Merry Christmas Ship Club Family
I hope you all find peace and happiness in your life today.
Best wishes to those who serve our country in so many ways.
And
I hope Santa brought you all something special!
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Sorry for the late update. I'm very sorry I had to miss this meeting and Sam's presentation on kinetic torpedoes experimented with by Union forces during the Civil War. I've hunted around trying to find information about these but to no avail. Feedback I received was excellent. Thanks, Sam, for putting on another excellent presentation! Sam, if you can send me a photo I can add it to our blog.
John once again did not disappoint. He brought a completed Destroyer Escort DE-99, USS Canon. Correct me if I'm wrong John, but I believe this is the 1/700 kit from Skywave/Pit-Road.
John also picked up a couple of additional kits from that well known modeling company, OCEANMOON. I'm looking forward to seeing these come together!
First up the Imperial Chinese Navy Destroyer Chien Wei.
Next meeting will be January 5th and I look forward to seeing you all there!
John once again did not disappoint. He brought a completed Destroyer Escort DE-99, USS Canon. Correct me if I'm wrong John, but I believe this is the 1/700 kit from Skywave/Pit-Road.
First up the Imperial Chinese Navy Destroyer Chien Wei.
Next, Imperial Chinese Navy Practice Ship, Kang Chi/Fu Chi.
Finally, People's Liberation Army gunship, Brave The Wave.
Finally Jerry brought in some detail parts. He noticed that his US Navy CB-90 had zip ties holding cables in place. Jerry found zip ties for model cars which actually work! Nice stuff Jerry!
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Greetings all
Hugh passed along the following message from the Colorado Crew. They are having their holiday meeting on December 22nd.
Hugh passed along the following message from the Colorado Crew. They are having their holiday meeting on December 22nd.
Just wanted you and your group to know the Crew is having our December meeting & Swap meet on Saturday, Dec 22 at Rockler.
Food and drink will be available, and you and your guys are welcome to join us.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Thanks for all who attended Saturday's meeting.
We started the meeting with show and tell. John Widmar did not disappoint! Here is John's completed model of the S.M.S. Hagen. This is a 1/700 resin kit from OCEANMOON. You've all heard of Oceanmoon models, right? 😎 It's a very interesting ship with the two domed shaped turrets on the bow and matching single on the stern. I was really impressed with the photo etch walkway that stretched the length of the upper deck area.
I asked John what he used for white paint because this can be challenging. This is actually white automotive primer out of a rattle can. I think it gives a nice look and finish to this ship. All those portholes look challenging and John did a great job with them.
John also talked about the tapered masts. He used those wonderful insect needles for the upper part of the mast.
John also brought some tools to share. Included here are Trumpeter single blade nippers and ponce wheel for rivets. John pointed out that these come with multiple patterns for making rivets. My favorite (because I own them myself) are these channel locks with the nylon teeth. What I especially like about these is that you can use them to removed chrome plated parts to your airbrush without damaging the finish.
We started the meeting with show and tell. John Widmar did not disappoint! Here is John's completed model of the S.M.S. Hagen. This is a 1/700 resin kit from OCEANMOON. You've all heard of Oceanmoon models, right? 😎 It's a very interesting ship with the two domed shaped turrets on the bow and matching single on the stern. I was really impressed with the photo etch walkway that stretched the length of the upper deck area.
I asked John what he used for white paint because this can be challenging. This is actually white automotive primer out of a rattle can. I think it gives a nice look and finish to this ship. All those portholes look challenging and John did a great job with them.
John also talked about the tapered masts. He used those wonderful insect needles for the upper part of the mast.
John also brought in a new kit he's added to his collection. $5 to anyone who can pronounce the name of this ship! These tender ships are really interesting subjects!
John also brought in the new Flyhawk Models Bismark with all the photo etch and wood deck
goodies. John got all the goodies including wood deck.
Wood deck looks great!
John also brought some tools to share. Included here are Trumpeter single blade nippers and ponce wheel for rivets. John pointed out that these come with multiple patterns for making rivets. My favorite (because I own them myself) are these channel locks with the nylon teeth. What I especially like about these is that you can use them to removed chrome plated parts to your airbrush without damaging the finish.
Martin brought in some photo etch self etching primer that he bought from Colpar. This primer apparently etches the metal slightly and enough to hold paint better. That afternoon Colpar was wiped out of their supply due to the Martin effect. However Martin advises that Colpar has new stock on hand. I'm hoping that one of you tries this out and gives us a report on how it worked.
Jerry brought in a mat that he uses for cleaning his gun. But as you can see it makes an excellent mat for holding parts. The guns are show to give an idea of size. You can buy them on Amazon for not much money.
Jerry also brought in this handy little device called a thread trimmer. It basically burns off and seals loose thread ends. Good choice for rigging? Somebody test and share with us.
Video on how to use it.
I finished up with a presentation on the USS Slater museum ship located in Albany, New York. This is a must see museum ship. We also discussed modeling opportunities for the Cannon Class Destroyer Escort. I purchased one in 1/700 scale and hope to show it at the next meeting.
We'll see you next time!
Sunday, October 28, 2018
It's time again for Ship Club!
Meeting location:
Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado 80222
Date: 11/3/2018
Time: 10:00
This meeting I will be giving a presentation on the USS Slater which is a Cannon class Destroyer Escort, now a museum ship in Albany, NY. I visited this ship a little over a year ago. I took two tours during my visit which were quite different. I have lots of pictures and stories to share with you. We'll discuss available kits, parts, and references.
As always, if you have something to share please bring it...
New Kits
Works in progress
Completed models
And if you have any questions or challenges be sure to bring those as well.
See you Saturday!
Meeting location:
Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado 80222
Date: 11/3/2018
Time: 10:00
This meeting I will be giving a presentation on the USS Slater which is a Cannon class Destroyer Escort, now a museum ship in Albany, NY. I visited this ship a little over a year ago. I took two tours during my visit which were quite different. I have lots of pictures and stories to share with you. We'll discuss available kits, parts, and references.
As always, if you have something to share please bring it...
New Kits
Works in progress
Completed models
And if you have any questions or challenges be sure to bring those as well.
See you Saturday!
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Saturday was a relaxing meeting focused on show and tell.
Bill Smallshaw started off showing his kit bashed USS JFK CV-67. This was the only ship in her class so Bill combined multiple kits for his final build. In the foreground is his latest work which is the 1/700 Intrepid. Bill describes this as "old school" in the the hull is a solid block of resin. Nice work Bill!
Next Bill shared with us 3D resin parts from Steve_Larsen, a.k.a. Model_Monkey on Shapeways. These parts are different. They are printed in resin. The result is a smoother finish than Shapeways best quality. However they require a great deal of support as you can see. I recommend a high quality of cutters. The resin printing is also less expensive than the Shapeways option. The following is the link to his site where you'll find only resin products. Steve has purchased two of these printers and is keeping busy. Below are PT Boat torpedo tubes and mountings. It looks like a refinery but once the support is removed the details is incredible. If you see something on the Shapeways page that you would like him to do in resin, drop him a line and he'll take care of you. He printed the 1/700 Arizona memorial for me and it came out great!
https://www.model-monkey.com
Bill told us how he was refinishing some of his early builds. He discovered some paint masks made by a company call Model Factory and available from a seller in Japan by the name of Cherry & Anchor. They will ship to the US but it will take a little work. Here's the mask set for the Haruna. The material looks like a vinyl or some other durable material. Not like Tamiya tape. It looks like you could save a lot of hours of masking with these sets. Here is the Cherry & Anchor web site. You'll need to translate the page unless you're fluent in Japanese.
http://www.cherry-anchor.com
Finally Bill brought his new USS Comstock kit from Blue Ridge Models. The detail in the casting is incredible.
For more details on the model go to this site...
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/86d731_c4499123be5c419bb2dcacf94cddbb66.pdf
Great stuff Bill!
John next showed off his cruiser New Oreleans. This one is complete with wood deck. Love those wood decks!
Ron also told us about a CA that Rockler was selling from Titebond. They have three different viscosities, thin, medium, and thick. We have not tried this but it does come in a fairly large quantity.
Martin brought is a kit he picked up from Freetime Hobbies (I believe). You can pick it up for about $15 and it includes several ships. Martin advised that Bigblueboy produces a photo etch set for this kit. It's also available from Freetime Hobbies for about $15. As you can see with the photo etch it builds into a very nice and highly detailed little boat.
I followed up on my experiment with Vallejo decal setting products. As a refresher I used Vallejo system on the left, Solvaset in the middle, and Micro products on the right. I placed some tape down the center of each frame as a reminder of what it looked like before I applied the clear finish. Interestingly the Vallejo did a better job securing the decals, where the others did not protect the tape from from lifting the decals at all.
I also brought in some of the paint racks I purchased for Coherent Designs. We found them at the IPMS Nationals in Phoenix. The gentleman who started the company is a retired dentist. He makes them in different designs to hold different products. He has single holders for glue and setting solutions, and multi bottle racks for the various paint manufacturers. My thinking about these is that they are great racks for a project. My hope is that it will keep my paints organized for a specific build that I'm working on. Interestingly he's started selling these to Sprue Brothers. When I checked their web site they were already sold out. I purchased them direct for about 40% less than the Sprue Brothers price.
If there is enough interest I can put an order together for some racks. I'll send out a separate message to see if there is any interest. Note that in the photo below the legs are black. In the final product they are brass.
Here's a link to their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/olivebranchdesigners/
See you all next time!
Dave
Bill Smallshaw started off showing his kit bashed USS JFK CV-67. This was the only ship in her class so Bill combined multiple kits for his final build. In the foreground is his latest work which is the 1/700 Intrepid. Bill describes this as "old school" in the the hull is a solid block of resin. Nice work Bill!
Next Bill shared with us 3D resin parts from Steve_Larsen, a.k.a. Model_Monkey on Shapeways. These parts are different. They are printed in resin. The result is a smoother finish than Shapeways best quality. However they require a great deal of support as you can see. I recommend a high quality of cutters. The resin printing is also less expensive than the Shapeways option. The following is the link to his site where you'll find only resin products. Steve has purchased two of these printers and is keeping busy. Below are PT Boat torpedo tubes and mountings. It looks like a refinery but once the support is removed the details is incredible. If you see something on the Shapeways page that you would like him to do in resin, drop him a line and he'll take care of you. He printed the 1/700 Arizona memorial for me and it came out great!
https://www.model-monkey.com
Bill told us how he was refinishing some of his early builds. He discovered some paint masks made by a company call Model Factory and available from a seller in Japan by the name of Cherry & Anchor. They will ship to the US but it will take a little work. Here's the mask set for the Haruna. The material looks like a vinyl or some other durable material. Not like Tamiya tape. It looks like you could save a lot of hours of masking with these sets. Here is the Cherry & Anchor web site. You'll need to translate the page unless you're fluent in Japanese.
http://www.cherry-anchor.com
Finally Bill brought his new USS Comstock kit from Blue Ridge Models. The detail in the casting is incredible.
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/86d731_c4499123be5c419bb2dcacf94cddbb66.pdf
Great stuff Bill!
John next showed off his cruiser New Oreleans. This one is complete with wood deck. Love those wood decks!
John also finished up his 1/700 Monitor. Wow is it small! We've followed John on this over the last several months. What a fun little kit!
In the works John has added a kit from Atlantic Models. You might know them previously as White Ensign Models. These are resin kits with included photo etch. This one is of the HMS London heavy cruiser from 1941. Looking forward to seeing this one John!
John always manages to find interesting subjects in photo etch. This one from F Star models that represents a fixed tower crane for IJN ship yard.
Finally John brought a new glue he found from DAP. It's not CA but John reports that it performs well. I picked up some at Rockler and gave it to my wife to play with. She liked it. You can also find it at Lowes. We'll have to play with this some more and find out where it's useful.
Martin brought is a kit he picked up from Freetime Hobbies (I believe). You can pick it up for about $15 and it includes several ships. Martin advised that Bigblueboy produces a photo etch set for this kit. It's also available from Freetime Hobbies for about $15. As you can see with the photo etch it builds into a very nice and highly detailed little boat.
Roger brought in some really nice containers that he purchased from the Dollar Store for $2.00 for a set of three. As you can see I immediately put them to work! Nice little cases. Thanks Roger!
I followed up on my experiment with Vallejo decal setting products. As a refresher I used Vallejo system on the left, Solvaset in the middle, and Micro products on the right. I placed some tape down the center of each frame as a reminder of what it looked like before I applied the clear finish. Interestingly the Vallejo did a better job securing the decals, where the others did not protect the tape from from lifting the decals at all.
I also brought in some of the paint racks I purchased for Coherent Designs. We found them at the IPMS Nationals in Phoenix. The gentleman who started the company is a retired dentist. He makes them in different designs to hold different products. He has single holders for glue and setting solutions, and multi bottle racks for the various paint manufacturers. My thinking about these is that they are great racks for a project. My hope is that it will keep my paints organized for a specific build that I'm working on. Interestingly he's started selling these to Sprue Brothers. When I checked their web site they were already sold out. I purchased them direct for about 40% less than the Sprue Brothers price.
If there is enough interest I can put an order together for some racks. I'll send out a separate message to see if there is any interest. Note that in the photo below the legs are black. In the final product they are brass.
Here's a link to their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/olivebranchdesigners/
See you all next time!
Dave
Monday, October 1, 2018
Greetings Ship Club!
Meeting location:
Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado 80222
Date: 10/6/2018
Time: 10:00
This meeting is going to be a lot of show and tell.
First up will be Bill Smallshaw. He will be bringing the following to share with us...
Meeting location:
Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado 80222
Date: 10/6/2018
Time: 10:00
This meeting is going to be a lot of show and tell.
First up will be Bill Smallshaw. He will be bringing the following to share with us...
- The completed USS JFK kit conversion that he shared with us a few months back.
- A new project, USS Intrepid conversion from MT Miniatures. I've never seen one of their kits so looking forward to this one.
- Blue Ridge Models recently released Comstock kit. (photo shamelessly borrowed from Freetime Hobbies)
- Deck mask kit from Cherry Anchor. I've never heard of this company before and looking forward to hearing more about them and this product.
Bill is also going to share with us a relatively new 3D resin printed material being produced by Steve Larson (a.k.a. Model_Monkey). This is much different than the materials we've seen from Shapeways. They too have it available to designers but Steve is the only one who has embraced the technology, bought his own machine, and is selling direct to modelers. I think you'll find this very interesting. The picture below is a 1/350 B Turret for the HMS Hood. (photo curtosey of Model Monkey)
Next I will be sharing some new paint racks that I found at IPMS Nationals. These are not big wall mounted racks but rather small, project oriented racks and other products. These are being produced by a retired dentist at pretty reasonable prices. (photo from IPMS Nationals vendor room)
I will also do a follow up on our Vallejo decal setting solution test.
I'm sure there will be much more brought by you all as always. I'm looking forward to seeing you all.
As always....
- Bring any modeling issues you're having.
- Bring any new kits or tools you've collected.
- Bring any finished or in progress work you would like to share
- Bring yourself!
Friday, September 7, 2018
Congratulations Rodrigo!
HI all,
Several of us received the following message from our good friend, Dr. Rodrigo Banages who received some great news this week! I wanted to share it with all of you. Please join me in extending a well deserved congratulations to Rodrigo!
Several of us received the following message from our good friend, Dr. Rodrigo Banages who received some great news this week! I wanted to share it with all of you. Please join me in extending a well deserved congratulations to Rodrigo!
Dear Friends:
First, I would like to tell you that I have not forgotten about you.
It has been a difficult 18 last month. I had to focus in all my free time on studying for the American board of Orthopedic surgery exam.
It was a very difficult time, a lot stress in my hospital, too many on call days and nights, family issues here and in Argentina, etc.
But I would like to tell you about the great news. I passed the exam!!!. Now, i am American Board elegible !!!!
It was 8 hs test with just 45 minutes rest, 450 multiple choice questions covering all the orthopedic subjects: fracture, basic science, joint replacement, spine, Hand, foot & ankle, tumors and pediatric Orthopedics.
Less than 20% of the foreign trained pass the test in the first attempt. I did it in my first attempt. Laura and the children are so happy as I am too.
Now, I am equal to any other American trained orthopedic surgeon. This is a freedom passport since I can work anywhere.
Also, this prolonged time of studying was a good example for my children since they saw his dad working hard to achieve this certification. During this time I loss many activities with them, but I will recover the time with them as I will recover the time with you.
The other good news is that the next day after knowing the result of my test I went down stairs to my shop and I re-start my modeling project.
I will see you all soon
Rodrigo
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Thanks to everyone who attended the last meeting.
Hugh started off with an excellent discussion on color theory and mixing paints. I know I'm a better modeler because of the information Hugh has shared with us on this subject. Blake also pitched in with some excellent information. Sorry I'm short on detail as I was busy trying to make Microsoft Windows work. 😛
Hugh also explained how the FS color system works. Sam brought his FS color chip set. If you hunt around the internet you can find them. These are great references.
I brought a computer program available on the web which I thought was a great teacher of color understanding. There's a game on there that challenges you to match the color they provide. Also you can select any color and it will break down the mix of primary colors that make up that color. Give it a try!
https://trycolors.com
I continued my discussion on my container ship project with a discussion on how I finished my tug as well as a discussion on the commercial container ship industry. Some tips for these small ships is to use black or colored decals for windows. Very easy to cut to size. The results are nice crisp windows as opposed to using paint that bleeds around crevices and running paint from capillary action. Also discussed painting strategy on such a small subject. I was very pleased that we could represent the commercial category at Nationals and take a prize. Hopefully this category continues!
We had a nice discussion about the IPMS Nationals and how they were affected by location. Lots of small models and fewer vendors than normal. There were some new vendors there though so it made the trip worth while.
Once again John did not disappoint bringing two subjects to the meeting. The first was the 1/700 USS Yorktown.
John also brought his photo etch Union Iron Clad Monitor that is made entirely from photo etch parts.
John also brought a kit for his collection which is the Fly Hawk 1/700 HMS Lance 1941 deluxe set. This looks like another winner from Fly Hawk.
Finally had a discussion about Vallejo Decal setting solution. I brought a sample of decals using three different setting solutions, Vallejo, Solvaset, and Micro Set/Sol. The Vallejo when used on my containers with the tiny ridges completely did away with silvering. The Vallejo which is the new choice starts with a thin coating much like a PVA glue. The decal goes over that followed by a setting solution. I think the base filled in a little of the detail but not enough to lose it. It also leaves a messy flat finish. Before next meeting I'm going to shoot clear over the decals and we'll see how well they do with a finish coat.
Looking forward to next meeting.
Dave
Hugh started off with an excellent discussion on color theory and mixing paints. I know I'm a better modeler because of the information Hugh has shared with us on this subject. Blake also pitched in with some excellent information. Sorry I'm short on detail as I was busy trying to make Microsoft Windows work. 😛
Hugh also explained how the FS color system works. Sam brought his FS color chip set. If you hunt around the internet you can find them. These are great references.
I brought a computer program available on the web which I thought was a great teacher of color understanding. There's a game on there that challenges you to match the color they provide. Also you can select any color and it will break down the mix of primary colors that make up that color. Give it a try!
https://trycolors.com
I continued my discussion on my container ship project with a discussion on how I finished my tug as well as a discussion on the commercial container ship industry. Some tips for these small ships is to use black or colored decals for windows. Very easy to cut to size. The results are nice crisp windows as opposed to using paint that bleeds around crevices and running paint from capillary action. Also discussed painting strategy on such a small subject. I was very pleased that we could represent the commercial category at Nationals and take a prize. Hopefully this category continues!
We had a nice discussion about the IPMS Nationals and how they were affected by location. Lots of small models and fewer vendors than normal. There were some new vendors there though so it made the trip worth while.
Once again John did not disappoint bringing two subjects to the meeting. The first was the 1/700 USS Yorktown.
John also brought his photo etch Union Iron Clad Monitor that is made entirely from photo etch parts.
John also brought a kit for his collection which is the Fly Hawk 1/700 HMS Lance 1941 deluxe set. This looks like another winner from Fly Hawk.
Finally had a discussion about Vallejo Decal setting solution. I brought a sample of decals using three different setting solutions, Vallejo, Solvaset, and Micro Set/Sol. The Vallejo when used on my containers with the tiny ridges completely did away with silvering. The Vallejo which is the new choice starts with a thin coating much like a PVA glue. The decal goes over that followed by a setting solution. I think the base filled in a little of the detail but not enough to lose it. It also leaves a messy flat finish. Before next meeting I'm going to shoot clear over the decals and we'll see how well they do with a finish coat.
Looking forward to next meeting.
Dave
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