During Saturday’s meeting at Mid-South Hobbies, Larry Montgomery showed the gang the trophies for our upcoming “Red, White and Blue Revue” contest planned for the July 25 meeting. A friend of Larry’s made the red, white and blue trophies for the contest on his 3D printer.
Larry said models entered must have at least one of those three colors in the finish of the model. It can’t be the national insignia on the model. Members will cast votes for their favorite entry and we’ll give awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The entry doesn’t have to be something you recently completed. Any model that you have built can be entered.
If you have questions, reach out to Larry at sabredog2@hotmail.com
We also now have a space inside Mid-South Hobbies to display our models if we want. IPMS Memphis Belle president Ron Campbell pointed out that a display case was recently moved to the spot outside of our meeting space. While the case is currently displaying several aircraft and automobile models built by the late Greg Seek, club members are welcome to display their finished models in the space.
The club will meet again at 10 a.m. June 27 at Mid-South Hobbies, 4862 Summer Ave., in Memphis.
We also now have a space inside Mid-South Hobbies to display our models if we want. IPMS Memphis Belle president Ron Campbell pointed out that a display case was recently moved to the spot outside of our meeting space. While the case is currently displaying several aircraft and automobile models built by the late Greg Seek, club members are welcome to display their finished models in the space.
The club will meet again at 10 a.m. June 27 at Mid-South Hobbies, 4862 Summer Ave., in Memphis.
Show and Tell
In Progress
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| Glenn Foutch’s 1/72-scale F-14D (right) and Stan Parker’s 1/48-scale F-14A (left), both from Tamiya. |
Stan Parker brought the cockpit of the Tamiya 1/48 F-14A he’s working on. He’s completed the cockpit using 3D decals. The jet will be done up in the VF-213 “Black Lions” livery.
Glenn Foutch is also working on a Tamiya F-14, but it’s the D variant in 1/72 scale. Glenn’s Tomcat is all black in the VX-9 “Black Bunny / Vandy 1” scheme. It’s about half built, and he’s already applied some of the decals, which he bought separately because the kit didn’t come with the VX-9 decals.
Randy Bloom showed the 1/72-scale Airfix C-47 he’s been working on as he chips away at his World War II collection. He said the seams had been a nightmare and that it was tough to get together. Randy really likes the C-47 and wants to build it again with a better kit, though the gang assured him the Airfix kit was the best one for this aircraft.
Ron brought in an assembled fuselage for a 1/100-scale Tamiya MiG-15 and an Otaki Fw190A-8 Focke Wulf. He’s got the fuselage of the Focke Wulf put together so far.
Ashley Craig showed her Hasegawa F-18 Hornet 1/72 scale, which is mostly put together. Relatively new to the hobby, she’s been working on filling seams and gaps with this attempt and has the aircraft primed in white. She’d intended to go with the navy blue and gold YF-18 Hornet paint/decal scheme, but couldn’t locate the correct decals and is now going with a NASA scheme.
Ron brought in an assembled fuselage for a 1/100-scale Tamiya MiG-15 and an Otaki Fw190A-8 Focke Wulf. He’s got the fuselage of the Focke Wulf put together so far.
Ashley Craig showed her Hasegawa F-18 Hornet 1/72 scale, which is mostly put together. Relatively new to the hobby, she’s been working on filling seams and gaps with this attempt and has the aircraft primed in white. She’d intended to go with the navy blue and gold YF-18 Hornet paint/decal scheme, but couldn’t locate the correct decals and is now going with a NASA scheme.
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| John Mahaffey’s scratch-built 1/25-scale Green Monster jet dragster. |
John Mahaffey brought a scratch-built project that he’s been working on. Using various extra parts from other club members’ kits – a fuselage here, an engine there – John’s building a 1/25-scale Green Monster jet dragster. Though the project isn’t finished, John says it’s already been sold.
Completed
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| German Candia’s 1/35-scale Italieri sWS with Panzerwerfer 42 German rocket launcher |
On the armor side of things, German Candia has been working through his stash and finished an Italieri sWS with Panzerwerfer 42 German rocket launcher in 1/35 scale. He said the kit was great until he had issues with some of the tank’s tracks.
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| William Foutch’s 1/144-scale Bandai Black Knight Squad Shi-ve.A |
One of our younger members, William Foutch, brought in the 1/144-scale Bandai Black Knight Squad Shi-ve.A gundam figure he and Jackson finished. The figure is black and came pre-painted. The boys put it together and applied the decals. William said the Gundam “gives me Darth Vader vibes.” The gang agreed.
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| Randy Bloom’s 1/72-scale Matchbox PB4Y-2 Privateer |
He also brought in his 1/72-scale Matchbox PB4Y-2 Privateer painted up in a lovely shade of blue.
“This was a beast,” Randy said. “The toughest I’ve built so far.”
Nothing fit well, and the delicate props and guns would break if he so much as looked at them the wrong way, Randy said. But it was worth it in the end.
“I just always thought it was a beautiful-looking plane, and I wanted it in my collection,” Randy said.
“This was a beast,” Randy said. “The toughest I’ve built so far.”
Nothing fit well, and the delicate props and guns would break if he so much as looked at them the wrong way, Randy said. But it was worth it in the end.
“I just always thought it was a beautiful-looking plane, and I wanted it in my collection,” Randy said.
Stan brought in a small herd of Mustangs. He’s working through his collection of every Army Air Corps aircraft that flew in World War II. All three were painted using Vallejo’s metallic acrylic in semi-matt aluminum after being primed in flat black. Stan’s photos and model notes are better than what we would have taken at the meeting, so we’ve included some of them below.
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| Stan Parker’s 1/48-scale Meng model of the P-51D flown by Lt. Col. Richard Turner, commander 356th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, circa 1945 |
Stan described the aircraft as “part model and part toy.” It’s a heavy model, but it went together well and wasn’t bad on the details, he said. The decals came from Aeromaster sheet 48-226, 9th/15th AF Mustang Aces.
“The Meng kit is nicely molded, with excellent detail,” Stan said in his notes. “Almost all the parts fit along panel lines. The parts also press together when fitted, so no glue is needed for the majority of the build.”
He said it would be a good kit for someone getting into building models.
“The Meng kit is nicely molded, with excellent detail,” Stan said in his notes. “Almost all the parts fit along panel lines. The parts also press together when fitted, so no glue is needed for the majority of the build.”
He said it would be a good kit for someone getting into building models.
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Stan’s 1/48-scale Eduard model of the P-51D (sans fin fillet) flown by Capt. John Mack Simmons Jr., who was assigned to the 317th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group, Lesina, Italy, August 1944 |
The next was his 1/48-scale Eduard P-51D (sans fin fillet) with the markings of the Mustang flown by Capt. John Mack Simmons Jr., who was assigned to the 317th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group, Lesina, Italy, August 1944.
Stan said he didn’t have too many problems with this one, but that it had a lot of very tiny parts. He used Eduard’s aftermarket 3D-printed instrument panel in the cockpit, and it fit perfectly.
He said he didn’t like two things about the kit: one being the thinness of the tail wheel strut (which means being careful when setting the model down as not to break it), and the other being the under-wing forward fuselage fit.
“Normally, the fit is just forward of the wings,” he said. “On this kit, the join is further forward, so the part has to bend upward to fit. I needed to press the part up into the fuselage to get it to fit.”
His last was the 1/48-scale Eduard P-51B with the fin fillet modeled after the Mustang flown by Lt. Duane Lawson, 504th Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, circa 1944.
He said he didn’t like two things about the kit: one being the thinness of the tail wheel strut (which means being careful when setting the model down as not to break it), and the other being the under-wing forward fuselage fit.
“Normally, the fit is just forward of the wings,” he said. “On this kit, the join is further forward, so the part has to bend upward to fit. I needed to press the part up into the fuselage to get it to fit.”
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| Stan’s 1/48-scale Eduard model of the P-51B (with fin fillet) flown by Lt. Duane Lawson, who was assigned to the 504th Fighter Squadron, 339th Fighter Group, circa 1944 |
Stan said this one was a little easier to put together because the assembly was really straightforward and the fit was excellent.
He used Eduard’s aftermarket 3D-printed parts for this kit as well. Both the seat and instrument panel fit without a problem. Just like with the P-51D above, Stan said the tail wheel strut was very delicate. For the marking and stencils, Stan used Furball Detail and Scale sheet 4835, P-51’s Part 2, and Kinzey’s D&S P-51B book for coloration.
“I like the Eduard B better than the D, as the parts seem to fit better than the D,” Stan said. “The lower forward wing fits to the forward fuselage, which fits just forward of the wings, whereas the D fits further forward.”
He used Eduard’s aftermarket 3D-printed parts for this kit as well. Both the seat and instrument panel fit without a problem. Just like with the P-51D above, Stan said the tail wheel strut was very delicate. For the marking and stencils, Stan used Furball Detail and Scale sheet 4835, P-51’s Part 2, and Kinzey’s D&S P-51B book for coloration.
“I like the Eduard B better than the D, as the parts seem to fit better than the D,” Stan said. “The lower forward wing fits to the forward fuselage, which fits just forward of the wings, whereas the D fits further forward.”
This and That
Larry Claus strikes again! We were good modellers, so Larry brought us presents. After Chris Vandergrift brought micro brushes to the last meeting, Larry decided we all needed them and shared several packs with the group. Commonly found in the beauty care section of a store and intended for applying remover or primer to eyelash extensions, these tiny brushes can be used for various purposes in scale modeling, including applying superglue or paint to small, hard-to-reach places. He also passed out bottles of LocTite superglue with a special cap that prevents the glue from drying out.
To close out the gathering, John Doherty led a demonstration on cleaning up kits and getting a good fit. Some of the tools he used were Zoukei-Mura double-sharpened nippers, a superfine buffing glass file, a Flexi-file, and a curved-edge blade, all of which he passed around for us to view.
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| John Doherty (center) leads a demonstration on cleaning up model kits for a good fit. |
John went about his process. For bigger parts, for example, an aircraft fuselage, he removed them from the sprue to begin cleaning them up. For smaller parts, like landing gear and such, he prefers to file away any seams or flashing while the part is on the sprue. The smaller parts are easier to hold and maneuver while on the sprue.
“I have a theory that when you start cleaning everything you won’t be able to see, that you’ve already cleaned up everything you will be able to see,” John said.
He also dry-fits and works the part as he’s cleaning. He said he will also put a slight bevel along the inside edge of the receiving part to give the glue a place to go and to keep it from getting on the outside of the model.
“My goal is to not have any putty or glue on the surface of the finished model,” John said.
