Artful mini-ships have taken over the Rusalka

On Saturday afternoon, children and young people tried their hand at steering ship models made in the Ship Modeling Workshop of the Youth Palace in Szczecin along a designated waterway. Electrically powered objects resembling smaller versions of ships, boats, yachts or motorboats could be seen on Lake Rusałka in Kasprowicz Park between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. This was the 16th show of such models, this time organized on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Youth Palace.

The idea of ​​the event, according to the organizers, is to popularize modeling sports as part of the Maritime Education Program, present modeling achievements and the maneuvering abilities of units, promote technical knowledge among children and youth, as well as develop individual interests and propose alternative ways of spending free time.

The event attracted many interested people, both the authors of impressive and elaborate models, as well as the viewers admiring the floating objects. They were made in the Ship Modeling Workshop in the Youth Palace. Such shows take place twice a year at the end of the school year.

- These are small shows, competitions. The kids also compete a bit on such a simple route - explains Andrzej Niesterowicz from the Ship Painting Studio. - They make models all year round. Most of these models, or rather all of them except for the models that I am responsible for, the kids made themselves. These are not Chinese kits, they make them themselves. The instructor helps them install the electronics inside and supports them from a technical perspective, but the rest is work.

The children go to the Youth Palace once a week throughout the year and work for three hours during one session.

- I'll be honest: at first they start with a tiny model, which they make for two, maybe three classes. It's an introduction, a block model. It doesn't float, but it's only good for display - says Andrzej Niesterowicz. - This way they check whether something will come out of this modeling or not. If they can handle it, then they move on to a larger version.

These larger versions were presented on Rusalka on Saturday. The models sailed along a designated track, powered and controlled electrically. Building model ships is a warm-up for more serious challenges in the future:

- Making models is a very laborious matter. You need to have a lot of patience, but it builds future engineers - emphasizes Andrzej Niesterowicz.

However, he complains about the excessive influence of mobile phones and modern technologies that distract young people:

- The biggest threat that I see, and it's growing year by year, is phones. I don't really fight it, because when I started fighting, they stopped coming to classes altogether.

Remote-controlled models are made in 1:25 scale.©℗

Text and film by Agata Jankowska