Mission Sitrep No. FBC-1901
Date of Mission: 3-4 Aug 2019
Location of Mission: Malkara Specialist School, Garran ACT
Weather: A balmy 22C beside the indoor pool, compared to 8C outside.
Ships in Attendance: 64 models of various scales from 1/20 paddle steamers to 1/350 liners, included an excellent display of 1/72 Naval and merchant fleet models. The quality of models presented and the interactive nature of the display earned the People’s Choice Best Exhibit award.
Members in Attendance: TF72 members from Canberra, Sydney, Wagga, Cootamundra and ACT Model Boat Club members.
Mission Actions:
Friday evening: TF72 members arrived to set up the display in cooperation with the ACT Model Boat Club. Attendance by Rob Dingey from Tongala in Victoria provided some magnificent examples from Rob’s collection of 1/20 scale Murray River paddle steamers.
Murray River Paddle steamers displayed by Robert and Mark Dingey from Tongala, Vic.
Saturday: Members were on the water at 0900 enjoying the balmy 22C atmosphere of the indoor pool whilst outside the daily maximum temperature struggled to achieve double figures. Members alternated boats on the pool throughout the day whilst enjoying the occasion and viewing the various exhibits including model railway layouts, live steam, dolls houses and scale models plus retail sales stands. TF72 received excellent TV exposure of the model boat exhibit on the Saturday night ABC News.
On Saturday night a number of TF72 members gathered at John Harriott’s house to operate his model railway ‘the Kunama Line’ which is based on NSW branch line operations between Cootamundra, Tumut and Batlow.
Tony Page discovering the joy of operating a model railway (playing with trains!!).
Sunday: Model boating operations resumed at 1000 and members engaged with a steady flow of patrons throughout the day with many parents reporting that “their children wanted another look at the boats”. Whilst the exquisite detail of the model warships and merchant vessels intrigued adult patrons a couple of larger tugs with fire fighting appliances ensured water spouts delighted the children with sprays of water along the edge of the pool. Whilst operating a model amongst the crowd it is rewarding to hear the comments of people with a family connection or interest in a particular model.
Karl Maurer, Bob Murdoch and David Peterson enjoying the opportunity to run boats inside during the Canberra winter.
TF72 FBC members were most pleased with their contribution to Exhibit 31 which was awarded the People’s Choice Award for the Best Exhibit.
Packed up by 1630 we decided that after two days of full on model boating that perhaps we should cancel our regular weekly Monday morning sailing session in preference for a sleep in for those retired members and a morning charging batteries and affecting any repairs.
Major local activities for FBC during the rest of 2019 include static displays at:
- the Canberra Model Shipwrights Society annual exhibition 21-22 Sep at the Mount Rogers Primary School, Alfred Hill Drive, Melba, ACT, 2615, and
- Scale ACT’19 9-10 Nov 2019 at UC High School, 108 Baldwin Ave Kaleen ACT. http://www.actsms.asn.au
Fair sailing,
John
FBC Representative