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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Region 1 Post-Thanksgiving Update and Antacid

Region 1
Post-Thanksgiving Update and Antacid


Greetings everyone,

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, and found the strength to push yourselves away from the table before your belly busted!! We had a nice day with 13 friends and family gathered around the table. First off, I need to apologize for the timing of this update. I had been hoping to have it in your hands two weeks ago, but am having problems with my home computer, and most still need to be resolved. Now, on to the update.

The first topic I’d like to cover is the Region 1 Mini-business meetings that were held this past fall. I’d really like to thank IPMS Syracuse and Bay Colony for allowing me the opportunity to host these get together’s at their events. Both were well attended, and provided a forum for me to spread the latest news, and hear what’s going on in and around the region. I’d also like to thank the many chapter reps that took time from their day to attend. It was really nice to see some faces I don’t normally see at the meeting at Noreastcon, and my plan is to continue these in the future. We covered quite a bit of ground during both meetings, and I’ll recap what we talked about.

The rechartering materials have been sent out to all chapters, and the emphasis this year is to get everything back to our DLC Jack Kennedy correctly in as short a time as practical. We’ll be seeing a change in leadership in IPMS, with Jack taking over the Presidency from Dave Morrisette, and my counterpart in Region 6 Dick Montgomery, assuming the duties of DLC. In order to make a smooth transition, all chapters are being urged to get their rechartering materials back quickly. As always, if your chapter hasn’t received the materials, or your having any difficulty please contact me right away so we can work to get you rechartered.

As I mentioned, the leadership in the Society is about to undergo change. Besides the change with Jack and Dick, John Noack will retain the position of 1st Vice President, and Ron Bell will also be staying as 2nd VP. New additions to the E Board will see John (JD) Corley in as Secretary, and Jim Woody in the Historian slot. Both are new to the board, and given their commitments to IPMS should be great additions to the board. All board members are fine gentlemen, and I look forward to working with all of them.

We can also expect to see numerous proposed amendments to the IPMS Constitution and By Laws in the coming year. Many will be “housekeeping” measures to update language, but some will undoubtedly serve to affect the membership as a whole. All proposals will be posted on the IPMS web site when properly reviewed by the appropriate committee, then will be voted upon in the coming year. I can’t comment on what proposals have been received as I haven’t seen them all, but will urge all IPMS members to vote on them during the voting period. The future of our Society rests on them.

Future Noreastcon’s were discussed briefly. The 06 version will see us in Marlboro Mass with our hosts IPMS Wings and Wheels, Granite State, Bay Colony, and Patriot chapters. John Nickerson gave us an update at the Baycon Meeting. The web site for the 06 event is now active, and you can get all your Noreastcon info at www.ipmsnoreastcon2006.com Planning for our great event is continuing, and John said we can expect another fine event. I’d also like to begin my yearly pleas for sponsorships at the show. Check the web site for information regarding how to sponsor. Future Noreastcon’s are in the planning stages, with 07, 08 and 09 being considered by potential hosts. I hope to be able to make an announcement for the 07 event in the not to distant future. I’ve been working with a group to put a bid together, and while I won’t mention the who, what, or where, just yet, I’ll whet everyone’s appetite by saying if everything works out, we’ll be in an area I don’t recall ever visiting for the Regional, and our hosts are working on a dynamite event. More details will follow, so stay tuned…

Back on the National front, IPMS 1st VP John Noack is working really hard on the Reviewers Corps project. John really beat the bushes at this years nationals in Atlanta lining up new manufactures that are willing to participate in this great program. If you haven’t heard of the Reviewers Corps, a brief explanation is it’s a program where IPMS members are given the opportunity to receive and review some of the best new modeling products on the market. If anyone is interested in participating as a reviewer, contact John at jnoack@ipmsusa.org for the entire scoop. It’s a very cool program. I’ve been a Corps member for a few years, and have had the opportunity to review some wonderful products. Current IPMS President Dave will assist John in this area after his term as President is over. Dave will bring a level of expertise to the program that is most welcome and will certainly benefit the Society greatly.

I also mentioned that all chapters should consider nominations for our annual awards Region 1 Chapter of the Year, and Person of the Year. The deadline for submitting nominations for 05 will be 1 March 2006, and will be presented at Noreastcon, as always. We have fantastic chapters and individuals here in Region 1, and each chapter should consider submitting something for each award. While I hear what some are saying about not wanting to toot their own horns, I have to ask, who’s going to do it if not yourselves? I’ll need each nomination in writing by the 1 March date for consideration. Some regions have gone to a point system for determining Chapter of the Year, and I’ve been really hesitant to use such a system, as I prefer to receive nominations from the floor, so please make an attempt to get one in to me.

At Baycon, a member came to me and offered a suggestion to help promote the hobby, and the local chapter that needs to be passed along. It’s such a cool idea, and I’m sorry I forgot who mentioned it to me so I can’t give the credit that’s due to the person who mentioned it. I hope whoever it was will contact me with their mane, and I’ll pass it along to y’all. Anyway, we all go to places that have a waiting room. Doctor’s offices, auto repair establishments and the like are all good candidates to name a few. When you find the need to wait, bring a modeling magazine with you to read, then when you leave, leave the magazine there for others to read and expose them to our hobby. One other thing that can be dome is to leave a short blurb, along with contact information on your chapter.. in the magazine. There may be others that want to get involved with the hobby and your chapter who may not know what we as a Society have to offer. This is an excellent way to spread the word, and of course I’d recommend the Journal as the publication to leave, but of course I’m a bit biased in that regard!!

We talked a little about a new Region that is being proposed in the mid part of the country. Portions of regions 5, 6 and possibly 3 will make up what is being called Region 12. The alignment of all regions and chapters will be addressed after the new year is underway. I don’t foresee any major changes to our region at this time, but all will be looked at.

One topic for conversation that could be controversial is the scheduling of our shows. When we look at the calendar of events for Region1, we see clumps of shows clustered around certain times of the year, and long stretches of time with no events at all. I’m asking all chapters that host an event to look at the overall schedule, and consider possibly moving their event to give us a schedule that gives space to other events, doesn’t have more than one event on a particular weekend, spreads out our events over a longer period of time. At this point, any weekend that has two events do not effect one another due to distances involved, so that isn’t an issue. And while I understand the reasoning behind when our events have been held in the past, and the determining factors of weather, vacations and traditional dates for events, I feel we need to do a better job in spacing the events out. It this time, I’m asking for a voluntary look by all chapters, and I will not disapprove any event that doesn’t comply with this request. I’m just asking everyone to look at what I’m talking about, and see if another date will suit their needs as well as the dates currently in use. Like I said, this could prove to be quite controversial, and I hope like anything it doesn’t become so.

That just about covers both meetings. As I said before, I’m planning to make these regular features in our Region. I feel it’s very important to keep good lines of communication open between the chapters and myself, as my job is based on communication between the chapters and individuals that make up our region and the national board. Besides, I really like getting together with everyone to say hey, find out what’s happening, and pass along the latest greatest news. I had planned to add the schedule of approved events to this update, but given the fact I’ve gotten long winded again, (Sorry!!) I’ll forgo that until the next update.

So until next time, please enjoy the upcoming holidays, and while you’re at it, keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers. They’re doing an exceptional job under the most difficult of circumstances. And as always, please share this with the officers and members of your chapter.

Semper Fi
Doug Hamilton
RC-1

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Holiday Dinner Update!

The BPMS Holiday Dinner will be IN HOUSE ON DECEMBER 9th, 2005, a week early.

The dinner is $17 each, or $30 per couple.

No one gets to eat until their obligation is paid for.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Donations for relief

The American Red Cross is always a good place to make your charitable donations:

http://www.redcross.org/

Bulletin: November 2005

THE MINUTES

The October meeting was another quiet meeting due to the weather. Are we headed back to the days of foul weather every third Friday of the month again? We had plenty of people bringing in all sorts of goodies.

OCTOBER MEETING!!!
WORK IN PROGRESS NIGHT: This has become a very fun activity. People brought in all sorts of goodies and enlightened the group on some techniques and tricks. Thanks guys!

NOMINATIONS: As if!!! We’re not letting Vinny and Jimmy off that easily. They have another year to go, so the nominations went by in record time!

WEATHERED, WORN, AND WORKING: Frank C. thought it would be a good idea to have a Memorial Theme Contest with Captain Bart Holmes in mind. This will be discussed more during upcoming meetings.

On the agenda: November
CONTEST NIGHT: This is the final installment of the annual contest; your last chance to rack up votes for the year.

SUPER RAFFLE: An annual favorite. For each NEW model you’ve displayed you got credit for one Super Raffle ticket. If you didn’t fill out and submit the proper paperwork, then you won’t get what’s coming to you. If you have stuff you’d like to donate, bring it in and well add it to the haul. This is always a lot of fun to see who gets what and who needs a wheelbarrow to get it all out.

Our Current Location: Bergen Beach Sports Complex
From Belt Pkwy: Take exit 11N - Flatbush Avenue North. Go North on Flatbush Avenue and make a right onto Avenue U (Kings Plaza). Continue on Avenue U to Bergen Avenue; Make a right onto Bergen Avenue. Go straight on Bergen Avenue 3 blocks. Sports Complex on left.


THEME FOR DECEMBER, 2005
For December we have a CATS theme. Adrian, Russ, and Jeff have agreed to sponsor that one. Anything having to do with Cats will do. That includes any kind of cat in the name, etc. Panzers, Hellcats, Tomcats, and special paint schemes that depict leopard spots or tiger stripes are good too. If you have questions, ask the sponsors at the meetings. In an official memo from the sponsors:

Build any kit that is from the “CAT” family or has “CAT” in it’s name. Please do not dust off and bring a kit that has already won at another theme contest.

ONCE AGAIN...
NOVEMBER MEETING:


SUPER RAFFLE!!!
BRING IN ANYTHING YOU MIGHT WANT TO DONATE FOR THE RAFFLE ON THAT NIGHT.


CONTEST NIGHT:

THE FINAL QUARTERLY CONTEST NIGHT OF 2005.



>>>PLEASE NOTE!!!<<<

DECEMBER MEETING:
*Exact date to be announced*
(likely December 9th or 16th)


HOLIDAY DINNER WILL BE IN HOUSE AT THE BBSC. $17 per person, or
***new*** $30 per couple!

*** CATS THEME CONTEST ***
Build any kit that is from the “CAT” family or has “CAT” in it’s name. Please do not dust off and bring a kit that has already won at another theme contest.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

IPMS/USA October E-mail Update

Hi everyone,
This just in from President Dave.

Semper Fi
Doug

Hi Fellow IPMSers:

Fall is passing and with that comes all the great fall contests and for many, more building time. There is also lots going on in IPMS.

First, both the election for officers is over and the proposed CBL amendment.

The election was unopposed and the winners are (obviously) President- Jack Kennedy, 1st VP- John Noack, 2nd VP- Ron Bell, Secretary- Jim Corley, HPD- Jim Woody and DLC- Dick Montgomery

The amendment passed which allows the residing E-board to change the charter renewal fees. The above mentioned board will have that decision to make during the 2007 recharter.

Thanks to our friends at Finescale Modeler, the word about IPMS went out via there mailing list and you can see the results below- 160 new members in about 2 days. This shows that we need to get the word out more often and if we do, then we can grow even more.

Last for me- remember all those naysayers asking "What's in IPMS for me?" Well, thanks to SAM Publications, you can save about $20 off the subscription to their magazines as an IPMS member. In other words, 75% of you membership fee is back if you go with the offer. If this works, we can look to other magazines and from there who knows. People have been trying to bury IPMS for years and the last year has shown just how viable we are- from our relationship with manufacturers leading to IPMS first reviews to then largest modeling convention in the world (Thanks again Atlanta!!!!!) to our ever growing web site, we are not even close to done. For the rest that just elect to attend our shows, I guess we'll just have to be content taking in their money for our clubs and contests.

Now, on to the updates and there is a LOT!!



John Noack- 1st Vice President


* Dave Morrissette has begun assisting me in industry liaison. Dave will focus on our IMMA relationship, review follow-ups with our suppliers, and new review sources, while I will maintain Reviewers Corps activities, Make-n-Take support, and the Supporting Our Troops program. More later...
* Several new suppliers of products for on-line reviews this time around. Please watch for these on the website. We've continued the multi-supplier reviews (build the basic kit but enhance it with aftermarket details) that allows us to feature multiple products simultaneously and give our members and guests to the website a chance to see the aftermarket stuff actually used on the kit.
* I'd like to take a moment to stress that our online reviews are unique; in just about every case you'll see a BUILD review, not just an in-box review.
* We've been working with Kalmbach Publications for some time trying to find ways we can continue to mutually support our hobby. If you look at FineScale Modeler's content,you'll see a lot of coverage of IPMS/USA events; sometimes even models you see at a contest become feature articles in FSM. Well, I'm pleased to tell you that last month we brokered an arrangement with the good folks at Kalmbach, allowing us to send out a one-time invitation letter to their electronic subscriber database. As a result of this initiative, we picked up over 150 new members in a 2-week period! (See MJ's section for the latest!) We will continue to explore other means and media to reach out to potential members. To those of you reading this who joined us after getting my e-letter, a warm welcome aboard. Please help us make this YOUR Society by getting involved as a chapter member and/or on an individual basis...and have fun, build something!


Ron Bell- 2nd Vice President

* Mailed out bid info for '08 to eastern chapters
* Finishing up first section of Convention How-To project
* Manning IPMS/USA table at Scale Model World
* Featured speaker at IPMS/UK annual banquet

Jack Kennedy- Director of Local Chapters


* Updating Dick Montgomery as to the progress of the charter renewals.
* As of today, 10/22/05, I have 21 renewals with two new chapters.

MJ Kinney- Office Manager


* V17J6 of the journal went in the mail a week earlier than usual and mailed to 4340 members. The post office advised us that there was no mail delivery to zip codes beginning with 369,393,394,395,396,700,701 and 704 because of hurricane Katrina. This involved 31 members - I have heard from 4 with alternate addresses and will send the journal to the other members once I hear from them regarding an address.
* To date this year we have 723 new members. 188 of these have joined since September 23rd when the FSM email was sent out. Of these 188, I estimate that 160 of these are as a result of the email. I have no way to track the exact number, only by the surge in email applications that came in 2-3 days !! We also realized several members that rejoined. This obviously was a great marketing tool for IPMS/USA.
* New member lists went out to the RC's this past week, so they can contact these members and extend our welcome to them.
* For those chapters that would like to avoid the rush - I am taking requests for event insurance coverage for 2006. I will request the insurance January 15, 2006 and should have the Certificates 2-3 weeks after that.
* As always, any questions or concerns are always welcome. And my wish to all for a wonderful Holiday.


Glen Broman- Director of Foreign Liaison


*
We are up to 12 active SIG's. Black Swamp Modelers, Captured Aircraft SIG, Commercial Aircraft SIG, CVN SIG, Fire Bomber SIG, Heavy Haulers, Racing and Record aircraft SIG, SF and Fantasy SIG, TWM: Two Wheeled Modelers, Vacuform and Resin kits SIG, WarWheels: The Armored Car – Wheeled Fighting Vehicle SIG, and the What If? SIG.
*
We are looking for a sponsor for the P-47 SIG and the Fleet Air Arm SIG. We have lost contact with both of them and are looking for a POC or someone interested in restarting them. The Seaplane SIG is currently dormant per the SIG leaders request. He hopes to restart it some time in the future.
*
All of the SIG information and POC's are listed on the IPMS USA web page thanks to Patrick Keenan and Bob Hester. Anyone interested in starting or joining a SIG can contact me at grbroman@aol.com.

Bob Hester- Webmaster

*
New Domain Server- A second server has been activated under the Domain Name ipmsusa2.org. With the addition of this server, our total storage capacity has increased to a total of 7GB (up from our original capacity of 1GB). All graphic-intensive features of the website will be relocated to this server. Associate Webmaster Dick Montgomery reports that all of the “Walkaround” features will be resident on this server by mid-November 2005, and “Event Gallery” entries will be added through the course of their normal rotation. We will be working to relocate all Kit and Product Reviews to this server as well. The net result for IPMS/USA is that we will be able to display a much greater volume of features, and leave them available for longer periods of time.
*
SIG Listings- At the request of the Director Foreign Liaison Glen Broman, a database-driven list and display system has been implemented to publish information for all IPMS-sanctioned Special Interest Groups. This system is maintained online in real time via web browser, currently by Mr. Broman and his designee, Mr. Patrick Keenan. The system displays a public listing of the groups by modeling category, with descriptions & contact information. The administrative functions are password-protected and access is limited to individuals assigned by the Internet Coordinator at the direction of the Director Foreign Liaison. Twelve (12) groups were initially included on the SIG List at the time of its activation on September 10, 2005. This page is linked from the “Member Services” main page and our “Groups and Contests” main menu.
*
2005 Convention DVD Promotion-At the direction of 1st Vice President John Noack, published a promotional feature for a series of DVD’s being produced by Dennis Koleber, from films he took at the 2005 National Convention. A promotional page was posted on the website throughout the month of September 2005; this page included a dynamic, database-driven survey form in which all viewers (not limited to IPMS/USA Members) could submit their name and Email address in order to receive product information from the publisher at such time the DVD’s are ready for production. 134 Viewers responded to the survey, and the data collected was transmitted to Mr. Koleber in MS-Excel and plain text formats. Mr. Koleber has informed us that he will be emailing each of the respondents the product and order information.
*
SAM IPMS/USA Promotion-At the direction of 1st Vice President John Noack, the Internet Coordinator published a promotional feature for SAM Publications, featuring their current special discount offer for IPMS/USA Members. The feature is currently linked from the Home Page of our website.
*
Dedicated National Contest Committee Area-At the request of NCC Chief Judge Aris Pappas, the Internet Coordinator is developing a new area on the website for NCC activities. The prototype is almost completed. When activated, the initial pages featured will include: “What’s New at the NCC”, “Contest Rules”, “Contest Categories”, “Competition Handbook”, and an “NCC Member Directory”. It is expected that additional pages and/or features will be added in the future.
*
IPMS/USA E-Books- A new “Value Added” feature is currently under development for our Membership. Due to the growing popularity of handheld PDA’s and SmartPhones, the Internet Coordinator has acquired authoring software which will enable the compilation of an “E-Book” library of IPMS/USA Subjects. The files require Palm E-Reader software (a basic version can be downloaded free of charge, a premium version may be purchased online for $9.95) and are compatible with Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds. PC-based versions of the E-Reader software are also available for both Microsoft and Macintosh systems. Access to the E-Books will be limited to current IPMS/USA Members only, requiring the standard Username/Password log-in. The first topics to be released will be 1) The IPMS/USA Constitution and By-Laws, 2) The IPMS/USA Competition Handbook, 3) The IPMS/USA 2006 National Contest Categories and Rules. We are targeting release of this feature for sometime in November 2005.

Dave Morrissette
Presdient, IPMS/USA

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Eye tutorial




Click on pic for larger version



This is from a gent in Hawaii, and a seller on ebay. On the hobby forums he's known as Masa. I hope his eye tutorial for figures helps you out. Just because it's animation, doesn't mean the same skills can't be used on other types.

A great resource for srcibing panel lines

I found this link in a hobby forum:

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/rescribingda_1.htm