Hi all

I just saw this video this morning.  I’ve been following Lincoln Wright for a little while now.  He’s a very impressive modeler who studied under masters in Japan where he lived for a long time.  He’s very entertaining and an excellent teacher and videographer.  This may answer some questions you’ve had about model paints in general.  Enjoy!

Greetings,

Since our recording didn't work I decided to create a separate video on attaching photo etch railings using PVA glue.  I learned this technique from one of our members several years ago.  No Emmy Awards here but hopefully this will help you with your photo etch.  If you have any questions please let me know.

 Thanks everyone who joined in to today's meeting.  

Once again Zoom failed me on the recording.  I tested it a couple of times before we actually started.  Both starts recorded.  Then when we had the full meeting it didn't work.  Sorry about that guys.  

I think David Angelo had a good nights sleep in the Philippines.  We'll save this for the next meeting in January.  Here's a teaser photo of the Tangiers that he's been working on.

We reviewed Geralds completed builds of the 1/700 Corvettes from both White Ensign Models and Aoshima.  I was interested to hear the differences and some of the techniques Gerald used.  For example...

On a cable real make a series of rings to slide over a spindle on a cable reel.

Running PVA attached to a railing through water to re-activate it

Great tips Gerald!  

White Ensign Models Flower Class Corvette.  Only found one available for sale on eBay for $80.  

Aoshima Flower Class Corvette.  Only available in the Aoshima kit no 05272 of the HMS Exeter.   This is a hard kit to find!  I'm not sure if any of the other Exeter kits include this Corvette.  Check before you buy.

There are...er... was a great option from Black Cat Models in France.  They released their new 1/350 scale Flower Class Corvettes with short forecastles.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that they were so popular they were sold out in a week.  I don't think any of their releases so far have sold out at all.  They are $96 each and there may be a possibility you can get them from Starling Models in the UK.  They had some.  Also Free Time carries this line and may have some in a few weeks.  Here's the link for Starling Models and also for Black Cat Models

There are also several kits from Mirage Hobbies in 1/350 Scale.  They are plastic and a little rough around the edges, with some after market such as the photo etch set from White Ensign Models, they build up into a great little kit.  You can find these at a lot of different providers on the web.

Here's a fun video of the build of the Mirage kit.  

We had a short discussion about the Golden Sprue Awards.  A gentleman in the UK organized this during the year of COVID.  People on Social Media were able to submit suggestions for the best new kits of 2020 and then were able to vote for their favorites.  They plan to do this again next year.  Interestingly several of us attending today have the giant Titanic.  Thanks for showing us yours Vic, it's looking great!  If you want to check out the rest of the results, here's the link

Bill Smallshaw shared his builds with us.  This one is the 1/700 USS Harper's Ferry, LSD-49 from Orange Hobby.  There's a ton of photo etch railing on this one, not to mention all the other photo etch details included in this one.  Orange Hobby produces some magnificent models.  Really nice build Bill!

Bill also shared with us progress on his latest 77 ft Elco PT Boat.  Another epic build in progress.

Rob shared his build of the USS Birmingham.  Very cool subject!  We've probably all seen the Curtis Flier that flew off the deck mounted to the forecastle.  Would love to see this model with Curtis Flier.  This is a kit from Loose Cannon Models.  There may be some of these kits available in Hugh's garage.  Excellent work Rob!

Next we talked about what we use, and don't use (thanks for that perspective, Deacon!)  for sanding our models.  

John told us about Sanding Twigs that he picked up from Rockler.  These look very useful.  You can get a pack of 20 for $3.  

Some others that John liked like these with the tapered ends.  I have some of those as well and like them very much.  There are a bunch of different brands that are all very similar.  This set costs 

Another favorite from John are from Maus Works.  They are sanders on the end of a stick.  They come in a variety of grits and are on the end of a stick about 1/4 round.  Similar idea to the home made tool that I use.  Actually give Maus Works a look.  They have some interesting products you might find useful.  Here's their web site  Maus Wer.  Maus Were is a Colorado seller.

John also recommended Micro Mesh sanding paper and pads.  These are great to use wet or dry.  We talked about the benefits of wet sanding.  These are available from a variety of sources.  A good vendor to find these from is Micro Mark.  Grits range from 60 to 12,000.  

I've been a fan of Flory Sanders for a long time.  Typically you had to have these sent from England.  Now they are available from a hobby outlet based in Leadville, Colorado.  The name of the outlet is High Altitude Models which you can find at this link High Altitude Hobbies.  They have a starter set which you can buy and try out the various styles that they sell.  My favorites are the skinnies, sanding sponges, and polishers.  This set is $13.99 plus shipping and tax.

There are numerous brands out there from Infini to Micro Mesh, to Squadron.  All good products with a different spin. 

A favorite of mine have been the flex-I-file system.  This is one of those tools I found very useful but really didn't have a convenient way to store them.  I broke down and bought this set which is a very useful organizer.  I keep it on my bench and I can quickly pick out the grit I want which I keep in order.  This set costs $40.  A little pricy but you get five holders in five grits with refills.  My usage of these went up by a factor of 10 just because they're easy to get to and organized.  

Jerry reminded us of his Davidunion power sander.  These are available direct from davidunion.  There are similar products from Proxxon and others.  It's on my Christmas list this year!  Do your research before you buy!

Another favorite of mine is a product called Step Sanders.  What I like about these are that they have a hard plastic core and you wrap a self adhesive sanding strip around them.  These actually stick to the core (unlike the POS listed below in the worthless section).  Jerry Beasley was correct, these are available from my favorite tool guy, Jon from UMM USA.  However they are almost out of everything.  I'm checking with the manufacturer to see if they are still available and will let you know.  

My Grandfather used to have an expression, "worthless as tits on a bore hog".  Grand Dad was from Texas.  John shared some sanders that he found to be useless.  We've all bought those tools that we end up finding useless and sit around taking up space.  

Here's some John pointed out...

Sanding Needles from Flex-I-File.  I have to admit I bought some of these and they don't excite me either.

Jerry and I bought this next one at the Nats.  Seems like a good idea except the self adhesive sand paper won't stick to the handle.  I tossed the handle but use the sanding pads.  

Finally, in the spirit of organization, I picked up this Tamiya tape dispenser.  I bought this on Etsy .  They come broken down so you need to glue them together with acrylic cement.  They cost $12 plus $8 shipping.  They come from Russia.  The acrylic takes a little longer to glue up than acrylic I've purchased locally.  What I especially like is that it's covered so it's not collecting dust and dirt on the side of the tape. When I'm ready to mask up I just put it in front of me and use a pair of tweezers to pull out as much as I want to use at a time.  It's also easy to place little pieces on the side as I use them.  The cutter works great.  I like this so much I purchased a second one for my Micron Masking tapes.

Finally I'm getting some feedback on bench build virtual meetings.  The idea is to set up a time on Zoom that isn't structured.  Just bench time where we can sit, build, share ideas, and shoot the breeze.  I'm getting a lot of feedback already so let's move forward with this idea.  

 I forgot to include Gerald's kit review!  It wasn't on the presentation so I missed it.  Appologies Gerald!

Gerald is building some 1/700 Flower Class Corvettes made by Aoshima.  This particular kits aren't available separately but included with the HMS Exeter,  kit number 05272.   This particular kit is called "The Atlantic Fleet Convoy Strategy".  

The kit depicts two different style Corvette's.  One with the mast forward of the bridge, and the other aft.  The kit includes both photo etch and wood deck stickers.  Gerald reported that some of the photo etch is over the top and he's not planning on using all the supplied parts.  As you can see these are extremely well detailed kits for 1/700 scale.  To put this into perspective, these kits are about 3 1/2 inches long.  

Although this is a fairly recent kit (2018), they were quite popular and difficult to find.  Keep an eye out for them on eBay.

Gerald and Roger are going to work on some photos.  We'll be looking forward to those, gents!

Greetings and sorry for the delay in posting the meeting minutes.  I had some Civil Air Patrol duties and eyelid surgery.  Right now I look like I got in the losing end of a fight.  Anyway, here are the minutes from our last meeting...

Unfortunately we had some difficulty with folks getting into the meeting.  Zoom was having issues.  In some cases I saw people were able to log in but didn't realize they were in the meeting.  I've reached out to Zoom and asked about this issue.  They continue to upgrade security protocols and I suspect that's what caused the issue, but who knows.  I'm looking forward to a better experience for us all next time.

Also, although I set the meeting to be recorded, there's no record of the recording?  I added that annoyance to the list for Zoom.

We started off taking a look at Rob's 1/700 Saratoga.  It really came out nice and I was particularly impressed with the biplanes and the photo etch struts and control rods.  Very nice Rob!  We can talk about it some more if you're at the next meeting.

I then led a discussion on automotive spot fillers and home made Sprue Goo.  

Automotive fillers have been used for some time now.  In the photo below I used this brand recommended by Will Pattison thinned with lacquer thinner.  To the right is Sprue Glue made with Tamiya Extra Thin cement mixed with Evergreen plastic sheet.  To make this I take a half full bottle of Extra Thin cement and start inserting bits of white styrene.  The cement melts down the styrene and you're left with a thick mixture.  I also included some Perfect Plastic Putty in the side by side comparison as a point of reference.

So here's how they faired....

The brand of automotive spot filler I used was pronto Combo Spot Putty.  You can buy it on Amazon, eBay, and probably automotive parts stores.  A tube costs about $12.  I followed Will Pattison's video and thinned the putty with lacquer thinner to consistency of thick syrup.  I applied it to a deeply scribed line and let it dry.  This stuff dries quickly.  Allow about 20 min and you can start after it with your sander of choice.  What I found with my test was that the thinned putty didn't fill the scribed lines completely.  So I tried to fill it without thinning and actually got much better results.  Thinning allows you to put smaller amounts into a seam line than full strength.  This filler isn't too hard either.  It sands nicely and not too much harder than styrene, so you're not taking away too much plastic while you're trying to level a filled area.  The nice thing about this putty is that it's gray in color as opposed to Bondo 907 which is red in color.  That could be useful though.  It's also not very grainy so when sanded it's quite smooth.  It also takes paint well.  While it works well on styrene, it's even better on resin.  

Will Pattison did a nice job of explaining the use of this putty on a P-51D.  Here's a link to the video and it starts at about 11:00.  

 Sprue Goo.  As stated above this is a home brew made from Tamiya Extra Thin cement and styrene.  Some people will mix it up with the plastic sprue from their kit because it matches the kit itself and sands very evenly.  However most people prefer it to be mixed with something like Evergreen plastic.  In the video above, Will suggests using clear styrene because it's the most pure form of styrene.  Then add some coloring to it.  So I spread this into the deep panel lines I made and let it dry, and dry, and dry.  I actually gave it a couple of days to fully dry.  I found that it filled the gap and sanded beautifully.  Because it's similar material to the kit plastic there's no uneven sanding.  Another good aspect of this stuff is that if you keep it sealed in an old Tamiya Extra Thin bottle, it lasts for a very very long time.  The down side of this is that it takes days to fully gas off and dry before sanding.  Also the glue can have a negative effect on soft styrene so careful where you use it.  

I'm still a big fan of Perfect Plastic Putty.  However I do find that I need to go over it with something like Mr. Surfacer 1000 or some type of primer to finish it off.  

These materials have their place.  If you're in a hurry, the automotive putty is a good choice because it dries quickly.  However if you have time Sprue Goo might be a better choice because of how similar it is to the kit plastic.  

Next up was a discussion on craft cutters, specifically the Silhouette and Cricut units.  My wife bought herself a Cricut machine and generously offered to let me use it to make painting masks.  

For modelers the main use of these machines are for creating paint masks.  They can also cut thin styrene and wood but we'll leave that for another day.  Here's what I learned...

Which one to buy?  These machines do exactly the same thing.  They take computer files and cut or draw based on those files.  It may be a Ford vs Chevrolet thing, but modelers seem to prefer the manufacturers software from Silhouette.  The cost of these machines run around $300 to $350 new.

Buyer beware.  If you buy this, you own it.  Neither company has a friendly return policy.  They will address problems but forget about getting your money back.  My wife tried and no joy.  That said, she's getting used to the machine and wouldn't return it at this point.  

Learning curve.  There is a learning curve with these machines.  However doing masks is quite simple.

Where do you learn?  There is an excellent resource on Facebook.  It's called The Cutting Edge scale modeling plotter/cutter users group.  It's a friendly group and they have been very helpful to me.

What else do you need?  The software that comes with these machines is not adequate for preparing painting masks.  For example it is very common to scan your kit decals and create painting masks from the scan.  However if you try to do this with the unit software you will be left with a lot of artifacts in that scan which the cutter will try and cut.  NOT GOOD!  Therefore you'll need a 3rd party software for cleaning up the images.  Inkscape is the most common software used because it works and is free.  However if you have a subscription to CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, etc, they work equally as well.  There is a learning curve with these programs.  

Here's an example.  The top image is from a decal sheet.  The background looks clean enough, but...

The top photo shows the image after imported into the Cricut software and background removed.  it's a simple process but as you can see the lines aren't sharp and there is a lot of noise in the background.  The machine will try and cut all that out.  Trust me, that's a bad choice!  

The next photo shows the image after importing into Inkscape and cleaning up the background.  It's nice and share, ready to cut.  The image is exported from Inkscape into the Cricut machine which is very easy to do.  Then in a minute the machine cuts out a paint mask.  

Images can be found in a number of ways...

• From the kit decal sheet
• From the internet.  For example search for "roundels" with your web browser and you'll find excellent graphics free of charge.
• Fonts from the machine and internet.  The machines have an extensive cache of fonts to choose from.  However you can find specific military fonts from a site called dafont.com.  

Materials for masking?  The most popular masking material is from a company called Oramask and the best film they make is called 810.  They produce other masking materials but this one works best for what we do.  Now, if you're masking canopies, it's recommended to use Tamiya masking sheets which are available from Sprue Brothers and other online sellers.  

How does it work?  Pretty easy.  There is a tacky sheet that you apply a piece of the masking material to.  You load it into the machine.  Select what you want it to cut and then start.  In a few minutes you have a perfect mask, assuming you have a good image to work with.  

You can paint as a positive or negative mask.  As a positive you place the mask where you want to paint and remove the letters.  Spray and remove the mask.  As a negative mask, paint the color of the lettering first.  Apply a carrier film (medical paper tape works excellent) to the mask.  Remove the mask making sure that you leave the letters covering the paint you put down.  Then paint your finish color of the letters. When dry remove the letters and you have the perfect lettering in place.

Pros and Cons.  Painting on lettering and roundels looks superior to decals.  No question about it.  There are lots of ways to capture masking images from the internet.  There's such a thing as too small.  For example if you try to cut hull numbers for a 1/700 kit, this is not a good choice.  However if you have something like HMS numbering for a 1/350 kit or larger, this is a great choice.  

In summary, these are very useful machines.  There are a lot of modeling applications and there is good support from the modeling community.  Nothing beats painted on markings except maybe wet transfers, which aren't really available for our ship subjects yet.  

Next we discussed a relatively new product from Tamiya.  These are sanding sponge sheets.  They come in grits of 400, 600, 1000, and 1500.  Note, there is no standard for grits.  Apparently in Japan, a 400 grit is equivalent to about 200 sandpaper in the U.S.  These are very useful.  They can be cut into different sizes.  One application is to apply it to an electric mini sander using double sided tape.  The thing to remember about sponge sanders is that they tend to follow contours, bumps, etc.  It's not a good choice for removing material.  But it's an excellent material for finish sanding to a smooth surface prior to painting.

Next we discussed a few new kits that were of interest.  The first is from Das Work.  This  is their first ship model and it's a beauty.  A 1/72 WWI U-Boat.  As you can see it's extremely well done and can be made into several different boats.  The only negative is that there is no deck gun.  A point of interest is that Das Werk hired divers to dive on the wreck of U-12 to make sure they had good measurements.  Who does that!  You can pre order from Andy's

Here's an unboxing from Andy's.  You can preorder this kit from him.

Here's a review from Mig Jaminez.  

Another nice bit of kit is from Snowman Models in China.  It is a Russian Navy tug boat.  It actually is a very generic example of a modern tug/tractor.  It's available in 1/350 and 1/700 and I ordered both back in January.  I really wanted this kit for my container ship in 1/700.  They only released one so far and guess which one they released?  The 1/350 of course.  I've written them to find out when they might release the 1/700.  So far... crickets.   In any event the 1/350 kit is awesome.  It's all resin and photo etch which is a departure from injected molding by Snowman.  

Another kit with ties to Colorado is from AFV Club.  It is the LCT-6 which was built as sub assemblies in Colorado and shipped to the coast for final assembly.  They also produce an extensive photo etch set to really detail this craft out.  

Next up a great reference from dazzle patterns on WWII ships.  This reference database is maintained at the Rhode Island School of Design.  There are many ships maintained in this database.  Here's a link to this database.  You could use these drawings to create masks using your new cutting machine!  :-)

Dazzle Pattern Database

With the Pandemic in full swing, and us all spending more time doing video conferencing, we're more aware of the quality of the meetings.  Lighting is really important.  I recall starting a call in the late afternoon that went for several hours.  Into the meeting people told me I was going dark.  Sure enough.  As the sun went down, so did my light.  I decided to purchase some lighting for my wife and me.  Doing some research I found these from a company called Lume cube.  This company makes a variety of lighting solutions for photography and virtual meetings.  The kit I got is called "Broadcast Lighting Kit".  It includes a function cup mount and tripod that work well on my desk.  What's really special about this lighting is the ability to adjust the light.  You can adjust intensity as well as temperature.  The intensity can be adjusted from 1 to 100.  I used mine at 15% which provides about 10 hours of continuous lighting.  The temperature can be adjusted from 3200K to 5600K.  3200 being soft light and 5600 being strong daylight.  It also includes a light softener so the light isn't too start.  The kit cost $129 and you can buy it from the manufacturer or from Amazon and others.  The lights charge using a simple USB cord connected to your computer or other charging device.  

Here's a link to their web site.  If you want to step up your game, check it out.

Lume cube

Finally David Angelo suggested a book called The Black Battlefleet.  David describes this book as an excellent reference to a unique subject.  

That's it for our November meeting.  See you in December!

 Here's a great video to compliment one of our discussion points for the next meeting.  See you Saturday.

 I think most of you may have seen this one by now.  Here's an interesting approach to displaying a submarine in a bottle!  Enjoy!

 Greetings all,

Will Pattison just released an excellent video that demonstrates what goes into 3D CAD design for 3D printed parts.  I recommend watching this video so that you have a better understanding of what goes into this process.  I doubt this is a path I'll go down myself, but it did give me an idea of what it takes for an experienced CAD designer to make a complex part.  Thanks for producing this Will.

Greetings all,

Another good meeting today.  Thanks to everyone who was able to attend today.  Here's a recap of our meeting...

Okay, apologies.  I accidentally uploaded the video to the hard drive on my computer.  It's too large to export to other options.  

Here's a recap of the meeting today...

We followed up on blast bags on USS Missouri 1945.  The photo shows the black blast bags on the 5in mounts.  Bill confirmed that they were a rubber coated canvas and matched the blast bags on the 16in guns.  

Next we looked at what everyone is working on...

Jerry Beasley showed us the work he and his friend in Sweden, Mattias Linde, are working on for their CB-90 builds.  

In this photo Jerry shows us the work on the tread plating.

Next Bill Smallshaw followed up on his PT-9 project.  He advised the next time he makes the turret covers he'll start with a 3D printed part.  Really nice build Bill!

Bill acquired a fiberglass hull from a company in Gibraltar called MTB Hulls for a future project.  Check out their web site.  They have a variety of hulls in 1/72 and larger.  

http://www.mtbhulls.co.uk

Next Roger shared a bonus kit from his HMS Cornwall kit from Aoshima.  Included was an S Class Destroyer which he liked very much.  The kit does not include photo etch details but Richard Harden advised that he has a HMS Cornwall PE set which does include some parts for it.  

The kit includes a lot of small well detailed parts including individual depth charges.  This kit is available on eBay for a variety of prices.

Next Rob showed us his work on the pre-war Trumpeter 1/700 USS Saratoga.  There are lots of little yellow winged airplanes in Rob's future.  

I wrote a review for Zucas Studios kits on modelwarship.com.  It released this weekend.  I wrote Zucas and he shared with me the impact the review had on his web site.  I'm interested to know if this turns into sales.  At least it's a little more exposure for a great new company.  You can see almost no activity prior to the review, then it takes a big jump afterward.

Tim sent me an article about a photo etch bending tool called "The Bug" from a company called The Small Shop.  Richard confirmed this was the same one he uses.  

I showed the two I had.  The first was from Mission Models which had some nice features but was a disappointment.  The second was my favorite which is a larger version of The Bug.  I asked Richard Harden if he used one for working with photo etch and he confirmed he had this same tool.  He told us he couldn't imagine anyone working with photo etch without one.

Link to the Small Shop:  The Small Shop

The Bug: $39.99

The 5 Speed (larger version):  Currently sold out.

Tim had a follow up discussion on his 3D printer adventures.  

The Elegoo printers are available from a variety of locations including their own web site and Amazon.  Typically they offer discounts on next generation releases.  

Speaking of 3D printed parts, there is a new company called Model Navy.  I know I said "Modern Navy"... Sorry about that.  Anyway,  this is the first company I've come across that sells their 3D printed parts in high resolution, but will also sell you the file so you can print it yourself.  

Colourcoats paint is available again in the US!  If you're not familiar, Colourcoats paints are enamel based and are highly accurate colors.  They paint extremely well with brush and airbrush.  Kudos to Richard for bringing this line into the White Ensign Models part of his business.  If you weren't aware, Richard Harden, owner of Tom's Modelworks also owns White Ensign Models.  Richard has all of the Naval colors plus some aircraft colors that are used on naval subjects.b  Here is a sample of some of the colors.  Or should I say colours? 

Did you know Tamiya airbrush cleaner is almost the same formulation as their extra thin cement?  Martin shared this information with us.  Apparently they are almost identical formulation with the airbrush cleaner.  Doing some research I found that many modelers use this airbrush cleaner to cement their models.  Go figure?  

We looked at some kits and detail sets on the market.  First up are two Fletchers in 1/350 scale.  The fist is from Infini with a set for the Tamiya "round bridge" early war fletcher.  This will set you back $119 at Sprue Brothers, but perhaps less from Hong Kong.  Note the nice webbing in the railings around the deck.

But do you see what's wrong with this set?

Next is for the late war, "square bridge" Fletcher kit from Trumpeter, also in 1/350 scale.  They make two offerings for this set.  FS350079 and FS350080.  The later has the forward torpedo tubes removed and AA added.  A nice set but the anti skid is overdone.  But it does include a full set of torpedoes.  These sets will run around $80 from Hobbyeasy in Hong Kong.  Note that the nice webbing in the rails is missing from this set.

FS350080 is the fit for USS Kidd.

Another kit we looked at was the AFV Club Knox Class Frigate.  This was on sale at Sprue Brothers last weekend.  It's back up to $100 but that includes photo etch, resin parts, and a nicely done ocean base.

A long awaited kit from Cottage Industries is the CSS Virginia in 1/96 scale.  This compliments the previously released USS Monitor in the same scale.  These are museum quality resin kits.  At this scale this ship is just shy of 3 feet!  It will set you back about $650 plus shipping.  Ouch!  But it came in less than what everyone estimated.  So maybe it is a bargain.

A new segment for our meeting is "modeling subject of the month".  To kick it off I suggested modeling the US Navy's latest Arleigh Burke class destroyer, Delbert C Black DDG 119.  Master Chief Black was the first enlisted sailor to have a ship named after him not killed in combat.  

Burke Class Flight IIa destroyers are available in a variety of scales from 1/700 up to 1/96.

Finally to end the meeting I introduced a new podcast simply called "WW2 Podcast" hosted by Angus Wallace.  He has been doing this podcast since 2016.  Each one has an expert guest.  They run between 30 min and a little over an hour.  Podcasts are free.  

I listened to the author of this book on the podcast.  He was very knowledgeable and engaging.  Richard Harden advised that he read this book and highly recommended it.  

That's it for this month.  We'll see you all the first Saturday in November.