Over the weekend of 25th and 26th August the club enjoyed a weekend away for a modelling retreat at San Remo, located just before Phillip Island. This was to be the first of many trips where we get to forget about the rat race and to focus purely on building models. The only real rules was to bring enough kits to work through plus all the necessary tools and paints. Also a mandatory item was a sense of humor, basic cooking skills and an ability to enjoy yourself and have very little sleep!

The venue itself was a beach house that I was lucky enough to score a few months before for a family weekend away. Now, you may do this yourself and especially when going shopping with the wife,  but I tend to look for modelling opportunities and this house made a perfect boys get away. At this point I would like to thank Carol for allowing our group to take advantage of her beach house located in these beautiful surroundings.

I came with a small stash of kits (9 in all) to ensure I didn’t get bogged down on one kit, and to provide a selection to flip between as the mood decided. My productivity was unheard of for myself and I managed to put away at least a month of building over the few days. Most of us did the same or at leased covered off those kits that had been long term shelf queens or in much needed attention. Its often a great environment to knock over the more tedious tasks like tank wheels and tracks or complex and time consuming scribing and filling etc.

We all had a great time and really got to know each other very well, as you do in a group situation. I will say that its a great way to see how others tackle their builds and what tools they use to do certain tasks. Its all running live before our eyes and takes us away from the solitary existence that we are all used to. Food and supplies was no issue as the shops were a short walk down the road, as was the local pub for dinner on the Saturday night.

On the Sunday we packed up our kits, cleaned up and headed down to the Vietnam Veterans Museum on the Island. This is a must and contains a great selection of Vietnam related collections and displays. This outing brought our weekend to a close and was kind of sad to end such a  great time. Anyway there will be more trips to come, so cant wait for the next one.