Hi all,
A quick follow up from our meeting.  Timothy from modelwarships.com just posted a review on the Massachusetts that Sam Bartlett participated in and shared with us at the meeting.  What I didn't know was that the kit photo etch was created by Infini Models and the wood deck is from Artwox.  That's an all star cast!  It's a limited production run as well.  That's a lot of firepower for $69.99.  Nice job to everyone involved in making this one happen.

Here's the link to the review

Greetings everyone!  Good meeting today and great to see everyone.  We had an excellent turnout and some new faces.  Welcome Brian Hatak and Kent Hoilman, and welcome back Max Osborne.

We covered a lot of territory today!

First, thank you Blake for organizing the latest order of shirts.  They came out great!

I may be out of order here because I was in computer hell.  (Thanks again for your help Brian!)

The meeting discussion was led off by Max's Kongo in 1/700 scale.  I wish I could of heard more about Max's build.  Max first taught us a few years back the benefits of using PVA glue to attach photo etch railings to ships models.  Looking forward to seeing the rigging added to this little beauty.

Hugh gave a discussion on watercolor pencils and the waxy Prismacolor pencils for comparison.  We've been talking about the two in recent meetings, especially the watercolor.  Hugh suggested the watercolor pencils are a hard  medium that if used for weathering may very well scratch through the paint while the waxy pencils seem to work very well as demonstrated by Victor in coloring decks. Hugh especially likes the white waxy pencil for weathering highlights.   Hugh uses the white pencil by touching the corners and high spots for the weathered appearance. Because it is waxy, you can rub and smudge the edges for a blended look but in 1/700 scale you don’t need much. The sharp point of the pencil allows you to get into some tight areas. The Prismacolor pencil come in a couple hundred colors which include a large range of grays and metallic colors such as silver and brass. They work best on a dull matt surface where there is enough tooth to hold the pigment. Also, because they are waxy and a petroleum base a solvent can be used to blend and dissolve edges.  Thanks Hugh!


Normandie invasion indeed John!  That was funny... and true!

At today's meeting we had three of the Blue Ridge Models 1/700 Normandie's.  Wonderful kit and still available from Free Time Hobbies.  Victor also brought the new 1/350 version of this model from  the manufacturer Old Model Kits.  The kit prototype was on display at the IPMS Nationals in 2016.  That's a big chunk and it was funny putting my little Higgins PT Boat of the same scale next to it.  The Kongo Max brought is the same scale as well.  I would never have guessed the Normandie was that much larger than the Kongo.  I'm hoping to see a couple of different versions of this famous ship!

Completed prototype model

Those of us who have been around a while remember Sam Bartlett working diligently on the 1/700 hull for the USS Massachusetts, BB-2.  Blue Ridge Models (Free Time Hobbies) released this kit and it's a little beauty.  I think she'll look great decked out in white and buff.  Sam can be very proud of his contribution to this kit.  There's a lot packed in here at $69.95.  When you look at these pictures there's so much detail it feels like a much larger model.  Take a look including the unpainted build.  For a closer look check out this link.

Blue Ridge Models

Unfortunately our good Dr. Rodrigo Banegas was unable to make the meeting.   We followed up on using the liquid mask on our poor little U-Boat.  There didn't seem to be a lot of good experiences with these liquid masks.  I think it can be useful.  But my experience was that when it got into tight little recesses it was very hard to get out.  Martin suggested that using Bluetac poster putty might help pull it out.  

I brought a couple of different types of tape.  My favorite by far is the Micron Tape that we order from Japan.  Very similar to Tamiya tape (also a favorite).  There was some interest in ordering some more so I'll get that organized.

Another type of masking material is stretchable putty such as Silly Putty, Panzer Putty, and Clever Putty, the later become very popular for stretching into ropes and creating masks for soft patterns camouflage.  Panzer Putty is directed at our hobby.  Clever Putty is not but very similar to Panzer Putty.  They are not easy to find in the US.  You can find them in Europe though.  

There also seemed to be some interest in knives and tweezers.  I brought in my "go to" hobby knife which is from NT Cutter.  I took off the pocket clip.  That just can't end well.  The back end has a very sharp pointer or you can flip it around and it becomes an excellent burnishing tool.  Trust me from experience, you want to keep the burnishing end exposed!  The knife blades come on sticks and snap off.  They are extremely sharp and from my experience seem to last a bit longer than X-acto blades.  Jerry's going to work on sourcing these knives and blades.

Jerry is also going to search out some TOYO tweezers for us.  These are wonderful tweezers in several different styles.  They are very stable laterally and hold parts very well.  They are also antistatic.  Perfect for our hobby and really inexpensive.

I brought AK Interactive pre colored water gel for making water bases.  It comes in Atlantic and Pacific blue.  Sorry, no Indian Ocean.  I'm skeptical as well but we'll come back to this later.

Jerry Beasley did a demonstration of the UV glue that you see advertised.  Jerry reported that the glue remains liquid in the open for days.  But as soon as it is exposed to UV light it is rock solid.  My take is that it's a little thick for gluing up fragile photo etch but certainly has some uses in our hobby.  Jerry talked about gluing up a warped hull.  We demonstrated building up some missing resin on a hull Roger brought.  There may be some other applications as well.  

Jerry (a.k.a. The Tool Guy) also brought along the cadillac of disc sanders from Proxon.  Available on eBay for about $230. Proxon also makes a larger 10" sander.  I have an old disc Jarmac sander now sold under the Micromark name.  It has speed control issues and the table and miter guide aren't nearly as good as the Proxon.  This is well demonstrated in the video from Paul Budzik which does a nice job of reviewing disc sanders for modelers.

We ended the meeting with the first part of a two part presentation by Sam Bartlett on the recover of the US Navy fleet damaged at Pearl Harbor.  Sam's material comes from the book "Resurrection, Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl harbor".  I heard a couple of you mention you were going to pick up a copy.  You can find them in hard, soft, and kindle versions.  Looking forward to Part II Sam!

Like many of you I was truly disappointed to see Caboose Hobbies close down their location on Broadway.  It was an institution and a source of a lot of good modeling products.  There was discussion about the store reopening under new ownership at a new location but you know how those things can go.

Well today while I was out and about at work I had a Caboose sighting!  Could it be?  Yes!  The store is in the process of being set up at 10800 West Alameda Avenue in Lakewood.  The web site says opening early January but that's optimistic from what I saw.  They have a way to go but are making progress.  Employees are working hard to get it set up.  Just to prove this isn't a unicorn siting, here's a photo I took today...

It's smaller than what we're used to.  But it looked like they were making good use of their space.  Welcome back Caboose Hobbies!

Good news!  I just heard from Sam and he's going to do a follow up on his Pearl Harbor discussion.  This will be covering "The resurrection of the sunk and damaged ships resulting from the attack".  I'm looking forward to this one!
Dave