What could be more relaxing than wiling away the time building a model ship. How about taking it down the local pond and sailing it around with a dozen of your closest friends?
Just watch out for these people…
The MWCI is a model warship combat club. They build 1/144th scale replicas of warships, load them full of bb’s and then zip around ponds shooting at each other. They game in shallow ponds so that the ships can be retrieved, patched up, and sent back to the battle.
Sound fun? Events are held year round all over the United States. There are other model warship combat clubs, but I haven’t found anything outside of North America. Canadians might be in luck, although websites for their activities are slim.
update: The Australians are in on it, too.
Brian Koehler has a great page on the hobby, including video from past events and pictures of ship building.
(P.S. Thanks to Kevin Inscoe for reminding me about this. We went to an event years ago but lost track of the local club. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon with the family.)