October 2025 Ship Club Recap
Hi all,
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our change to Sunday for our ship club meeting so that we could attend the High Plains Con in Loveland, Colorado on Saturday.
Here is the recorded video LINK to the meeting.
By breaking down the presentation into smaller segments we were able to share with everyone online the complete presentation and got ourselves caught up from last month.
Here's a recap of the meeting....
As most of you know, one of our members, Retired Navy Captain, John "Deacon" DuGene, passed last September. He was kind enough to leave us $2000 in his last Will and Testament. I'm forever grateful to John for being our friend and thinking of us in his passing. We lost him way to young. Those funds are now in our High Yield Saving Account which will be used to maintain our hybrid meetings and whatever else the group as a whole decides to do. Between he and what we earned from Deborah Beasley graciously allowing us to sell Jerry's "collection", we have funds to last us a long time. Go Navy!
As I learned from the High Plains Con show, our shirts get us attention at shows and they are fun to wear at our meetings. I think for most of us our original shirts are in long need of replacement. I've asked graphic designers and members Stewart Bailey and Blake Herling to take a look at redesigning our shirts. If you've forgotten this is the back of our old T-shirts. If you have any ideas on what you would like to see on our new shirts please let us know. I've already suggested the possibility of incorporating the Evarts Class DE's which were built in Colorado as an idea. But let's get creative.
We had a brief update on the tariff situation. the bottom line is that it remains confusing and you should be very careful about ordering from overseas. Note that most postal systems are not shipping parcels to the US. Shipping by mail and by courier (FedEx, UPS, DHL) can be very different experiences. This question comes before the Supreme Court in November. So I expect this to be an ever changing and confusing situation.
I'll share with you what Richard Harden at Tom's Modelworks had to say about his recent experience...
I wanted to share with you a podcast that is heavily ship model related and includes techniques, new releases, etc. More so than any other podcast I've listened to. You can listen to this on your phone using a mobile application, or you can listen to it directly from your computer.
On to our builds
First Rob Weilacher shared his model of the USS Wolverine. This is a Blue Ridge Models kit in 1/700 scale.
This image is from the files last month that didn't download that show the extensive under deck photo etch structure that Rob spoke about during the meeting. You can imagine the challenge of mounting this to the lower hull section!
Here's a photo of the Wolverine out on the Great Lakes back in the day.
Next David Angelo was up with the modification to his USS Vincennes kit. David added tapered brass masts which he made by sanding down brass rods to shape.
Next up was John Widmar on his Dragon Z-39 Type 1936A Destroyer in 1/700 scale.
John also shared his kit from Seed Hobby of the 1/700 Yasoshima. These Seed Hobby kits are quite nice.
Here's the finished model
Then Roger Schafer shared his IBG 1/700 Hunt Class Destroyer. There are a dozen or so versions of this kit. Roger advises that they are quite good, although he did improve the 20mm on the bridge wings with the addition of an aftermarket part to improve the detail.
HIGH PLAINS CON - 2025
There weren't many ship subjects at the High Plains Con. There generally aren't.
Stewart Bailey won an award for his 1/350 Astute Class submarine (bottom model)
I was fortunate to take a first place for my Type A submarine, and a second place for the little Bathurst. Okay, so there were only two entries in the under 1/350 category, but I"ll take it!
Here are some other ship models from the show... I thought this hydroplane racer was amazing. The finish was spactacular. The decals had no hint of carrier film and looked painted on. The seam management, particularly of the turbine exhaust was perfection.
1/350 Graf Spee
The big winner in nautical at the show was this Titanic. It won fist in under 1/350 scale, best Nautical, and Best of Show. This is the Academy kit which included lighting and a wood deck. I particularly liked the rigging he did on this model.
Next we revisited the IPMS Nationals part of the presentation from last meeting.
Attached to the USS Wisconsin is the Nauticus Museum. Within that museum is the Navy museum ship collection.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the museum.
This is the gentleman who built many of the models in the museum. He kept his wood working table out to share his work with visitors. We spent quite a bit of time talking with him.
We later took a behind the scenes tour of the USS Monitor recovery project. Our docent was the lead diver for the recovery and shared a ton of information. Here's a re-creation of what the Monitor turret looked like inside.
The turret of the monitor is in a holding tank going through a multi year project of removing salt and contaminants from the artifact.
Here we see the gun and gun carriage going through the same process.
A gun cariage that had completed the decontamination process
This was a re-creation of what the turret looked like when they found it and before they started cleaning it up.
These are the actual lanterns used on the Monitor. The red one on the right is the one used to signal that the boat was floundering and sinking.
This is a cutaway of what the C.S.S. Virginia looked like which was a different approach to an ironclad ship. Roger pointed out that this boat was originally the USS Marimac which the Union Troops tried to scuttle by burning it to the waterline and sinking her. She was raised by the confederates and turned into a much different boat.
The museum was host to a large number of huge commercial ship models.
The collection also included examples of model power plants. This one a side wheeler design.
A side room contained a beautiful collection of wood ship models. These are just a few in the room. The room was blacked out with lighting on the ships.
IPMS National Convention Model Room
This was a ship model extravaganza! Too many to post here. So please go to this link which will take you to the models that won in their categories. Spoiler alert, ships are down towards the bottom of the list.
You can also view the models I put on the screen in the video recording. There were must too many to post in this recap.
There was one modeler, Eugene Berger, that was worth pointing out just because of how extraordinary his models were...
This was probably his smallest model. He took the Trumpeter 1/200 Arizona and back dated it to her original configuration. I believe this won a 1st place and also Best Ship award.
This was a huge Butler Class Destroyer Escort. It's hard to capture everything happening on this model so I'll share a few close ups.
You can't imagine the detail that is included in the bridge alone. This model was perfect in every way.
Here's a model of the USS United States.
Some examples of the detail on this model
USS Olympia
The one that struck me the most was the this category which was the 1/350 and larger Destroyers.
We discussed this model already. Every detail you would find on the actual ship is captured in extraordinary detail. There were no flaws in the construction that were visible to anyone. It was covered with figures going about their business in such a natural way. Tool boxes, ammo cans, parts, and on and on. Yet it took 3rd place? This was a Master Class in model making at the highest level. I could not comprehend this outcome.
The second place model was an excellent model. It was a 1/350, well made USS England on a wood base. It was built by Rob Rode who is also an excellent modeler.
The results of this category made no sense to me. Were they recorded backwards? Did the judges have a bias against the much larger model? I would love to know how the team of judges came to this conclusion. In my mind how do you possibly compare that amazing Destroyer Escort to a 1/350 Tamiya kit even with the extras that were put into it. I doubt I will ever come to understand this conclusion.
Please nobody take offense to these remarks. This is strictly my opinion. I think the time of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at IPMS should end and an alternate method that recognizes the effort and quality put into the model. The most typical being Gold/Silver/Bronze method similar to what AMPS uses. And that's all I have to say about that.... for now. I'm looking forward to my IPMS survey.
Moving on... so what's new on the market...
I'm coming back to a model pointed out earlier which was a hydroplane racing boat kit. This is something really different. I didn't find out too late about the builder. I would have loved to talk with him more about this model. A little searching revealed that it's for sale in many versions on various platforms like Etsy and eBay. I thought this was a well done kit and I know what Blake got for his birthday. LOL.
Squadron announced that they have are selling the Iron Shipwrights 1/350 submarines which now include newly designed 3D printed parts. I think these would be great kits if only the hull castings could be improved. They have a tendency to be filled with air holes and often times detail are obscured by the casting issues. I do have to say though that I saw one of these models built up extremely well at the IPMS Nationals.
Squadron announced that they have are selling the Iron Shipwrights 1/350 submarines which now include newly designed 3D printed parts. I think these would be great kits if only the hull castings could be improved. They have a tendency to be filled with air holes and often times detail are obscured by the casting issues. I do have to say though that I saw one of these models built up extremely well at the IPMS Nationals.
Sadly Rusty White of Flagship Models passed a couple of years ago. However Squadron has picked up their line of products. They are upgrading the details with improved 3D printed parts. The hulls are still resin cast. Brandon advised that they are improving the hulls. I purchased the Monitor and while the details are excellent in 3D resin, I think the hulls could still stand some improvement to match the detail of the new parts. They have so far released these three kits. The USS Monitor, CSS Virginia, and USS Choctaw.
Quinta Studios has released a line of white waterline markings in various thicknesses. I expect these are of good quality, meaning they are better than previous decal lines with the exception of ANYZ line decals, which I recommend. I think a few countries used white boot toppings for their submarines and perhaps some ships. I would like to see Quinta come out with some black markings as well as some depth markings to compliment the waterline markings. We'll see... Very likely you can find these and Sprue Brothers who carry this product line.
Have you been waiting for a really good 1/700 Flower Class Corvette? Here it is from Black Cat Models. This is going to be a winner for sure and with all the great 3D printed parts we've come to expect from Black Cat Models, I'm sure this will be a favorite in our club. Price is good, but for now the shipping is pretty steep. Look for Squadron to hopefully pick up this latest release.
From the folks at DaLiGeJian Model in China, how about a 3D printed 1/350 Yamato? It includes a ton of 3D printed parts and photo etch. But the hull and structures are all 3D printed. It includes masks and apparently has the big guns as well. Squadron is planning on importing these kits in the future.
Another update from Squadron at the show was that their line of paints is complete, although some sets are running out. But Brandon advises that as the colors run out they will be replenished. I'll be looking for a sample of that buff paint to share with you all.
3D-Wild announced the release of the US Navy's future Frigate, USS Constellation. But will the Navy ever finish these ships? And can you build one faster than the few that are under construction?
Finally 3D Wild released the USS Bogue/HMS Attacker class Escort Carriers in both 1/200 and 1/350 scales. These are from Blandy Maquetes Navais in Brazil.
I think that's enough for this month and I think we're caught up after last months technical meltdown.
Thanks for your patience and we'll look forward to seeing you in November!
