The shipmodeling sport season 2024 is officially open! The first international competition which have been planned for this year was “Minskaya Vesna-2024”. As before, the Belarussian capital city heartily welcomed all guests and competitors, this time from 12 April to 14 April 2024. “Minskaya Vesna-2024” brought together modelers in different classes, both with models in static classes (C) and navigation ones (radio-controlled yachts in RG65, F5-E Classes), thus making the event better-attended and more spectacular. This approach has already become well-established practice for SMSIF international events…

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The competition took place at two venues simultaneously. The first venue was DOSAAF Training Center for Executives and Experts, the second one – Komsomolskoye Lake. “Minskaya Vesna-2024” saw a large number of participants. In total, 149 models were presented for referees’ evaluation from 82 competitors, junior beginners as well as experienced modelers, coming from Belarus, Russia, Germany, Lithuania and Turkey! It is worth mentioning that about the same number of models participate in European Championships.

One of the positive developments in shipmodeling sport is the way new classes grow and rapidly evolve. For instance, previously modelers with static models preferred to create C-3 Class dioramas while this time, model compositions were presented primarily in С-6 and С-7 Classes. Such compositions were unexpectedly abundant in С-7 Class, especially among juniors, so it was decided to set up a separate classification competition among girls as junior modelers.

Anyway, the current shipmodeling sport season has already been celebrated with new outstanding models in most static classes. The competition was especially tough in C-2 Classes (models of ships with mechanical propulsion), C-3 (cross-sections and fragments), C-6 (plastic models) and C-7 (paper kit models) where many participants were vying for the top scores.

Winners in C Category models at “Minskaya Vesna-2024” International Competition:

• C-1 Class (sailing ship models) – Polina Chireychik (Minsk, Belarus), 77.67 points for her “Baltazar” schooner;
• C-2 Class (models of ships with mechanical propulsion) – Alexey Boda (Minsk, Belarus), 95.67 points for his model of “Le Terrible” destroyer;
• С-3А/В Class – Alexander Kovalchuk (Minsk, Belarus), 97.33 points for “Ryurik” cruiser;
• С-4В/С Class – Oleg Khotko (Minsk, Belarus), 98.33 points for “Svirepiy” patrol boat;
• С-6А Class (plastic kit models, scale up to 1:500) - Oleg Khotko (Minsk, Belarus), 99.33 points, the highest score at “Minskaya Vesna-2024”, for his “Kongo” battleship. The models in C-6A Class generally stood out due to their high level of execution and 3 of them deservedly earned over 95 points at the competition;
• С-6B Class (plastic kit models, scale under 1:500) - Oleg Khotko (Minsk, Belarus), 98.33 points for the model of USS Missouri;
• С-6С Class (dioramas based on plastic kit models) – Artyom Shakhno (Molodechno, Belarus), 94.67 points for his “Nastoychiviy” battleship (Project 956);
• С-7А Class - Oleg Khotko (Minsk, Belarus), 98.33 points for his “Sovremenniy” destroyer;
• С-7В Class – Ignat Yaroshenko (Minsk, Belarus), 95.33 points for his model of “Viribus Unitis” battleship;
• С-7С Class (dioramas based on paper kit models) - Alexander Khomich, 89.33 points for his “Lorelei” ship model;
• С-8А Class (models of sailing ships from kits) – Yuriy Matyushkin (Vitebsk, Belarus), 91.0 points for his “Svyatoy Gavriil” sailing boat;
• С-8В Class (models of ships with mechanical propulsion from kits) – Alexey Vasilyev (Molodechno, Belarus), 94.0 points for his “Schutze” minesweeper.

Last year, a new RG65 class was included in SMSIF international starts program aimed for beginner yachtsmen. This year, it has become clear that the class enjoys high demand among modelers and nearly 20 competitors participated in it at “Minskaya Vesna-2024”.

Race winners among radio-controlled yachts:

• RG65 Class – Dmitriy Koipish (Minsk, Belarus);
• F-5E Class – Maksim Khaziakhmetov (Moscow, Russia).

The competition clearly demonstrated both high level of the presented models in general and more active participation and interest among junior competitors.

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