December 2005. Tonight we welcome the families of club members and hope you have an enjoyable evening. • There is a selection of food and drink at the buffet, so please tuck in! Remember, “there is no such thing as a free meal”: see later for the onerous and challenging task awaiting you! • Please feel free to contribute a prize and purchase a ticket for the raffle. Vic will be the MC for this. • Undoubtedly modellers will bring in models to sell in the “bring & buy” sale. Be the first to grab that bargain! • Don’t forget about the caption competition: let me have your nominations before the raffle begins, please. • We shall also be awarding prizes for the club’s annual competitions. Club members have voted already on the entries for each class. We also award an “Overall Winner” and each and every person here this evening will be asked to vote for their favourite. Choosing “the best” from the entries in the competition is the onerous and challenging bit! Club End Of Year Report or “How Times Have Changed” Vic put pen to paper and sent the following item to me for the newsletter… On our outing to Yeovilton in October, I mentioned to Pat and Simon how I had taken a bit of thinking time to “step back” and consider the progress we’ve made as a club, particularly this year. You know how life can be sometimes. You get involved with something and the initial enthusiasm carries you along for a while, then it starts to fade. You miss a meeting here or there, then before you know it, turning up to a meeting is a bit of an event as you don’t do it that often. But with Romsey Modellers? Not a bit of it! The meetings come around really quickly and I for one can’t wait to go. There’s always something new to see, something new to learn and, of course, some coffee to drink and serious socialising and learning to be done. I came away from our October meeting with the feeling of “Hey, this club is really going places”. We’d had 2 new members turn up that night following the Mountbatten show and, pleasingly, we’ve had more since. It’s great to see new people, both from the perspective of the health of the club and the fact that it’s more points of view and techniques in the room that can benefit all of us. Cast your mind back to the “dark days” of the summer when our original venue fell victim to vandalism. At that point, a shadow of uncertainty was cast over our future. Here we are less than 6 months later with a cracking new venue (Is it just me, or is the light in the new hall really good for modelling?), several new members and a real vibrancy about the club. I can tell it’s a fun place to be by the level of noise in the room and the lack of work I get done when I turn up fully intending to carry out a particular project or piece of work only to take it home in exactly the same state as I brought it in. I think the only recent disappointment was the lack of entries in the Christmas competition. Come on folks, just because Pat has finished USS Hornet – there are plenty of other classes to be entered and won. 1:350 scale Kamikaze Aircraft anyone? On to exhibitions. We are always well represented at these (yes, I’m usually there and always spend more than I intended!) and our standard of modelling will stand up well next to any club in my opinion.
Transcript
December 2005.
Tonight we welcome the families of club members and hope you have an enjoyable evening.
• There is a selection of food and drink at the buffet, so please tuck in! Remember, “there is no such thing as a free meal”: see later for the onerous and challenging task awaiting you!
• Please feel free to contribute a prize and purchase a ticket for the raffle. Vic will be the MC for this.
• Undoubtedly modellers will bring in models to sell in the “bring & buy” sale. Be the first to grab that bargain!
• Don’t forget about the caption competition: let me have your nominations before the raffle begins, please.
• We shall also be awarding prizes for the club’s annual competitions. Club members have voted already on the entries for each class. We also award an “Overall Winner” and each and every person here this evening will be asked to vote for their favourite. Choosing “the best” from the entries in the competition is the onerous and challenging bit!
Club End Of Year Report or “How Times Have Changed” Vic put pen to paper and sent the following item to me for the newsletter… On our outing to Yeovilton in October, I mentioned to Pat and Simon how I had taken a bit of thinking time to “step back” and consider the progress we’ve made as a club, particularly this year. You know how life can be sometimes. You get involved with something and the initial enthusiasm carries you along for a while, then it starts to fade. You miss a meeting here or there, then before you know it, turning up to a meeting is a bit of an event as you don’t do it that often. But with Romsey Modellers? Not a bit of it! The meetings come around really quickly and I for one can’t wait to go. There’s always something new to see, something new to learn and, of course, some coffee to drink and serious socialising and learning to be done. I came away from our October meeting with the feeling of “Hey, this club is really going places”. We’d had 2 new members turn up that night following the Mountbatten show and, pleasingly, we’ve had more since. It’s great to see new people, both from the perspective of the health of the club and the fact that it’s more points of view and techniques in the room that can benefit all of us. Cast your mind back to the “dark days” of the summer when our original venue fell victim to vandalism. At that point, a shadow of uncertainty was cast over our future. Here we are less than 6 months later with a cracking new venue (Is it just me, or is the light in the new hall really good for modelling?), several new members and a real vibrancy about the club. I can tell it’s a fun place to be by the level of noise in the room and the lack of work I get done when I turn up fully intending to carry out a particular project or piece of work only to take it home in exactly the same state as I brought it in. I think the only recent disappointment was the lack of entries in the Christmas competition. Come on folks, just because Pat has finished USS Hornet – there are plenty of other classes to be entered and won. 1:350 scale Kamikaze Aircraft anyone? On to exhibitions. We are always well represented at these (yes, I’m usually there and always spend more than I intended!) and our standard of modelling will stand up well next to any club in my opinion.
Les and I were saying at Bath how sometimes “less is more”. Some club stands look overcrowded. Whilst this can look impressive in some ways, (particularly if there are lots of variants of one type of aircraft, vehicle or whatever) it does detract from the individual models on display. When you’re as good as us, you don’t need to put so much out that people don’t know what to look at and so end up not really looking at anything. I think the tactic of having a couple of us working also pays dividends. How many new members have been attracted to us as a result I wonder? I was certainly one and I am sure there are others. I think this makes us more approachable and has the added benefit of making the day go very quickly. All I think we need now are some club polo shirts or similar so that we’re instantly recognisable at exhibition venues and we’re the complete article.
So, how are we doing? I think since the change of venue, the club seems to have moved up a gear. The membership continues to grow and the standard of work is also on a continuous upward curve (I exclude myself from that. 2005 has been poor but 2006 is a whole new beginning I hope). The variety of skills, interest, knowledge and enthusiasm make this a “must” for local modellers in my opinion. Particular mention should be made of Les and Pat, who do a fantastic job to ensure the club is a success and that we have events to attend, a venue to turn up at and tea and coffee to drink when we get here.
Congratulations everyone. A club is only as strong as its members and for me, this one is great. Here’s to 2006 and more happy modelling.
(If you have any views you would like to share, then please send them to me. Also, if there is any aspect about the club that you dislike (but don’t want to go into print), then be sure to mention it to Les or myself so that we can try to do something to about it. Thanks, Pat).
Peter Woodhouse. I am sorry to have to tell you that Pete Woodhouse died on Thursday 15 December. Many of you will have known Peter for a long time and seen his health deteriorate over the past two or three years. Despite this, and the loss of sense of touch in his hands which made modelling very difficult for him, he would always try to come along to club nights and modelling shows. As Paul Adams quite rightly says, Peter had “retained an unquenchable thirst for modelling”. The funeral will be at 10:00 on Friday 23rd December at Hollybrook Cemetery, Southampton - near the Sports Centre. The club will be sending a wreath and I'll be asking those of you who knew Peter to sign a card at the next club meeting. Perhaps I can finish by saying that we have lost many friends over this year and I truly hope not to have to write any more messages like this for a long time to come. I, for one, shall be raising a glass on New Year's eve to drink a toast to the memory of John, Barbara, Brian and Peter and giving thanks for the pleasure of having known them.
Military Modelcraft International. Paul A has given me the photographs he took of the models entered into the competition (some of which are included in this month’s Update). I’ll be asking the builders of those models for a brief note to accompany the photos before I send them off to the magazine’s editor.
Events since we last met.
IPMS Scale Modelworld 2005. John Hazel tells me that he thought the Telford show was splendid and that he had a great time there. Richard says he had a good day out at the IPMS Nats, but only bought one kit and a couple of decal sheets. In fact, between their group of four that were visiting they probably didn't spend £100 including lunch, petrol and car park charges! There just wasn't anything there that had to be bought. Richard has some news about new releases which are mentioned later on in the newsletter.
Military Cut-Backs Affect Ground Attack Missions….
North Surrey Military Modelling Group. NSMMG had their Open Day and Competition at the Thomas Wall Centre, Sutton, Surrey on Saturday 3rd December. Dus went along but tells me that the show was very quiet, possibly due to it not being so well advertised. There were not many entries into the competition either and it was not as good as other years.
Forthcoming Events.
Model Engineer Exhibition. The 75th Model Engineer Exhibition is being held at Sandown Park, Surrey from 29th – 31st December 2005. See the world famous model engineer competition, visit the many trade stands and listen in to the free daily lectures. An adult ticket costs £7.50 if you book in advance or £8.00 at the door. Show is open from 10:00 until 17:00, apart from the last day which is 10:00 until 15:00.
London Model Engineering Exhibition. The “South’s Largest Model Engineering & Modelling Exhibition” is in it’s 10th year and will be held at the Great Hall, Alexandra Palace from 20 to 22 January. Opening times are 10.30 – 6.00 Friday & Saturday, 10.30 – 5.00 Sunday (Last admissions 4.00pm). Tickets are £9.00 excluding concessions.
John Cox. There will be a Service of Remembrance on Saturday 28th January at 2:00pm in the United Reform Church in Romsey. If you would like to go along, either let me or Les know so that we can let Kathryn Masterman know for the catering.
Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton. I have booked 18ft of table space for Model Show 2006 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, on Saturday 11 February 2006. This is a very popular outing for the club, with stands amongst the aircraft exhibits, so do make a note in your diaries to come along to this one.
Military In Miniature 2006. The Aldershot Branch of the BMSS will be holding their show at the usual venue, The Princes Hall, Aldershot some time late February. (If anyone has any further details please let me know).
What the papers say……
Fine Scale Modeler. January 2006 PORTFOLIO: Ross Hillman's model medley. AIRCRAFT HOW-TO: Vertical Limit By Matthew Usher. FSM SPECIAL: Wanted! Most-Wanted Kit survey. COVER STORY: Big Berlin street fighter By Jeff Herne. AIRCRAFT HOW-TO: Modeling a well-used Lavochkin La-7 By Francisco Alfaro SHIP HOW-TO: A fish out of water By Ken Hart. SHOWCASE: Todd Jackson's "Steelmasters" ARTICLES: Delta Scorpion, WWII-era tug boat, Spitfire Mk.IXe, U.S. Special Forces-Middle East 1991, Earning the Iron Cross - Eastern Front 1943, USS North Carolina, 6x6 cargo truck, Kawasaki GPZ 400 R, Grumman F3F-1, F-86D, Replicon XX, New York.
REVIEWS: Eduard Fokker D.VII (OAW), Italeri Autoblinda AB 41, Tamiya Leclerc Series 2, Italeri Spitfire Mk.XVIe, Tamiya British Universal Carrier Mk.II, Italeri Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP), Ardpol Curtiss O2C-1 Helldiver.
Military In Scale. January 2006. Price: £3.50. Aircraft Billy's Mitchell The Revell 1/72 B-25J is a fine kit that replicates this superb, twin-engined bomber, to a tee. Mike Thompson gets to grips with the kit, offering up some constructional tips along the way The Fighting Falcon A perennial favourite, the F-16 makes for a great model. In this specially extended feature the editor builds the 1/32 Academy kit - Mark Rolfe adding to the party with some new artwork. Armour The French Connection Our resident modern armour modeller, John Murphy, gets to grips with Tamiya’s latest 1/35 armour kit, the very impressive French Leclerc MBT. Calliope The first of our Sherman conversions sees us build this impressive rocket launcher using both Tamiya and VP kits. Step by step instructions will help you have a go too. Firefly Part two of our special feature. This time around we combine an MR resins kit with Tamiya’s basic M4 to build an impressive Sherman Firefly Ic. A small diorama helps set off the completed model... A Very Fine CV... Haris Ali continues to avoid building more biplanes as he takes on Tamiya’s latest 1/48 vehicle - a superb little Citroën 11CV Three's The Magic Number Ashley Webb enjoys WWII German armour a fact illustrated by the very impressive way he has finished this panzer III - with some very fine ‘hand-painting’ techniques.
Model Aircraft Monthly. December 2005, Price £3.25.
Argentinean ‘Scooters’ Juan Carlos Cicalesi and César Del Gaizo Describe the role of the A-4 Skyhawk in the modernisation of the Argentinean Air Force with profile artwork by Diego F Rojas NAAF Colour Conundrum by Paul Lucas D escribes the Headquarters Northwest African Air Forces Engineer Section Camouflage Schemes, introduced in March 1943, illustrated with contemporary documents and colour Canberras ‘Down Under’ by Jim Grant To round off our coverage of the EE Canberra, (at least for the time being!), Jim looks at the type’s service in the RAAF Feurza Aerea Argentina Skyhawks by Neil Robinson Builds a pair of 1/48 scale FAA Skyhawks from the Hobbycraft and Hasegawa kits 'Piccadilly Princess’ by Randy Lutz In the first of a two-part feature, Randy upgrades the 1/48 Tamiya Lancaster B Mk I with
the aid of Belcher Bits resin products and some homemade parts, to reproduce the ‘Piccadilly Princess’
USCG Lodestar by Carmel Attard Builds a US Coast Guard Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar using the Airmodel vacform conversion
Night Sky Meteor by Bill Clark ‘Meatbox’ enthusiast Bill builds Classic Airframes’ 1/48 scale NF.11 night fighter
Big Falcon! by David Francis Academy’s 1/32 scale F-16CG/CJ (Block 40/50) Fighting Falcon
Cripes A’Mighty! by Paul Carroll Builds Trumpeter’s 1/24 scale P-51D Mustang in the markings of 8th Air Force ace Major George Preddy
Wimpey by John McIllmurray Peak wartime production of Wellington bombers reached 130 per month from
a single factory. John tells why he took eight months to build MPM’s 1/72 scale kit
IPMS Belgium National Convention held at Wieze, Belgium October 1st–2nd Italy’s Malta Defender by David Francis Fine Molds cartoon-based ‘Savoia S.21’ flying boat fighter inspired David to try a ‘What if?’ project
Zero! Zero! by David Francis David savours building this 1:32 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero - a superb piece of of model engineering from Tamiya Silver Streak by Steve Benstead Steve models this 1:24 scale Mercedes CLK-GTR, Team CLK Sportswear from Tamiya and gets to grips with the extensive decals
Born to Run by Jeremy Toole In-depth look at this quality diecast of the Mercedes Benz CLK GTR FIA GT1
from AUTOart Ship of the Desert by Trevor Pask Lancia Stratos from Revell - an eye-catching model of a classic rally car
General Purpose by Gary Thompson Converting Tamiya's GMC to a tipper using Resicast's conversion set
Space Pucara by Steve Evans Steve takes a break from the 'real world' and builds this Imperial Armour Vulture Gunship from Forgeworld
SPQR by Periklis A. Salessiotis This 1st Century Roman Legionary from Pegaso comes to life with oils and
acrylics England Expects by Ross Williams Typical British warship gun deck from the Trafalgar period in 1:23 scale by Panart
American Patrol by Steve Palmer In the first of a monthly look at American modelling lifestyle, Steve looks behind the
doors of a typical American hobby shop
Scale Auto. February 2006 After the Trophy Series Engine-uity Custom Clinic Photo Contest Showcase: Brass Dragster How To: Realistic Fan Belts
Tamiya Model magazine. Issue 123- published on 15th December 2005 Paul Adams has sent me the following……. BITE THE BOLOGNA BULLET Tamiya have a special way with bike kits - they just have a certain magic. Jon Winter describes the building, painting and finishing of the new Tamiya 1:12 Ducati Desmosedici... THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SNOW BUSINESS Following on from their AT-AT last issue, here’s Master Replicas amazing large scale Rebel Snowspeeder... EASY TIGER! With Dragon currently dominating the 1:35 armour scene, we build their all new Tiger I late Production. LANDING CRAFT, TANK The next instalment of Accurate Armour’s 1:35 LCT(4) ACCESSORY PREVIEW A look at some of Scale Motorsport’s recent etched sets for cars BOSS HOG Monogram’s ageing A-10 Thunderbolt II gets a thorough workover... PANTHER’S TRACKS The modelling follow-up to the full size reference article in Issue 121 THE MONSTER HAS LANDED A truly amazing 1:48 diorama using Tamiya’s tiny Shermans, and more... SPLASH DOWN! Possibly the most realistic ‘water’ you'll ever seen on a diorama Next issue: TAKING THE MICHEAL - Robert Doeep descibes the painting of a large scale Wittman figure SNAKE SKIN - P400 Airacobra from Eduard in detail GOING LOCO - Phil Stutcinskas awesome CMK 1:35 WW2 German type 52 Reichsbahn Kreigslocomotive
Model Airplane International. December 2005, Issue 5 - published on 24th November 2005 Kwik Build - Special Hobby’s 1:72 Macchi C.200 Serie I ‘Bubble Canopy’ The White Heron - Academy’s lovely 1:48 Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107-II-5 in a very striking 50th Anniversary scheme built by Steve A. Evans Stormbird Risen - Jay Laverty builds Trumpeter’s stunning new 1:32 Me 262A-1a Messerschmitt Me 262 - Single-seat versions A full historical feature on the single- seat versions of the ‘Schwalbe’ by Richard J. Caruana with colour profiles Double-D - John Wilkes builds a tiger-striped F/A-18D two-seat Hornet from the Academy 1:32 kit Issue 6 - published on 22nd December 2005 Sexy Sukhoi! - No, not the Trumpter Su-27, but Academy’s superb 1:48 example built to perfection by Steve A. Evans
Look, no strings! - Nick Wigman builds Tamiya’s F-16C in Thunderbirds colours Inline Japan - Andy Ieronymides updates Hasegawa’s Ki-61-I with Aires detail sets
Caption Competition. Don’t forget, there will be a prize awarded for the most humorous caption for this photo of a Vigilante.
Reference CD-ROM. Please be sure to pick up your CD-ROM of reference material. It contains information on aircraft, vehicles (civil and military), ships, figure and general modelling. I am very pleased with our first attempt at this and think it will be worth repeating in the future. Do let me know if you find it of value to your work. Please join me in thanking the contributors: Paul Adams, Tony Adams, Phil Butler, Paul Guppy and Simon de Montfalcon as they went to a lot of trouble to provide the material. Finally, please respect copyright and do contact me if you intend to use any of the material in a published piece so that I can obtain the originator’s agreement. If you have material of your own that you would like to contribute to the next CD-ROM, please let me know.
Website of the month. A number of the modelling websites are suffering from hackers at the moment. ARC (Aircraft Resource Center), Carrierbuilders and Modelwarships being those I am most aware of. The problem seems to be from hackers posting messages as “guests” and managing to attack the website in the process. My recommendation is that you register on these sites and use your proper name and return email address when you post messages. This is particularly important if you want to post something confrontational (not that I think anyone in the club would): if you do this anonymously you can expect some harsh words in reply! If you are just browsing through what is on the site then you don’t need to register. I have found the following site, www.1999.co.jp/eng/plamo/, very useful for looking at the contents and instructions of a whole range of plastic kits. Give it a try and see what you think.
New Plastic.
Paul Adams writes…. ...Well resin actually. You may recall my report of the release of the 1/24th Profil 24 kit of the Group B MG Metro in the November Update. A few days later I stumble across a resin kit of the Ford Group B car, the RS200, on sale on eBay. After finding a link from Ken Rally's website (a very good Japanese rallycar modeller ) this kit turned out to be a new tooling by a Portuguese guy who has just started a company called BBA Design. He'd sold some kits to some Portuguese model shops and they were
flogging them on ebay for £100! I contacted him directly and after a brisk exchange of sterling secured 1 (of only 150) for £80. Result!!! The attached photo shows some idea of the kit contents. The body looks spot on, as do the decals for two cars and forest spec wheels and tyres. The rallycar modelling community has been crying out for kits like this for some time. At last prayers are being answered!
To help celebrate Yamaha's 50th Anniversary year, Tamiya are reissuing their first bike kit, the 1980 YZR500 in February 2006. Long associated with Kenny Roberts, this time however the kit is to be issued in the black and red Akia colours of the late and great Barry Sheene. Not only that but the kit looks to have been updated to 'Barry' spec with a change of wheels to his favoured 3 spoke design as well as carbon decals for the exhausts. I hoping there are other updates but there is no information available yet.
Richard gave me the following news after his visit to the Nationals……. Airfix have announced a 1/48 Canberra in four versions:-
There will also be a 1/72 BAe Nimrod MR1, MR2 & R1 (one kit with three options)
The TSR2 will not now be available until late January. Apparently there is some problems with the moulds.
The Airfix releases are all new toolings so will be recessed panel lines as per today's standard with new kits. There are no dates for these, but I guess late next year if all goes well. Apparently the Wallace & Grommit car has caused delays on other production this year as they have put every effort into getting that out to coincide with the release of the film; they didn't quite make it but it should sell well for Christmas. I might even put one on my Christmas list!
If your interest is large scale figurines….. Paul Guppy kindly left his copy of Scale Modelling International for club members to read. I was surprised by how much good stuff there is inside. One item that caught my eye was ready painted figurines in 1/6th scale by Collectors Showcase (www.thecollectorsshowcase.com). See picture above.
They are manufactured from a 3-D digital model “sculpted” on the computer, allowing for small changes and developments to be made to the “master” during the life of the model. A pre-master is cast using stereo lithography from which a mould is taken. A wax figure is then cast from this which is given fine detail, such as textures and so on, and this is used as the pattern for production castings. I found out that the models can be purchased as unpainted versions from Douglas Models in the US (www.douglasmodels.com ). A wholesale account can be opened by completing an application form that Curt Grinaker (Retail Sales at Douglas Models, [email protected]) can email you, or you can open an account online. All International orders are either prepaid via paypal or charged to a credit card.
Also in Scale models were Seil Models, and they have a wide range of figures you can purchase from on-line on www.seilmodels.com.
www seilmodels c
Off-topic Newspaper Items. • Irish police are being handicapped in a search for a stolen van, because they cannot issue a
description. It's a Special Branch vehicle and they don't want the public to know what it looks like. (The Guardian)
• A young girl who was blown out to sea on a set of inflatable teeth was rescued by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coast guard spokesman commented, "This sort of thing is all too common". (The Times)
• At the height of the gale, the harbourmaster radioed a coastguard and asked him to estimate the wind speed. He replied he was sorry, but he didn't have a gauge. However, if it was any help, the wind had just blown his Land Rover off the cliff. ( Aberdeen Evening Express)
• Mrs. Irene Graham of Thorpe Avenue, Boscombe, delighted the audience with her reminiscence of the German prisoner of war who was sent each week to do her garden. He was repatriated at the end of 1945, she recalled. "He'd always seemed a nice friendly chap, but when the crocuses came up in the middle of our lawn in February 1946, they spelt out 'Heil Hitler.'" (Bournemouth Evening Echo)
Club Calendar.
New USN heavyweight strike aircraft!
Next Meeting: January 18
Test Trout trophy, the theme being “x2”. Whether you interpret this as “times 2” or “X2” I leave to you, but if you enter two X2’s then you deserve extra merit!
Your entries can be of any scale or vintage (in other words a model you have had for some time or a newly completed one) that meets the “x2” theme, however imaginative your explanation!
