Region 1 Update 11-22-06

Greetings everyone,

Well, we're about half way through the rechartering process, and there are still chapters out there that haven't submitted their paperwork yet. I hope every chapter that hasn't yet done so is working on getting it all wrapped up. The process has been greatly speeded up with the new system, and never before has it been so quick and easy as it is right now.

One part of the process that is still drawing questions is the meteor Gift Certificate. let me explain it again for everyone, in case there are any lingering questions. Meteor Productions is awarding one $25.00 gift certificate to a recipient in each IPMS chapter when that chapter recharter's this year. The chapter is asked to pick an IPMS member who they believe has provided the chapter the best service in the past year. And the answer to the most asked question is yes, the recipient MUST be an IPMS/USA member in good standing!! That member may be chosen any way the chapter feels appropriate. They then forward that members name and IPMS number to the me. I'll forward it to the DLC directly. The DLC forwards the name to Meteor, and the person named receives the certificate directly from Meteor. I've asked each chapter to designate their recipient when they send the payment check to Dick to cover their rechartering. That's all there is to it.

This program is a way for Meteor to say thank you to IPMS, and the member chapters. Every chapter has a member that should receive this gift. Please don't forget to provide that name when submitting your payment.

In an effort to ensure every chapter has adequate time to complete the rechartering process, I'll be contacting each Chapter Contact directly from all chapters that haven't submitted their paperwork yet. Remember, the deadline for getting everything completed is 31 December. Time is running out!!

I received this message to pass along from DLC Dick and the IPMS E Board.

Happy Thanksgiving from the IPMS E-Board, RCs, and administrative staff. We wish you a fruitful and relaxing holiday. And, of course, we certainly hope you can find some time to get to the workbench and have some quality time with some plastic, exopy, paper, or materials of your choice.

We are now just beyond the halfway point in the charter renewal cycle. At this time 71 chapters have completed the renewal process. 35 of those chapters have designated a recipent for the Meteor Gift Certificate. Regions 3,4, and 5 are leading the way, not only in getting renewals taken care of, but also in taking advantage of the Meteor offer. While its not a race or contest, it is important that your club successfully completes the charter renewal process prior to Dec 31, 2006. The new charter process can be accomplished in as short a period of time as 10 minutes by the chapter contact or other club official. A 3 month window is more than enough time to get the job done. Because the process is new, and much easier than in past years, you may not be familiar with the steps to be taken. Please do not hesitate to contact your RC or myself for assistance. Unless extremely unusual circumstances prevail, no grace period will be extended. If such circumstances occur it is your responsibility to contact the DLC (dmontgomery8327@sbcglobal.net / 210-681-7945) prior to Jan 1, 2007.

There are a number of reasons why I encourage your club to renew its charter. Two reasons are new to the 2006-2007 chartering cycle. First, the Meteor Gift Certificate program is Meteor's way of saying "Thanks" to IPMS and IPMS members. Meteor will award a $25 gift certificate to an IPMS member from your club as soon as IPMS clears your charter renewal. All that is required is that your club successfully completes the renewal process, and that the recipient is an IPMS member. Secondly, as a service to our chartered clubs, IPMS will list your contest on the IPMS Contest Map located at http://www.frappr.com/ipmscontests. At this time there are 56 IPMS events shown on this map.

I taken up enough of your time..... thanks for all that you do to keep your club informed and current with items related to IPMS. We are definately an organization 'By Modelers and For Modelers" and you are major contributor to successful communication between your club and the national office.

Dick Montgomery

IPMS Director of Local Chapters

Back to me!! I'll close this by wishing everyone and their families a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Semper Fi
Doug Hamilton

RC-1

Region 1 Update 11-14-06

From the Email box:

Hi everyone,

Some news, and a few observations this time out.

We're about half way through the rechartering process. By now, all chapters should have a handle on the process, and be working on getting their documentation ready to be submitted. Just a few reminders here, when you get everything set, e mail it to me, and I'll forward it to Dick Montgomery. And it is important that each chapter submit a member to receive the $25.00 Meteor Gift Certificate. Be sure to supply that information in addition to the recipients IPMS number when you send your check to Dick. Whoever you decide is getting it must be an member of IPMS/USA. It's important to remember that if your chapter is holding elections before the rechartering period is complete, or immediately thereafter, you don't need to wait to complete the rechartering process. It's advisable to submit the Fact Sheet with the current officers, and then update the information after the election is held. And as always, contact me if you're having difficulty in completing the form.

I received this the other day, and think it's a terrific idea. Good idea Mike!!!

This post was in the forum recently. It was posted by Mike Novosad of IPMS Mid Michigan. This is one of those "best practices" ideas that should be shared with other clubs and only IPMS can share it effectively due to our excellent communications network.

"During the ride back from the Nationals this past summer, we were listening to loud music and feeling good about the conventional and discussed how much we enjoyed ourselves. Our chapter president offered a great idea to create more interest and model building diversity within our chapter. I was "asked" to manage the program. Here is how it works:

Each month our chapter will purchase a model ($20.00 kit), and by a drawing (those interested in the build will place their name in a box) one of the chapter members will receive the kit to build. We also have volunteer "building buddies" available for those builders who may be out of their normal modeling comfort range. The building buddy can offer technical assistance but cannot participate in actually assembling or painting the model. The builder will have three months to build it, and at the end of the three months will return the built kit and offer a verbal report to the chapter members at our monthly meeting, plus a written review (for our newsletter). They get to keep the kit after that. Monthly updates are required to assure that the model is being worked on. If not, they must return the kit and the process starts over.

Our first drawing was for aircraft. In October it was armor, and November is automotive. We also plan to have figures, fantasy, sci-fi and ships (maybe). So we will cover the full range of the hobby.

Our chapter also has an annual award for the "Modeler of the Year". Points are given for attending meetings, entering contests, bringing built models, submitting articles for the newsletter, and offering modeling-related seminars for the group. The Modeler of the Year is awarded a year's membership in the National IPMS, plus gets to take a snazzy trophy home to show the wife that his allowance is well spent on modeling. A part of the Builder/Review program is to offer opportunities to all members to achieve this annual award by earning additional points.

Since this is a new program the interest for diversity is somewhat lacking. We have gone through two drawings so far and each drawing only had about three builder volunteers. The November drawing is automotive, and few guys in the club build cars. We are after them, plus the aircraft, ship and armor builders to volunteer for this drawing.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to spark the enthusiasm for more volunteers? We have considered threats and public floggings, but decided against those tactics. We have a great group of talented modelers, and would like to see their talents exposed to other aspects of the hobby. I would hate to see this program die for lack of interest."

I had the opportunity to join the Wings and Wheels gang for a very nice day at the New England Air Museum at Bradley Airport this past Sunday. They were part of an Open Cockpit day held in conjunction with Veterans Day celebrations, and participated with an awesome display. While we were located as far from the main entrance as was physically possible, and still be in the Museum, we were set up right under the wing of the S-44. The outside weather really was awful, but inside was very cool!! There were about 12 Wings and Wheels members, in addition to myself and Mike Gondor, President of IPMS Stratford in attendance. Participants brought a good many models for display, and some of the folks were actually working on models while there. A good crowd came through during the day, and some very fine comments were heard regarding the quality of the work displayed. As is the case with many public displays such as this, the small children were compelled to "reach out, and touch" a few of the models. This is always a problem where small children get overwhelmed by what they're seeing, but luckily, nothing was damaged.

I hadn't been to the museum in a few years, and it was nice to see the changes that have been made since my last visit. The most impressive display, (other that the models of course!!!) was the recently restored B-29. I had an opportunity to get inside this aircraft a number of yeas ago when it was still a wreck. The restoration staff of the museum should be very proud of the work they did to restore this aircraft to it's former glory. It's out- frakin'- standing!! My sincere thanks to Al LeFleche and the rest of the Wings and Wheels crew for inviting Mike and me to be a part of this event.

There is still no word on any chapter willing to host Noreastcon past 2008. If your chapter would like to submit a bid, contact me, and I'll be happy to forward the guidelines needed to get a running start on the process. It isn't too early to start planning a bid!!

That seems to be all for now, so this will end mercifully!! Until next time.........

Semper Fi
Doug Hamilton

RC-1

The Intrepid is stuck!

From CNN.COM
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/06/ussintrepid.ap/index.html

Aircraft carrier stuck in New York City mud

POSTED: 2:00 p.m. EST, November 6, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- The legendary World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid got stuck in deep Hudson River mud Monday as powerful tugboats fought to pull it free to tow the floating museum down river for a $60 million overhaul.

The mission was scrubbed at around 10:30 a.m. as the tide went down, said Dan Bender, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Officials weren't sure Monday when they would try to move the Intrepid again, or whether they might try instead to leave it in place and refurbish it in its Manhattan berth, Intrepid President Bill White said at a news conference.

The next unusually high tide is December 6, but that will be about a foot lower than Monday's tide, which officials had thought would help float the carrier free of the sticky mud, he said.

After 24 years at the same pier on Manhattan's West Side, the warship that survived five Japanese kamikaze attacks began inching backward out of its berth, but the tugs moved it only about 15 feet before its giant propellers jammed in the thick mud. The decommissioned war ship no longer has engines of its own.

"We knew it was not going to come out like a cruise ship," said Matt Woods, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's vice president for operations.

Six tugboats had strained to move the giant ship.

"We were able to move her 15 feet, and then she came to a halt. We tried to add more power with another tugboat but we couldn't wiggle her free," said Jeffrey McAllister, the chief pilot of the tugboat operation.

"We were missing our open window. We had to give up because the tides were going down," he added. "She was moving, we were hopeful, she started to creep along but then she stopped."

Monday's departure was timed to take advantage of the yearly high tide so the tugs could pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the slip where it has rested in up to 17 feet of mud. Removal of 600 tons of water from the Intrepid's ballast tanks gave the ship added buoyancy, and dredges removed 15,000 cubic yards of mud to create a channel from dockside to deeper water.

The planned $60 million refurbishment, which is expected to take up to 2 years, will include opening up more interior spaces to the public, upgrading its exhibits and a bow-to-stern paint job. The pier also is to be rebuilt. The city is contributing $17 million, the state $5 million, the federal government $36 million, plus $2 million in private funds.

Elected officials, veterans who served on the Intrepid and others had waited on the flight deck for the beginning of the journey five miles down the river to a dry dock in Bayonne, New Jersey. Helicopters flew overhead; New York Police Department blue-and-white power boats, Fire Department boats and a Coast Guard cutter were on hand to accompany the aircraft carrier.

"The Intrepid stands for everything we believe in ... our freedom and our values," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said at the send-off ceremony before the tugs began their work.

The final mooring lines were cast off at the order of 80-year-old retired Rear Adm. J. Lloyd "Doc" Abbot Jr., who served two years as Intrepid's skipper in 1960-62 and was named honorary commander for the day.

"It was the best job I ever had," Abbot said, standing once again on the ship's deck. "Intrepid had a soul of her own. How can a hunk of iron have a soul, you may ask. But I loved her. She kept me safe and at times I kept her safe."

The Intrepid serves as a living memorial to the arms services, a tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands people a year and, if the need arises, will become as an emergency operation center for city and federal authorities. The FBI used it as an operation center after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The Bart Holmes Collection