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The closing and awards ceremony took place inside Peter the Great Central Naval Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia) on 5 July 2026, for two events simultaneously: Russian Open Shipmodeling Championship and Static Shipmodeling Cup of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy…

► Competition photo report

The organizers included the General Command of the Russian Navy, Peter the Great Central Naval Museum, Admiral Senyavin Marine Technical Academy and Federation of Shipmodeling Sport of Russia.

For almost a week, from 29 June onwards, the international referee commission scrutinized dozens of presented ship models. Both well-experienced and beginning modelers from all over Russia and neighboring countries participated in the event. This year, the judges had to evaluate around 190 models in 37 classes, including 14 junior ones.

As always, static classes С-2, С-3, С-6, С-7, С-8 were the most presented ones. One of the most difficult and labor-consuming exhibits were in C-3 Class, i.e. admiralty models, cross-sections and a shipyard diorama.

Unfortunately, the number and level of C-1 Class models (sailing ship models) is now on the decrease. There are reasons for that, of course: not every (even expert) modeler can build a historically true, high-quality model of a sailing ship. The size of such models is often quite significant, thus posing an additional difficulty for their transportation.

On the contrary, series of models and dioramas (С-6 and С-7 Classes) are rapidly growing in popularity among the modelers. This year, the quantity and quality of C-7 Class models (cardboard and paper kit models) has been especially notable. The above said serves for the junior models as well.

Now, a few words on the competition results. 94 competitors received their awards: 37 winners and 57 prize-winners. Each of them was also awarded with memorable gifts from the General Command of the Russian Navy as well as medals and prizes from partners and sponsors of the competition.

The awards ceremony of the Russian Open Championship 2026 was attended by several important guests. Rear-Admiral Vladislav Pavlov, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy for Military and Political Work, said in his speech: "The competitors clearly demonstrated the results of their meticulous and hard work, their creative potential, craftsmanship and a deep understanding of the fact that one can’t move on without a clear direction, instead, we need a development class. Our victories and work achievements are more than the history of fleet, together they constitute the history of the whole country”.

Viktor Nikitin, Director of Admiral Senyavin Marine Technical Academy, underlined another aspect of the event: “My hope is that this competition will further develop and improve in the future. As Mr. Pavlov said, the number and quality of models will increase alongside a wider geographical distribution of the participants”.

To conclude, Ruslan Nekhay, Director of Peter the Great Central Naval Museum particularly praised the large scale of the event, superb organization level and great cooperation among the organizers.

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