Kew Bridge Steam Museum Model Boat Show The museum is situated in Brentford, which is to the west of London and the buildings were originally used by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company to house the steam pumps that provided water to London. Much of the original equipment still exists and some of the restored steam…
Welcome! This month we will conclude the write up of our visit to Skipsea Sands Model and Craft Week, go to the scale steering regatta at Bridlington, pay a visit to Maldon in Essex and finally begin modifying to electric power the Billings Karoline, otherwise known as the potato boat. Skipsea Sands Model Boats and…
Pic 1: Damsels rescued and now being safely returned to the landing stage. Only a little first aid was needed apart from the application of some ‘after sun’ cream. It was another very hot day with plenty of sun when a report came through that two young ladies had fallen from their sailing dinghy. This…
Pic 1 to 3: Burnaby Models in British Columbia, pictured by John Tarvin in early 2006. Fair bit of stock in the shop! Dear-oh-dear, it’s autumn again! From last month’s unusual foray into the early years of rock-n-roll cruising on the ‘Daff’, this month’s edition sits on more familiar ground. I’m going to start this…
Pic 1, Pic 1: This fine oil of ‘Royal Daffodil’ by Colin Moore headed up my January 2006 Xmas Special and triggered memories of an unusual cruise from Southend, 40 years ago for reader Clive Waters. Painting courtesy of Colin Moore. The good old ‘Daff’! ‘Well, what a surprise’ said Clive, before going on, ‘You…
In a country where rainfall is a far scarcer commodity than in the UK, it is heartening to see that virtually every new suburban housing development in Melbourne, Australia, now seems to incorporate some sort of water feature. These may vary from a small creek to a series of ponds to quite large lakes, often…
Intermodellbau Dortmund 2007 Intermodellbau is like no other model show. In fact it is more an experience and this year was no exception. My brief is of course to see what is new on the warship scene and this show never fails. This year there were a good crop of interesting exhibits and displays and…
HMS Endurance I had a telephone call from a mutual friend, Bob Powis, around the end of March, who asked if I was interested in taking photographs of John Mansfield’s model of HMS Endurance. I contacted John who gave some brief details of the model and we arranged to meet at the Grays Thurrock Model…
By a rough and possibly less than accurate calculation, I reckon that this is the 188th vintage and collectors column I have written and photographed for Model Boats magazine. I was minded to aim for a round 200, but after 16.5 years of pumping out 12 and sometimes even 18 columns per annum, my resolve…
Pic 1. The main parts of the superstructure completed with some of the fittings placed in position. Pic 2. A simple and useful method of identifying the structural detail against the drawing. Pic 3. The laptop allows images to be enlarged and highlighted. Pic 4. The digital card viewer is also a useful tool that…
