That being said,
4 March, 2021's Zoom meeting was exceptionally attended! 14 Model makers visited on-line to share what fun they wanted to. "It all began back in 1994................." 9 Plastic Surgeon's stalwarts and 5 esteemed visitors braved the elements to...........
Never mind. It was Zoom. No reason to dramatize such a thing. Damn the Martinis! Full Speed Ahead!
Beginning with Francisco and myself, other Club members began to magically appear.
There is a rumor of a 1/35 German Army Steyr 1500 truck at Francisco's place. It must be super secret. We didn't see the model of any pictures. Ross showed his completed 1/35 DAK Horch command car(?) to demonstrate how similar the 2 vehicles are.
Bob Maloy showed us his chopped '49 Ford's red & white interior and it is PURTY! Bob discussed his method for top chopping in a little bit of detail. I fear if I try such a thing, I might end up with a convertible. Bob has his art down to a science. The pictures for the assembled 1/25 Ford make her look low & sleek!
In his first Zoom appearance, Rodney Shackleford came by to tell us about the 5 completed 1/48 Cold War Jets he built while on lock-down for Wuhan virus. An F/A-18C Hornet, a UH1C USMC Huey, a North American Super Sabre in SEA camouflage, an Italian TF-104G Starfighter and my favorite, the Hasegawa Vought F-8E Crusader in MARINE markings. As we watched, The Starfighter suffered a minor mishap and lost her pitot tube and canopies. Oh the Humanity! The customarily humble Rodney builds a really nice airplane model. IPMS Judges in Region 5 and Region 14 consistently re-enforce my opinion.
Rod's F-100D in progress. The canopy was lost in production mishap. A Monogram canopy will stand in until the replacement Trumpeter one arrives from overseas.
Greg Metzger arrived to showcase his finished 1/35 Trumpeter Sdkfz 7 (early) and its up to his usual standards for model making. In the rear basket there are 12 rucksacks, detailed, painted and washed, wrapped up in waterproof tarp. Just like the cool engine, and drivetrain details, It's a little like the old Ragu spaghetti sauce add. "It's in there!" Ross and Greg explained how the steering of the 1/2 track operated hydraulically. (I didn't know that!)
Greg is a modeler that only builds one kit at a time. (Teresa chides me "Are you listening, Honey?")
I hope he starts the 88mm FlaK-17 next!
Joachim Lotz is working on an "old" 1/35 Tamiya British Challenger I mode and continues to assemble his1/35 Takom Merkava 1. Joe sings Takom's praises about detail, fit and even the nifty jig for building the kit tracks they include. Evidently the Takom Merkava 1 is a pretty good kit. We also as a group, got clarification on the fate of his Eduard 1/48 Bf-108 Taifun. A tale of canopy woe to be sure. I thought it sounded like the Taifun was a huge pain the ass the whole build. Joe's usual good nature shines through the 'darkness".
Nathan Stevens pops in to tell us about Hasegawa's 1/72 G3M Nell torpedo bomber. You remember, the Japanese Navy pilots that got HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse? It was the easiest Hasegawa kit he has built so far, and enjoyed the making of Her. His 11-at-a-time 1/72 P-51D Mustang is running and producing a parade of nice airplanes.
(Hear that Honey?! 11 at a time? See! It's not just me!!" I chide my Sweetie in return)
I shared my Yankee Doodle Pigeon build with Archer eyeballs and progress on 1/700 CSS Arkansas. I had an non-alcohol related mishap and snapped the poke-screen on my laptop. I couldn't see my desktop, so I couldn't SHARE my desktop. Zorn!! What a World.
I try to comfort myself by saying it was almost 6 years old. Probably needed an upgrade anyway. HP said they stopped supporting it a couple of weeks ago. I would have used it until it farted cob-webs and the magic smoke came out. It's damaged but still underway at this time. A speedy replacement with 3X the memory is on the way from HP. (Thanks Mike!)
SEE!?! See what happens when you get too much blood in your alcohol stream?! SEE?!
Now to our esteemed guests:
A young lady, Elizabeth Nash appeared. Shortly there after Mark Karolus came by. Then "askinner" came on.
In the spirit of "The More the Merrier" Mark invited two of Fine Scale Modeler magazine's top people.
You should have seen young Elizabeth's face when I asked "Who is Aaron Skinner?" as if I lived under a rock or something.
Aaron Skinner is the EDITOR of FSM and a fine modeler in his own right. (OOPS! back to my comfy rock!)
Elizabeth Nash is the Digital Editor (The talented kid that makes all the screwy pictures sent to FSM appear much better than they really are) and lays out the magazine.
Mark is a model ship reviewer for the Waukesha, WI based model magazine and in true Zoom fashion, invited 2 of his friends. I sent Mark a TLAR Care Package. He needed turrets for his 1/700 DE-R model and I make them. I included some other interesting nautical bits, so my friend Mark built the 1/700 Hunley right away. Spar, Torpedo and rigging. Mark added the air pipes to the dinky TLAR model as well. He displayed Hunley on a rock, with SSN-777, USS North Carolina, in the background, for scale. I was truly pleased to see such detail added to my rudimentary 1/700 Hunley casting!
Aaron was working on Kinetic Model's 1/48 Argentine Pucara' and a Star Trek Galileo shuttle craft as the meeting progressed. Evidently their Pucara' doesn't share the same "Sins" of Kinetic's T-38/F5 Tiger series and sounds like a pretty good kit.
Elizabeth has a kit of RMS Titanic, but not the time to put it together. She actually owns a ship model! Cool!!
Apologies! It's time to take our grand daughter and great grandson out for supper! Stay tuned as more of this exciting tale unfolds. I'll be back after a bit!
