BPMS Zoom Mini-Meeting Report 6/25/24

With most BPMSers still gorged from Friday’s Brooklyn barbecue meeting, nine [number updated] members attended the June 25 Zoom session.

Lou’s new-kit arrivals included the Trumpeter Porsche King Tiger in 1/16 scale, Academy Panzer 1D in 1/35 scale, and Trumpeter S-300 air defense system in 1/35 scale.  Jimmy reported Hasegawa has re-issued its 1/48 [scale edited] Betty bomber in a commemorative set with Admiral Yamamoto clutching his sword.

Work just completed or forever in progress included Gil’s Space Ghost, Jimmy’s German halftrack, and Frank’s Mirage 2000-5. Bobby and Jimmy shared images of D-Day models from the BPMS live meeting.

Bobby’s 3-D-printed D-Day effort was a modeling challenge – two tiny Goliath unmanned tanks with detail parts too fragile to cut from their supports.  He aligned the broken parts in puddles of Crazy Glue on a silicone mat. When dry, the Crazy Glue sticks the pieces together but will not stick to the silicone, so the parts pop off.

Gil’s ingenious tool tip of the week was a baby beach tent suitable for use as an outdoor spray booth. Available in different sizes, the inexpensive tee-pee has screened window vents to keep leaves and insects from landing in weight paint.

The night’s Zoom theme was paint-masking, and the group named the usual suspects – Tamiya Tape, Gunze and Vallejo liquid mask formulations, and immortal Silly Putty and its new, more costly successors.

Chuck noted his success with good-ol Blu-Tack adhesive putty. He also reminded the group to burnish the edge of Tamiya Tape to keep paint from leaking under the mask.

Gil revealed a Volkswagen bus partially masked with painter’s tape to save on the expensive Tamiya stuff. Green Frog Tape and low-tack Magic Mending tape will not peel undercoats from newly painted surfaces.

Jimmy noted many new kits come with pre-cut masks or masks outlines cut by the modeler.

Frank showed how he uses Silly Putty “worms” to define camouflage colors for airbrushing. He hopes to complete his ROCAF Mirage with its two-color camouflage before Taiwan is invaded.

The next Zoom will be July 2.  Invitations to come. 

~Frank C