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.
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!
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.
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
