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