Sorry for the late update from the last meeting.  We started the meeting with an excellent presentation from Sam on the history of the DASH unmanned helicopters used by the USN.

Here's a link to a video I found on the QH-50 DASH operations.  If you search YouTube you can find a number of them.

Thanks Sam for another great presentation!

I gave a talk on buying and selling on eBay.  During the presentation I showed some items that I put on eBay as a demonstration.  Of the four items I posted one has sold that turned out to be a not so frenzied bid between two buyers.  I didn't recover the cost of the kit but it's out of the house and in the hands of somebody who I hope will enjoy building it.

We talked about being a good seller.  One of the items I was selling was a MacBook docking station.  I set it as an auction with a a "buy it now" option.  A lady in Texas chose the "buy it now" option.  Just to make sure I asked her if she verified this was the right docking station for her computer.  After a little research we found it was not the right unit and refunded her money.  I could have taken the money and run but decided it was more important to have a satisfied buyer.  I value the 100% rating I have.  I got good reviews from her.  So I reposted the item and added some additional information and pictures to avoid confusion from other buyers.

You may have seen the *#@^ storm on Modelwarships.com between Starfire Decals and somebody who bought an item from Mark.  The photo published on the web site was clearly misleading and if I were the buyer I would have been unhappy too.  It showed a resin airplane and a set of decals.  Upon arrival there were no decals and the buyer felt mislead.  I would have felt the same way.  But instead of going directly to Mark the buyer went through the eBay resolution process and Mark didn't appreciate it.  So in turn they had a public fight on the forum.  This didn't work out for either party.  Moral of the story is take care of your customers.  

On a brighter note John brought in some new parts and decks from Infini models.  I think we were all amazed at the quality of thinness of the wood deck.  In fact John pointed out that it's so thin that the modeler needs to pay attention to the base color under the wood deck.  Great point John!  

Martin brought in a very interesting kit from Mirage Models of a flush deck destroyer that was leased to the Japanese Navy and served as P-102.  Mirage has released a number of these destroyers in different configurations.  In addition Martin has the Gold Medal Models photo etch set for this kit.  

I've done a little reading and this is a very interesting story.  I'm hoping this will turn into a presentation. :-)

Jerry Beasley also brought his project for the museum which is the 1/1 scale catapult shuttle for the F-14 exhibit.  The museum wanted Jerry to weather it so I went over to his place and we proceeded to dirty it up using clay based washes from Flory Models.  Jerry's doing a nice job and I'm looking forward to seeing it in the museum all finished.

Blake is also working on another shirt project and Martin suggested that we add our blog address.  We'll look forward to an update from Blake

Speaking of Blake, he's making progress on his USS Arizona kit.  He brought in some very fine photo etch work.  If I were more on the ball I would have taken a photo for the blog.  I need to get better at remembering to do that.  

Next meeting Hugh has agreed to have a discussion on color.  I for one am looking forward to hearing more from Hugh on this topic.  See you at the next meeting!