Bart Bear's Blog

I have been helping Dad with his hobby/craft as well.We have added another aircraft carrier to our fleet of 1/700 scale ships. This is the third Royal Navy ship to be named "Ark Royal". The Ark was the first carrier to have steam catapults to launch aircraft and the first to have the hangars and flight deck as integral parts of the hull (earlier carriers of all navies had them as "add-ons"). She had a fairly short life, launched in 1938 and torpedoed in November 1941, but she served in actions off Norway, the hunt for Bismarck and in the vital Malta convoys. Her aircraft made some of the first aerial U-boat kills. Our model shows her on her last trip,about to launch Sea Hurricanes for Malta and with Fulmars and Swordfish on deck. Another thing we have been working on is our card lighthouse collection. These are 1/250 scale and mostly UK lights. And of course we had to do another dragon. The big green one we made in November left us at Christmas to live with an Asian family, so we made a smaller version to keep our red one company. It is amazing what you can make from sheets of card and a good template.
 

Labels: boats, buildings, card models, lighthouse, models

One sort of compensating thing about having the chance of travel severely restricted - there is a lot more time for craft. We have looked at several possible trips, but each time we are ready to go interstate the borders shut again so craft is a sanity-saver. Mum and I have made dozens of cards since my last post. Here are 4 of my favourites. The top 2 remind me of the Oldies' snorkelling trips. They actually saw some giant jellyfish near one of the Barrier Reef islands. Seahorses are much harder to find because they hide among the seaweed and stay still while snorkellers are nearby. The bottom 2 celebrate special people. They are Charlie Chaplin, who my grandfathers liked, and Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist that Mum likes a lot. Now I have to go to the other side of the room and see what Mum is working on next. She will no doubt need my help.

Labels: Canberra, cards