Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our April meeting, both virtually and in person.  Here's a recap of that meeting plus a few updates...

First here's the link to the MEETING RECORDING.

We kicked off with discussing my annual Easter Eggstravaganza!  Sorry for the bad egg joke.  I'm building the Suyata Titanic toons kit.  And you know me, I can't leave well enough alone.  It has a wood deck, brass masts, and I'm using Tom's Modelworks photo etch for railing and details.  I will build it full hull on pedestals.  I assure you it will look quite different from this when completed.  

The hull parts are pre-painted.  One issue I ran into was spraying lacquer primer on the unpainted plastic parts.  The lacquer primer would not stick well.  I changed to Stynylrez which is an acrylic primer and it worked perfectly.  The parts were properly cleaned with a degreaser.  I suspect the plastic used may have had something to do with the fact that they were going to pre-paint some parts.  I asked if anyone had experienced this before and nobody had.

Sam led a discussion on a couple of different ships.  The first was the USS Wright AV-1.

The second was based on some research Sam had done for Tom on the USS Shipley Bay, CVE-85.  The two photos below represent two different paint schemes.  Tom indicated that the ship represented in the top photo is correct for the period he's modeling.  This CVE hull is based on the Cimarron class hull but not a conversion as CVE's like the USS Sangamon CVE-26 were.  

The photo below indicates a later paint scheme in Measure 22

We welcomed two new out of town members who are Fred Bustard from Canada and Chris Rhiner.  Fred was partners with Darren of Hawk Graphics.  Chris makes kits for TSAR Model Kits.  Below are some examples of Chris' kits.

Initially I posted this site that I came across on the web.  I found some decent reviews and they seemed to have a good selection of kits from different manufacturers.  After the meeting John suggested that I do a deeper dive on this company which I did.  What I learned was that this page is really Internet Hobbies which has an extremely bad reputation as they don't seem to stock product.  They take your money and try and find it from their distributors.  This can result in long delays and in some cases people said they never got product or their money back.  THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDED SUPPLIER TO DO BUSINESS WITH!

Next we looked at another selling option located on the Free Time Hobbies web site.  It's called Hobby Swap.  What they allow you to do is post a kit you have for sale.  You list information about the kit just as you might do on eBay.  You set a price and list a shipping charge which can be a problem since you don't know where it might be shipping to?  When a buyer selects your offering the payment is managed through Free Time.  They collect 10% of the sale price to cover the cost of handling your transaction.  You mail the kit to the buyer.  I posted a submarine kit I've been trying to find a home for.  Then Jerry noticed that some guy named David A in Philippines posted a couple of kits from Loose Canon Models there.  Could this be David Angelo?  Why yes it was!  We checked with David after the meeting and he confirmed he had posted it there about a year ago.  So this isn't new, and maybe not a great platform to sell your kits.  I'll leave mine there and see how it does.

Next Rob did a follow up on the completion of his 1/700 USS Colorado.  Rob indicated that it was a good kit but found it to be overly complicated and had some fit issues.  Rob sprayed primer and base coat then had brushed the rest of the model.   Rob also likes to use Testors Polyscale for paint brushing.

Rob is also working on the Orange Hobby USS New Mexico.  He's finding this to be an excellent kit.  Rob found that there were some errors on the instructions which weren't too difficult to figure out.  He advised that the kit goes together nicely and a beautiful kit.  While the price is a little more money, it comes complete with all the detail parts you need and is a good value.

If that wasn't enough Rob is also working on the Vee Models USS Indiana.  Rob reported that the instructions have call outs for drilling out location holes for all the different ships in this class.  Looking forward to seeing this one come together!

Next up John Widmar treated us to some IBG kits he's been working on 

John showed us the Fujimi IJN Hiyo.   This kit has an extensive photo etch set and John also used a wood deck sticker.  He had some problems with the deck sticking but worked it out.  John also used decals to cover the deck.  He thinks he sealed the deck prior to attaching the decals.

Last he shared with us his 1/700 Lusitania from Combrig models.  John noted that all four funnels were used on this ship, unlike the Titanic which only had three of four working funnels.  Who knew!

Next topic was the new project from Loose Canon Models, the Hog Islanders.  David is producing three different version.  The hulls are 3D printed and then cast in resin.  All the rest of the parts are 3D printed.  Kits will also include photo etch parts.  The bridge section on one of them has printed inclined ladders!  Pretty exciting stuff from Loose Canon Models!

I brought one of my kits with the water base project of the Foxtrot class B-59 from the Cuban Missile Crisis.  We had a discussion on the topic of mixing acrylic clears to get the right finish which we'll talk about later.  Just a few more details to add and this one will be completed.

I've been working with a company called Above & Below decals.  They do custom work.  If you do work with Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator, reach out to them to see if they can print your decals for your.

We revisited the new offering of the 1/700 SMS Luetzsow.  It turns out that this is actually the Flyhawk kit with a full hull bottom added.  What they neglected to include though was photo etch railings, although there are some limited photo etch detail parts included.  

Coming from Joy Yard models are a complete line of Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts in 1/700 scale.  These are injected molded kits and the CAD drawings look exceptional.  First up is this Fletcher class destroyer.  Hopefully Joy Yard will be providing photo etch railings as well.

Some examples of upcoming kits

We revisited an interesting new offering from 3D-Wild.  It's 3D printed in three sections.  The good news is that they match incredibly well.  The bad news is that you'll have some seam lines to fill where they come together.  Should be minimal though.  There has been a lot of discussion on the internet about painting the area below the flight deck, especially in the stern section.  I suspect that once you cut out all the resin support structure it should be easy enough to paint.  I'm looking forward to hearing more about this one.

As you can see the support pieces clean up nicely and the hull sections join well.  I'm amazed at the bi-planes on the deck that are 3D printed.  No worries about photo etch wing struts!

They also produce the carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor.  

Another product they make are completed 1/4000 scale models.  They are incredibly detailed and include cases.  As you can see they are quite expensive.  The target market for these are gamers.  

Black Cat Models has also released their USS Ward four stacker destroyer.  The hull is cast resin and of high quality.  All the parts are 3D printed with the exception of photo etch railings and some brass masts and barrels from Master Model.  116.36 Euros directly from the manufacturer.  Expect to see these at Free Time Hobbies in the next month or so.  

For Tool Time John Widmar shared a new toy he recently purchased.  As you can see it provides the ability to photograph in ways a normal camera does not.  The camera includes a bright light to highlight what you're photographing.  John showed how you could photograph tight areas you might not normally see.  A photo etch reel shown below had lost some of its paint.  John's going to play with it some more and share his results.  

Back to modeling water.  I tried some different materials to replicate foaming water.   Here's a breakdown of the products I used...

First up with mixing Woodland Scenics snow with Liquitex gloss medium.  This is what I ultimately used on my B-59 submarine.  I think it resulted in a respectable white foam effect, although translucent.  Add some white paint to it will eliminate the translucent effect.  Just work the mixture along the water line to create a white water effect next to your model.  

I next tried a product from Tamiya called Snow Effect.  This is a white course material that sticks very well to whatever you put it on.  But I found you had to work it in.  It's probably designed for armor modelers, but replicates white water well.  I would suggest coating it with Liquitex acrylic gloss medium to secure and soften the effect a little.  

Below that is a product from AK called Water Foam.  This is a thick white material that is very smooth.  If you wanted to replicate a more foamy white water you might try adding the Woodland Scenics Snow to the product.  

Last I highly recommend everyone watch the latest video from Studio Blue Ocean on the Pontos Models 1/700 Yamato diorama.  Here's a LINK to watch it on YouTube.  Notice at the end how he hides the poles the aircraft are standing on using Lightroom or some other photo editing software.  This will intimidate you, inspire you, or both.  Also an amazing kit from Pontos models.  

Finally Hugh ended the meeting by suggesting everyone gather at his cabin for a summer ship modeling clinic.  Review the video and if you're interested please pass that along to Hugh so he can get an idea of how many might participate.