April Model Ship Club Meeting

I'm a little late following up from the last meeting.  Jury Duty put me way behind.  First time I've been seated for a jury since my 20's.  Thanks for your patience!

We're just going to pretend the March meeting never happened.  We are out of our old home at Rockler Woodworking and into our new home at the Koelbel Library in Centennial!  Rockler was a good home for a long time but it just isn't working for us anymore.

Feedback from everyone on the new location was very positive.  It was great to see John Widmar join us again.  We filled the room!  Great stuff guys and thanks for your patience while we found these new digs.

Here's the recording from the meeting. 

 https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/IFwHi1V8XZDtJ26yhaYke5e3e-i_iWCoCWpF2uVM9F9CQKl6UPTZzWORIlwD1Tg.DSRwQyd-jPgxQuA3?startTime=1712421472000

Passcode: ?4HGc=pW

We started off with the new Challenge Coins.  Listening to one of the podcasts today they related a story about putting down a recognition poker chip from that podcast showing recognition of a model.  The builder of the model was taken back for being recognized and wondered if they really meant to leave that token of appreciation with the model.  They did and it generated a great conversation.  I think we can have a lot of fun with these.  I also think the virtual coins will generate a lot of conversation and appreciation as well.  We'll talk more about this at our next meeting.  

Rob kicked off his work with the completion of his Cimarron Class oiler from David Angelo's kit which was also produced by Jerry Beasley and Roger Stafford.  This is a really nice kit and there are more available if you're interested.

Next Victor Prall brought in his USS Atlanta Cruiser in 1/350 scale.  That camouflage pattern is difficult to execute.  Beautifully done, Victor!  Thanks so much for bringing it to the meeting.

So good to see John back at the meetings.  He treated us with some of his latest builds.  The first an old kit from Modelkrak.  Not a great kit to start with but John brought it together.  Modelkrak is no longer in business.

Next from John was the Pit Road RN Littorio Class Battleship.  You can really see the difference in the quality of the kit in John's build.  John enjoyed it more as well, I think.  Included in the slide is the history of this kit and the various releases

I finally completed my "not so deep pour resin" kit of the UB-1 class submarine, UB-10.  I took it to CoMMiESFest and won 1st place in the submarine category.  Yea, yea... there were only two entries.  But I was happy with it and looking forward to taking it to IPMS Nationals this summer.  

Some sad but interesting news.  The gentleman who did the photo etch for Loren Perry's Gold Medal Models, was also working for Brandon at Squadron.  Apparently he had a stroke and is on the mend.  Not sure when he'll be back doing this work again for Brandon.  Brandon did say he was on the mend so hopefully he will be able to return.  I'm not sure of his name but we wish him the best.  

Lots of new and interesting kits coming out.  Here's a new release from Sphyrna Models of a PLAN Amphibious Assault Ship. Complete kit with injected molded parts, 3D printed resin, and photo etch parts.  

A new kit from NIKO out of Poland is the Italian Corvette, Cicogna C15 as she appeared in 1943.  Looks like another winner from NIKO!

Maybe the most interesting new model we saw is this French reconnaissance ship from Combrig in 1/700 scale.  The bad news is that you probably won't be able to find it due to the embargoes on Russian products.  Combrig has not done what a lot of Russian companies have done and moved shipping to non-embargoes countries.  

Another interesting submarine that I found is from a company called Landships Modeling.  This is the USS Holland as she participated in trials in 1899.  These are 3D files that you buy and print yourself.  The cost of the file is only $4.00 and it's a gem.  I've printed it up and also started a conversation with the designer with some more information.  More information on this later.   

Here's an example of the instructions.  They are clear and really well done.  The file contains a mid section that can be mounted to included supports, or done without them.  

For Tool Time this month we took a look at Parafilm used to protect delicate parts.  In this case it protects the delicate upper section of the davits with tape only added where we want a clean demarkation line.  Different members expressed different experiences with Parafilm.  Basically you take a piece of it and pull it to activate the wax coating.  It then can stick to items without trying to pull up paint or damage product.  Beside the product this was a good example of how you don't have to tape everything, especially delicate parts, for the purposes of masking and protection.

Martin Sagara shared a video on modeling an underwater explosion on a U-boat and creating that scene with deep pour resin.  It was interesting how the designer sealed the model so the resin would not leak in and compromise the pour.  If you search "4THECRAFT" on YouTube you'll find this video.

We came back to new releases with a dandy from Five Star Models.  They've done very small resin subjects in the past.  But this is their first attempt at an injected molded kit.  As you would expect they have also included wood deck stickers, photo etch, turned brass, and 3D printed parts.  This looks like it will be a very nice kit.  

Here's an interesting kit from Foreart and something we haven't seen in 1/350 scale before.  A British type 42 Destroyer.  I sent you some videos recently and this ship was prominently featured in those films.  Foreart makes an excellent model and I suspect this one will be the same.

Nest we drooled over this new upgrade set from HS Models.  We've worked out a club price with Brandon at $400 for this set.  Now at first glance you might think this was expensive.  But if you were to buy all these parts separately it would be well above that price.  The kit also includes deck masking, figures, and even the helicopter.  There are even three different types of hull hooks as is the case on the actual ship.  

Here are some more photos...

More goodness coming from 3D-Wild.  They are releasing the USS Borgue, Escort Carrier CVE-9, in both 1/350 and 1/200 scales.  There is an option to build a British version as well.  This will be a complete kit, full hull, and including aircraft.  I'm interested to see how the hull sections come together, but these shots look promising.  Notice the pin method for aligning the sections.

And that's it for April.  I'm amazed that we continue to get new material every month.  It is truly the golden age of modeling!

The next meeting will be at the library again in one of the upstairs rooms, but it will be at our normal meeting time of 10:00 MDT.  More information to follow.

You all take care!