Thanks to everyone who attended today.  And if I hadn't been half sleep deprived I would have thought to get all the information from our two new guests today.  If you could send me your information (name, email) I'll add you to our email list.  My email is davidwaples@comcast.net.

I hope all of you who went to weddings enjoyed yourselves.  I know at least John DuGene was at a destination wedding at the AMPS convention in Dayton.  Not many young couples would select a modeling convention as a destination wedding.

Before I forget, our next meeting will come quick.  It will be on Saturday, June 2nd.  The week after the holiday.

We started the meeting with my presentation on The Rocky Mountain Shipyard.  The subject was introduced to me by Hugh.  This was an abbreviated history of steel fabricators in Denver coming together to win contracts to support ship building at Mare Island in California.  Here in Colorado 58 percent of the Evarts class Destroyer Escorts were fabricated and shipped to Mare Island for final construction.  Later LCT's (Landing Craft Tank) and barges were fabricated in the Mile High City.  I will try and attach the article to our site for you to read the full story.

Below the lead ship was the Frigate HMS Bentinck.

Available kits for these ships/boats built in Colorado are...

Iron Shipwrights full hull 1/350 Evarts Class Destroyer Escort.

Probably the best quality kit will be this waterline offering from Niko models in 1/700 scale.

Covering the LCT-6 is a 1/72 offering from Armageddon or Mach 2 models.  This kit provides the basis for what can be a nice representation of this landing craft.  

I'm not sure if Hugh has any, but Loose Canon had a 1/700 offering that was pretty good.  There was also an HP Models.  These lack detail but with some effort (if you can find any) could build up nicely.

Next I attempted to test (very poorly I might add) alternatives to tacky pencils for placing small photo etch parts in place. 

The first candidate which I had experimented with earlier was the Tacky Stix.  these are used by dentists to pick up crowns and other small items.  They are VERY tacky but don't leave residue.  They would hold the part well and you could apply glue to them with the part falling off.  However they were so tacky they wouldn't let the part go when placed on the model.  I concluded that they were very good for holding parts while you paint them or some similar operation.  The blue ones are the most tacky.  The green ones are less tacky.  Pricy at $30 delivered for a box of 64.  

The second candidate was the Marvy Jewel Picker.  This is a tool used by crafters for picking up small beads.  They are not as tacky as the Micro Stix but what I demonstrated (poorly) was that they wouldn't hold the part well enough to add cement.  John pointed out that if you put the glue on the location to be glued first it would work better.  What I believe is the best use for this tool is picking up cut photo etch parts after removed from the fret and placing them in a safe pace.  Very cheap at under $5.00 from your favorite crafting store (Michaels, Hobby Lobby).  

As usual John Widmar did not fail us and brought in an almost finished model of the SMS Furst Bismark 1906.  This was not the first but second ship named Bismark.  This kit was from NNT and won awards in 2015.  John shared with us that the resin masts that came with the kit were difficult and not strong.  He replaced them with insect pins which are durable and functional.  John built this into a beautiful kit and with some rigging will make for a wonderful finished model.  

Next John shared with us a 1/700 Shapeways printed complete model.  Well....  

However John decided to scratch build the same ship from pieces he had in his collection.  An LST and some photo etch crane parts etc.  John has Shapeways beat hands down on this offering.  Great scratch build John!

John picked up some future projects that he shared with us...

First up was this AJM Models British Armed Merchant Cruiser.

Next the Flyhawk Models 1/700 HMS Legion 1941.  The CAD drawing below shows this will build up to a very nice model as we've come to expect from Flyhawk.  John has the deluxe version of course which includes a nice photo etch fret.

Next a little beauty from Kajika Models, The 1/700 Kirishima.  This is a complete kit and very highly detailed.  I can't wait to see this one come together John!

Next up is a Chinese sailing ship which also includes extra photo etch detail parts as well as paper sails

Could there be more?  Yes!  John found some photo etch iron clad models.  These included the Monitor and the Onondaga.  

Next up was Jerry with some more great tool finds.  First was the Micro-Mesh polishing swabs.  They come in different grits and are great for polishing out hard to get to areas.  They're available in different sizes and shapes.

There's a company by the name of Dspiae that make extremely high quality tools for modelers.  One that Jerry brought is the pin vise.  One of my favorite parts of this set is the locking tool.  Very ergonomically designed.  The tool box it comes in is also very high quality.  The bits also looks very strong and I'm interested to hear how they hold up.  They also make circle cutters, nippers, and a tool rack.  You'll pay a little more for this but it's a jewell.