August Meeting Notes

In Attendance:

Mark Vickery, Rob Holfels, Bill Ficke, Dave Lockhart, John Vallrugo, Paul Crawley, Ken Lundquist, Mike Wolfe, Art Murray, Keith Scruton, Greg Dyer, James Whitley, Patrick Cook, Mike Idacavage, Mc Lean Gilbert, Luis Venegas, Jim Pernikoff, Rob Morales, Schuyler Morales, James Young, Dick Cowart, Darryl Cordell, Fred Heil, Martin Hatfield

The August meeting of the Marietta Scale Modelers kicked off at 1 p.m. We had a packed house with 23 members in attendance. Luckily we didn’t all have models for show and tell or we’d have had to start stacking! But that’s not to discourage anyone either…

President Dave kicked off the meeting with some good stuff about the National Convention, including some nice pictures of favorites from the attendees. Those who attended were encouraged to provide Dave with a media device with show pictures for downloading. Dave plans on producing CDs for interested members.

Kevin Westphal from HobbyTown had quite a basket of new releases, a little something for everyone. Members are reminded that as a member of IPMS you are eligible for a 10% discount from the Kennesaw HTUSA, please mention that at check out and be sure to shop there. Without their gracious hospitality, we’d be homeless…

On to our models for August. Greg Dyer, who is just returning from a three-decade modeling hiatus, had a gem of an oldie from his stash. He built a North American B-25C Mitchell in 1/72 scale. Greg had the Frog kit in his stash, and he added a few figures from a couple of kits to liven her up. He camouflaged her in North Africa/Southern Europe scheme with Model Master paint and Micro Scale decals. Greg did a very nice job! Greg also asked about fixing clear parts, wondering what alternatives were available. The group consensus was to use white glue, also suggesting watchmaker’s cement. Art Murray’s suggestion was to decant some super glue, allow the vapors to dissipate for a few minutes, then use that to affix the clear parts. Another suggestion was to dip or paint clear parts first in Future (or now Pledge with Future Shine) and using your favorite adhesive after the Future cures.

We are happy to welcome a new member this month, McLean Gilbert. McLean has been a lifelong resident of the Marietta area, started out as a youngster building cars, then has progressed to military and naval subjects. He credits his Dad with teaching him the hobby and his Mom, an art teacher, for teaching him the use of oil paints. Apparently he is a good student. McLean displayed three (or four if you count the Sherman on the Dragon Wagon) armor models plus an in-progress piece that showed serious skill. The WIP is an M3A1 Stuart tank, which is the Academy 1/35 scale kit. McLean is adding some missing structural details to the hull, as the base kit is not truly an M3A1 but a straight M3. He also has done some improvements to the kit interior to make it much more accurate.

The first of the completed kits is a big, big hauler. McLean’s rendition of the M26 Tank Transporter complete with a war-weary M4A1 Sherman were fully detailed and fully crewed. The transporter was the Tamiya M26 “Dragon Wagon”. The Sherman was (I believe, as I did not get any brag sheets) a Dragon M4A1 with a T34“Calliope” rocket launcher system added atop the turret and individual track links with duckbill extenders to heighten it’s warn out look. For your consideration McLean does not use an airbrush, but rather hand-brushes all of his models. His figures are as skillfully painted and weathered as his hardware. He had entered the Dragon Wagon and load into both the Atlanta and ScottCon shows, where it won first place in its category.

McLean also had two other 1/35 scale Shermans. One was a Dragon M4A1 (76) done as the US Army ace tanker SSG Lafayette Pool’s “In The Mood”, the other also a 76mm-gun tank from the 3d Armored Division. Both tanks are festooned with additional equipment, properly tied down, giving them that distinctive American “Gypsy Wagon” look. Welcome aboard Mac! I’ll be looking to pick up a lot of inspiration from you.

Keith Scruton keeps on putting out some beautiful aircraft. He had a work-in-progress and a completed version of the same basic kit, Testors 1/48 scale model of the push/pull twin.

Keith finished the first Cessna Skymaster as a USAF O-2 Forward Air Controller used in Vietnam. He wanted to depict a specific aircraft he had seen in pictures. He could not find the necessary decals, so he just made his own vinyl stencils (like it was that easy…). He was able to create stencils for the wing top stating “DON’T SHOOT” and USAF on the fuselage. He also double armed the aircraft with 4 pods (scavenging them from his other kit). He also added the numerous antennae seen on these birds.

Keith’s second Skymaster is being built as a civilian 337 version, in what he called “Kermit Green”. It is a rather eye-catching scheme. Keith uses Model Master enamels for his gorgeous finishes.

Mike Idacavage brought us his award-winning ANA B-767-300 with special Universal Studios marking, aka “Woody Woodpecker”. His model won Third Place at the IPMS USA National Convention in category 163, Airliners, 1/144 Scale. Mike improved the base Revell kit by using Braz replacement engines to correct the fictitious kit blowers. Mike also used colored toothbrush handle plastic to create colored wingtip lights.

Mike also had his work-in-progress Lockheed U-2C. This is his “Dr. Bob’s Models” entry and is the Airfix kit in 1/72 scale. Mike has added an aftermarket cockpit from Cobra Company and resin engine intakes.

Rob Holfels had some neat little Japanese sci-fi snap-tite kits. These are typically sold in vending machines in Japan. Unfortunately, your editor did not get any info in writing to provide details. Maybe next month?

The ever-prolific Mike Wolfe had several finished kits on display (9 to be precise) but time only allowed us to cover two. First up was his 1/72 Airfix Harrier completed as a USMC AV-8a. Mike correctly finished the Harrier in RAF colors as the first AV-8As were supplied directly from the UK. He also correctly armed the aircraft with US ordnance as per the technical order.

Mike had another 1/72 scale fighter of British pedigree. Mike’s English Electric Lightning T.4/5 was built from the Sword kit. This two-seater was finished in RAF training colors (colours?) with a dark grey upper surface and natural metal underside. This set off a discussion as Bill Ficke recalled that the undersides of RAF Lightnings were actually painted silver and were not NMF. Something to consider for the post war RAF fans. Mike’s kits are looking great regardless.

Paul Crawley completed another daring build, this time an Aero Modell resin kit from Poland. His model is the Baade 152 East German airliner in 1/72 scale. The 152 was a GDR attempt to produce a commercially-viable jetliner. Only three were produced, with the first prototype crashing during tests. The program was scrapped under pressure from the Soviet Union, who eventually produced many airliners for use by Eastern Bloc and other nations. The kit itself was very challenging, as it had numerous small air bubbles on the surface and poor fit. Paul was able to tackle these issues and used Alclad II metalizers and Model Master enamels to produce a nice realistic finish. Paul also adds Preisser figures, a scratchbuilt crew ladder and mounted it all on a base from Max Models. This is a neat vignette.

Ken Lundquist had a small gem work in progress. He had the Simca 5 that he was depicting as a Fiat. This was the Tamiya 1/48 scale kit. He had a great gloss black finish. As a student at Georgia Tech, he purchased a non-running Fiat of the same type for $50 bucks, got it running and was able to use it as his transportation for some time. Neat recollection from Ken.

John Vallrugo continued to impress us with 1/72 scale builds. His latest was a Dewotine d.510. This pre-war French fighter was the Heller kit, which John had nicely assembled. John also hand painted the 510 using Heller polished aluminium and matt aluminium enamels to produce an authentic finish. He had some decals in place, and has some on order to finish the 510. Nice job, John!

Rob Morales had an in-progress 1/72 scale Spitfire Mk XIVc. He used the Academy Mk XIV kit, modifying the wings to reflect the clipped-wing LF version. He scaled the wing plans to 1/72 and produced a template to facilitate the wing tip cutting. The shortening of the wing allowed the Griffon-engine Spitfires to greatly increase their roll rates. Rob used Polly Scale and AeroMaster acrylics to depict a South East Asia 1945 fighter.

Mac’s Dragon Wagon was selected as the Model of the Month. Luis Venegas won the gift certificate.

Our next meeting will be September 13, as we reset to our normal Second Saturday schedule. The theme for the month is “What’s On Your Workbench”, works in progress. EVERYBODY should have SOMETHING to bring…Now go build a model!

Remember, “The Eyes of Fester Are Uponnn Youuu!”