! Never mind, it's all ACTION, ACTION, ACTION at the pond and a great way to spend an afternoon.