Kontiki 2007: Raft Model

Following up on a few posts about model pioneering, here is my troop's model raft from 2007's Kontiki event (and the reason for my earlier 1:15 downloadable scale rule).

Our raft crew leader (and his family) put a lot of effort into building this model. The structure is accurately scaled, with all lashings tied properly (not the quick way), poles colour-coded the same as their full-sizecounterparts and barrel colour carefully matched. There are also many 'props', such as fire extinguishers, cooler boxes, lifejackets, anchors, running lights and a painstakingly tied cargo net (folded up towards the back of the photograph above). Aside from looking good, the model serves as a tool to show the rest of the troop how the tasks are to be completed eg. by showing them how barrels are secured, how decking is tied down or where to place safety equipment.
Finally, a side-by-side comparison of the model and the full-size raft (raft photo by Hooligans):


(In case you were wondering, the theme for Kontiki this year was 007, hence the Bond girl sitting on the Aston Martin)

Pioneering Cartoon

Am I the only one who has done something similar to this?
(from the 1949 Scout annual, p151. Artist unknown, signed 'L.S')

Kontiki 2007 - a view from the raft

This year for Kontiki I gave my scouts a cheap waterproof camera (like this one at Amazon.com) for them to take on the raft. There were a couple of photographs of fingers blocking the lens, but also quite a few really good ones. So, with exaggerated colour courtesy of Kodak, here are some of the photographs:

Chain Reaction Device: Breakfast Machine

John Sweet's columns in the old Scout magazine were filled with all manner of improbable device. Here is a typical example from 1953 with the description from the magazine:



"John Tomkins of the 105th Manchester Troop has perfected another of those admirable devices for getting the Patrol off to a flying start in the morning. You will notice a strong family resemblance to other screwball gadgets which have appeared from time to time in this column, but it has one or two new and endearing features.

What happens, apparently, is this:

The sand in the container A runs out slowly through the hole in the bottom during the long watches of the night, so that, with the coming of dawn, the counter-weight drops and the match on the end strikes itself neatly on the box and touches off the paraffin wick fuse, which lights the fire.

The fire, gently fanned by the morning breeze, burns through the string above it and allows the sapling spring to come into operation. This swings the billycan of water over the fire. At the same time the match on the other end of the rod sweeps past the second matchbox and is struck. This touches off the firework, and the sound of the explosion awakens the peacefully sleeping Patrol."

Pioneered heated swimming pool

This is the kind of pioneering we don't see enough of : the Sherroes (senior Scouts) from Scouting de Veste Hasselt in the Netherlands built this heated swimming pool, with a series of photographs you can see here.

The supporting frame is made from poles, with corners notched log-cabin style. A seat is added, then the whole pool is lined with a waterproof tarpaulin. Water is carried to and from a fire by pipes which are insulated for most of their length.

(photographs courtesy Scouting de Veste Hasselt)