Luhansk Barge Conquers Zurich without Single Shot

In Switzerland, a special old ships exhibition concluded in a huge Zurich trade center. At the same time, Saint Gallen was hosting the Ninth International Fair of Games and Toys. Luhansk resident Vyacheslav Kozak took part in both those prestigious international competitions. Kozak, the International Class Master of Sports in ship modeling [according to the official classification used in the USSR], was invited by Mr. Pfammater, the president of the EXPOPLAN Company, who noticed the Luhansk master two years ago at the world ship modeling championship. This time Mr. Pfammater proposed that Vyacheslav take part in a Neptune barge models exhibition and, after obtaining Vyacheslav's consent, sent him drawings and pictures of the vessel, based on which the Luhansk master made the model at the scale 1:50.

It should be noted that Switzerland is currently restoring the history of this type of vessel, and even opened a barge museum. Hence, Kozak's work was very important not only for him, but for this country's history as well. Vyacheslav brought his model unassembled, and put it together on the spot in five days. This work had to be carried out in the very trade center, in full view of numerous buyers, and such a peculiarity had a positive impact on the creative process. In addition, city dwellers, having heard about the Ukrainian master, began to bring him old models of ships needing restoration. Thus he had plenty of work to do.

The Saint Gallen Games and Toys Exhibitions also had a small occurrence out of the ordinary. Vyacheslav presented a children's toy — the Raiduha (rainbow) wooden catamaran, not only observing all requirements of the competition, but having improved it to such extent that specialists were thrown into confusion. They did not risk displaying such a serious thing at the exhibition, because it required a special treatment. For example, Vyacheslav made the two hulls of the children's catamaran in such a way that is it possible to keep allergy medicines in them. Playing with this toy, a child inhales the medicine which penetrates through the natural material. In addition, Vyacheslav proposed more ideas that made the people look at the toy from quite a different perspective. This invention excited tremendous interest among specialists and fair organizers. It was decided to conduct market research and copyright for the toy for Kozak. In a word, very promising future prospects await Vyacheslav.

President of Makeyevka's Ship Modeling Club Neptun (Neptune) Yuri Novak, International Class Master of Sports and International Category Referee, played a very important role in the preparation of Vyacheslav's trip to Switzerland.