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Shiang Yang Open Scout Troop

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The Shiang Yang Open Scout Troop of Ipoh, Perak Malaysia was founded in 1999 and is chartered to the Meow Yuen Zen Buddhist Monastery. They have achieved much in their relatively short history including producing many King Scouts (equivalent to our Eagle) and building a tower five storeys high out of nothing but bamboo, firewood   and rope.

Read more about this world-class pioneering project here. (Apparently they have plans to build a bigger one this summer!)

Related posts at Scoutmaster
Pioneering as Sculpture

Rope Making

Here's a clear, easy to follow description of making rope using the spinning method in the form of a PDF file made by Troop 228.

Surprisingly high-quality rope in a variety of sizes can be quickly and easily made with these simple tools and materials. These tools are not difficult to make nor are the materials expensive or hard to find. Building this style of rope maker and completing one six-foot piece of rope, with whippings, will satisfy Requirement Five of the Pioneering Merit Badge.

Download PDF file
Found at the Boy Scout Trail

Tekes Esh - Fire Writing

Peter at the Ropes and Poles Blog writes about Tekes-Esh (Hebrew for fire writing) - a ceremony held by Israeli Scouts:

Scouts make fire sculptures for this ceremony, using paraffin-soaked cloth 'snakes' attached to a metal grid. The grid is supported by a pioneered frame, with tinfoil insulating the lashings that are closest to the fire. These pictures and words are clear for around 15 minutes of burning, after which parts start burning out, and after 45 minutes the fire is normally out altogether.

Complete post at Ropes and Poles
More pictures here
Related posts on the Scoutmaster Blog
Pioneering as Sculpture

Kohte - German Scout Tent

An earlier post about the Flickr Pioneering pool featured a picture of a giant tent complex.
A reader named Dan commented;

The tent you are looking at are standard German scout tents. Each scout carries a panel and when they reach the destination for camp they put the pieces together.

These tents are called 'khote' and are based on the shape and function of the Saami tipi-like reindeer skin tent. The Saami (sometimes called Laplanders) are the indigenous people of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. (Ref. wikipedia)

Eberhard Koebel opinionated a design that incorporates several smaller canvas panels that are carried by individual scout as and assembled when they reach the campsite.

The panels are available in different sizes and configurations that can be assembled in many different ways.

Die-Kohte features some pictures and history (link to translated site)

Pfadfinder-rott has even more information (link to translated site)

Zelte und Zubehor sells the individual panels and complete kohten

Flickr Pioneering

Peter at Ropes & Poles has discovered the Flickr Scout Pioneering pool set up by Michael Beat from Switzerland. There are around 330 photographs in this pool, and it's growing rapidly.
Take a look at pictures of pioneering projects from the ordinary to the incredible like this giant tent complex:

Kontiki 2007

A report from Peter at the Ropes and Poles Blog on this year's Kon-Tiki competition in South Africa.
This is a fantastic annual event! Troops each build a raft that they live on for the weekend as they participate in various events - what a great idea.

Here's a description of the weekend:

Each year, hundreds of Scouts and Girl Guides converge on Sandvlei to take part in the annual Kon-Tiki Adventure.  The competition starts on Friday afternoon with raft construction . Raft teams have to build a raft which is capable of staying afloat for a minimum of 24 hours.   The raft has to provide covered, waterproof accommodation for a team of six Scouts/Guides, as well as toilet facilities.   The accommodation has to have a demarcated cooking area. The construction demands a high quality of pioneering, because no nails or screws may be used on the raft.   The teams are limited to using pioneering spars and ropes.   

The theme for Kon-Tiki changes each year.   The theme could be related to a particular country, an event (such as the Olympic Games), a TV series (such as Survivor). Teams use their imagination and come up with the most amazing ideas, such as an aircraft fuselage or a cowboy chuck wagon.   

Teams have to carry out various skill activities on board in the form of testing pioneering and creative skills and the results are judged on the Sunday morning.   This aspect of the competition counts towards the overall points for the raft competition and also earns a separate floating trophy for the winning team.

Teams aboard the rafts have to make a meal consisting of at least three courses.    This is normally a Saturday evening meal and a serving has to be presented for meal judging.    This aspect of the competition also earns a unique floating trophy as well as the points counting towards the overall raft competition.

Each raft has a shore support team that participate in fringe events such as tug of war and volleyball.

Peter has a posting featuring Views from the Raft, a model of the raft and a downloadable scale rule for making the model.

Associated posts on the Scoutmaster Blog;
Kon-Tiki 2006
South African Scouting

Pioneering Miscellany

Ploeg Technieken is a Dutch (?) website dedicated (it seems) to pioneering and camping techniques and technology.  found this intriguing picture of a four way seesaw, looks like fun.

Knots, Splices and Rope Work at Project Gutenberg "Giving Complete and Simple Directions for Making All the Most Useful and Ornamental Knots in Common Use, with Chapters on Splicing, Pointing, Seizing, Serving, etc. Adapted for the Use of Travelers, Campers, Yachtsmen, Boy Scouts, and All Others Having to Use or Handle Ropes for Any Purpose." By A. HYATT VERRILL

Pionier pagina Another Dutch pioneering site with a pretty extensive collection of pioneering illustrations and associated nformation

Poneering CAD Program

Over a Ropes and Poles a piece on the developing "Sjorcad", a CAD application for pioneering projects. Sounds exciting- but we may have to wait awhile before its available.

MAKE a Trebuchet

MAKE magazine features a video and PDF on making a Trebuchet; a historic throwing device.  the MAKE resources feature directions for making a tiny version from jumbo paper clips and a mid-sized, remote-control model.

Making something that will throw an object into the air is quite a bit of fun for Scouts and Leaders alike. Naturally building and operating such a device requires self control and caution but they make dandy pioneering projects.

Frapping Mallet at Ropes and Poles

At the Ropes and Poles scout pioneering blog:

A frapping mallet is used to tighten lashings while they are being tied. Using hands alone, it's not typically possible to tighten a lashing enough for it to be secure, especially with larger poles. This post illustrates one way of using a frapping mallet, the method I am familiar with.