Our August meeting was an interesting return to in person.  We dutifully arrived with our masks on.  There was a sign on the door that said please wear masks.  But none of the employees, nearly all of the shoppers, and the class Rockler was holding in our usual meeting spot were wearing masks.  So at that point I decided that masks would be optional.  

We quickly set up a couple of tables and moved some chairs and we were in business.  Using my phone hotspot worked well from the reports I received.  Using my iPad instead of my old HP Laptop also worked well.  The only issue being that I couldn't use the "play" feature and had to scroll through the slides.  Weird, but thats how it wanted to work.  The only problem was that our out of town guests could hear us, but we could not hear them.  

A couple of possible solutions are available.  The first one is to use some Bluetooth speakers.  The second is to use a speakerphone which may have some benefits.  The most important being noise cancellation.  However the iPad seems to have some of those capabilities built in already.  I'm going to test the speakers early this coming week.  

Finally I had set the meeting to record, but when i switched to the meeting it stopped, so there is no recording and I missed all the photos Victor shared of his Titanic.  I'm going to have him send me some of those and I'll post them for you to look at.  I really love the Jack and Rose on the bow.  Stay tuned for those.  

Starting off the meeting I pointed out some interesting television to check out.  The first being "Return to Royal" on Amazon Prime.  It's about an Army/Navy PBY crew that rescues downed B-29 crews.  I won't give away any more than that.  It's really well done and an interesting story.

Second is a show I came across available on YouTube called Patrol Boat.  It's an Australian TV series from the 70's.  It's about life aboard an Australian Attack Class Patrol Boat and their mission protecting the coastal waters of Australia.  A word of caution.  The video was originally recorded to VHS and then uploaded to YouTube from somebody's personal collection.  The quality isn't ideal.  There are only 8 episodes uploaded at this time.  This was a very popular TV Show that ran from 1979 to 1983.  It would be nice to see more episodes uploaded, or available to view through some other channel.  

The second is a re-pop of this series called Sea Patrol.  You can also find it on YouTube, although the quality is considerably higher.  Same premise as the first show, and the series ran for 5 years as well.  The feedback I got from my Aussie friends is that they like this one better.  And now that we have female officers, there's a love interest.  Who knew life in the Navy could be so complicated.  I've watched a couple of episodes and they are quite good.  You can find this on DVD, but be careful about the format if you decide to buy them.

Rob Weilacher also recommended a book by James L. Holloway III called "Aircraft Carriers At War".  I miss-spoke about this author, confusing him with somebody else.  I did some research on him and you can lear more about him from this LINK  After doing some reading about him I learned that he was the technical advisor to the movie, Top Gun.  

On to modeling! 

One of the big issues with printing your own decals has been the ability to print white.  ALPS made a printer once, but it was an art form to make those work.  There are now several out on the market.  Tim brought this one to my attention.  

That's great, but the price tag of $3,695.00 is a bit steep for a modeler who just wants to print a few decals.  And if you have to ask about the price of toner, you probably can't afford it.  Perhaps these will come down to a more reasonable price sometime in the future.  

What's new at Colpar Hobbies!  

Martin gave us the head's up that Tamiya lacquer paints are in stock at Colpar Hobbies.  It's a limited supply of about 12 colors.  These can be thinned and used with either Tamiya lacquer thinner, or Mr. Hobby Leveling Thinners.  These paints spray beautifully, dry quickly, and are very durable.  Just make sure you have a way to vent those fumes!  Martin advises that they behave similarly to Mr. Hobby lacquer paints.  

Here's the entire list of lacquers that I hope we'll be seeing soon!  

Martin also advised Colpar has a line of miniature chain and lead wire for detailing your models.  He advised that they are reasonably priced.  If you're looking for some miniature anchor chain, check these out.

Next up Kraken Hobbies.  They produce 3D printed upgrade sets and parts for model ships.  They are producing some 1/700 parts as well.  Here's a little dandy coming up of the USS Sterett DD-407.  This particular one is for the Midship Models Benham Class destroyer kit.   Rob Weilacher is having a go with this transformation so I look forward to seeing this one come together.  

Here's what Rob has coming together.  The upgrade set is $20 and you can learn more about it at this LINK. The kits themselves are not that common but can be found around but mostly on eBay, 

Kraken also makes upgrade sets for other kits which you can find HERE

I've added the following to my kit collection.  

From Black Cat Models.  Here is the HMAS Castlemaine which is a Bathurst Class Corvette that were built and served in Australia during WWII.  This has a cast resin hull created from a 3D printed master.  This is 1/350 scale and 

This is a little beauty.  This is the USS Constitution from Artist Hobby in 1/700 scale.  It's a unique subject and includes hull, turned brass masts and yardarms, and photo etch.  No decals.  It also includes a sheet with pre-printed sails.  I got mine from Hobby Link Japan, but you can also find it in stock at HobbyEasy.  It comes in either waterline or full hull and sell for between $45 and $55 each.  I thought it might be fun to build this model as a model.  In other words put it into a miniature display case like you would see at a museum.  What do you think?  I'll have to think on that one!

Now some finished models and works in progress!

From Rob Weilacher...

Here's the USS Dubuque in 1/700 scale from JAG Modelworks.  Out of production for some time now, but may be available through Admiralty Model Works (who acquired JAG some years ago).  The best way to contact them is through their Facebook page.  Also Pavel, owner of Admiralty Model Works is scheduled to be at IPMS Nationals.  

Also from Rob, The USS Kilauea from Ships & Co model kits.  Another long lost ship model manufacturer.  Rob describes this one as a difficult kit.  You can find their kits occasionally on eBay.  Fight the good fight, Rob!  

From John Widmar a couple of dandies.  First the 1/700 RMS Lusitania which I think is from Combrig Models.  

Here's a CAD drawing from Combrig, of this kit which is full hull.  John, sorry we couldn't chat more about this one.  Let me know if I got this wrong.  

John also shared another model of the 1/700 Nitta Maru from Aoshima.  Another dandy beautifully photographed in a water setting.  

From Tim Senecal, how about a 1/48 Gato Class Fleet Submarine.  Tim was preparing for their annual regatta coming up and wasn't able to join us.  This is a fully functional late war submarine, and not of any particular boat.  She's about 8 feet long!  Really nice Fleet Sub, Tim!

Victor shared with us his photos of the Titanic.  It's too big to move from the house.  I think he's like Jethro Gibbs from NCIS building the giant boat in his basement.  As mentioned earlier I'm going to ask Victor to send me some separate photos to share with you.  

Victor also brought his HMS Hood.  It was great to see this build in the flesh.  I heard a lot of nice compliments on the portholes!  Victor uses a colored pencil to fill in the holes.  They look amazing, as does the rest of the model.  

You'll recall that David Angelo designed some 1/700 modern tug boats.  I'm going to use these with my notorious container ship.  I have them painted up and used photo etch railing from Tom's Modelworks.  I also used Five Star Models 700013 Ladders and Safety Cages set.  The windows are made from black decal stripes cut to size with a sharp hobby knife.  The colors are true to some finished tugs I saw on the internet, but I think the blue and green need a little lightening to look more scale and easy to see.  Thanks David & Jerry!

My other new finished model is the MENG type VIIC Toons U-Boat.  I went over the top on this one adding the following...

Evergreen plasticard to improve the net cutter and large flood holes over the center saddle tank.  Guns from diStefan found on Shapeways.  The main deck gun is 1/144 scale.  The gun on the conning tower is 1/200 scale.  This was the look I was going after.  The detail on the conning tower are from a Griffon Models detail kit which includes two turned steel periscopes.   The guns and the periscopes are primary focal points.  If you're going to go there, go all the way!  The ship was painted with Colourcoats Kriegsmarine colors, and weathered with oils.  I finished off by using wood blocks and Infini lycra rigging.  I was asked if I was going to enter it into NATS.  I'm not planning on it.  There's really no place for these toon/egg/distorted/whatever you want to call them models.  They don't do well in the humor category.  There really needs to be a category for these models.  They've become quite popular lately.  Anyway, I really did it for me and for fun.  

That's about it for this meeting.  Look for those photos of Victor's Titanic, hopefully coming soon.  I'm looking forward to next meeting and giving you some feedback on Nationals.