Meeting Summary April 2, 2013

In attendance tonight - Steve R., Steve F., Chris, Gary, Rob

(Mike could not make it as his father was not well. Hope he is feeling better Mike!)

Another very interesting night, some very good work, some interesting stories, and as always - some learning by all hands.

Chris - Czech T-72, Syrian T-62, Jagdpanther, Figure

Chris had a bevy of kits tonight. His most recent work is a Czech T-72 with a unique camo pattern, but as always, Chris’ niche is the weathering. Look carefully for the paint chipping and the fading. Another fine piece of work.

The Syrian T-62 is an old piece that Chris just received back from a colleague in the western US. He built an AA IDF Diamond T 981 and Rogers trailer tank carrier, and asked Chris to fill the flatbed. See attached photo by Anthony Guarderas. Again the theme is realistic weathering using all the most modern techniques, some of which Chris is developing himself.

Chris has a work in progress that he shared tonight as well – the German Jagdpanther from WWII. This one will be a late model, from spring 1945. In his first foray in a while doing figures, he brought in an example that he will use with this tank.

Steve - submarines, Citroen, Stutz Bearcat

Steve brought in a trio of submarines, not all recent, but Steve is a theme guy so he brought a new submarine in to join some he already had completed. And more often than not, it is a Canadian theme.

The center piece is HMCS Onondaga, a recent Canadian submarine from the British Oberon class.

HMS Torbay is a Trafalgar class submarine (nuclear), and a likely candidate to replace the Canadian Oberons, before the Upholder class was ultimately selected (non-nuclear). This is the AIrfix kit.

Rounding out the trio is the most recent British submarine, the Astute class. HMS Astute, the class ship, launched in 2007. This is the Hobby Boss kit.

Who makes the HMCS Onondaga kit you ask? Well, it was a small group of modelers who got the plans, created the molds, and produced the resin parts. The called themselves the Western Approaches. One of the chief architects of the molds was one of IPMSSJ’s own founding members! Interesting fact, only 5 kits were ever produced, and this is one of them…..

Rounding out Steve’s exhibits is a couple of Autos, something for our dedicated car guy Gary to check out. The Stutz Bearcat is a classic. However the Citroen has the best story I have heard in a while…

The Citroen was a French design, but has striking similarity to the Volkswagon. An ugly Volkswagon, you might say. Steve assures me they were designed in isolation and there would be no cross information that would influence the other. That sounds credible when Steve explained this..

The Citroen was designed and built before World War II, same as Volkswagon, but the Citroen was designed to work the crop fields. Early models had cloth ceilings that could be folded back to allow overhead loading and stacking, bringing in the crops from the field – to market. But it was not for that reason, upon entry to WWII, that the French buried most of these vehicles to prevent them from getting into German hands. The real reason for their value? It was their unique suspension that was articulating enough to provide a very, VERY smooth ride over plowed fields while transporting crops and goods. Imagine what a stable gun platform that suspension could provide in the days before gun stablization mechanisms? Wow – neat story that Steve sums up as – Not so much an ugly Volkswagon, as it is a pretty tractor!

And finally a shot of the table at the meeting....

Until next time, Keep building! Recreate history before your eyes…..

Joe

Upcoming Meeting Tuesday April 2, 2013

A reminder of our meeting is Tuesday.

Hope to see some new builds and have some discussions.

See you there.

Meeting Summary March 5, 2013

Attending on this evening were:

Steve F                 Chris

Steve R                 Gary

Mike                      Joe

Dave

I apologize for the lateness in getting this out.

As usual some nice pieces of work and some interesting conversations.

Steve F brought in a few more pieces of his still growing collection of work. He has two RAF Biplanes from the early 30’s. They were from an aerobatic team. I think they were from the RAF Pagents in the 1930’s. Don’t let the silver color fool you, they were not aluminum skin, its fabric with silver dope. Also, a few period vehicles in various scales.

Dave has finished his A-37 Dragonfly from last month. Check out last meeting summary. This kit has a fine finish and very detailed hardstand base. A lot of work in only 30 days. Well done Dave.

Chris has tackled another Merkava. This one is from Meng and he has taken a slightly different approach on the weathering. Looks very nice indeed.

Gary was looking for a quick weekend project. He found this metal VW kit, and while it did not need much beyond building, Gary did apply some paint highlites to the finished model. I like it.

My contribution to this months meeting is a Work in Progress M10 Tank Destroyer. I have the guts started and a first coat of paint.

Mike brought in the start of a new project for him, a Revell 48 scale A6 Intruder. This one has the raised panel lines and Mike is well on the way to scribing the panels so that they have recessed lines. I didnt get a pic, but it was looking good. Nice straight even lines. I love that airplane, cant wait to see it done.


That's it for now..
Happy St Paddy’s day to all and Easter coming up as well. See you all on April 2.

Stay safe and keep building!

Joe

ipmssj@gmail.com

Upcoming Meeting March 5

March is  here already.

A reminder of our meeting is Tuesday.

Hope to see some new builds and have some discussions.

See you there.

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

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!

Meeting Summary January 6, 2013

So we start 2013.

In attendance tonight:

·         Steve F - Steve R - Dave H - Gary J - Mike K and - Yours truly

Steve F informed us that this meeting marked the 35^th Anniversary of the St. John’s Chapter. It started in January 1977 with 10 guys in someone’s basement. Steve knows, because he was one of them.

Thanks Steve, memorable highlite for this year.

Our Treasurer Gary was in the house tonight and we received dues from most, if not all, attendees tonight. The kitty is building!

Tonight we had a few pieces to show. Dave brought in some, as well as Steve F. And I brought something in for a change!

Dave built this piece for his brother. I don’t think there are many who don’t remember Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, with the submarine Seaview. We reminisced about Admiral Nelson and Captain Crane for a bit. Nice job Dave…

I commented to Dave that there had been a lot of space related television on lately, I personally watched a “When we left Earth” rerun marathon recently. That set up Dave’s display of the Apollo 11 Command/Service module which struck home with me. 

Again, nicely done, and as this hobby continually demonstrates… our interest in building and finishing kits is driven by our interest in real life objects and/or history. I always chuckle when I see examples that we model builders have some much in common with each other, even when we don’t know each other that well.

Steve F- what can I say, he is a machine, always has something to show and stories to go with it. Tonight he regaled the tale of the sinking of the Bismarck, and brought his completed pieces from the Airfix ensemble kit “Sink the Bismarck! Waterline Battleships”.

http://www.airfix.com/airfix-products/ships/warships/a50120-sink-the-bismarck-waterline-battleships-a50120/

 The German navy..

The Royal Navy

In the photo below.. notice the aircraft on the Ark Royal. The kit came with Fairy Fulmar monoplane fighters, which Steve noticed was historically inaccurate. So what did he do? He scratch built and painted a few Swordfish! We are talking 1/1200 scale here. I would not have noticed if he hadn't told us.

He brought in reference material in the form of a book by a Bismarck survivor that provided Steve with a lot of detail in order to accurately portray some of the ships.

Lastly I wanted to show off my latest finished piece. This Jagdpanther is the Dragon Early G model with Zimmerit. It represents a German Tank destroyer from the summer campaign in Western Europe in 1944. I had been looking for an example with the yellow camouflage to learn and practice finishes with filters and washes. I like how this one turned out. Still got a LONG way to go to get close to Chris J. :)

We had a small discussion on what Zimmerit was made of. We all had thoughts, so I looked it up and this is it Gary…

The paste is composed of the following:

•             40 % Barium sulfate - BaSO4

•             25 % polyvinyl acetate – PVA (similar to wood glue)

•             15 % pigment (ochre)

•             10 % Zinc sulfide – ZnS

•             10 % sawdust 

So I leave you with this, until next month.

A reminder to bring in your dues, and we should have some discussions on a show for this year. I have some info from Steve F, I have helped setup a show before, and I know there are many more in the club who have done so as well.

Joe

ipmssj@gmail.com