About the club

We are a group of people who enjoy the hobby of plastic model building. Our members interests range from Aircraft, Automobiles, Ships, Figures, Armour, to Sci Fi. We have all skill levels from beginners to some pretty talented modellers, but we mainly meet to share our work, ideas, tips and techniques, and talk about modelling in general. Click View Profile to view email address - drop us a line!

Sunday 23 December 2012

First meeting of 2013 will be deferred a week!


The first Tuesday of January 2013  is Jan 1 – New Years Day.

I can’t make it that day. :)
So we will meet on January 8 – same place, same time.

Joe

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year


Hello Folks,
Just want to take a moment to wish you the best over the holidays, hopefully you can get a good break from everyday life before starting 2013.

I hope Santa is good to you and yours and hopefully some plastic makes its way under your tree. :)

From my family to yours, have a safe and happy holiday.
Joe

Friday 7 December 2012

Meeting Summary December 4, 2012


ELECTIONS
December is Election month in our chapter.  With agreement that a quorum was in place, the first motion of the meeting was put forth by Steve F to retain all executive members if they wished to continue to serve.
All 2012 IPMS St. John’s Chapter executive agreed to stay on, the motion was seconded by Chris, and voted unanimously in favour.

Your IPMS SJ 2013 executive:
Joe – President
Mike – Vice President
Gary – Treasurer
Tony – Secretary

CLUB EVENT IN 2013
The remaining business of the night included a discussion of a show or an exhibition/club day of some kind. The Club fund is climbing with money carried over from 2011, plus dues collected last year. With dues collected this year, there appears it may just be enough cash to host some kind of event this year. It may be ambitious to try for May, but October is an alternative as well. I would like to take 30 minutes in our January meeting to discuss ideas further, and probably use the website or private emails to further this project along for a 2013 event.

DUES
I would remind everyone that club dues are $20 per year and payable in January. Gary will be available with a receipt book, and these funds will ensure we are financially stable to have an event this year. Please make every effort to have dues paid as soon as possible in 2013.


DISPLAY AND PRESENTATION OF COMPLETED AND IN PROGRESS WORK

Steve brought an interesting piece of work in. It is a completed Canadian Maritime Patrol Argus kit. It is a 1/144 RESIN kit and looked like it have maybe 20 parts J. You will agree with me that Steve did a fine job on the kit as well as the paint job. It is a commission piece for a friend. Steve’s scratch techniques serve him well. This is a very impressive piece of work.




Mike brought back his V1 Diorama (I asked him nicely :) ).  I was very taken with the paint job, and the modulation and depth he portrayed on a solid color panel. I took some close-ups to try and capture that.



Chris showed up with his completed Warrior APC. I had seen this on MissingLynx.com, but I must say it is even more impressive in real life. I am impressed with the multitude of “little” details Chris brings to his work.




Also at the meeting, but I am kicking myself for forgetting pictures, was Tony and a wooden ship model. He took a block of wood, and made a sailing ship model hull out of it. I was impressed by the symmetry of the hull, and the curves and shaping. You ship guys, I don’t know how you do it. Tony, send me a pic and I will update this blog.

If anyone is building and never got a chance to get in to the meetings, and you want to show off your work, please drop me an email and some pictures and I will post here.

That’s it for now, If I forgot anything else, please let me know!

A reminder that our next meeting is Tuesday January 8, 2013, let’s see what plastic Santa brought. Don’t forget bring money for your dues.

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday, and the very best in the new year!

Thanks
Joe 

ipmssj@gmail.com

Sunday 2 December 2012

Upcoming Meeting December 4

Hello Folks,
Tuesday December 4 is our last meeting for the year and it is also Election night.

Please try your best to attend.
Lots of representation is always good for a meeting like this.

We will begin the night with Elections and then carry on with our review of any completed or in-progress works that people may bring in.

See you there!
Joe

Meeting Summary - November 6, 2012

Yeah, I know -WAAAAAYYYY late, sorry.

I missed this meeting due to work commitments, but our trusty Secretary Tony was on hand to host the meeting and provide me with a summary.

On hand for the meeting
Tony - Sec.
Mike - VP
Chris
Steve F.
Steve R.
John K. - Sorry I missed you John, been a while since we saw you. Thanks for coming out...

I understand that Mike brought in his V1 Diorama, I thought I had seen some progress a while ago, but Mike is really moving this thing along. Some fine work there, Mike.  I don't know what I like better the car/V1 or the bunker...
You should bring that in again, I would love to see it up close. Here is a quick shot of work to date.



As promised, Chris gave a demonstration of his chipping technique, I don't have any details but I know it got great feedback. For those of you who may have missed it, Chris has turned out a few pieces in the last month or so. I am especially blown away by his reworkd Warrior - Superior!

Check it out on his blog at http://chrisjerrettminatures.blogspot.ca/

And kudos to John for not coming emtpy handed. I understand he brought a slew of P-40's and his Heinkel He-111.

If there was any other pieces of work that I missed, please let me know, and maybe send me a photo and I will post it here.

That's it for November meeting....


Hope you enjoyed the update.See you at the next meeting.Joe






Saturday 3 November 2012

Meeting Nov 6 - Chipping Seminar

Last year we had Mike show off his fabulous technique for represetning chipped paint on armor models. 

Our next meeting is going to feature Chris showing what he does in this regard to produce his works of art.

Don't miss this, it should be interesting!

Joe

Saturday 27 October 2012

Upcoming Meeting November 6


That time is here again…

Meeting Tuesday Nov 6 at the usual spot at the usual time.
Please bring something along to show.

Unfortunately, I won’t be there this week, I have something on the go.
But don’t let that stop you from coming :)
Tony, the Club Secretary, will be there to open the door, and he will be taking a few pictures to send me, so I can put that up on the page next week.
Just let Tony know if it is OK to post the pictures out in the wild.
Tony? No faces ok :)

ELECTIONS
The December meeting will also be Election month.
If you have a desire to become involved with the executive, I would ask that you discuss with someone who would be willing to nominate you at the December meeting.
More to come by email before the meeting.

Joe
ipmssj@gmail.com


Thursday 11 October 2012

HIstory/Models at The Rooms

IPMS SJ member Steve F. would have recently alerted us to an exhibit at the "The Rooms" Museum/Archives/Art Gallery cultural facility here in St. John's NL. http://www.therooms.ca/

"I visited The Rooms yesterday to renew my membership there and checked out a couple of exhibits in the museum. Outside the entrance to the 2nd floor level in the wall display cases is an exhibit on the uses of black powder from the15th - 19th centuries when black powder ceased to be used as a primary military explosive. There are several small - probably period models- of field guns in this display.

The best models on display however are on the 3rd floor in a small room off the main display area. This consists of two ship models on loan from the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, U.K. One is a dockyard model of H.M.S. Amranth to 1/25 scale. The real ship was stationed in St. John's for part of the Napoleonic Wars. The other is a very small yet highly detailed model of a British man-of war carved from soup bones by French prisoners-of-war during their incarceration.

Any members interested model building generally should find the exhibit interesting... and humbling...the models are over 200 years old! The skill and attention to detail are exceptional. More details are available on The Rooms website including a discussion at some point by curator Bernard Ransom. Good chance to see the work of model builders of 200 years ago."

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IPMS SJ member Rob would have went out for a visit to that exhibit on Saturday past and shared his impressions..

"Just to let you know that I went to the Rooms on Saturday past, to see the two ship models on loan from the UK's National Maritime Museum.
Gob-smacked is the best way to describe my reaction !    The HM Brig Amaranth in 1/25 scale is huge and completely detailed. ( and it was built 206 years ago ! )

And the French POW bone model is just the opposite, size-wise.........it looks about 1/700 or smaller.  (They used horse hairs and human hairs for the rigging......I guess its 19th century aftermarket :-)

If any of you have even a >tiny< bit of appreciation for sailing ship modeling, you need to see this exhibit !
Cheers/Rob"


Thanks guys for letting us know about this!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

News from an old friend

Ray Welshman, our chapter past president, and IPMS SJ member for a number of years, relocated out to Western Canada last year, but still keeps in touch. Ray is an accomplished figure modeller.

Ray sends greetings, and a look at some of his latest work.

He went to the Ontario Model Soldier Society show recently and had an entry that did quite well.
"Best of Show" is not too shabby at all. :)

In Rays words...

"Attached is  a pic with my trophy from the Ontario Model Soldier Society show in September. The figure is a 54mm Historex conversion. I used the Historex parts to build a basic mannequin and from there used epoxy putty to add the detail. Its called "Winter Patrol" and it's a NWMP from 1876 on patrol in the Canadian Prairies. Its basically a Mountie with a red tunic but a buckskin jacket over it. Everything is done with putty and the arms were positioned with wire then built up with putty.  I used an Ultracast head.

I built it for my friend Ian Pearson who collects Mountie stuff as a gift. I wasn't going to put it in the Competition but decided later to put it in. I'm glad I did :)

For more detailed pics here's a link to my gallery on Planet Figure.


Cheers

Ray"

Good job Ray!
Keep in touch.....



Wednesday 3 October 2012

Meeting Summary - October 2, 2012

We had a large showing of members last night, the biggest one of the year.
Welcome back Tony, good to see you again after a while…
There was no set business to cover last night, so we went right to the sharing of work and talking.
You can always count on a lively informal conversation on all sorts of topics.
There was conversation revolving around diorama construction, with Dave’s Afrika Corps Volkswagon Bug providing the source of that. A lively scene with lots of balance, the strength and value of being an artist pays off well to create this vignette.

As usual, lately, weathering of armor models is a hot topic.
Should you weather modern armor or not? No, there is no argument there any more, that has been put to bed. In case you need more evidence, (his pictures are ALOT better than mine!) look to member Chris Jerrett’s work over the last year. You can link to his blog on the right, under sites of interest. The question now is how far can you take it? And more importantly – how do you do what you do? You will see Chris’ latest work on the block, the M1A1 Abrams TUSK with Mine Plow. Chris brought that in last night to see in person, and it is even more impressive in person, even though Chris he is an accomplished photographer. That created a conversation on what products to use and what techniques to use. Suffice to say, small brushes, lighting, magnification goggles, and AK Interactive products were mentioned. AK Interactive seems to be getting a lot of attention these days with their premixed, purpose built weathering products. They would appear to save time and allow most modelers to improve and produce better work.

While most of us build somewhat regularly, we don’t always have something to bring in, but Steve F. never disappoints. He always has something to offer. This time Steve brought in his completed Dornier 317, a rare Special Hobbies kit. Steve is a long time modeler and has classic skills that make working on old (and let’s say not the quality we have become accustomed to today) kits that need special care and attention not so much of a challenge for him. In this one, Steve had to do a lot of sanding, the mold was not as “smooth” as it should have been.

Same thing with Steve’s Canadian Tudor aircraft… This kit had an awful canopy fit, he had to build up and out and then vacuform a new canopy. As well, the fuselage was not to the proportions it needed to be, so he had to sand down about 1/16 of an inch on each side of the halves. This kit represents the first iteration of the Snowbirds, using the aircraft that had been used for the Canadian Golden Centenaires show team, a precursor to the Snowbirds. Steve intends to produce a number of Tudor models with different paint versions of the Snowbirds from their history starting in 1971.

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That's it for this month. If there is enough interest, we might be able to convince Chris to do a bit of a demo on his armour weathering techniques at the next meeting..
Show your interest and make a comment!


Hope you enjoyed the update...
See you all next month!
Joe

Launch!

After talking to most members last night at the meeting, the idea of a blog website was very well received.
A couple of points..
We will use this space to:
- Be a landing pad to promote the club
- Inform members of relevant information
- Post recaps of meeting nights for the information of those who could not attend       (with photos of work)
- Post Build Blogs of member projects
- Anything else we think would be of good use
 For personal privacy, we will only refer to first names on the blog, and in the event of multiple first names, go with last initial.
With respect to photos of work, permission from the modeler will be solicited before posting any pictures.
If you want to post a piece on the blog (Blog build, tips/techniques, or anything you think would be valuable to share), for now, just send it to me and I will post under your name. We can look at other methods of getting your content on the blog as time goes forward.
The email address ipmssj@gmail.com has been established for communication to the club. It is posted in the profile information at the left, for anyone that wants to make Club inquiries. We all have our own personal emails and can talk to each other that way. I will give access to the club email to all executive so that we can all monitor.
If you want to leave a comment that you want associated with a particular blog post, press the word “comment” below the post. It is the hyperlink. Be aware that you will have to create a GMAIL account first in order to post. That will be used as your credentials. The “comment” button is actually the number of comments for a post i.e. “No Comments:”,” 1 Comment:”, etc…  If you want to read comments, same thing – press the “Comment” link.
If you want to be notified every time there is a post to the blog, go to the “Follow by Email” section at the bottom left, put in your email and press Submit. It will ask you to verify, and send you an email to to ask you to activate the subscription to the Blog.
Just a word about the photo in the background.. It is a Zero completed by member Tim Frampton, who tragically passed away a number of years ago. I thought it might be a good way to keep his memory going, and appreciate his friendship, efforts and contributions to the club.
Thoughts about the Blog, content or its use are always welcome. This is our little corner of the Internet, all of ours to shape.

Joe
IPMSSJ Club President

Saturday 22 September 2012

Kick off

Welcome to the new club page. We hope to post club news, meeting information and maybe even some examples of work. Keep watching!!!

Joe