Towing again.

Towing again.

On my last post I suggested that one of the tugs would be able to tow someone in the rescue boat!.

Member Andy Quick sent me this item this week!.

Last Monday UK-based Mick Carroll was passing through the town of Market Drayton when he spotted an unusual sight – a man cruising down the canal with the help of a tiny remote-controlled tug boat.

Carroll took a picture of the scene and posted it to Facebook with the caption: “Dont ya just love eccentric’s. Seen this fella as we were passin thru Market Drayton gettin pulled along by a remote control tug. Brilliant.” According to the Facebook post, as the man cruised passed him, he shouted: “Just when you thought you’d seen everything!” Ah. Genius.

Thanks for the item, Andy!.

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Next events

   27th -   28^th August,    Haydock Park Model Boat Show  

Theme –   Ships of the Mersey              Haydock Park. Club Stand. 
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1500        27^th August      Saturday       Time Trials                      Landing Stage

1900       31^st August       Wednesday    Club 500 Racing             Landing Stage

1500       3^rd September    Saturday        Club 500 Racing             Landing Stage

1000        4^th September   Sunday           Fiesta Racing                   Landing stage

1100   11th September    Sunday         Commodore’s Challenge     Landing Stage

2000   14th Sepember      Wednesday      AUCTION NIGHT       Clubhouse                                                    AUCTION NIGHT                                  BADGES MUST BE WORN for ADMISSION

Bob Abell, News at Ten, Haydock Model Boat Show

At long last, the great day had arrived!

This show must be the most impressive show on the model boat calendar and is absolutely massive.,.....There must be about twelve Exhibition halls, spread over two floors. As is the norm, security and the strict regimental organisation is very impressive. The main hard working organisers, are Jean and Arthur Barlow and countless dozens of assistants, all in all.....A fantastic achievement! 
Congratulations to Joan and Arthur......I don't know how you do it!

I entered three models in the scratch build section, but the competition was awesome
Some of the models, especially the impressive warships, took ten years to complete!
There were hundreds and hundreds of quality models to be seen..........There were so many, I have to confess that, I got slightly bored at times!
I actually galloped through the upper floor in about ten minutes!
Really impressive stuff and club stands etc, but far too much to take in, on a busy two day show
It's very nice to meet old friends and put faces to names of people we chat with, on the Model Boats website etc
This years main model theme was for models designed by Glynn Guest
Glynn is a prolific designer of easy build models and he could be seen many times, walking about the halls with Paul Freshney, Editor of ModelBoats Magazine

The only thing that let's the show down, is the lack of a real lake

It's not much bigger than Coniston Pool on my drive at home
Had a quick sail with SloMo2, but the pool was too small to demonstrate the Brushless motors
Apologies once again to the lad with the model, I slightly bumped into.........Having lost the reverse signal for some reason
No harm done, but his boat got a bit wet.
The pool was in use all day, with announcements when free sailing was available
The Pegboard was not very well controlled, the frequency being used was written on a chart at the entrance, with no reference to this method at the pond side
The days of the crystal system are numbered.

Mr and Mrs Paul Freshney talking to Paul Thomason, about the size of fish he never caught last week!
Paul organised our stand in aid of the charity for Parkinson's disease and has done a fine job. I think we collected about £150 altogether
Our stand, as you can see, was very convenient for easy access to the car park and next door to the cafeteria too........Very handy for a quick cuppa!

Lady Joyce at the show, with club member Willy Williamson, admiring the novel motor drive system, which impressed most visitors
We were very impressed with battery life, we did nearly 7 hours on one charge, demonstrating the motor drive
Got a nice idea of asking for a 10p donation to the charity for most demos
The visitors were all for it.

Lady Joyce herself came on the Sunday and she enjoyed the event very much
We all enjoyed the show in fact and we never got bored, the whole two days!
There was too much to see and lots of visitors and acquaintances to talk to and have a few laughs with!

Paul talking to our website colleagues, Mr and Mrs M Farrell
We've known Mike for quite a few years now and he has built Paul's tugboat Thor
He's a real glutton for punishment.....They stayed the night and came back for more.

Our old friend..... Dave Wooley........The official reporter for the ModelBoats Magazine
He came to see us quite a few times and is always good company and easy going.
He took our photo with the Lady Joyce model and we hope to see it published shortly in the magazine
Nice meeting you again, Dave!.

General pictures around the stalls
Lady Joyce........Stephenson's Bros 55ft bridge deck motor yacht
also referred to as The Lady Joyce.....Vintage Gentleman's Cruiser
Powered by four MFA 850 motors.........As a crowd puller
Refer to ModelBoats website forum for the full story.

Click here for full story!.

Etherow Model Boat Club stand.....With Colin, Donald and Geoff Garside, the resident Electronic expert
I am a member of this club

The Bring and Buy stall was trading well for the two days

Spotted a nice old Burgess Bandsaw.....Going for a song
Paul sold a few of his old models for the Charity
I also sold the "brass" "Glasgow paddle boat", but forgot to include the plans and instructions......Thinking that it was gone for ever, I threw the file in the waste bin!
Walking round later, I spotted the model on a stand, but the bin had been emptied!

"Can I see it run please?"......Said the visitor........Reaching for the smelling salts
"It'll cost yer 10p, Sir"........Says I, very politely of course
"No problem, Bob, here's a pound"
"That's the way to do it!
Note.....Mike still yapping........All very important and technical of course!

Finally, another picture of the Etherow stand
The Sci Fi model in the foreground is an actual model that appeared on the TV
Can't recall the details at the moment.

Think it was "Stingray". Bob.

Well, that's it folks
End of a fun filled weekend.

Bob the Abell.

Thanks for your very concise report & Pictures, Bob!.

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Next Events.

1000      6^th  September          Sunday                    Fiesta Racing              Landing stage

2000       9^th September         Wednesday             Club night                     Club House

1100      14th September      Sunday       Commodore’s Challenge  
                                                                  See tab at top for details          Landing Stage

1900     16^th September         Wednesday              Club 500 Racing         Landing stage

Caribbean yacht at Etherow.

Caribbean yacht at Etherow.

Last week was at the lake and there was New member Dave Lloyd with his Misses who was sailing a Joysway Micro Caribbean yacht, she said I feel a bit of a fraud sailing this small yacht, but after seeing it perform I said "no need to feel like that in fact I'm going to buy one myself"

So on the Thursday I was off to Frodsham with my lady friend Marjorie, I'm not daft, made sure it was Thursday as it's market day then and the ladies love a bargain don't they.

After a bit of a traffic jam on the M56 though the LPG tanker that caught fire the week before, repairs were in progress, has to be done doesn't it!

Got my Boat from Steve Webb's and then it was off to The Bears Paw Pub for a nice lunch and then a walk round the market where the lady friend spotted a good bargain.

No trouble getting home in a  fraction of the time taken getting there.

At the lake on Saturday there was one of the members Roy Hilton struggling with a large model, beautiful boat, but quite heavy,

Used to be a museum piece and Roy has converted it to sail with sail servo's and though there wasn't much wind at least he got a sail in!. 

  

A bit too heavy for me, I'm into the smaller stuff these days.

Had a sail with my Micro Magic, a kit built yacht from Graupner which goes in the car fully rigged, then it was out with my new purchase the Micro Caribbean yacht by Joysway.

even with the slight wind didn't do so well so gave it up as a bad job and called at Coniston Pool on the way home and "Bob the Water Bailiff" did the honours and provided a fan at the pool edge for a trial sail!

Here is the film of the event, still not windy enough but it was a good laugh and that's what it's all about isn't it.

Bob has included the YouTube video on Model boats magazine forum as well, he is always advertising the club there 

Well thats all for now folks.

Next Events

1900      19th  August   Wednesday                      Club 500 Racing         Landing stage

2000           26th August            Wednesday           Club house and  Landing Stage                                          Evening Sail and BBQ.

             

              29th -30^th August,    Haydock Park Model Boat Show  

Theme – “Glyn Guest Models”          Haydock Park. 
                                                Club Stand.

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Last Sunday in August 2014

Last Sunday in August 2014, and what a beautiful sunny day it was.

There was quite a few sailors on the landing stage, in the early morning there was the "J" class sailors and after they came off the water there was still plenty to see.

 One of the members Andrew Spencer, had these two nice models, as well as a Calypso on the water 

This is one of Terry Burnett's superb models with a huge brushless motor driving a water jet with swivelling nozzle at the back to steer it, though it was too fast to have it more than a eighth open on our small lake, he said he had had the pleasure of making it with all the new technology.

 Le Commodore Alan had bought this boat at the Haydock Show for his Misses Jenny, but a few minutes on the water was enough for Alan to realise that the rudder required some attention, I'm sure it will only take a couple of minutes once back at the workshop to recife that. Just have to watch he doesn't spray it Grey Jenny whilst its in there 

I'm sure you all recognize this as the boat from the film "The Perfect Storm" just hope it doesn't suffer the same fate!.

  So it was back to the old grey stuff for Alan with this HMS Nurton, do you know what type of boat this is, all you Ex-navy men will know, I forgot to ask him!!  

Here is a close up on the bench.

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A message from the Commodore.

Your commodore went to watch Club 500 last week, very entertaining might have a do myself, cheers for a very enjoyable evening, especially John Goddard?.

Boys toys, only dearer hey

Whoops, why is Charlie hiding ??.

Thanks for this Alan

Rough stuff this Club 500, perhaps needs a warning sign up when Charlie is on the water hey!.

About time something weaned Alan off the grey ones.  

It was nice to see Mrs Leslie Harling there today, she had brought some of Graham's equipment and tools down to sell and the money to go to the club funds, as you know Graham's stuff was always top of the range,  many thanks for that Lesley!.

Peter.

Haydock Show, Bob Abell News at Ten, Part 2.

Part two

Paul Freshney, the Editor of the Model Boats magazine called at the stand for a chat.

The photo was taken many times, but couldn't catch them smiling at the same time!

Solution?.......Swap one of the heads using Photoshop!....lol

(Paul and Paul)

Here we are, waiting for the doors to open!

We had a good pitch next to the Bar and excellent restaurant and a nice view of the traders stands

(our view)

Behind our stand, on the wall, there was a convenient video display and was actually showing an excellent video of the Lifeboat Show held at Etherow

Well done, Duckie

We had plenty of visitors from the Model Boats Website and it was nice to put a face to a familiar name.

We had a lovely weekend at the Haydock Show, but it was extremely tiring, especially for two lame ducks, carting all the stuff from the car and back again.

Security at the Park was well enforced.....Entry and departure times were rigidly observed. Application of entry tickets and passes etc had to be sorted well in advance

Thank you, chaps

Bob Abell.

And thank you Bob, for your report.

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Next Event

2000hrs 27^th  August  Wednesday  Club night               Clubhouse
                                                         Venetian Sail/BBQ     

Haydock Show 2014, Exhibition Sec's report.

The Russians are Coming!!

     It certainly seemed like it over this bank holiday weekend when we attended the Model boat convention at Haydock Park racecourse on the Saturday and Sunday.

     The stalwarts went over to set up our ‘Etherow’ stand on Friday afternoon, a good turnout and the job was over and set up in time to have a look round some of the traders stands before the rush on Saturday morning.

     For those who don't know this model boat show, it is probably one of the best ones nearer to home, especially if you are after some bargain boats on the ‘for sale’ stand or for all those bits and pieces you need to make the next project look stunning. All the clubs in the North West were represented, and some from much further afield. Scotland taking First prize for the best themed stand.

     Free sailing on a temporary inflatable lake (pond really), or demonstrations at other times gave a real feel to actually using models for their real purpose, although how it is possible to have a temporary pond on a slope I will never know.

     Both Saturday and Sunday saw a massive attendance, and apart from our members manning the stand, there was a great turnout of EMBC who appeared and disappeared throughout the weekend.

     The Russian Federation were there again this year, taking 5 days to drive over from Russia to present the best that their country can offer. To say they were of a high standard is an understatement, absolutely top class work and modelling skills, and needless to say they walked off with most of the first prizes. As they are government sponsored, arguably they border on being professional modellers and some would criticise that we as amateurs were at a disadvantage, but having said that it does show what standard can be achieved with a bit more effort.

     In spite of the Russians we did manage to get a couple of gongs, one of which was a second for ‘Best in Show’ for one of the categories.

     So a big thank you to all those who gave up their time, particularly Mike H (yet again, what would we do without him) on Friday Saturday and Sunday, speaking personally I know how tired I was by the end, but I think we all felt that it had been a great show and well worth the effort. Finally, not forgetting all our members who came over throughout the weekend, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Gordon Longworth – Exhibition Sec.

Next Event

2000hrs 27^th  August  Wednesday  Club night               Clubhouse
                                                         Venetian Sail/BBQ     

Haydock Show, Bob Abell News at Ten, Part 1

MODEL BOAT CONVENTION at HAYDOCK 2014

I have been closely involved with Paul Thomason on the Model Boats website for quite sometime now , Paul actually has a Doctorate in Structural  Engineering and is also very knowledgeable in the theory of sailing craft

Paul is also very active in raising funds for charity......CHRISTIES etc, by designing model boats on CAD and offering the designs FOC on condition that the recipient makes a donation to one of his selected charities.

This is done by a secure procedure involving...."Just giving"

Look here ....... "model-boat-fundraising.co.uk"....For further information

Paul has designed quite a number of models and together, we have built a large selection of the craft and also posted," blow by blow " builds on the MB website

To obtain greater publicity of his work, Paul had booked a stand at the above show and together we attended with our finished models and publicity leaflets etc for public scrutiny!

The organiser and Lady organiser, Jean and Arthur Barlow, picked out a handy spot near the Pond and car park, due to Paul`s infirmity

The stand and location was very impressive well stocked with models

We had on show...THOR...SEASPRAY...RED LEADER...ELLIE...BRUTUS...SLOMO 2...LADY JANE 5...The ABELL drive unit and two plastic mock ups of LADY JANE 3 and LADY JANE 4, plus PLAN CD`s, brochures and sample print outs

Part 2 to follow shortly.

Bob

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Next Event

2000hrs 27^th  August  Wednesday  Club night               Clubhouse
                                                         Venetian Sail/BBQ