SWA/Sinsheim Visit March 2008
Once again it
is that time of year for the German Sinsheim Exhibition authorities, via our representative
Joerg Britsch, to invite a
group of SWA modelling enthusiasts to journey down to their show and help fly
the flag. This year’s trip had its first problems before it had even left the
Fortunately by a miracle, a window
of opportunity in the weather of some 24 hours permitted all our arrangements
to run on time. Even the channel behaved with only a slight to moderate swell
affecting our crossing. This even allowed some of the members to have a fried
breakfast and keep it. Apart from it being a little lumpy in mid channel, we
arrived happily on time in
This year we arrived in Sinsheim a
day early to allow for a drive in daylight and thus had time to take in a visit
in the morning to the ‘Technik’ Museum next door to
our own exhibition site. This Museum has a large collection of aircraft
including 2 real Concordes - one
French and one Russian. These are set up on huge poles and are a site to
behold - you can see them as you come down the motorway some miles away from
Sinsheim. The Museum also has an eclectic collection of vehicles, racing cars
and numerous 1st and 2nd world war artefacts and
uniforms. It even has a German steam locomotive weighing 158 tons which was
used to tow a large 1,350 ton gun called “Gustaf” to bombard various locations
during the Russian campaign.
After lunch at the museum we moved
next door to meet up with our German brethren, unload the vehicles and build
the SWA stand. We ended up with 35 models between 12” and 8 feet covering a
wide variety of naval craft representing many different nations. This year we
had a new location in the exhibition - a marine hall all to our marine
modelling selves. Although our stand was slightly smaller than before, it was
located nearer the pool which made the running of the models on the water very much
easier, especially when trying to get through the crowds of spectators surrounding
the pool. This pool is built every year, is 23m in diameter and takes the local
fire brigade nearly a week to fill and empty. A pool this size can easily
accommodate over a dozen models on the water with safety - each day being
broken up into 40 minute slots for sailing of different categories. One of these is for Grey Ships and this is
when the SWA comes into its own. We can put up to 8-10 boats on the water to
delight the crowds while there are also a number of German club members who
also have Naval Craft to show, although steering can be a bit hairy on
occasions, especially if you are on the water with Hilary or Philip and their “Ship off a Shovel” type vessels.
During the week there were several
highlights on the pool. The first occurred early in the morning at around 08:30
am on the first day before the general public were allowed in. At this time
there is free sailing to allow you to test your models if required. Philip
Bellamy, Admiral in Chief of the Swiss Navy, decided to test his model of a Fairmile “D” No 794, on the water to show us SWA members’
his latest creation. Unfortunately at the same time another modeller had decided
to launch his model of a gondola with the gondolier serenading the bride and
groom on the pool. This was slowly going
round the pool when Philip arrived at the pool side. At this point I could
foresee the result of this and decided to head back to the SWA stand before
Italian/Swiss diplomatic relations broke down, in a big way. Apparently the
Swiss Navy started to circle the pool like “S… off a Silver Shovel”, this was
not surprising as the four motors consume over 600 Watts at full speed ! As a result I heard shouting from 60 feet away and
apparently there was much shaking of fists and general unpleasantness. Net
result was that Philip received the usual Yellow Card. No change there then.
After this episode Philip went to soothe Swiss/Italian relations and explained
how lucky the gondolier was, as only dummy torpedoes had been fitted, however
for the rest of the exhibition they would be for real, with warheads
! Naturally the expression changed to that of one who was about to be
sunk. It may be that Philip should have gone all the way and got a Red Card,
for the second time.
Each day at midday there was a session of
smooth running, followed by a session of rough water running - this latter
session is for large fast models only - hooligans ago-go. Against advice Hilary
decided to put his PT 109 on the water with the big boys. This model must have
been one of the oldest in the exhibition being some 30 years old and has run at
nearly every venue the SWA has ever attended, but is only 29 “long so it was
with utter trepidation we went over to see the result of this David and Goliath
contest. The PT 109 looked like a leaf being blown about in a gale, but still
held its own - just - on two occasions I saw it leave the water completely with
props spinning in mid air and on one occasion it played submarine underneath a
particularly large wave! It survived the session but only just - after the run
the organisers insisted Hilary put back in the pool the water he had “shipped”
during the session. Another few minutes and Hilary could have requalified for the ‘I sank at Sinsheim’
club.
During the day the crowd where
entertained with different demonstrations on the pool, such as fire boats,
submarines and massive oil rig which was towed into the centre of the pool. Under
radio control it raised it self up on its 4 legs and then a radio controlled
helicopter flew out and landed on the heli-pad, much to the cheers of the crowd
(even bigger one when one day it crashed on landing - oh well back to the
drawing board Mr Shell). There were also sailing yachts which raced around a
triangular course, aided by large fans playing across the pool. The highlight
of the show this year was a demonstration consisting of a tableau of the old Wild
West. Cowboys versus the Indians. A log cabin on a
raft is positioned in the centre of the pool with cowboys armed with rifles
guarding it. 2 trappers in a canoe come out from the shore having stolen the
Indians skins and furs closely followed by an Indian canoe with the braves firing
their guns at them and then a further dozen or more other Indian canoes circling
the log cabin. The firing between them was deafening and very realistic.
Suddenly 2 of the canoes which have braves with bows (and special incendiary arrows)
fire them towards the cabin resulting in the roof catching fire with flames
shooting up several feet. This was a scene to behold with the gun fire, smoke
and flames - “Health and Safety” forget it seemed to be the motto.
The Exhibition Organiser for the
Marine Hall, visited our stand on the last day, and we received his
commendation. He thought our stand layout was excellent and had helped towards
the success of the marine section of the show. So once again the end of the
show came far too quickly, although our feet were beginning to tell us all
otherwise - roll on 2009 but with the hope that Mother Nature gives us
a break with some dry weather and another smooth crossing.
Attendees at this years show were Hilary
Breeze, Barry Chapman, Jack Connelly, John Coster, Peter
Dicker, Clem Knowles, Peter Revill and Jim Walker from the UK; Joerg Britsch, Andreas Grzimek and
Arthur Kruschel from Germany and Philip Bellamy from
Switzerland. Thanks to all concerned.
Barry Chapman