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 

6/17/21 meeting report: featured topic - interior decorating

Ever try to estimate how much interior detail will be visible on your finished model?  How'd that work out for you? 

Sixteen people attended the meeting including several we haven't seen in a while due to work and family commitments. Guys, it was good to see you. And for those who can't attend the Thursday meetings, let us know how you're doing and what you're building in an email. New releases: Kinetic's 1/48 something (sorry Lou, you were too fast for me) and Trumpeter's 1/144 Badger. Tamiya's 1/48 F4-B Phantom is on the way. In progress and completed work included: B-25 ( fishing sinker fragments in the nose, no Liquid Gravity for Chuck), Typhoon, CH-37B (it's been In progress for several years which, we're told, is not unusual for the older Special Hobby kits), Type XXI U-boat, Lysander Beach Strafer conversion, Thor IRBM (Glencoe was very good about replacement decals), P 1000 Land Battleship and Jurassic Park Hummer tow truck conversion. Acquisitions went from old (Palmer's Revolutionary War Cannon, Monkeymobile, Bad Medicine dragster, Bandi 1/48 armor kits) to new (the aforementioned 1/144 Badger, paper Zimmerit, resin F-16 and F-35 cockpits, 3D printed HO scale buildings). No word on when the Community Center will reopen but Mosquito Con is still on for 7/31/21. The Santa Maria replica arrived in Greenport. Testors liquid plastic cement is back, with the Rust-Oleum name prominently displayed. Will paints be returning? Charlie recommended several model-building podcasts that make his commute more enjoyable: Model Geeks, Plastic Model Mojo and On The Bench. There must be more out there. Care to share? Gil found a new tool, the Sharpen Air (they're on YouTube). It can straighten damaged 2- and 3-mm airbrush needles. It's good for Iwata and Grex airbrushes. It won't work with a Paasche dual action airbrush. That led to a discussion about stencils and how many cheap ones there are on AliExpress and how to filter their search engine to minimize unrelated results. We had a lot to say about interiors. Limiting details to visible spaces saves time, money and reduces aggravation. Aftermarket instrument panels and seat belts are widely used but the jury's still out when it comes to cockpit sidewall 3D decals. Sometimes, a pilot figure is the only thing you can see in a cockpit. Interior detailing can cause assembly problems. Dry-fit parts, especially aftermarket ones, early and avoid unpleasant surprises later. Frank had a specific issue - detailed jet engines that can't be displayed separately without messing up the look of the plane. A possible solution is tiny magnets. Careful placement can make most sections removable. Don uses magnets to hold propellers in place. They can be removed for transport/storage. For kits that have interiors and clear plastic skins, leaving some of the skin unpainted creates a cutaway model without any cutting. Lastly, interiors for 1/350 aircraft are available in case you're interested. The next meeting is 6/24/21 at 8pm. Invites to follow. Hope you can make it. 

~Russ

Bring Dad to Tanks, Wings, and Wheels at the American Heritage Museum on Father's Day Weekend

Tanks, Wings & Wheels – Featuring American Elegance

June 19 @ 9:00 am - June 20 @ 5:00 pm $15 – $25

https://www.americanheritagemuseum.org/event/tanks-wings-wheels-2/

6/10/21 meeting report: Weathering with Pencils

A surprisingly light turnout, nine people. No new releases reported. 

 

In industry news, Squadron is up and running. They're not backordering items, but they'll get back to you when the item is available and see if you're still interested. If you order something from them, let us know about your experience. 

 

After a few words about corporate swag and the ability of gun oil to remove corrosion and the tendency of WD-40 to degrade over time and damage plastic, Kosta shared his photos of tanks, aircraft and weapons from the recent show in Redding. He told us a full-size replica of the Santa Maria will be in Greenport, Long Island, June 17th -23rd and open to visitors from the 18th -22nd ($15.00,10am-8pm). Mark continued the nautical theme. Model Con 2021 will be held on the Battleship New Jersey on Aug 7, 2021. He also wants to cross the Delaware to see the USS Olympia and maybe the SS United States. Contact Kosta and Mark directly for details. For the landlubbers, in Hudson Massachusetts, The American Heritage Museum's Father's Day Weekend has tanks, aircraft and vintage cars on display. I sent a link earlier. 

 

In progress and completed work included: Hawker Typhoon (more on that later), Thor Missile (Glencoe's nice re-pop of the 1958 Adams kit), BM-13 Katyusha, Panzer 4-D, Stryker, Matilda and Moon Bus. Acquisitions included: Modelcollect's 1/72 Land Battleship detail kit, Academy's 1/144 B-52 H ( it's not the Pit Road kit) and Hobby Boss' 1/35 Land-Wasser-Schlepper. A few guys noticed Aliexpress is a good source for inexpensive stencils for airbrushing. They also noticed many of these stencils show up on eBay at significantly higher prices. Just saying. Bobby recalled a tip from early BPMS member Joe Turner, glue wet/dry sandpaper to a cafeteria type tray (with a rim), add water and sand without messing up your workbench. 

 

 For the Weathering with Pencils talk, Gil demonstrated several options: water color pencils from AK (wet the pencil, dab the model, spread with swab), soft pastel pencils from Koh-I- Nor Gioconda (not good over gloss coats), woodless color pencils from Koh-I-Nor Progresso, Prismacolor pencils and the good old #2 Ticonderoga (which works best on lighter colors). Markers, calligraphy pens and technical pens will be topics for another day. Remember the Hawker Typhoon? Good thing Vaughn took photos of the cockpit details, because no one can see them once the fuselage is assembled. We've all had similar experiences. Let's talk about it at the next meeting 6/17/21 at 8 pm. Hope you can make it.
 

~Russ