6/24/21 meeting

Fifteen people attended the meeting. 

It looks like things are getting back to normal, albeit slowly. Gil's model car club had their first in person meeting since the lockdown began and Vaughan reports the Connecticut Yankee club will meet in person on 6/29/21. Mark's Hudson Valley club has met outdoors more than once. But for BPMS, the Community Center is still closed for indoor events. We talked about meeting outdoors at the Center but bugs, lack of outdoor lighting, the fact that we don't pay for the venue, rain/humidity and bugs argue against outdoor meetings. Locked doors and bugs, however, are not reasons to miss another pizza night. We're looking at Denino's, 524 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island. Good pizza, reasonable parking and pretty close to Brownie's Hobbies, 124 Bennett St, Staten Island. Tell me what days and times are good for you and I'll see what's best for most people. How about a Saturday, July 10 or 17 at 1:30 pm.? Do you like August better? Let me know. 

In industry news, Takom and Border Models are accusing each other of unfair business practices and in the UK, Machination Studios cancelled a Kickstarter project because of burdensome tax collection rules. These rules are expected to impact many small overseas operations. In progress and completed work included: a less than perfect 1/16 resin casting of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a much, much better Peter Cushing /Grand Moff Tarkin bust, Fairey Rotodyne, Bieber submarine, Neger human torpedo, Hafner Rotabuggy conversion, Bf-109Z conversion, Romanian Bf-109, P-38 Lightning night fighter, SAAF Texan, Sd Kfz 221 vignette and 1/144 F-18E with aftermarket digital camouflage decals. Acquisitions included: PST's 1/72 T-54/T-55, Kitty Hawk's SU-30 S/M, decals from Flying Leathernecks (various Marine AC) and Air Graphics (various Coalition AC from various nations), pilots and ejection seats, Hobby Boss' 1/48 Rafale B , Revell's 1/72 Tornado ECR Tigermeet, Hobbycraft Prowler with detail kits, a T-55 and a RR flatcar from Miniart and several military and semi-military figures from Masterbox. Gil introduced us to layout and marking tools from INCRA. Bob, whose open shelves are full of models, reminded us dust can be removed with a 50/50 mix of Murphy's Oil Soap and water. Spray it on the model, let it sit from a few minutes then rinse it off. We had so much to discuss, from Midwest road trips to the demise of the Fairey Rotodyne and the Avro Arrow, to the Santa Maria Greenport mix up that we never talked about the featured topic, superglue. Join us on 7/1/21 and see if we talk about it then. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there. Or at Denino's. 

~Russ

All - Correction: the Connecticut Yankee Club will be meeting on Wednesday, June 30 (that's what I get for talking from memory) from 7:00 to 9:00 at HobbyTown in Fairfield.  Sorry.  

~Vaughan