Happy New Year Ship Club!

Our meeting will be this Saturday...
Meeting Location:  Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado  80222
Date:  January 4, 2020
Time:  10:00

Here's the itinerary for our meeting...

Bill Smallshaw will deliver a presentation on guided missile cruisers.  I've seen the slides and it looks great.  Bill is also researching model kits that he'll be discussing during his talk.

John DuGene recently experienced a challenge of cleaning up a corrugated joint.  He found a solution and is going to share it with us.  While this was learned on a winged subject, it has applications for ship building and other subjects.

I will be giving a talk about my experience with Mission Model Paints.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  We'll also follow up on our discussion about our visit with John Miller from Model Paint Solutions.  What a scientist can teach us about paint management.

As always...

Bring any questions you have

Brining any works in progress you would like to share

Bring any of the goodies you got during the holidays!  

Greetings all,
Our December meeting was excellent.  We had another healthy dose of history and wonderful build by Rodrigo and Sam.

The meeting started off with an excellent presentation on Fort Drum by Sam.  I think we all learned a great deal about this coastal fort in the Philippines.  For example I had always thought the gun turrets were naval turrets plopped down on the concrete bunker.  As it turned out they were quite different.  it's remarkable how much punishment that installation took

I found one book on this subject available in paperback on Amazon.

There are several kits on the subject.  John shared his model with us at during the October meeting.  This is the OKB Grigorov in 1/700 scale.  Here's a link to a review of this kit. 

1/700 Fort Drum kit

Here is John's wonderful build.  Note that John modified his kit to include the buildings which are mostly missing from this kit.  I found it at Starling Models in the UK for 60 Euros, and on eBay for $68.    

A more complete kit in 1/350 scale is available from Blue Ridge Models or Free Time Hobbies.  

Here's a link to a review of this kit on Steel Navy web site.    Free Time Hobbies currently has this kit on sale for $200.  That's a big chunk of resin!  

1/350 Blue Ridge Models Fort Drum

Next Dr. Rodrigo Banegas treated us to his build of the 1/700 type 42 Destroyer.  Rodrigo gave us a short review of the Falklands War and the role of this destroyer.  This was Rodrigo's first ship build which spanned over many years as he was working through his medical certifications and learning curve with this ship.  Rodrigo did some amazing soldering and scratch building with this model.  

Unfortunately for us Rodrigo is moving to Florida to pursue his career as a surgeon.  Good luck Rodrigo and stay in touch!  

Proud father!  

Next Roger shared with us a dilemma he faced while painting a 1/700 destroyer.  He had used some Duplicor primer.  The finish paint was AK Interactive naval colors.  Unfortunately he experienced some lifting of the paint when the masking tape was removed.  Roger did some experimenting with different primers.  While he still had a tiny spot of paint lift with the Duplicor, he had good results with the Vallejo and Stynylrez primers.  

I performed a similar test using Stynylrez primer and Krylon Camoflauge paint.  My test was based on experience trying to prime a resin kit with Stynylrez which had never failed me to this point.  There was something about this resin that would not accept the water based Stynylrez primer.  It was recommended to me by Last Cavalary Hobbies to use the Krylon Camoflauge paint as a primer.  It's designed to cover difficult plastic surfaces such as water coolers, boats, etc.  Sure enough it performed beautifully on the resin kit and in my test with acrylic paints.  

If you're building a resin kit or having trouble with a difficult plastic material, considering using this paint as your primer.  

Jerry gave us a review from the last meeting on the time he spent with John Miller from Model Paint Solutions.  John is a retired college professor and scientist.  He's incorporated some of the tools he used into his model making.  He taught us some interesting techniques that I know I've already incorporated into my painting regiment.  John is a representative of Harder and Steenbeck airbrushes as well.  He learned about the joys of airbrushing at altitude which he is currently writing a paper on after his experience here.  

Unfortunately some of the items we ordered from John didn't arrive in time, and we didn't give Jerry the proper time this deserved.  We're going to come back to this at our next meeting.  In the mean time here's a link to John's web site.  You may find some interesting information here as well.

Model Paint Solutions

Lastly here are the Fairey Gannet aircraft that Sam built.  Sam opened up the cockpits on these little guys.  The paint schemes on these models are remarkable.  Also note the folding wings on the center aircraft.  Fantastic work Sam!   Here's a LINK to information about these aircraft.  Orange Hobby has this kit available.  There are four aircraft per kit, and there is a photo etch detail set from Artist Hobby.  You can get them from Free Time Hobbies.  

Here's a close up view of the actual aircraft

Greetings all,

Ship Club Time!

Meeting Location
Rockler Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado  80222
Date:  December 6, 2019
Time:  10:00 AM

We have a BUSY schedule for our meeting as we head into the holiday seasons.

Jerry will be giving us a recap on the airbrushing clinic at Colpar.  John Miller who owns Model Paint Solutions gave an excellent demonstration and gave us some ideas about how we can be more productive with our airbrushing.

Sam will be delivering a presentation on Fort Drum.  You'll remember that John brought in his 1/700 resin model.  Now Sam will give us some history on this iconic structure that still stands today in the Philippines.  Kits are available in 1/700 and 1/350.

Rodrigo will be delivering a presentation on his Argentine ship models.  This will be Rodrigo's last meeting with us as he's moving to Florida soon.  Rodrigo has an interesting personal story about these ships during the Falklands War, and he's excellent with his fine soldering and details.

New addition to the schedule....

Roger is doing a test on primers and AK Interactive acrylic paints.  He ran into some issues with Duplicolor primer and is testing several different options to see what works.  I also did some tests and will support Roger with his presentation.  I'm looking forward to Roger's results.

John DuGene has also been experimenting with good sanding and filling techniques for corrugated material.  I gave John the option of covering this meeting or next, depending on what makes sense in the building process.

I will likely hold off on my presentation of Mission Models acrylic paints until January.

As always bring....

Your questions and challenges
Your in progress and completed models

I look forward to seeing you all Saturday!

Greetings Ship Club!
For November we are doing something a little different from a suggestion I received from Martin Sagara at the last meeting.  See Martin's message below regarding the airbrush demonstration using both Grex and Harder-Steenbeck airbrushes.  There will be some hands on opportunities as well.

Also Colpar is hosting their semi-regular swap meet.  Just in case you wanted to add on to your collection!  I hope to see you all there.  We'll resume or regular meeting a Rockler in December.

Airbrushing Techniques by John Miller

Event description

Date: November 2, 2019
Time: 10am to 6pm
On Saturday, November 2nd John Miller (https://modelpaintsol.com/) will be providing demonstrations of Fine-Line Airbrushing with Grex and Harder-Steenbeck brushes from 10am to 6pm. He will also be offering for sale his paint mixing, measuring, and storage tools available for purchase.

Date: November 3, 2019
Time: 12pm & 3pm
On Sunday, November 3rd John Miller will be providing two tutorials at HobbyTown USA on Fine Lining Acrylics followed up by a demo of same. If possible, attendees will be invited to try fine line airbrushing hands-on. There will also be handouts provided that summarize the information presented complete with paint mixing tables.
On Model Paint Solutions web site features an ever-growing selection of "How-To" articles (and soon video's) that demonstrate both basic and advanced airbrushing and finishing techniques. These articles focus on methods to reliably and reproducibly prepare mixtures of paint for airbrushing: something quite lacking in most technical articles on modeling. The links below are to various airbrushing-related articles that show the content and approach we try to take on MPS. Feel free to use any of these links or the info therein. 

Another enjoyable meeting guys!

For our October meeting we discussed 3D printers and how they are effecting our hobby.  We discussed designers and how they are moving away from Shapeways and buying their own printers.  In the last few years 3D printers , particularly Digital Light Process (DLP) and stereolithography apparatus (SLA) are becoming very affordable.  These printers are perfect for small model parts and have become incredibly affordable.  There are differences in printers though, so it pays to work closely with a printer to find out what equipment they are using.  The following are traditional Shapeways designers who are now printing on their own.

• Model Monkey
• Panzer vs Tanks
• Daedalus Designs
• Micro Master
• Starling Models
• 3D Model Parts
• Black Cat Models

I have a few parts coming from Panzer vs Tanks who uses the Anycubic Photon S and it will be interesting to compare them to a higher end printer costing 10 times the price.  The Anycubic Photon S can be purchased directly from the manufacturer for $419 delivered.  500 ml of UV resin costs between $25 and $50.  

This was a perfect lead in to some projects and finished models that were brought in.  Leading off was Victor's wonderful 1/350 Very Fire Montana.  This is a ship that was never built due to the end of  WWII.  Victor built his from the kit plus the Very Fire detail set which includes wood deck.  Victor also utilized 3D printed parts from Black Cat Models.  Victor has found that it's much easier to use these 3D parted parts than photo etched alternatives.  And the detail is amazing!

I love these big ship models.  They are so enjoyable to look at.  You can just fall into the subject.  And Victor just knocks it out of the park.  I'm so impressed that these models are all hand painted.  

Bill Smallshaw showed off his project which will be a 77' Elco PT Boat which he's converting from a Coastal Craft 1/72 British MGB.  Bill worked with designer, 3D Boats, on Shapeways to produce the unique torpedo tubes used on this first Elco PT Boats.  Bill also gave us a nice talk on the history of these boats.

John also treated us to some newly finished models and kits.

John shared with us the difficulties he had with this ship's decals and how to fix it.  

This was a wonderful kit who's master was created from 3D printed parts.  Some excellent molding in this kit!  It looks like it would make a great subject for a diorama with those floatplanes.

John also shared with us the Flyhawk kit of the German Battleship Scharnhorst.  What a little beauty this is.  The ultrasonic knife is going to come in handy for this one!

Roger shared with us some finds from the IPMS Nationals.  He showed off some 1/700 destroyers from Flyhawk.  He suggested this is a great way to get into 1/700 ships.  Few pieces, low cost, and excellent results can be achieved because of the high quality of the injected moldings.

Next meeting Martin suggested that we attend Colpar's event where there will be some high level instruction on airbrushing.  As I learn more, I'll be sure to let you know.  

Ship Club Time
Meeting Location:
rocker Woodworking (in the basement)
2553 S. Colorado Blvd., Suite 108
Denver, Colorado  80222
Date:  October 5, 2019
Time:  10:00 AM

Summer is leaving us and we're heading into the prime model building months.  At least that's how it is for me.  This meeting I would like to get some feedback on

• What we can do as a group over the coming months.  
• Are you interested in a group build?  
• Any techniques you would like to explore?  
• Painting small scale figures?  
• Ship dioramas?  
• Paint brands or techniques you would like to learn about?

Give it some thought and let's come up with some ideas.

I have a follow up on 3D printing.  Beyond Shapeways.  I'm going to bring some samples from different designers who have left Shapeways and are printing on their own.  We'll talk about 3D printers and what's involved in their use from a modelers point of view.  Where are we now?  What does the future hold?  Things you need to know before you order parts or a kit.  Should be a good conversation.

Below 1/144 Jeeps from HOLDEN8702.

As always...
Bring your questions
Bring your new stuff
Bring your works in progress
Bring your finished models!

See you Saturday!
Dave

Greetings all,
Sorry for the late posting on our last meeting.  I've been working on some display cabinets we put in our basement so that I have a proper home for my finished models.  I added LED lighting which really finished the project!  Here's a photo...

I think this will be a good topic for a future meeting.

So, at the last meeting I led a discussion about painting models using the black basing method.  This is where you start with a black foundation and build color on top of that until you reach the desired finish.  In this photo I applied a variety of colors to see how it would effect the finished coat.

For example (and this was my inspiration) the Burke class destroyer had an undercoat of red.  This destroyer back from duty lost some of its paint on the bow.  If you look at the hull closely you can see a shade of red in the gray.  I'm assuming that after being at sea some of the gray is worn away, revealing some of the color underneath.

Here's the finished paint work.  I think it produced the subtle affect I was looking for.  It would benefit from some additional weathering.  The consensus was that it wasn't worth it and there are other ways to achieve a weathered ship, particularly in this scale.  Or maybe it was "David, you're crazy!"  😎  I think I will use this on the container ship and she how I get on.  I wonder if I could replicate that oil canning by spraying over some screen?  What do you think?  I may try that and bring it to the next meeting.  

We also spent some time talking about the IPMS convention.  I won't spend any more time on that subject.  👌

John continued to amaze us with his productivity!  What I liked about this one was that these two vessels are the same.  The bottom was the wartime conversion from tender to aircraft carrier.  Great subjects John!  I don't recall the information on the destroyer.

John had a detail kit for a Battleship that was never built.  Much like the US Montana class of ships.  But it looks like a great update set.  

Here's another beauty that I can't remember the name of?  Help me out John!  

Okay, here's a little beauty!  John built Ft Drum which is located in the Philippines.  I wonder if Sam has a presentation he could do on Ft Drum?  .  Take a look at John's model and photos of the actual facility.

Here's Ft Drum back in the day. 

Today it's been beat to death.  

Finally an assortment of tools that everyone loves to see.  We have a mini razor saw, ceramic scrapper, and some sort of knife that's goods for curves.  They're all in their packages so I'm hoping for a follow on report from John on how he got on with these tools.  That is if he's not too busy playing with the ultrasonic cutter.  😎

Until next time guys!  Which is coming up fast by the way!

Dave