Bulletin: April 2009

T h e M i n u t e s

by Bobby the Blue

March was another cramped and busy meeting. In Ray’s absence, Vice President Israel A. presided over 24 members and 3 guests who brought in 6 models. Six? C’mon guys! We can do better than that!

March Meeting

New Members: We acquired our first new members of 2009! Kevin A. and Tony G. came to three meetings and showed us examples of their work so we voted them in! Welcome to the fold, gents!

Decal Swap Night: Decals were brought in, traded and sold. A particular treat was a massive collection of decals that belonged to founder Joe Turner for the members to put to good use.

Well-Marked Theme Display: This didn’t go as well. Instead we had everyone who brought in a model to display tell us a couple words about it.

Loss of a Founder: Founding member of the BPMS, Joe Turner (IPMS #90!), passed away days before the January meeting. We raffled off donations from our VP, Israel, and the Trez, Jeff, and generated some money for trophy packages in Joe’s honor. We’ll, likely, be holding another raffle in March since we’ve gotten Joe’s name on some awards. Any donations of kits from the members for the cause would be greatly appreciated. Bring money for tixx.

You can see pics from each meeting either at the Club Website or on Gordon’s blog: http://gmobile17.blogspot.com/

On the agenda: April

WIP / Fav Model Night: What are you working on? What is your favorite model? We kindly ask the members to bring in their works in progress and / or their favorite models to show and to tell the group a couple words about. We’ve had a lot of fun with this previously; I look forward to it again.

Take A Part / Leave A Part: Gordon will be heading this one up. Every one of us finds that we have parts left over when working on a kit. Gordon has volunteered to bring in a basin to keep any parts that you might consider tossing away. He’ll bring it in for each meeting for people to add or take away from the club parts box. This is something we can all benefit from!

BPMS Magnets: Last month I unveiled the new BPMS magnets. Nothing too fancy, it’s the club logo and web address with a meeting reminder imprinted. The club will be selling them for a mere $1 each from now on. We, also, still have club logo patches if anyone’s interested.

Our next meeting will be on April 17, 2009.

Reminder: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Modeling Contest” will be held on June 19, 2009

Region 1 Update 4-10-09

Hi gang,

Happy Easter and Good Friday, and happy Passover!! I hope you enjoy your secular holiday of choice!! Spring is definitely in the air, and the spring contest season is well underway. I managed to get to RepLIcon and Mosquitocon in the past few weeks, and it was great to get out and see everyone at those events. Both shows were excellent and I had a good time at each. There were some unbelievably great models on the tables which I know we'll see more of them at some of the next shows coming up.

Noreastcon is in a few weeks, and the Buffcon boys are putting the finishing touches on what will be another grand event. Bob and the guys are asking everyone attending the banquet this year to wear a gaudy Hawaiian shirt in memory of Mike Miodonski. Bob also tells me there are a few sponsorships left, so you folks that haven't done so may still do the right thing. There will be no business meeting this year, as I won't be there, but Doc Wiseman has agreed to back me up at the banquet.

I'll be out of town between 16 and 26 April. My checking e mail while away is in severe doubt, so if you send me anything, there's a good chance I may not see it until I return. Rest assured, I'll look at everything when I get back, and will follow up with you then.

This year sees another IPMS election cycle. There will be an election of e board officers, and for amendments to the C&BL's. There are multiple candidates running for some offices, as well as an important amendment regarding foreign nationals and their standing in IPMS/USA. I won't use these Updates to campaign for any particular candidate, or take a position on the amendments, but will ask ALL IPMS members in Region 1 to vote. That is very important to our Society that every member take a few minutes and vote. Vote early and often!!

The word on the streets is that I'm the only candidate for the office of DLC, so my resignation as RC is moving to the front burner. As I don't officially take the DLC seat until after the first of the new year, that gives everyone a chance to take part in the search for my replacement. Attached is a time line drawn up by Dick Montgomery for anyone who would consider taking over this job. It gives everyone ample time to react and is a transparent process designed to give anyone wishing to be RC a standardized procedure to be considered for it. Please look it over carefully, and share it with the officers and members of your chapter. If anyone has any questions, please contact either Dick or myself. Anyone interested is urged to contact Dick at DLC@ipmsusa.org and let their intentions be known. Dick will be handling the search as the current DLC, but I will have some input during the process because I'll be working with them.

Speaking of Dick, here are a few things he's asked me to pass along.

There are now two maps that everyone may find helpful and interesting. Both are based in Goggle Earth, with one showing the position of every chapter in IPMS in every part of the country. It's really helpful if your traveling and want to see of there's a chapter or contest near where you'll be. The maps are found at:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108247286455087315132.0004652a61c20332a88a2&start=0&num=200&ll=58.722599,-73.652344&spn=26.496338,67.5&z=4

The second map locates all the IPMS approved events throughout the country. That one can be found at:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116172974824873322878.00046337d132d455a46ac&ll=47.279229,-86.484375&spn=34.203767,67.5&z=4

Also, all chapter webmasters are asked to check the links to their chapters on the IPMS web site, and make sure they work. That includes the chapter and RC listing pages and up coming event pages. It really defeats the purpose of having them up there if something is a miss!! Please check them, and let me know if anything doesn't work. We'll get it fixed at no additional cost!!

That about brings us to the end of another one of these things. As always, please share this with the officers and members of your chapter!!

Semper Fi

Doug Hamilton
RC-1

BPMS Sponsorship in Memory of Joe Turner for MosquitoCon

We have sponsored Space and Science Fiction - All Scales for the category at MosquitoCon. The announcer knows to say "The Brooklyn Plastic Modelers Society in Memory of Joe Turner” during the awards ceremony. Thanks to Hugh for his efforts to get this done.

MosquitoCon is this weekend.