I was having supper with my Sweetie when my phone dinged. I forgot it was Thursday and almost missed my own club's meeting!
12 Modelers joined the Zoom meeting. Francisco as host, Don Barry Joe Lotz, Bob Maloy, Greg Metge, Mark Karolus Nate Stevens and Mike Rasmussen where among the "repeat offenders". We were joined for the first time by Ross Petra and even Tom Hiatt as Club members. "Mr. Entertainment" himself, Heaven's Eagle, joined in from Memphis for the first time too! It was a fine "visit"?!? I took notes for this posting so I could keep you Men up to date. I DID!
Joe showed his Russian KS19m2 air defense gun again. He also made some progress on his Russian T-14 modern heavy tank. I understand the shiny new T-14's turret is completely automated. Both are pretty good kits.
Joe's 1/48 Eduard Me-108 Taifun continues to give Joe fits. Not much fits. The canopy is this meeting's subject of derision. What a Turd!
Bob is making some headway on his chopped and channeled 1/25 '49 Ford and is She in the weeds!!
Last year I sent an email to Archer Fine Details about 1/25 resin louver decal details. No reply so far. How cool would it be for car modelers if Archers decided to make that? I would have to have some.
Greg is putting together a 1/35 Trumpeter Sdkfz 7 (early). It is a shame all the intricate winch & driveline details will be covered by the bed & body. Greg's experience with 1/35 Wehrmacht subjects shines with every build. He comments the dioramas he builds when the vehicle is killing somebody are more fun & interesting.
With the leisurely top speed of an SdkfZ 7, it would be hard to run over anyone that had a heartbeat!
Mark built Very Fire's 1/700 USS Salem CA-139 US Navy heavy cruiser for a review for Fine Scale Modeler. I thought about chiding him about getting a new, cool model ship for free, until I saw how much documentation there is to do for Fine Scale to document the build and review. Just shy of 600 parts and 79 hours total time to build USS Salem! It looks like Mark did fine job on his kit and his "Homework". I hunted FSM's website, but as of this posting it seems Mark's review has been published yet.
I displayed CSS Arkansas' finished Master, 1/700 Afrikan Queen, a picture of Linda Vaughn (accidently) from 1974 and progress on CSS Alabama. Guess which picture received the most aplomb form our merry band of model makers?!
Paul was diligently modeling away and added his input when it was interesting and funny! He's the only guy I know that takes a 1/32 Zoukei Mura model kit instrument panel apart to improve it! I last saw Paul in 2011 (In person) at the Nationals in Omaha. I count "Watchmaker" among my friends.
Don is hunting for the 1/35 Trumpeter Rheintochter FlaKpanzer kit. He plans a war weary Panter chassis with a not quite finished missile launcher turret parts. Should be cool!
Nathan Stevens' flock of 1/72 airplane models continue to march down His assembly line. He finished all 3 of his Italeri 1/72 B-26 Invaders, 11 1/72 P-51 Mustangs are underway. Two models from every squadron that flew the Mustang in WWII is his goal. "I have a lot of decals to use up." HA!!
We both look forward to Airfix' new tool 1/72 Hampden.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Ross (Roscoe) Petra on-line. Joe & Amy donated a laptop and a smartphone to Ross to move him into the 21st Century. A fine gift for not just our Generaloberst! Ross makes a fine model. He isn't crazy about weathering. He includes every detail on his models, even if nobody will ever see them again.
He was our most embattled Plastic Surgeons President (President Trump thinks HE has it rough!!)
He's a great guy and a fine friend. He is also a recipient of one of my Operation Affenbumsen missions. A very successful Operation! Ross didn't show us any models, but since it was his first Zoom we were gentle with him.
I took over as Host around 8:30 when Francisco left the meeting. If there ever was much structure to our meetings, this is when any semblance of such VANISHES!!
"Welcome to The Wild Thing"!!
Paul hung in there until 2300 or so. Mark stayed to play until his phone died. Members faded away until it was down to Nate Stevens and myself. At one point The Girls had a chat. Teresa and Sara amused one another for a bit.
Sara learned a few, new, rudimentary German phrases. Nate and I carried on until after 0100 Friday morning. A record-setting Zoom for us as friends!
Operation Affembumsen XII, The USS Cobia Sleep-Over (IF we sleep at all!) will be executed this year. I learned Sara Stevens is fearsome claustrophobic, so the wimmen-people will likely stay at the Best Western next door to the museum while we track, attack and sink every enemy (?) vessel we sight. A few of our members may be unable to fit through USS Cobia's hatches. There are no such openings aboard MS Dennis Sullivan. The 2 hour cruise is educational and fun!
Bone up on your US Navy tracking and attack protocols and study your old sailing ship song lyrics.
Start with this one! I will help with the rest!
The link to the next Zoom meeting will appear here in 11 more days.
Thanks for looking in!