This Model Show has been running for a long time but this year something was going to be different, H.A.R.T. had a stand.

The stand for H.A.R.T. was first arranged by Adam Clark who had contacted the Show organiser - "Nexus Special Interests" and asked about getting a stand for HART and then he contacted me and then sent me all of the forms to arrange for the stand.

I contacted Mike Reynolds of "Nexus Special Interests" and he offered a 2 x 3 metre stand in the main hall or a larger one in the flying hall, the larger stand sounded better so that was the one I picked.

The stand was hard to organise as most of the H.A.R.T. members had already arranged to visit family or friends over the festive period but after some begging a few members said they would help for one day each at least. The next problem was how was I going to get my rockets and Ben's to the show, Adam at the last minute saved the day and said he would take us both to the show.

On Monday the 29th Adam picked me up and we drove to Ben's. before spending the next 4 hours setting up the stand and Adam doing two trips to transport all of Ben's rockets and King Kluster to the show. At the end of the day the stand looked good and I was getting nervous as I was told between 50-60,000 people were expected to come to the show.

The 30th arrived and I managed to arrive at the show at 9.15am which gave me 15 minutes to check the stand and make sure everything was ready before the show opened its doors at 9.30am

Too soon the doors were opened and the visitors slowly poured into the flying hall and started to talk to each other and stare when they saw Nemesis 3 and King Kluster on the HART stand.

David Price turned up at 10.30am and started to help on the stand, and a little later Ben and Anthony also turned up and were immediately started to be asked questions about High power Rocketry and the Aerotech engines cases that Ben had brought along.

The shows first day finally finished at 5.00pm and I left for home soon after, totally shattered.

The next day soon came and today I managed to persuade Robert to come along as well. The show and stand were again busy but the flying show was getting really good with a couple of Radio Control World Champions really showing what model helicopters and planes can do in a confined space.

One of the more interesting acts was the James Bond Show. this involved a large R.C. truck to be harassed by a Nexus 30 helicopter and then for a James Bond type sports car to come out of the trucks trailer and to be chased around the arena by the helicopter before the car finally escapes.

This show was put on a number of times during the day but I could not help but laugh when during one of the shows the helicopter came just a bit to close to the car and broke it, then soon after the commentator D.B. said in a sad voice "James Bond is Dead".

The next two days of the show were busy and the stand had help from David and Brian who both did a great job of answering peoples questions

On the Saturday, Ben and myself both thought that we could do a indoor rocket display with some smallish rockets on 1/2A engines.

I asked but was told because of the fire risk we could not, so I decided to visit Hamley's in my lunch break and buy a "Stomp" air powered rocket for the stand. I thought it would be a quick trip to Hamley's and back but I soon found that Hamley's did not have them and I spent the next 2 and a half hours visiting most of the toy and kite shops in London before finally managing to find one at the Covent Garden kite shop

But the long hunt was soon forgotten as Robert started to cause mayhem with the Stomp rocket near the stand so we talked to D.B. and soon after Robert did a short display in front of a large crowd which all were amazed when Robert came within inches of the halls ceiling with his first Stomp.

Soon after the display the HART stand was very busy and we gave out a lot of flyers and information sheets. The last day was quieter than I expected but the weather was stormy and I think this was the main reason for people to stay away. Ben, Brian, Chris and Sam all helped today on the stand and we were quite busy most of the day but we all had time to have a good wander around the show and hunt for the bargains.

The day and the show finally ended and we started to pack up. Ben went to pack up the King Kluster parachute but instead decided to try to inflate it in the flying hall. Brian held the ends of the shroud lines and myself and Ben held the canopy open. Then with one large pull from Brian the Parachute fully opened and for the next minute Brian pulled the large parachute around the flying hall.

The parachute looked massive but I was pleased that it opened so quickly and I just hope it opens this quick when its leaves the inside King Kluster at around 1,000 feet

The show was a great success and I now look forward to next year.