Nov. - IPMS

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November 2013
November Meeting
The November meeting
of IPMS Tidewater will be on
the first Friday of November,
November 1st at 6:30 or so, at
the Virginia Air and Space Center on Settlers’ Landing Road in
downtown Hampton. We will
meet be in our regular room, the
media room on the ground floor
near the ticket desk.
The meeting will open
with our usual business meeting,
where our first order of business
will be to receive nominations
for Second Vice President.
Next, we will get our monthly
update on the 2014 convention
planning, as well as any other
business that may come up.
Second VP Joe Koenig
has arranged a special demo for
this month. He has assembled a
panel of IPMS Tidewater’s best
modelers. They will answer
your questions and give us
some insights on how they have
developed their skills.
Then we will move on
to our monthly Show ‘n’ Tell,
where you will get to see the latest and greatest from your fellow
modelers. Hopefully, this will
include a looks at some winners
from last month’s Region 2 Convention in Roanoke.
Next, we get to Rafflemaster Scott Bregi, who will wind
up the formal meeting with the
ever-popular raffle.
Finally, we will retreat to
our meeting after the meeting at
the ol’pizza parlor.
IPMS Tidewater Notches Second “Shootout” in a Row
Contest Report
IPMS Region 2 Convention
byJohn Lent
The Roanoke Civic Center
was the scene for the IPMS Region 2
Convention. Led by Tim Ward and his
team, they planned and executed a
memorable event. The theme for the
convention was “Nose Art.” To support the theme, Mark Tutton of Starfighter Decals produced the convention
decal sheet. He included decals for the
“Roanoke Magician”, a 486th Bomb
Group B-17G piloted by a native from
Roanoke. His artwork also included
decals for a B-25B Mitchell bomber
“Whiskey Pete”, an aircraft that
participated in the 1942 Doolittle
Raid. The pilot who flew this
aircraft was originally from
Staunton, Virginia. The quality of
the decals was outstanding, and
we’re fortunate that Mark is also
working to produce our decal
sheet for the 2014 National Convention.
Registration was relatively light for a regional with 87
official participants from 16 clubs
participating in the event. There
were a total of 566 models on the
contest table. The Roanoke team
provided an easy registration
process and we were able to get
into the vendor area quickly.
While the Roanoke Convention
Center served as the host site for
the event, the regional was located
in a different building from where
the Roanoke show is traditionally
held. It was a larger space that
offered more room for vendors and
the contest area. We also had the
ability to set up our 2014 National
Convention display, and it generated a lot of interest. We were able
to answer a number of questions on
the convention and many people
indicated they planned to attend.
While there were over 30 vendors,
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including some from our club, I didn’t see anything new
in terms of kits, but there were a number of vendors providing other model related items to include tools, books
for research, and after-market parts. Contest judging began in the early afternoon and many of our chapter members participated. The Roanoke team then hosted a dinner
for the participants, and after dinner, they held their
awards program. At the start of the awards program, the
Roanoke team gave us some time to discuss the National
convention and invite the participants to the show. Our
congratulations to the Roanoke team for a job well done-we look forward to another “Shootout.”
Armor
Military Vehicles OOB All Scales
1st Koenig Locust Airborne Tank
2nd Mills
Crusader
Gip Winecoff’s PAK 40
Joe Koenig and Dennis Tennant render judgement
The following list of IPMS Tidewater award
winners is provided:
Category
Place
Winner
Model
Figures
Figures Miscellaneous Animals
3rd Stark
Great White Shark
Figures, Horror/Fantasy Foot and Mounted
1st Simmons
Raquel
Space
Fictional Space Vehicles
1st Stark
Millennium Falcon
Automotive
Automotive OOB
1st Simmons 1958 Impala
Custom
Custom All Scales 2nd Simmons Ford Phantom
Sportsman
Trucks and Vans All Scales
1st Simmons ’41 Chevy Pick-up
Curb Side All Scales 1st Simmons ’34 Ford Roadster
Showroom Stock (1/20 and Smaller)
1st Bregi Lamborghini Bravado
*Won the ’51 Hornet Kit
2nd Simmons 1958 Impala
Towed Guns/Artillery All Scales
1st Winecoff
PAK-40
2nd Tennant
PAK-40
Wheeled and Soft Skinned 1/35 & Smaller
2nd Farris
Staghound
3rd Mills
German Field Kitchen
Armor Open Top 1/35 & Smaller
1st Farris
PAK-40
3rd Tennant
Marder 3M
Armor Closed Top 1/35 Post WWII
2nd Farris
Leopard II Main
Battle Tank
Armor Closed Top 1/48 Axis WW II
1st Koenig
Berge Panzer
2nd Bregi
Unknown, but it
was good 3rd
Joe Koenig’s Bergepanther
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Single-Engine Prop Allied 1/48
1st Farris
3rd Farris
Robert Beach and unidentified companion judge
aircraft
Mills
FG-1 Corsair
North American
P-51B Mustang
Single-Engine Prop Allied 1/72
3rd Stark
Chance Vought F4U4 Corsair
Nose Art Theme Award
Figure
Simmons
Raquel
Automotive
Simmons ’
34 Ford Roadster
Best of Awards
Best Figure
Simmons
Raquel
Best Nose Art Simmons
34 Ford Roadster
Best Aircraft Bregi
Mitsubishi G4M
Betty
M-4 Sherman Axis
Aircraft
Aircraft OOB All Scales
3rd Farris
Helicopters All Scales
2nd Farris
Multi-Engine Jet 1/72
1st Bregi
Single-Engine Jet 1/48
3rd Farris
Multi-Engine Prop 1/48
3rd Farris
Multi-Engine Prop 1/72
1st Bregi
Unknown, but it
was good
Mil-45 Hound
General Dynamics F111B
MiG-23 Flogger
Northrop P-61
Mitsubishi
G-4M Betty
Kevin Farris’ FG-1
Scott Bregi’s G4M “Betty”
Virginia Shootout Results
1st IPMS Tidewater
2nd IPMS Roanoke Valley
3rd IPMS Richmond
4th IPMS Northern Virginia
Photos by John Lent
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Marines Buy a Big ‘un
Kit Review
Trumpeter 1/35 Mk. 23 MTVR Cargo Truck
by John Kelly
Part 2
I continued with the chassis, adding the various fuel
tanks, boxes, blowers and mysterious round things that
make up the underpinnings of this very complicatedlooking vehicle. These steps are where you first encounter the photo-etched brass parts. The kit gives you alternative plastic or brass parts for some of the assemblies,
and I chose the brass in every case. The brass stock
Trumpeter uses is quite thick, and some sort of brass
bending tool is extremely helpful. This is because the
thickness of the brass makes it tricky to bend, and it has
some natural springiness that makes the one circular part
(an exhaust pipe guard) hard to bend and hold in place.
The cab was a piece of cake after all that. Now is
where all that pre-painting of the interior parts pays off.
There is a nice instrument panel decal. The molded instrument panel has nice detail on it, so the decal may
seem redundant to some, but applying it is easier than
painting all those dial faces. The decal snuggles down
well with the usual chemical inducements (I use Solvaset). You also have numerous small warning signs and
placards that go on the inside of the doors. I rather liked
the look of them, so I cemented one of the doors ajar so
all that detail could be seen.
The one part I had the most trouble with was installed at this stage. That was the exhaust stack and its
associated photo-etched guard and the connector pipes.
Again, there are no detail color directions, so by studying
the camouflage color painting that came with the kit and
various photos on the internet, I came up with metallic black – Modelmaster Gunmetal. The exhaust
connector pipes I painted Modelmaster Burnt Iron.
The exhaust stack attaches to an exhaust pipe that fits
under the passenger-side access ladder and disappears into the fender well. You have to wrap the
exhaust pipe with the photo-etched shield. Unfortunately, the shield is an odd shape, and resists easy
attachment to the exhaust pipe. By using multiple
clamps, a rubber band and what seemed to be a halfgallon of superglue, the shield became attached to the
exhaust stack. Although the instructions are clear as
to where to put the completed assembly, the exhaust
stack has two small plastic lugs that fit through the
shield and are meant to hold the exhaust stack to the
back of the cab. They provide insufficient surface
area to ensure a solid attachment. There is also a
small vent pipe that connects the exhaust stack to the
snorkel base that was installed earlier. It tries to
force the exhaust stack out of position, so you have
to finesse it into position again. I am not sure the
final result is quite up to Marine Corps specs.
With the cab mounted, the thing is beginning to
look like a truck. The hood assembly requires only
the attachment of the headlight assemblies and the
grille/radiator. The grille and radiator are photoetched parts and also require pre-painting. The
grille, which is probably more like a brush guard
than a decorative piece, should be the same color as
the exterior. These trucks have a radiator or heat
exchanger of some sort immediately behind the
grille. I would expect this should not be painted as
the thick paint used by the military might interfere
with the functioning of the radiator. I painted that
brass part Modelmaster Gunmetal to reproduce the
color of the radiator.
For some reason, I had some trouble fitting the
hood onto the chassis. On the real vehicle, the hood
tilts forward as a unit to expose the engine. This is
one place where the prior study of a good reference
photo would have been helpful. I fought the hood to
make it as far aft as possible, while trying to reduce
the gap between the hood and the cab. As it turned
out, Trumpeter was right and I was wrong. There is
a huge gap between the rear of the hood and the cab
on the real vehicle; the hood and the fender unit are
actually four to six inches apart. I tried to minimize
the gap and as a result the hood does not fit on the
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front mounting lugs and the tie-down straps were (I
thought) too long. Although the model looks OK, it is
not right, and it is entirely my fault.
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wheels. I found the wheel attachment points over the
brake drums to be very tight, so I lightly carved away
some of the plastic from the inside of the wheel assemblies where they slide over the brake drums. Eventually
they all snapped into place. With the addition of the
decals, a little last minute detail painting and some light
weathering, it was done.
Photo 5 Cargo Tie-down hooks
The final major step was the cargo bed. Assembly is
quite straightforward, with few problems or surprises.
This is where you get to attach all those hand-made
cargo tie-down hooks. If you had been making them a
few at a time as I did, by now you have quite a pile (the
directions call for 20) of these things ready to go. If
not, you have some work ahead of you. The kit provides 300mm of .5mm copper wire, although the directions say it is brass. Each hook takes 5 to 10 minutes,
and if you have big, fat fingers you are going to be
challenged. I thought the wire was too heavy and a
little too stiff, and getting 20 uniform hooks was not as
easy as it looks. To add insult to injury, the jig started
to wear out as I neared the end of the task. I was afraid
it would break it in half before I had all 20 (actually 22,
the carpet monster got a couple).
Photo 7 Completed Model
Conclusion: I enjoyed building this model. It was a
challenge but still satisfying in that I was able to overcome some problems and produce a model that will be a
fine addition to my collection. This model is not for
beginners. Even experienced modelers would be
tempted to skip all those tie-down hooks. If I had not
been building this model for a review, I might have
skipped them myself. Another impression is how big
this vehicle really is. The final picture shows it next to
the Italeri M923 5 ton “Big Foot” truck model I built
years ago.
My thanks to Stevens International and Trumpeter
for providing the review kit.
Photo 6 Cargo Tie-down hooks in place
The cargo bed fits well and snuggles onto the locating lugs on the frame with only minor persuasion.
The final assembly step is the installation of the
Photo 8 Trumpeter MTVR and Italeri M923 5 Ton
Cargo Truck
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October Meeting
A sure sign of cooler weather is increased
attendance at the monthly meeting of IPMS
Tidewater. The October meeting seemed to
have an slightly higher number show up, but
that may have been in anticipation of Joe
Koenig’s presentation on use and varieties of
after-market tracks for armor models, rather
than the climate.
The business meeting covered progress
toward our national convention efforts and
discussions of local contest support. Tom Jett
reported on the club’s proposed participation
in the Military History weekend in Williamsburg, which unfortunately conflicted with the
Region 2 convention in Roanoke. Clint Mills
volunteered to once again head the annual
Christmas party and pot luck to be held during
the December meeting.
Joe Koenig gave an excellent presentation
about the different kinds of individual link
tracks available on the market, and how they
compare. It was a good presentation for those
who are considering making a step up in their
armor building efforts.
Kevin Ferris’ 1/48 Eduard Hellcat
Chip Jean’s 1/72 ESCI F-5
Joe Koenig wows the crowd with his demo
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Bob Bradford’s 1/72 Matchbox J-29 Tunnan
Tom Jett’s 1/35 AFV Club Duster
Hank Pugh’s 1/48 Academy Hawk 75
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Joe Koenig’s 1/35 Bronco M-22 Locust
Bill Wesley’s 1/32 Hasegawa Fw190D-9
John Kelly’s 1/35 Trumpeter MTVR
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Another of Steve Simmons's fantasy figures.
And no, that’s not Opus she is holding"
Photos by Bill Kluge
Coming Events
Club Officers
Chapter Meeting
Nov 1
Nat’l Convention Committee Mtg Nov 8
HRSM Meeting
Nov 15
Chapter Meeting
Dec 6
HRSM Meeting
Dec 20
Old Dominion Open
Feb 22, 2014
IPMS/USA Convention
6-9 Aug
Hampton, VA
President
e-mail:
1st Vice President
e-mail:
2nd Vice President
E-mail
Secretary/Treasurer
email:
Chapter Contact
email:
John Lent
[email protected]
Bill Lee
[email protected]
Joe Koenig
John Kelly
[email protected]
Bill Brickhouse
[email protected]