Lifeboat day haul

 

Obviously, I can't spend the day with lifeboats, without picking up something from the supporters' stand. And it's never too early to do your Christmas shopping and pick up some cards! And an umbrella. 

Over on the Bring'n'Buy stand, I'd placed a small pile of old plastic RTR boats as part of my current clear-out. I've hung on to three Tri-ang models, because I collect this make, but Scalecraft and similar have gone - yes I sold them!  

£45 in. £8 out. One plaque seen above, with an RNLI badge on it (a rare thing, according to someone who knows about this stuff), and a battery charger. 

A fiver for this. It doesn't have the mains connection, but it does have all the output leads, some of which I'm missing from my current charger. At some point, I will make up replacements, but this solves the problem for now. 

Finally, a couple of vintage badges. 

Apparently, these are very old, and came to the Enthusiasts section as an estate sale. I'm assuming I can't claim to be President, but I do have a model Brede, and this now lives in the box with it. 

Lifeboat day 2026

Lifeboat day dawned grey and cloudy, but when I arrived at the lakeside, everything was set up, and looking good. I'd even got there early to help, but I think that despite the emails during the week, much of this work had been carried out the night before. 

Good news as it turned out, because people had travelled to the event from quite some distance, including a group from the Blackpool MBC.  

There were all sorts of orange boats, plus a few blue and white earlier vessels to be seen. I'd taken my Brede, and launched it early in the day - at that point when everyone seems unwilling to get their hulls wet. It performed well, but ran out of electricity before the main parade. Never mind, we struggled around a bit, and at least stayed on top of the wet stuff. 

Not everyone did. 

Speeding off, and then slamming the brakes on, saw this superstructure jump off the hull, and need resucue by someone in a wetsuit!

Incidentally, the funny colour of the water is a fish-safe chemical that keeps the weed down. 

By lunchtime, the sun had come out, and I was enjoying a sausage in a bun, followed by some cake.  

All in all, a really pleasant day by the water. I even made a profit on the Bring'n'Buy stand!

You can see more photos over on Flickr. 

Saturday Film Club: Paint like a Pro - Three Top tips for mastering Acrylics

A video by my colleague Steven Draper with some useful hints on mastering acrylic paints. I learnt a bit, and now need to do some shopping!

Testing Dad's boats part 1

 

If I'm going to see some of my Dad's boats on the water during his celebration day, I better see if any of them are working. 

First up, Isobella, a Victorian steam launch named after my grandmother.

Dad was always very proud of this boat. He made a smashing job of the woodwork on the deck, and the glazed engine cover (the bit that looks like a cold frame), so it was top of my list for the day. 

None of the boats have been sailed in years, so it was a bit of a surprise to find that the NmH battery pack still seemed to be fully charged. Initially, I assumed there was something wrong to make the charger show a full pack. After a bit of faffing with the radio, I proved it would turn the prop, and make the steering servo work. So, off to the lake. 

On the water, the model lists very slightly, but happily pottered around for over 15 minutes, looking lovely in the evening sun as it did. I correctly remembered that this was a very nice sail too. Other than another charge, this one is ready to go. 

While I was there, we had some action on the steam track. A rather nice loco under construction, based on Roundhouse underpinnings. That's the joy of being at a club, you never know what you'll see. 

 

We go eco in June's BRM

 

I like making things, and in this issue, the thing I made that gave me the most satisfaction is a ground source heat pump. 

Given a pack of solar panels, I needed to turn these into a four-step project, and so I've gone full eco on an old Hornby kit. Panels, heat pump and an electric car charging point. Not sure I've ever seen this modelled before, am I a trailblazer for green model railways? 

The camera has been out again, too. 

Venture Park (OO)

Pedwardine Forest (OO)

Porthllechen (OO9)

 BRM Magazine is available from all good newsagents, or our online store.