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!

Thursday 7 February 2013

Meeting Summary February 5, 2013
Another delightful meeting, with 8 members in attendance.
Dave H, Mike K, Steve F, Steve R, Tony B, Gary J, Chris J, and yours truly.
Gary was in and collected a bit more for Dues. Thanks Gary I knew you had a class to teach tonight.

Chris is working with a couple of guys to produce a book on a specific armor subject, to be illustrated with their kits. It has a certain theme, and each will produce a few models for it. Chris showed us his first example, a Challenger w/plow circa 1995 Europe.
Check this out..





Our group is not just about the plastic kits, it is about the culture and the subjects associated with the kits. That’s the thing that drives our conversations when we meet, whether it is the real life use of those machines, or it is something related to the history of the period, and many, many other things of course.
In keeping with a theme from last meeting, Steve F. brought in some 1/144 scale WWII aircraft that he built; Spitfire (402 Sq), Heinkel 111, and a B-26 Maurader. He set them up in a manner to show scale distance and referenced period weapons ranges and kill zones.
You will recall from our last meeting that Steve produced a number of 1/1200 ships from the Bismark fight. One little detail from Steve that I failed to mention was 1/1200 was the scale that the Navies (British in particular) at the time used as references and perspectives for training aircrews and ships crews. If you place a 1/1200 model on the floor, and look at it from about 5/6 feet, the model represents the  perspective an aircrew would have of it from 5000ft. Similarly, if you place a model on a surface and look at it from a specific distance away, it will represent size from another real life distance (Sorry Steve, I forgot the exact distances J ). That was for ship recognition and observer range finding training.
So, with the 1/144 aircraft, Steve set up a representation of the maximum effective range of the 50 Cal MG (1200 yds = 25 ft), verses the maximum practical range of 300 yds (= 6ft), and 100 yds (=3 Ft), to show what aircrew would have experienced in training.
Some shots…

Hienkel target.....

 Spitfire at 1200 scale yards.. but where is the Heinkel??

300 scale yards... still not an easy shot. From watching Gun Camera footage over the years, it would seem that most kills were less than 300 Yds.
Steve also had a couple of yellow twin engine a/c that I didnt get to talk to him about or get pictures of. Steve, maybe you can pop me an email and give me some details on them.

Dave H brought in a work in progress, an A-37 Dragonfly, Vietnam era. The fuselage assembly and cockpit detail are about finished, looking forward to seeing it in a coat of paint! Nice work Dave.


Lastly, I was working on another Jagdpanther that I finished. It is a late WWII version with the dark green camouflage. Building on the techniques I used for the version form last month’s post, it required different approaches due to colors and lack of zimmerit. (dot filtering, filters, washes).

Again, that’s it for now,
A reminder that our next meeting is Tuesday Mar 5, 2013.
Don’t forget your dues.
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.
Keep building!!

Joe
ipmssj@gmail.com

Sunday 3 February 2013

Upcoming Meeting February 5

January rolled through fairly quickly and it is time to get together again.

Looking forward to seeing a bunch of people Tuesday.

Don't forget your $20 for dues..

Chris is working on a new Merkava from Meng. Look for updates on his blog, or come to the meeting and see it in person.

I have finished my second Jagdpanther, will bring in both for those not there last meeting to see the first one.

See you Tuesday!