Burnaby Association of Marine Modellers
Welcome to the Burnaby Association of Marine Modellers or BAMM
A Word from the President
On Behalf of the members of the Burnaby Association of Marine Modellers, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our website and the world of Marine Models.
Our home is the beautiful pond in Central Park located in Burnaby B.C. surrounded by beautiful trees and walkways. Burnaby allows us exclusive use of the pond Sundays and Wednesday mornings. Club members come from all over not only to run our boats, but most importantly to meet as friends and promote our hobby.
Whether you have purchased a ready to run boat or are a scratch built modeller our club welcomes you. You will find that members are more than willing to share their knowledge and help everyone build the model of their dreams.
See you at the pond!
Rick E.
President
At the Pond slideshow:
At the pond.
May 21, 2023
Photos by David S. and Ulrich G..
(Click the photo above for a slide show.)
Calendar of Events
The 2023 BAMM Regatta will be held on Sunday, August, 20th from 9:00 a.m. till about 4:00 p.m.. There will be boat judging, a steering course, races with trophies and much, much more.
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So proud of our youngest member Reggie Merrill and his tug “Seawitch III". Built by His grandfather Gord Merrill, Reggie is proving to be a very capable skipper. As you can see below at the unveiling, Lorne S. has built Reggie a very nice barge to tow around. Reggie was very pleased to say the least.
Rick E. - President and photographer
Hello Everyone!
If you have come here for information and have questions and/or want to be put on the e-mail list for updates and info just head over to the "Contact" page and send us an e-mail message to that effect.
Any thoughts, corrections, complaints, or constructive criticism will certainly be greatly appreciated. Just go to the "Contact" page and drop me a note. I am also looking for content. Photos, videos or articles will be appreciated.
Thanks - Ulrich
Announcements and Current Events
At the Pond
Date May 21, 2023
G day,
Our spring regatta was a great success and the weather cooperated too. It was cloudy all day and we had a light steady wind from the S.E. all day.
We may have been a victim of our own success because we had to do many rescues today because of, dare I say it, distracted driving. Everyone was having so much fun catching up that they forgot where their boats were. It is amazing how you can be talking to someone for just a minute and then somehow your boat is on the other side of the pond or the centre island has eaten your boat.
One of our sailors got his boat stuck in a hole and slowly the island drew him in. The '' Island" is like a lurking monster just waiting for you to have a lapse of concentration and he has got you. Once those evil branches have got you it is almost impossible to get out. I was leading in a sailboat race and had to give up my transmitter to a friend while I fired up my pusher tug to rescue him.
The branches were slowly reaching out to the sailboat to impale him but he kept his nerve and never gave up. By the time I got there with my pusher tug he had worked his way out of the arms of evil. He had somehow worked his way out just the way he had gone in and that is saying something in a sailboat. Untangling a sailboat from the evil branches is no easy feat.
You can see from the pictures that the island did get a Flower class Corvette later in the day and hip waders were necessary for an extraction. It should be noted that the Capt. lost only his Corvette and not his HMS Hood.
Apparently it was a loose wire which caused the excitement?
I noticed we had an epidemic of distracted driving. Guys would be chatting with fellow members which they haven't seen since last year and there was a lot of catching up to do. Some of our members were also taking out new ships for the first time. There were a few maiden voyages today and some of the bugs have to be worked out as they say.
With all this talking some of their ships ended up drifting to the far side of the pond or the island almost got them. One Capt. didn't notice he had accidentally bumped his throttle and his tug almost crashed into the island at speed. When I noticed that this tug was heading straight for the island at scale speed I thought the skipper must be doing some particular maneuver, but when I turned around to look at him he was having a nice conversation with a group of people.
Whoops, too late! By the time he figured out what was happening his beautiful scale tug with extensive scale radio masts and antennas was firmly in the grasp of the island. Those evil branches had done it again. You could only see part of his tug which was being eaten by the island. Again, I gave up my sailboat to a friend and started the rescue mission with my pusher tug.
While I was on the way the tug managed to work his way out of the clutches of the evil branches and he was free. What a great bit of seamanship because it looked like the branches had got tangled in the masts and antennas. Everything looked intact and he was a lucky man.
This little scenario was repeated over and over as the day went by and was very amusing to watch if it wasn't your boat. Yes folk, we had a day of distracted boating. :)
Cheers - David S.
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March, 5, 2023
When a nice big ice floe is sitting the middle of the BAMM pond the right thing to do is to get that thing spinning around. We had some fun doing just that and ended up just pushing the now smaller piece in one direction causing it to breakup. I have added a video on YouTube of the Ice Dance time-lapse that can be found here.
Ulrich
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Moving the Ice Floe
The weather was bright and sunny on Sunday, March 10th, 2019. There was just one big ice flow left on the pond in the shadow of some trees so Lorne M. and I decided to push it out into the sun to melt. It was attached by some thinner ice so I was able to break through and get it going. Many thanks to Mel for breaking the flow free from shore with his trusty sledge hammer and of course my lovely cameraman Rick.
Ulrich
IMPERIAL TOFINO
BAMM is proud of its latest addition to its fleet, the 8’ long, 1/24th scale, Imperial Tofino built by Ted Heard and donated by the Heard family so that all may enjoy watching her sail the waters of Central Park Pond.
The Imperial Tofino is shown here along with another BAMM tanker, the 11 foot long Shell Welder built by Bram and Alex Deruiter and launched in 1977.
"Imperial Tofino" was build in 1973. In 1973-1993 she was owned by Imperial Oil Ltd., Toronto ON. In 1993-2009 she was owned by Coastal Shipping Ltd., Goose Bay NL. In 1979 she was lengthened and she was rebuilt at North Vancouver BC. Her Mid Body Section was built at Burrard-Yarrows Corp. North Vancouver BC in 1979. She had a capacity of 200,000 gallons of fuel. She replaced the Imperial Nanaimo (ex-Beeceelite). She had a cruising speed of 11.2 knots. Sold in 1993 as "Sibyl W.".
The above paragraph is from "Auke Visser's Other Esso related Tankers Site" where you can also find some great photos of the real ship.
There is another good article to be found at the Shipfax site by Mac Mackay.
Shell Welder
We have added a very nice model of the Shell Welder to the BAMM fleet. With surprisingly little TLC she has become fun to run and fun to tow.
In 1976 the 10 foot 8 inch long (that is 3/4 in. per foot or 1/16th scale) highly detailed RC tanker "Shell Welder", formerly “AARDVARK”, was completed by BAMM members Bram and Alex Deruiter. Bram is shown in the slideshow here (first picture) posing with the model at her official re-launch on May 6, 2018. For many years the tanker sailed the BAMM pond before being sold and moved to Bowen Island. She was also featured in the RC pond at Expo 86. Recently, Dave Tarvin of Burnaby Hobbies acquired it and it was subsequently sold to Bram Deruiter returning it to one of the original builders. Our president Rick Evans saw an opportunity to bring the vessel back to the BAMM pond and we have recently purchased it from Bram. It was in very good condition and only needed a gentle refurbishment and running gear update. Here is a link to some information on the original 170 foot long Shell Welder the model was based on.
Lorne towing the Shell Welder with his tug Gillfoam.
A time lapse of the Shell Welder being hauled out of the pond.
Below you will find a profile of Lorne Scott. This is the first of what we hope will be many such profiles which will have their own page here on our website.
