Club News and Announcements

April meeting notes
by Steve Siebers

For those of you who missed our April meeting, here is what we did.

 Stuart Malone gave us a demonstration on how to use EZ Line as rigging material for bi planes. Super easy to use as the EZ Line is stretchable; no worry about how long to cut it, just drill a small hole where you want the line to start one where it ends and thread it through. Put a little stretch on it and super glue it—finished!

We also had a visit from Jonathan Kirtz who had over 100 different aircraft line drawings for sale. He would like to sell the entire collection as one piece but will also sell the prints separately. If you’re interested please contact him at jonathanbook@yahoo.com.

 The May meeting (May 28) will feature a demo by Jeff Winkle showing us techniques as well as products you can use for ground work if you want your subjects on a “natural” base. This will take about 30 minutes so we’ll do it first thing

 Just a reminder, the June meeting is when we will bring our models of subjects you don’t normally do so get those projects wrapped up!

Here’s what we had for Show and Tell.

Jarrod Booth brought his under construction 1/350 Titanic kit which he decided needed to have every photo etch set known to man applied to it. Life boat davits, deck chairs, life boat details you name it are all photo etch! He also found the pattern for the floor on the main deck and scaled it down and printed it-looks very cool!

 Jeff Bobela had his 1/72 scale Hasegawa JU-88 which he rescribed the panel lines and used Eduard photo etch and Voyager resin engines.

 Greg Farrel brought his 1/72 scale Pavla Lysander kit. He used Engine and Things resin engine for it but had some difficulty (to put it mildly) getting the kit to fit correctly. You see, the cross section of the fuselage is oval but the engine cowling is round! Just one of the problems with fit! He also had the Bronco 1/35 scale L4H Piper Cub kit for us to look at.

 Frank Holzburg had the oldie but goodie Monogram 1/48 F-9 Panther. Frank polished out the canopy which made the kit sparkle with it’s Glossy Sea Blue paint scheme!

Doug Robertson brought his 1/32 Special Hobby X-15 project. He has assembled the photo etch dolly and has the bulk of the kit assembled and it is getting close to having paint--surprising how BIG the X-15 is!

Rene’ Weber has fallen under the spell of 1/48 scale armor. He had the Tamiya King Tiger and M10 Tank Destroyer finished. The paint job on the King Tiger was impressive!

 Greg Vanderstel brought a little known kit, the 1/32 scale HE-162 issued by MPM. It uses about 10 parts from the Revell kit (the fuselage mainly). The rest is all resin: cockpit, wheel wells, tail surfaces, etc. It should build up to a great model!

March meeting notes
by Steve Siebers

Here’s what happened at our meeting this past March

Jarrod Booth brought his Hasegawa 1/48 A-4L Skyhawk. The kit is going together well except for the poor fit of the hump to the fuselage. Jarrod is about ready to start painting and is excited to be taking a break from his Titanic project.

Rene’ Weber is making a version of a Luftwaffe Mistel conversion except it’s made from 2 auto kits. Rene’ got the idea from a program on BBC America which he insists is absolutely hysterical, but then again British “humour” is an acquired taste!:)

Doug Robertson continues his epic builds of large scale subjects by finishing the Trumpeter 1/16 M-16 GMC. This is the U.S. half track equipped with 4 .50 caliber machine guns in the rear of the vehicle. Very impressive!

Stuart Malone brought his 1/72 scale 1 and a half strutter done in French markings from WW1. After spending a great deal of time to get the landing gear and associated struts to fit correctly he mounted the kit on a pole! Go figure! A very nice job and the rigging is excellent! Stuart used the EZ Line product and hopefully will be giving a demonstration of it’s use at the April meeting.

Darren Roberts brought 3 models of – wait for it- Navy jets! He had an F-14, an A-4E Skyhawk and an F-18, all in 1/48 scale. Very nice work, as usual, from Darren.

Jim Triola brought his 1/32 scale P-40 Warhawk from Hasegawa done in Flying Tiger paint scheme—very nice!

Frank Holzburg brought his Monogram 1/48 F-14. He used a True Details cockpit, some photo etch, and Super Scale decals to trick out the Tomcat!

Terry Nicoll had his Hasegawa 1/48 F-16 done in a very colorful blue Aggressor scheme using Two Bobs decals. Terry mixed Model Master enamel paints to get the correct shade for the blues.

Scott Connor brought his work in progress of a T-34 hybrid using a Tamiya hull and chassis and somebody else’s turret (I did not write down who made the turret). He painted the turret and hull the same color but by using filters and shadings the two look completely different achieving the result of a hull mated with a newer turret—an awesome job!

Greg Bandersfeld from the WCMO club up north had a 1/72 ME-262-A2 with a scratchbuilt glass nose. He used a CMK interior and is done in the markings of KG 51. A spectacular build in Braille scale!

Last but not least I had my 1/32 Hasegawa FW-190A-8 done in standard mid war Lufwaffe scheme using Eagle Editions decals and their resin gun cowl and wheels. Looks pretty good if you ask me!

If you want to see more good models and enjoy a good time talking models join us on Thursday April 30 at 7 P.M. for our next meeting!

January Meeting

Happy New Year!

The 2009 IPMS/Great Plains season kicks off with our first meeting next Thursday Jan. 29 at 7 P.M. at the Matt Ross Community Center, 8101 Marty.

We have a special guest for this meeting. Jim Triola has arranged for Major Robert Bryant, a F-15 Strike Eagle pilot currently at Ft. Leavenworth, to give us a presentation. Please bring your F-15 models (if you have any) to the meeting.

Steve

December Meeting

The IPMS/Great Plains Holiday Party will be held Thursday December 18 from 7 to 9 P.M. in the Hearth Room (the one with the cool fireplace) at the Matt Ross Community Center, 8101 Marty in downtown Overland Park. The club will be providing BBQ from Zarda but it's requested by Darren that club members provide some desserts and chips/snacks.
A White Elephant gift exchange will also be held so wrap up those UNBELIVEABLE presents and bring them to the fun house! If you want to bring a model or project you're working on to show off, that's fine but neither the club or it's members are responsibile for BBQ sauce stains on the finish :).
See you there!

Steve

June Business Meeting

We will be having our June business meeting next Saturday June 7. This is a VERY important meeting to start finalizing plans for our October 4th. contest/show. The meeting will be at 10 A.M. at the Corner Cafe located at 8301 NE Flintlock Rd. in Liberty, MO. After our meeting those who have ordered items from Sprue Bros. can attend Gordon's Open House. Take I-35 north to the 152 Hwy. exit in Liberty, turn west onto 152 and go to NE Flintlock (apparently very close to the interchange). The restaurant is on your left. Please RSVP to me or Darren as soon as possible so Darren can get a large enough meeting area for us.
Thanks and I'll see you next Saturday!

Steve

May Meeting Report
by Steve Siebers

Last Thursday was our May meeting and here is what you missed if you weren’t there!

First, some business. Our contest is scheduled for Saturday October 4 at the First Church of the Nazarene at 119th. Street and State Line. We are having our business meeting this Saturday June 7 at the Corner Café in Liberty MO. to start nailing the details down—hope to see you there.

Elections will be held for club Officers at the June meeting so be thinking of what you can bring to the club as an officer!

After successful surgery and recovery our own Jeff Winkel made it to the meeting and looks great! Glad to have you back Jeff!

Steve Nichols announced that his book Malta Spitfire Aces will be published by Osprey Books on Sept. 23, 2007. Congratulations Steve!

Now on to the show!

Stuart Malone had the 1/72 scale Prop Blur propeller on his Corsair. This is a photo etch product that, when painted, makes the prop look like it’s spinning—very realistic! Stuart tried painting it by hand but the paint would collect between the fine metal etching so he spray painted it.

Rene’ Weber had the 1/72 Planet Models Saunders Roe SA-1 kit, a British jet floatplane fighter from after the war.

Doug Robertson brought the 1/32 Trumpeter SBD-3 Dauntless built OOB. He used the Yellow Hammer decals to get the markings for Dick Best’s plane from VB-6 off the U.S.S. Enterprise at the Battle of Midway. The Dauntless is a large airplane! Doug did a great job!

I brought Son of Dauntless—the Accurate Miniatures SBD-3 done up also in VB-6 markings from the Battle of Midway!

Ed Bjes brought his completed Tamiya 1/48 Fiesler Storch done in Hungarian markings (go figure!). Ed had to paint the model in pieces and then glue it together as it would have been very difficult to do it the normal way! This model took 3rd. Place in Omaha at the Regionals. He also had the new 1/32 Pacific Coast Models Spitfire MkIX—a beautiful kit! Ed had just started construction by removing the elevators and drooping them a bit as was the norm on the real thing.

Darren Roberts had a 1/48 Hasegawa F-8 Crusader with Aeromaster decals. Nothing special about the build but he did make an intake cover from resin, SLACKER!

Scott Storey won the unusual kit of the night award. He had a Darth Vader bust from MPC; a kit made in 1978! At one time if you pulled his string strange things would occur but thankfully it’s broken!

Jim Triola had recovered enough with his difficult build of the 1/32 Trumpeter A-7 Corsair to bring the thing to the meeting. Lots of bad fits requiring tons of filling and sanding. Jim added a scratchbuilt wing fold mechanism, a Black Box cockpit, Eduard photo etch and other items to finish it off. Markings are of VA-93 off the Midway. Lots of effort but it paid off!

Jeff Bobella made an appearance with his 1/72 Hasegawa EF-111 under construction.

Bob Kerr brought his 1/35 AFV Club M5A1 Stuart tank. Bob built it OOB but added wire tie downs as the kit did not have enough. He also added a Formations antenna—looks great! Less filling! By the way, the tank appears to be about the size of a clown car at the circus but held a crew of 4—VERY cramped!

Gary Owsley had a 1/35 T-72AB—he started off using the Tamiya T-72 kit for the hull and added a Model Point resin turret with ERA molded on, absolutely KILLER resin work! He added ERA to the hull and used Frui tracks to finish it off. A great looking model!

Carlos Padilla brought along his 1/48 AMT F-4G Wild Weasel kit. The only change to the kit was a replacement set of resin ejector seats. Carlos used Metallizer paints for the stabillators.

Last but not least Frank Holsburg brought the Models USA 1/48 Bird Dog Vietnam Era recon aircraft and the old Monogram T-28. Frank said the Bird Dog suffered from very poor fit but he kept plugging away adding a True Details cockpit and reinforcing the landing gear with wire. The T-28 was modified into a T-28 C with the addition of a Black Box cockpit set, Lones Star Models wheel well and wheel set. Frank painted it a VERY bright yellow for a Navy training bird, Very striking!

For something completely different, it was decided by the club to have the group bring to the September meeting finished models of a subject you don’t normally build. So think about that and get started!

Until next time!

Steve

Contest Information

April Meeting Report
by Steve Siebers

Our meeting on April 25th. was another well attended event! Our first order of business was discussion revolving the cancellation of the WCMO show scheduled for June 7. Apparently there was a big scheduling problem with the vendors and WCMO decided to postpone to a later date (still TBD). Planning for our contest continues with a likely location at Rene’s church at 119 and State Line; more info as it becomes available!

Now on to the models!

Gary Owsley started us off with his M50 Israeli Sherman. Gary kit built the hull and running gear by kit bashing the Tamiya and Dragon kits and used the Formations turret and engine deck. Gary also had the brand new AFV club Israeli Centurion which he snagged at the AMPS Nationals in Indiana. Gary had started construction and was using the Lion Mark turret and was adding weld beads to the kit.

Bob Kerr was next and he was showing some new products from Archer Fine Transfers. Bob purchased new decals which have resin cast on to the decal paper! Archer makes a set of rivets, weld beads, casting numbers and wood grain. You put the decals on the model and then paint over them to give you a three dimensional surface. VERY cool!

Frank Holzburg brought his 1/48 Italeri F-22 Raptor and Hasegawa F-14 Tomcat, Frank replaced the kit seats on both models with resin ones and used the Avionix resin recon set for the F-14. To get the green color seen on the windscreen of the Tomcats Frank used a green plastic file tab-it looked like the real thing!

Larry Todd was next with his HMS Victory kit. Well, kit is a bit strong. I think Larry just used the box as a guide! Larry has spent 4600 hours over a 6 year period building this ship and he’s not quite finished! He has built and placed over 6500 parts including 1600 scratchbuilt copper planks for the hull. He even scratchbuilt a candle into the Captains lantern! Larry thinks he might have it finished by the end of summer. Truly a masterpiece! He has promised to bring it in when finished. You need to see it to believe it!

Jarrod Booth was next. He’s continuing his demented quest to build the biggest airplane kits he can find! This months example was the Revell/Monogram 1/48 B-1 bomber. Not to be satisfied with out of the box Jarrod went to town using the Eduard exterior/interior sets and added wire brake lines. He also scratchbuilt the radar in the nose and made the nose cone able to open and close as well as opening and closing escape hatches! Jarrod took his model to a contest in Tulsa where he won First Place! (as well as Best in Class, Best of Show, etc). An awesome job!

Scott Storey had his Revell 1/48 Dassault Rafale M under construction Scott will be repositioning the control surfaces and adding the ECM bulges.

Doug Robertson continues his fetish with large scale models! This time he had the Trumpeter 1/32 SBD Dauntless with him. He plans on building it OOB and so far had the interior and Fuselage assembled.

John Nichols brought two models, the Hasegawa 1/48 F/A-18F Super Hornet in VFA-103 “Jolly Rogers” markings. He also had the Hasegawa 1/48 Bf-109F-4 Tropical fighter done in desert markings of the Luftwaffe—very nice looking!

Yours truly had the Tamiya 1/48 F4U-1 “Birdcage” Corsair done in the markings of VMF-214 in the Solomon Islands during 1943. I weathered the model using a combination of different paint shades and pastels to give it the “beat up” look.

Darren Roberts brought a Monogram 1/48 F-15 done in Tiger stripe markings which he intends to offer for a raffle to support his daughters school, nicknamed the Tigers!

Rene’ Weber had the most unusual kit of the night. He had a Revell model of a nuclear power plant which was issued in 1959! It’s an extremely rare kit and was very interesting!

That wraps up our April meeting; I’ll see you on Thursday May 29 at 7 P.M.!

March Meeting Report
by Steve Siebers

Hi Guys
Well, another well attended meeting last week! Somewhere north of 25 people came to see and talk about models. I'll get to the good stuff in a minute but first some business. The club is having a VERY difficult time finding a venue for our contest that won't bankrupt us. Places like Holiday Inn at 87th. and I-35 are asking for $1,800 and up for the use of there space. Darren is now looking at a VFW hall but the size of the room may be a problem. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! The next business meeting is tentatively set for April 19, more on that later.

Jeff Winkel had surgery last week and I'm sure you all join me in wishing him a speedy recovery!

A Farewell Celebration for Frank Ciccarella was held last Sunday afternoon and a good time was had by all. Good Luck Frank, you'll be missed!

OK, now for the models!

Greg Farrell had his Eduard Polikarpov PO-2, a Russian WWII biplane. Greg said the instructions leave something to be desired and the engine assembly was tricky but he was able to overcome this with out much trouble. He also had a finished 1/72 FW-189 OWL from Condor Models finished in markings of a plane recovered from a Norwegian fiord several years ago--very cool! Last but not least was a 1/48 Tamiya FW-190A-3 that was from the Mike Smalley collection.

Ed Bjes had his 25mm ancient Greek warrior figure "Minimos". Ed used acrylic for 90% of the figurw and enamels for the breast plate on the figure. Ed also had a 1/72 Airacuda from Valom that his father gave him to build by Fathers Day. Fortunately his Dad didn't say what year so Ed will take his time to get it just right!

Stuart Malone had some 1/72 scale photo etch prop blurs that should look great on his 1/72 scale German "R" plane from Roden. It's a HUGE biplane bomber from WWI.

Doug Robertson had a 1/16 resin Panzer 38(T) from the Korean company SOL. I think it's safe to say that Doug would have passed on it if he knew what he was getting into! ALL parts were warped. The tracks were so badly misformed that it took him a year to finish the treads and he still needed a good coating of mud to help pull it all together. But it looked very cool so kudo's to Doug for making a purse out of a sows ear!

Now we come to Oren Long and his battleship model. Not just any battleship but the 1/200 scale Nichimo Yamato kit which Oren is backdating to represent the early version of the Musashi, So far he has used 250 kit parts and roughly 11,000 scratchbuilt parts on this kit! Among the things he's done is used plastic grocery bags for the canvas bags that are fitted to the main cannon where they meet the turret face. A FANTASTIC and LARGE model! Can't wait to see it finished!

Larry Todd had his Batman and Catwoman figure diorama that he built out of the box-very good looking!

Gary Owsley had his AFV Club 1/35 Stryker. As usual, Gary is going all out on this kit; he's already invested $175.00 in photo etch alone! It will have the full slat armor as used in Irag when completed.

Tom St. James brought a 1/72 scale Dragon M2 Bradley as use din Iraq. It comes with very nice vinyl tracks and some nifty photoetch.

Bob Kerr has taken time off from building Shermans to build a house-a 1/35 Custom Dioramics German house that is. Bob used a plastic "No Hunting" sign as the basis for the roof as the kits was poor in detail. Bob then used scrapbooking shears from Hobby Lobby to cut strips from 400 grit sandpaper which makes a very convincing tile roof!

Our Treasurer Scott Storey had an Academy 1/48 F-14. The kit has some rough fit areas, Scott had to strengthen the bulkhead where the fuselage halves fit together. He used Model Master paints for the plane with Alclad metalizer for the exhausts.

Yours truly had his almost completed F4F-3 Wildcat. I was deeply moved by the loud cheering from all who were there at the sight of the best model kit ever assembled! :) (just kidding!)

And last but not least Darren Roberts had his Academy F-14 with the Steel Beach nose correction and update set. He also had the Accurate Miniatures Vindicator done up in Neutrality Patrol markings. Darren is doing a Fine Scale article on Navy plane squadron markings and this kit will be featured. He also brought his Trumpeter F9F Panther with a scratchbuilt Emerson rotating gun nose. A rotating gun nose you ask? Well, we all asked! It appeared to be a fine example of Pentagon spending--arotoating gun nose so the pilot didn't have to turn the plane, just turn the nose turret. Needless to say, it wasn't brought into service.

Until next meeting!

January Meeting Report
by Steve Siebers

Greetings
Well, if you weren't at the January meeting, you missed a packed house! 27 folks attended and had a wonderful time. Scott Connor provided Cokes for all due to his Best New Author prizr from Fine Scale Models, Thanks Scott and congratulations!
First a businees wrap up then on to the show!
Doug Robertson has accepted the position of Webmaster for our dormant site and is in the process of updating it with our new meeting location and other info. We have a new web address, www.ipmsgreatplains.org, please check it out and let Doug know if you like what you see and with any suggestions you might have.
Darren has scheduled a business meeting for Saturday February 16 to discuss our plans for a contest/show to be held in the fall. I have sent a separate email with more info on that.
Now to the good stuff!
A new face to our meeting, Drew Helgeson, had a 1/16 Wallace Tractor model he built for his grandfather some 25 years ago. What kit did he use you ask? Why, none of course. Drew scratchbuilt it from paper card using only the diameter of the rear wheel to start scaling it down! An unbelievable job!
Not to be outdone, Larry Todd brought his current project, a model of the Eifel Tower made from matchsticks! He currently has the base constructed and when it is finished it will be around 4 feet tall. Both of these guys don't have enough to do in their lives!
Tom St. James had his 1/35 M60A3 tank kit being constructed from three different kits; Academy cupola, ESCI hull, and Tamiya suspension.
Gary Owsley had a Trumpeter 1/35 LAV and a Trumpeter 1/35 LAV converted to a 4 wheel Canadian Cougar, also using parts from different kits. The comment was made that it appears armor modelers can't build a kit out of the box but Gary reminded us that the models ARE made OOB, just more than one box!
Rene Weber had an Aurora Ford GT 40 kit made over 40 years ago. He is in the process of rebuilding it to pristine condition at which point his intention is to put a firecracker in it and blow it up! Can we say "mental problems"?
Frank Holsberg was there with his Trumpeter 1/48 SU-27, Trumpeter F-9 Panther and Academy F-86. All looked great! Frank used a drafting pencil to hilite the panel lines on the SU-27.
Bill Ostrander had a couple of rare Japanese resin monster kits.
John Nichols brought his Eduard 1/48 FW-190 A8R2 from the Royal Edition kit as well as the Hasegawa 1/48 F-18F Super Hornet which he is in the process of preshading.
Jim Triola brought two 1/32 scale resin Navy vehicles he got at CRM; a fire tractor and tow tractor. These will be used on a carrier diorama featuring the 1/32 A-7E Corsair and a F-4 Phantom. Sounds like a room addition to me!
Stuart Malone had more 1/72 WW1 aircraft, the "excellent" (NOT!) Pegasus Elephant and the Eduard Spad 13 early version.
Chris Walton had the ICM 1/48 Mig 3 which looked outstanding! Chris used Eduard photo etch and the prop and spinner came from a company I haven't heard of before, Fusion.
Darren had his usual complement of an entire Navy carrier air wing to show including his F-18G "what if" that was featured on the cover of Fine Scale.
And last, but not least, Frank Ciccarella was there with 2 new kits, the Dragon M-51 Isherman and King Tiger with the zimmerit molded on. Frank informed us that this was his last meeting with us as he will be moving to Cincinnati on April 15. We will be having a going away party for him as soon as we can get it scheduled. More info on that as it becomes available.