Welcome salty men of modeling! On Thursday last, bright and early I tanked up, first at Starbucks.
There were a bunch of us Sprues going. Q: "Mommy, what's a Sprue?" A: Well..., it's the left over part of a model, essentially waste product. The part that gets tossed.
The van loaded up with crap. Models, I mean. You know. I had not been in a while, so I had 11 models. Plus I was giving a seminar, so I also had my tools.
We stopped a few times, I was almost tempted by the half melted pastries...
Six hours of driving to the event.
I was preregistered, so all I needed to do was get my boxes in and set up. We had a club display on a table way in the back...
...Which looked like this once assembled. "American Bom-Berz over Europe". Nine aircraft in total. I think it turned out swell.
Not too stressful. Across the hall was a bar. MJ was kind enough to buy me a glass of wine. In addition he performed various comic impersonations.
A really cool Japanese tank with flotation devices incorporated into the design.
A pre-war American warship recovering a spotter airplane at sea. This is what we drove these many hours to see.
A Honda F1, 1965.
Here is the placard showing my seminar. Not the La Fayette room. The Fayette room. (A quick search reveals: In French the meaning of the name Fayette is little fairy.)
Sadly, I have no substantive documentation of the event, I had my hands quite full making sure the AV equipment was functioning and my tools were ready. I was told that the seminar went well. I was only able to get through about a third of my material, so perhaps next time. However, not all is lost, MJ took notes of some of the things I said. Here is his top 6 list: #6 Plastic is your friend. #5 Look at your tool and see if stuff is coming off. #4 Remember, you should enjoy what your doing. #3 Replacing kit parts is a pain in the ass. #2 If it works for me, it will work for you. And #1...
Let us return to the models. Here we have a beauty in 1/72nd scale.
Who could forget this one from the 1st movie of the Bond franchise?
A shot of the hotel. This is most of our group returning from dinner.
A "walkaround" of the hotel. Here is a shot of the floor.
Some of the ambiance.
Every few hours I went up to the room to give my feet a rest and I would catch up on my TV viewing.
The view out the window.
On Saturday morning from 9-10 am I attended the national E-board meeting of our fine organisation.
After the meeting I snapped this pic of a 1/48th scale Val in a controversial Hawaiian operation scheme.
The shells are very nicely done.
A fine representation of a GM product in 1/24th scale in 70's livery.
A nice note for the judges.
A shiny B-26 in 1/72nd scale.
Early war Rei-sen color is hotly debated. In the pic above are three studies: The background pic is the model 21 on display at the Air Force Museum. The upper left is a Zero model from the event and the lower left a skin section from an actual model 32. A very tricky color indeed.
A really cool Japanese tank with flotation devices incorporated into the design.
A pre-war American warship recovering a spotter airplane at sea. This is what we drove these many hours to see.
A Honda F1, 1965.
Here is the placard showing my seminar. Not the La Fayette room. The Fayette room. (A quick search reveals: In French the meaning of the name Fayette is little fairy.)
Sadly, I have no substantive documentation of the event, I had my hands quite full making sure the AV equipment was functioning and my tools were ready. I was told that the seminar went well. I was only able to get through about a third of my material, so perhaps next time. However, not all is lost, MJ took notes of some of the things I said. Here is his top 6 list: #6 Plastic is your friend. #5 Look at your tool and see if stuff is coming off. #4 Remember, you should enjoy what your doing. #3 Replacing kit parts is a pain in the ass. #2 If it works for me, it will work for you. And #1...
Let us return to the models. Here we have a beauty in 1/72nd scale.
Who could forget this one from the 1st movie of the Bond franchise?
A shot of the hotel. This is most of our group returning from dinner.
A "walkaround" of the hotel. Here is a shot of the floor.
Some of the ambiance.
Every few hours I went up to the room to give my feet a rest and I would catch up on my TV viewing.
The view out the window.
On Saturday morning from 9-10 am I attended the national E-board meeting of our fine organisation.
After the meeting I snapped this pic of a 1/48th scale Val in a controversial Hawaiian operation scheme.
The shells are very nicely done.
A fine representation of a GM product in 1/24th scale in 70's livery.
A nice note for the judges.
A shiny B-26 in 1/72nd scale.
Early war Rei-sen color is hotly debated. In the pic above are three studies: The background pic is the model 21 on display at the Air Force Museum. The upper left is a Zero model from the event and the lower left a skin section from an actual model 32. A very tricky color indeed.
On Saturday evening is the eagerly awaited awards ceremony.
Immediately after the awards participants are directed to pack up their models and go.
On the way home we stopped at the Air Force museum.
Another example of the ordinance on display.
Our club display garnered this award.
Fortunately, for me the event is much more that a plinth of sawdust decorated with a sheet of tin. Cheers to the Sprues and everyone who builds plastic models. Looking forward to the next time!
Immediately after the awards participants are directed to pack up their models and go.
On the way home we stopped at the Air Force museum.
Another example of the ordinance on display.
Our club display garnered this award.
Fortunately, for me the event is much more that a plinth of sawdust decorated with a sheet of tin. Cheers to the Sprues and everyone who builds plastic models. Looking forward to the next time!
