Newsletter

This Months Meeting 7.30pm, Tuesday 15^th August. First floor - Ley’s Institute Library, St Mary’s Bay Road, Ponsonby, Auckland. Assault From The Sea Bring along any kit you have in your collection (or finish one) relevant to a sea borne invasion theme. Feel free to use whatever interpretation of this you think is appropriate. The most interesting model/story will receive a president’s choice award for the most relevant kit. Also, feel free to bring along any models/projects you have been working on – how about that award winning Regionals project…
From The Editor The "Build in a Night" competition last meeting was extremely enjoyable, and the best team won on the night. This month’s meeting promises to be another good one, and I’m looking forward to seeing all those theme-related models on the table. Remember that there will be a chairman’s award for the kit that catches his fancy the most. Plenty of content in the newsletter this month from a tongue-in-cheek review of the new Tamiya Do335 by Kevin to a good narrative of the recent US Nationals (along with pictures) from Mark Robson. Planning is well under way for our own Regionals in October, and it looks like planning for Wellington’s Nationals / TamiyaCon next year is progressing full steam ahead. More information as we receive it. Till next month, Craig.
The Chairman's Bit I hope everyone has recovered from our thrash modelling of the HEMMT last month. The speed at which we were able to construct a fairly complex kit was admirable. This month’s theme will hopefully turn out a wide variety of kits so please make sure you bring as many kits along as possible. My attempt to build a kit for the theme night was hijacked by the new Tamiya DO335 Pfiel, so I will have to dig a few kits out of the cabinet. Happy modelling. Cheers, Kevin.
Supercal Clear Decal Kit by Pete Mossong WANT TO DO YOUR OWN DECALS? If you have a computer, an inkjet printer (or access to a colour Laser printer and a scanner), and a basic drawing program, even that supplied with Windows will do, a new product recently released allows you to do many of the specialised markings you may require to personalise your models. This kit contains 5 sheets of clear decal film of the now standard size of 8.5 x 5.5 inches, and a spray can of clear overcoat to ‘fix’ the printing when done. Full instructions are included with a step-by-step procedure showing how to carry out the task. This consists of firstly drawing up your design with the drawing program, printing it onto the clear decal sheet, then coating the finished product with the clear overcoat. Each subject will have to be carefully trimmed from the sheet as it has a continuous film, and then used in the normal manner as with all water slide decals. Unless you have an ALPS printer, white cannot be printed, and a layer system will have to be used by either laying down the coloured portion over a white decal, or placed over a white painted section of the model. Not cheap at $55.75, but worth a look for those who would like to do their own serials / markings / squadron badges / sponsors markings / number plates, etc. The possibilities are endless. The fixative spray is available as a separate item at $25.95 for those who may have their own supply of clear decal paper. This product is available from ACORN Models in Great North Road. My thanks to Mark at Acorn for bringing it to my attention.
IPMS US Nationals by Mark Robson MODELLING NIRVANA! The 2000 US IPMS Nationals in Dallas last month were another taste of modelling heaven for this Kiwi modeller. Although some locals were saying that it wasn't as high in quality as previous years it was enough to leave me flabbergasted at the standard of modelling, especially in the aircraft sections. Certainly there were not as many models as the one that I attended in Columbus, and the ships, figures and armor seemed a little down on quality and quantity. However, when compared to our shows the overall impression is breathtaking. Added to that a vendors room with over 300 stands and it meant that every minute of a 3-day stay in Dallas was filled. The 2000 US IPMS Nationals in Dallas last month were another taste of modelling heaven for this Kiwi modeller. Although some locals were saying that it wasn't as high in quality as previous years it was enough to leave me flabbergasted at the standard of modelling, especially in the aircraft sections. Certainly there were not as many models as the one that I attended in Columbus, and the ships, figures and armor seemed a little down on quality and quantity. However, when compared to our shows the overall impression is breathtaking. Added to that a vendors room with over 300 stands and it meant that every minute of a 3-day stay in Dallas was filled. Revell-Monogram was there with test shots of the Do 217 and F-86D (at last!) and these looked to be of very high quality, especially the Sabre. There were no new announcements, but these 2 quarter scale kits should keep a large segment of the aviation modeling fraternity happy. Classic Airframes had a built-up Blenheim there and it looked excellent, with amazingly clear canopies. Internet reviews of this kit have been similarly favourable, so this will be one to buy in order to continue CA's foray into RAF/FAA modelling. It was an open secret that they will be doing Barracudas and Fireflies soon so they will keep the FAA fans happy. I chatted to the owner Jules Bringiuer and asked him whether he would ever do a jet subject, and the short answer is; no! Damn, there go my hopes for Seahawks etc! Hasegawa had a beautifully made F-104C on display, it really looks to be a superb kit, and they announced early Skyhawks, which is good for fans of the late 50s and 60s. There were some very colorful markings on Skyhawks before the Vietnam War caused a tone-down. It was widely known at the show that Hasegawa are doing a Spitfire Mk 9 in 1/48th and the cottage industry boys were already tooling up to provide accessories. It has not been officially announced but it will be! Hopefully they will then do a Mk 14 as it looks as if Airfix will not continue their range of Griffon Spits. Tamiya had 1/72 models of the Spit Mk.I, P-51D and Fw 190D-9 on display and they looked excellent. Certainly it seems that they will be the industry standard in that scale. The Do 335 looked suitably Teutonic and an intrepid modeller had built one in 5 days before the show and entered it in competition. Incidentally even at "show-special" prices all the American modellers are paying more for Tamiya and Hasegawa then we are. Go figure! Bill Koster had his huge vac FW 200 in 1/48th there, and sold out of kits very quickly. He is committed to a Maryland, which is good news. He is very well respected in the US scene having mastered many of the best Monogram kits. It is widely expected that the FW 200 will appear in Monogram's range in the next few years. Aeromaster had many new sheets and proofs on display, including a number of RAF subjects. There are new sheets for the Blenheim, Stirling, Lancaster, Tornado and Canberra in either 72 or 48 or both. It seems that the tide may be turning toward Commonwealth subjects, and there were plenty of RAF and FAA models in the competition. Meteor had a huge stand and must have done hundreds of thousands of dollars of business. At the start of the show you could hardly see the salesmen behind towering piles of merchandise, but by the end the piles were down to table level. David Klaus gets some flak for being a bit predatory with the choice of subject in his various ranges but no one can deny the quality of the products or the range available in resin and decals. Teknics have branched into figures with some lovely 1/48 RAF figures and it seems that the range will grow quickly. There were plenty of second hand kit dealers and if I was American with a car and money I could have easily bought a grand's worth. In the end I confined myself to a few choice Airfix rarities including an original issue 737 (which looks quaint now with the turbojets instead of fat turbofans under the wings) and HMS Fearless, which is not an easy kit to find. My best purchase had to be on the Squadron-Signal stand. They were having a sell-off and I got the B36 Detail and Scale for US$3.00, as well as a few others in the range. The decal sheet highlight had to be the Liveries Unlimited C/KC-97 sheet, which is 2 A4 size sheets, and an impeccably researched instruction sheet by Jennings Heillig. This has to be seen to be believed and has some lovely schemes. Alas no 1/72 BOAC sheet yet, so the Strat may not get done for October as planned. There was an Accurate Miniatures rep there but the convention was awash with rumours that co-founder Bill Bosworth had left the company just before the show. I hope that this is not true but the Internet is full of the same story. I hope that this does not affect the viability of the company but there seems to be a curiously vicious faction of American modellers who would love to see AM fail. Must be a transplanted NZ tall poppy tradition! MUSEUM TRIP There was a limited range of day trips available, nothing to match the USAF Museum, which was available to the Columbus show. I took a trip to the Cavanaugh air museum, which has a collection of about 25 largely flyable warbirds. The collection is owned and often flown by Mr. Cavanaugh who decided in the 70's that he would like to become rich and fly warbirds. In typical American fashion he started a commercial cleaning company, which now has thousands of franchises, and he is now a multi-millionaire with plenty of time for his warbirds! Unfortunately access to cockpits and wheel wells was very restricted so I was not able to get all the photos I would have liked. The Museum has probably the world's best B-25, which won Best Warbird at Oshkosh, and also a flyable F9F, which would have been nice to crawl under. I did get about 10 rolls of film of a huge F-105F out in the Dallas sunshine, so if anyone is doing the Monogram kit and wants a ridiculous amount of reference material see me! THE COMPETITION I think that NZ modellers could compete in the ship, figure and armor categories based on this show. For instance the Red Indian head figure that won our Nats last year would have cleaned up the figure category and stood a good chance in the overall competition. However it must be said that most US figure modellers attend their own Nats in Chicago each year, and similarly some of the best ship and tank modellers have their own shows. The aircraft are something else though, and there is a big gap between our best and theirs. The key basics of modeling (joints, alignment, etc) still stand. For instance over half of the excellent 1/48th Mustang category were eliminated due to tailplane misalignments. However the thing that struck me over and over was the clarity and crispness of canopies and canopy framing, and the smoothness of the paint finishes. I actually drove up from Louisiana with the model that won best aircraft, and which came second in the overall show. This was an exquisite 1/48^th Zero by Pat Donahue from New Orleans. Pat was understandably protective of the model on the way up, and was as clucky as a hen leading up to the judging, he must have dusted it 10 times! He spent 5 years on the model on and off including an exposed scratch built engine. It was subtly weathered, but truly looked as if it could be started up and flown away by a 1/48th pilot. Roy Sutherland was there and won his class with a gorgeous 1/72 Fw 190, and he showed me a part completed Airfix Seafire 47 that is just amazing in the quality of detail. If you think his detail sets are good you should see what he puts into his own personal models. If he does not win a best in show in the next few years I will be surprised. There was a scratch built DH Hornet in 1/24th. It was a great model but it reinforced my belief that once you get bigger than quarter scale it gets harder and harder to make a model look realistic. There were plenty of 1/32 Tomcats and F-4s and it certainly seems that this scale is better supported in the US than anywhere else. No Hunters though! Vacforms were quite well represented with a Dynavector Wyvern taking the honours. It was very well done, as was a Golden Wings Demon and Koster Ventura. More American modellers seem to be taking to this medium. WW1 was also well represented, and these models look suitably delicate next to all the heavy metal of later wars. WW2 dominates though, and there were legions of Mustangs, P-47s and Luftwaffe aircraft. There were a surprising number of Tamiya Dewoitine 520s as well, which just goes to show that if Tamiya makes it, modellers will build it. A Monogram Ju 52 was beautifully done, and the HiPM resin He 177 was well done and impressively huge. Monogram are strongly rumoured to be doing that one as well. My favourite 1/72 model was a lovely little BP Balliol made up of the Pegasus kit and the old Elliott vacform. It was a very refreshing sight with large areas of Day-Glo. The Americans were saying, "What is that thing"! There were quite a few airliners too and the best in my view was a heavily modified Airfix Caravelle in 1/144th, which only got a second to another of the same modeller's creations. I managed to get my Lightning there and back in one piece. It was never going to rate but was far from the worst model on the table so I did not embarrass NZ IPMS in anyone's eyes! I will have photos of many models at the meeting on Tuesday as well as some samples of new merchandise. Keith Bunyan was also there but he is having an extended trip around the US and will no doubt have more tales to tell when he gets back. SUMMARY The overall best model (Best of Show award – Ed.) was a scratch built collection of early American aero engines done by a 78 year old modeller! This gives me hope as I have 42 more years to reach that standard! This man got a rousing ovation at the awards banquet and certainly deserved his honour. Apparently the judges had little trouble with their decision. I would heartily recommend the US Nats to anyone who can make it over there. Next years competition is in Colorado (I think!) and the following year it is in Virginia Beach. I won't be there for a while but the memories of this one will stay fresh. Our own Nationals rank better in one area and that is public attendance. This year for the first time ever the organizers publicised the event and were pleasantly surprised to get 700 people through the door. Not a patch on us, and a neglected method of funding the show. Pictures of the models can be viewed on the Net if you find the USA IPMS homepage and link to the convention site (see Internet Links at the end of the newsletter for more web sites with images. We may look at hosting Mark’s images either on my own or the Auckland Club’s web site – Ed.). See y'all Tuesday.
Tamiya 1/48 Dornier Do 335 by Kevin Benson Yes, it definitely came in a box. Construction Place a bottle of Tamiya thin cement in box. Shake for 5 minutes. Open box and remove completed kit (well nearly). Built nearly straight from the box with only a few additions as described later. This kit is designed that well that if a part doesn't fit, you are either using the wrong bit, or you are putting it in the wrong way. WARNING!! Do not test fit the wings. They lock into place and can't be removed once fitted. The fit is that good that they don't really need test fitting any way. What I added Photo etched seat belts from Eduard. Wiring in behind the instrument panel. Throttle controls made from fuse wire and superglue. Hollow metal exhausts from Moskit. What this kit doesn't need Any filler. A resin cockpit tub (the cockpit supplied has plenty of detail and if you added much more, I doubt whether you would see it). Aftermarket decals. Painting Entire kit prewashed with flat black Tamiya acrylic (if you haven't seen this done before ask me). Gunze light green RLM 82 and brown violet RLM 81 top surfaces. Modelmaster light blue undersides. All colours were shaded and highlighted with the airbrush using various shades of these colours. Decals Not quite there yet, but kit supplied decals look great. I used the instrument panel decal, which snuggles down nicely over the unpainted instrument panel with the help of a bit of decal softener. Conclusions Definitely one of the nicest kits I have ever built. So far it has only taken an hour a night for a week to build, so probably will take 2 weeks to finish. Go and buy one, build it from the box and you won't be disappointed. I will hopefully finish the kit this weekend and will bring it along to club night. When finished, it may be seen flying around the Greenlane area.
Missing Books I have lent (or misplaced) 3 issues of Wings Of Fame and I wonder if anyone has borrowed one or more can they bring them back please? They are Volume 7 (EE Lightning, Martin Flying Boats, IAF etc), Volume 10 (Air war over the desert, Trident, F-86. P-39. P-63, etc), and Volume 13 (Hawker P1127, Avenger, B-26, F-94 etc). Thanks, Mark Robson
News From Accurate Miniatures This is official – from the Accurate Miniatures website (link below). http://www.accurateminiatures.com/News_release.htm "After careful consideration, we have decided to cancel the North American B-25G project originally scheduled for release in early 2001. We will however still be releasing the highly anticipated B-25 C/D variant as announced. Our decision to cancel the B-25G is solely based on our determination as a company to release a broader range of subject material over the next twelve months. To this end we can confirm that we are currently working on a number of different and exciting projects (in several different scales) which cover a time period of pre World War Two to the Gulf War. For those fans of the B-25G, we are making a conversion kit which will contain plastic parts required in order to modify Accurate Miniatures' B-25’s into dedicated B-25G's."
Upcoming Release Announcements
1/48 F4U-5N Corsair 1/48 F4U-7 Corsair "French Navy"	1/48 A-4E Skyhawk

Internet Links Of Interest Something a bit different this month. The links below will take you to a pair of 1/32 paper models of the V1 (Fiesler Fi 103 flying bomb) and V2 missile. These are both in colour and very detailed, and more importantly, free. However, the download files are big - just over 2MB for the V1 and 4MB for the V2. They are in Adobe .pdf format as well, so you will also need to download Adobe Reader (link provided below), which is also a free product. The V1 model has a length of over 10" and a wingspan of over 6". The V2 has a height of over 17" and comes in 2 different colour schemes as well. There is also a link on the V2 page to a separate launch stand to display the finished model on. 1/32 V1 (Fieseler Fi 103) flying bomb http://www.myna.com/~rcurrell/pages/v1.htm 1/32 V2 rocket http://www.myna.com/~rcurrell/pages/v2.htm Adobe Reader 4.0 http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Links For IPMS USA Nationals Images Official IPMS USA Convention Site (no images yet) http://www.ipmsnct.org/toc.html Gary Zeurcher’s IPMS Nationals Update Site http://www.chromaconcepts.com/nats_update/page1.htm Paul Cotcher\Victory Models http://www.victorymodels.com/nats2000/ Model Mania http://www.geocities.com/fae392/ James Corley’s Images http://nautilusmodels.com/ipms2000/ipms2000.htm