Well, I'll do a bit of rambling for the sake of generating some message 
traffic.
 
A brief update of the RICHELIEU project. One of the advantages of being a 
model boater in Winnipeg is that you can't get into the water for most of the 
year. That gives you a lot of time to spend on construction. My original 
design philosophy for the RICHELIEU was to build an absurdly strong ship. 
With each passing day, I seem to be building even more features into that 
philosophy. Case in point: I have just finished the carving of the bow. 
Though my initial material of choice was basswood, boredom and a fanatical 
killer instinct caused me to switch to a rather massive and heavy chunk of 
old-growth white oak. Most of the "carving" was done on a band saw with final 
shaping accomplished with sandpaper. It looks good. Once the early stages of 
fibreglassing have been completed, the lower "chin" of the bow will have a 
1/8" thick bar of steel (about 8" long) recessed into it. I sincerely expect 
that this will deter anyone from engaging the ship in the careless ramming 
accidents that victimised my HMCS WINNIPEG model:-).
 
One more item of housekeeping for the week: drydock work on the DALLAS. IT's 
always nice to have an excuse to work on that boat. In this case, I have to 
refresh the charge on a number of batteries used for the sub's operation. So 
I get to haul her out of the basement and crack open the hull. Interestingly, 
even though I'm a member of THE SUBCOMMITTEE (an 850 member group of sub 
modelers worldwide), I have never run across ANYONE else operating this boat. 
Hmmm...in fact, mine was the first to see operation when it was launched even 
before the manufacturer's prototype sailed. Guess they never sold too many of 
them.
--- Maximus/2 3.01
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