by Bobby B2
Blue Pokorny
August
meeting was Pizza Night, so we had members coming out of the woodwork! We had 25 members and no
guests who brought in 26 models mostly for the contest.
August
Meeting
PIZZA NIGHT: Possibly one of the all-time
favorite BPMS annual activities. PIZZA! The group made quick work of the stacks
of Brooklyn style. Your humble narrator
couldn’t have been more proud!
NEW MEMBER: Brooklyn native, and ship
modeler, Michael Tricarico came
to three meetings and showed us some his work so we voted him in! Welcome to
the fold!
CONTEST NIGHT –
3Q17: So the third installment
of the BPMS contest is in the books. There were some exquisite models on the
tables so the members had a tough job voting.
RIVETS THEME CONTEST: With 1946 in the history books we can
look forward to the December theme contest: RIVETS! Find contest details HERE. Sponsored by
Russ Holcomb and Tom Knoll.
raffle: We had another fun
raffle this month. We’ll likely have another for August.
GREEN MODEL NIGHT: This is a Green theme
night. Not a contest. Just a display. We invite everyone to bring in a model
that is at least partially GREEN to show
and discuss.
Holiday
Dinner:
Yeah, yeah. It’s only September, but we only have a couple meetings before
December. We should sit down and discuss options while it’s early.
2018 Model Pledge: April was the
deadline; it’s now time to get to work! Please have your pledge finished for OCTOBER
2018, for a display. After October you may bring back your pledge for
the November meeting for the last contest of the year. For your efforts you get
an additional FIVE Super Raffle tickets for completing your pledge! Sweet! Easy
enough!
*
* *
A Report
from Phoenix
By Kevin Kilkenny
As usual it was a great show from the Phoenix guys. The hotel
was right across the street from the convention center which vastly expanded
since the last time (this is my 3 trip to the Phoenix Nats). To make things even more convenient, there
was a train to the light rail, which drops you off less than a block from the
hotel - all for less than $5.
There
are images all over the 'Net, so you can look here for the gallery -
A
copy of the award's Presentation is here - http://svsm.org/gallery/phoenix2018-awards
Going by the numbers, here are the preliminaries:
- Contest
Entrants: 424.
- Models
grand total: 3,523.
- Models
in competition: 2,723.
Display 800 (including one CA member who had a
collection of 700 armor vehicles).
- -Jr
70.
- -Aircraft
670.
- -Military
Vehicles 501.
- -Ship
143.
- -Dio
169.
- -Misc
508.
- -Auto
257.
- -Space
Sci-fi 168.
- -Figures
237.
I brought two models. I had chosen carefully, for
fear that the baggage handlers and/or the TSA would damage the models en route.
In the end I chose the Huygens lander (as it was to be featured in a seminar),
and a one piece dinosaur vignette. The
Huygens didn't score an award, but Fine Scale Modeler photographed it. Maybe
we'll see it in print. The dinosaur did snag a 2nd in category 800...
Dinosaurs. That was my first Nationals win. ;)
I didn't attend any of the side trips (Pima, and
Orbital). There was a lot of good seminars, but trying to keep wifey happy at
the same time, I did miss some that I wanted to see.
There was a good one of scratching building a
McQuarrie style Y Wing.He covered building the internal support, and a bit on
vac forming some parts.
Dem Brudders did a cool (and typically humorous)
seminar on transporting and displaying your Models. It got me mad (not really)
in that some of their techniques were so simple by using cardboard and some
foam.
There was another seminar show and telling ways
of keeping track of your models. From Excel thru Access, he ended up at
software specifically designed for models from Suisoft. This one is pretty
comprehensive and includes the ability to add images. I need some tracking
ability, so I have to decide to just use Excel or go for the $44 and get
Suisoft ...
Last but not least, I was part of the Real Space
Modelers seminar. I talked about building my Huygens Lander and my partner Rob
Schorry talked about 3D printing parts for real space models. At the end of the
talk Rob announced a new kit by Real Space Models (designs by him) of the first
US satellites - Explorer 1 and Vanguard in 1/24 scale. They are tiny, but in
scale with the rest of what's generally accepted scale for unmanned satellites.
The Real Space Modelers seminar also acts as a reunion for the members of the
Yahoo group of the same name.
The Vendor room looked a little sparse until it
was pointed out that the aisles were extra wide. I read somewhere (prolly on
the IPMS USA site) that all the vendors went home happy. It is also a good time
to meet up with some old friends. I did
get to meet up with a fellow I meet on SSM, whose alias is AZ Rhino. Mike had
his own little venture now, Rhino's Tools and Models. I got a very nice Ma.K
kit from him. His tables also hosted Andy from Andy's Hobby HQ, (You Tube
channel and store in Glendale,
AZ). A double strike out there,
in that I missed the meet and greet, AND visiting his store. He builds mostly
armor, but he's entertaining to watch. Look him up.
As usual, Rare Plane Detective was there and
amongst his stash for sale was a number of Anigrand, and Fantastic Plastic
kits. RPD sells collections and other kits gotten from estates etc... I looked
and waited, and of course missed a few Anigrand kits I wanted. But I did manage
to snag FP's Caprica's Viper.
The extra curricular around Phoenix was that I did get to see my first
haboob. On top of the Hyatt Regency is a restaurant that revolves slowly to
give diners a view of the city. At one point *everyone's* emergency alert on
their phones went off at the same time declaring a haboob was coming. We
revolved into the right spot to catch it coming up from the south -
There were plenty of places to eat within a few
blocks of the hotel, including 4 places in the hotel and 2 in the convention
hall. While I didn't get to Alice Cooperstown, I did hit the Hard Rock ...
Was a nice time, and I can't wait for Chattanooga next year.
~KK
Meeting date:
September 21, 2018
Same time,
Same place!
