Bob Sigman

It's with much sadness that we report our fellow club member, friend and my mentor as club secretary Dr. Bob Sigman passed away peacefully this morning. His wife Juanita was by his side. 

Dr. Bob faced a rough battle with pancreatic cancer and gave it a hell of a fight. 

Here is information regarding the Memorial Service:

The memorial service for Robert K. Sigman will be Saturday, March 1, 2014. Visitation starts at 1:00 in the church parlor and the Memorial Service will be held at 2:00 in the Chapel.

First Baptist Church of Marietta is located at 148 Church Street, Marietta, GA 30060. If the church parking is full there is a free public parking deck located behind the church on Cherokee Street.

R.I.P. Dr. Bob. We will miss you. We wish Juanita, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren peace and love during this tough time.

Pensacola IPMS Show

On March 15, IPMS Pensacola will hold it's Blue Angel Modelfest Scale Model and Figure Expo. Show information may be found via this link:

http://www.pensacolamodeleers.com/latest%20news%20-%20pensacola%20modeleers.html

Knoxville IPMS Show March 8

Knoxville IPMS is holding a mini-con there on March 8. Please click on the link for additional information from the club website.

Knoxville IPMS Mini-Con 2014

Buz's Grumman F3F-1 Progress

Buz Pezold has sent us some more update photos of his F3F-1. Looks like he's finally got that interior finished...

Photo 1 - Scratch built main mounts showing the bits of styrene and brass rod/wire used and the end results.

Photo 2 - Shows the installation of tabs and bulkheads to the fuselage for reinforcement.

Photo 3 -  Shows the installation of access doors/panels.  Also shows the fashioning of the gun barrel troughs on the forward upper fuselage.

Photo 4 - Shows the installation of the cockpit module to the fuselage prior to closing up the fuselage

Atlanta Figure and AMPS Show CANCELLED

Due to the extremely harsh winter weather in the Atlanta area, the combined Figure and Armor show ihas been cancelled for 2014

Meeting Photos from February

Here are most of the models that we had on display from the meeting on February 8th. As I don't have access to my notebook right now, a full meeting minutes will have to be posted later...

Resident ship guru Fred Heil had a forced perspective diorama featuring the 1/1200 scale U.S.S. Nimitz underway beneath a 1/350 scale KA-3 Skywarrior refueling an A-6 Intruder.

Mike Idacavage brought in his 1/72 QF-4N Phantom II Navy drone. He recreated this from photos of the actual aircraft he viewed at NAS Pt. Mugu in the 90s.

Mike also had a work-in-progress. This is the 1/48 scale Cessna Citation I by Hasegawa, which he is building as a KLM Flying School aircraft.

Rob Morales finished the Italeri Panther A in 1/35 scale. It is modeled after a photo of a 5th SS Panzer Division tank from early 1944.

 Rob also had a work-in-progress, the 1/35 scale D-30 122mm Soviet Howitzer. This is the Trumpeter kit.

Keith Scruton had a Monogram 1/25 scale '37(?) Chevy pickup. He custom-printed wood grain panels for the bed that were very realistic.

Keith also had a work-in-progress Matchbox 1/72 Heinkel HE-111. He is needing to detail the sparse cockpit and is asking for any interior plans anyone may have.

Mike Wolfe had a couple of Fujimi Imperial Japanese Navy seaplanes in 1/72.

Following those, he also had a pair of 1/72 Hasegawa Sea Hurricane kits, one converted to a 40mm cannon armed desert fighter.

Finishing up his airplane collection for this month, Mike had a 1/72 (Italeri?) CR 42 Falco in Swedish markings and camouflage.

Mike also finished another 1/700 early battle wagon. This is the U.S.S. Wyoming as produced by Samek.

Our Model of the Month is Mike Idacavage's QF-4N, and Martin Hatfield won our gift card. Here is the Model Builder of the month...

Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf A Sdkfz 171 Panther

Here is my latest finished project. The Panther A as marked for the 5th SS Panzer Division in early 1944. This is the Italeri Panther A with zimmerit option. Not the best but it does look like a Panther A. I painted the tank with Model Master enamels.

 

The decals are from Third Group, now out-of-print. I have several of their sets and grab them at shows whenever I see them. I did the weathering process using artist's oil paints for pin-washing and chipping.

I had to source vision blocks for the hull and turret from an old set of Fine Molds that I had. The kit regretfully had nothing to fill the open holes. How were Klaus und kompanie supposed to see?

I used MiG pigments to weather the tracks. I did not want to go for a heavy mud look, just for the residual dirt that accumulates in the track grooves. I simulated the metal contact surfaces with an number 2 graphite pencil.

 I normally use Rustall #1 to simulate rust, but my bottle went M.I.A. So I had to improvise by emulsifying red and orange pastel chalk powders in 91% isopropyl alcohol and painting them on the exhaust stacts and spare track links. I think the attempt came out well.

 So, there you have it. Not the best Panther kit out there, but for what I paid for it (about $15 USD several years ago) it is a nice addition to my tank collection.

Time Killing Ideas: Sprue Cutters Union

I found this set of links while perusing the web. Although we'll be moving the official website away from a blog format eventually, I do like blogs as they allow non-tech savvy modelers a way of getting stuff out there.
Click and explore...Sprue Cutters Union