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Meeting minutes:
Well folks, it’s actually been a while
since we had a meeting. There have been four model shows since our
last meeting, sadly, two of them where on the same day. The April
meeting was a road trip to Des Moines. I attended the show, but
due to a variety of reasons, I did not know if I was going until
the morning of the show. Ronbo and I planned to meet and drive out
together, but he was unable to make it. I got up early, was in
Des Moines just as the doors opened, bought a Dragon M1A1 AIM kit
from Ross Petra, a former member of the Lippisch chapter, now
living in Ames, talked to a few old friends, looked at the models
on the tables and headed off to hit the local hobby shops, Half
Price Books in Clive and was on my way back before noon. I missed
the rest of the guys. Here is Michael Vinson’s trip report: “Michele
and I, Bob Horton and Ron Franck were in attendance. It wasn't a
bad show actually, my first for them. There were about 150 kits
on display, with the typical ratios of armor of various types,
automotive and aircraft. It was a little lean on ships and
sci-fi---a few subs, a few surface warfare ships, a carrier or two
and a well done large scale HMS Victory in a plexi case, also a
couple very nice Slave 1 ships and a TIE Fighter flew in from the
Star Wars galaxy to pay a visit. As I recall, only a few
dioramas, one of a 60's/70's era drag racers garage, an OS2U
Kingfisher on a catapult (both of which were at our show), the
toppling of Saddam's statue in Baghdad and one depicting a SAS
assault on the Iranian Embassy (which won the grand prize). I
was happy to see the number of junior entries (about 15 I think),
and during the awards presentation all the juniors were asked to
come up front and show who they were, which I thought was a nice
touch. I think there were only three people with kits to sell,
but I still found a couple things--I think you guys are corrupting
me; I'm actually looking for armor to build! And that's about
that! I guess I'll see everyone in May.” The next model show was
in Madison, Wisconsin. I had a soccer game against Moline (we
won), but Randy Kidd went, as did Ronbo. The reports were that
they had some nice kits on the tables and a fair number of
entries, but the vendor room was a little light. May 5 was the
Cedar Rapids show; unfortunately, it was also the Duneland Show,
which, in my opinion, hurt attendance at the Cedar Rapids show. I
understand that there was a problem coordinating changing show
dates during the period when we were without a Regional
Coordinator, so I do not see this problem happening again, but it
was a shame. Some of the club members attended the Duneland show
due to making commitments early to help run the show, and we had a
few other members that could not make the trip to Cedar Rapids due
to job commitments. It was a shame as the Cedar Rapids guys did a
great job this year. There were more vendors this year, Wings and
Wheels had three tables, plus guys selling off their stashes, the
raffle was good and the number of entries was up from last year.
They had some great awards, they went to small acrylic trophies
with color Fartin’ Flea logos for silver and bronze and a nice
certificate wit the club logo for bronze. I was really
disappointed with myself for not getting some new stuff built as I
would have loved a shot a winning some of those awards. Jeff
Hearne from Model X magazine was also in attendance and had copies
of the inaugural issue of ModelX magazine. I picked up some
copies from him to hand out at our May meeting for the first 16
people who walk in the door. It’s a nice looking magazine and I
hope everyone supports it. Anyway, it was a good show and it was
a shame that more folks didn’t attend due to the scheduling
conflict. One of the reasons for attending the Cedar Rapids show
was to discuss merging our two shows into one and alternating the
locations each year. Both chapters are in favor and I think this
is a go. Our tentative proposal is to select a date. I think our
date may the best (last Saturday in March) as they potential
family conflicts are less because most spring sports have not
started and we don’t have a conflict with Duneland with the date.
I would also suggest holding the first show in Cedar Rapids unless
we have some one step up as show chairman here within the next
month or so as we have to start planning. We talked about
renaming the show to reflect the change in venues. The
Iowa-Illinois Open, the Quad City –Cedar Rapids Invitational and
Upper Midwest Shoot Out were all suggested, and you know some one
had to suggest the Fart Fest, but as enticing as it sounds and as
exciting and flashy as the logo would undoubtedly be, that is
probably a non-starter. Anyway, we need to talk about it at the
meeting and see what we come up with. The chapter Presidents from
both chapters will hold discussions with their clubs and share the
results so we can get this off the ground. An update on the
magazine front, Barnes and Noble have now started to carry Model
Aircraft monthly magazine as well as SAMI, Scale Aircraft
Modeling, Fine Scale, Scale Auto Modeler, Military Modelling and
Military in Scale. They are now the best source for a wide
variety of magazines not available any where else in the Quad
Cities. Major’s and MVR carry the Tamiya magazine titles so there
are now very few model magazines that you can’t get around here.
For our upcoming meeting, we will be doing a club photo shoot, so
bring in anything you want to take pictures of. We will also have
a video presentation on figure painting. For those of you who may
not have heard, Travis Russ had his heart valve replacement and
his doing very well. He is back at home and recovering. Please
drop him a line and say hi. One last thing, we have swapped
newsletters with a number of chapters for many years, and we have
had our articles appear in many other newsletters and have had
chapters such as IPMS Seattle, reprint our stuff. Sadly, we could
not take them up on their offers to use their articles as my
software was not able to work with the Adobe PDF files they used.
Happily, this has now changed. This issue has a number of
articles from IPMS Richmond, IPMS Seattle and GTR Modelers. I’m
happy as we get a variety a modeling articles and I don’t have to
type as much. However, I would still like to get some articles
from youse guyz. Since we have enough articles for this months
newsletter, I am going to hold off on my review of the Hobby Boss
1/35th scale Danish Leopard 2A5DK kit I picked up at
the Cedar rapids show. This is a nice looking kit; in fact Hobby
Boss kits in general are really looking good. They have released
a number of aircraft kits as well, such as a Rafale, Mirage and
A-10 in 1/48 that looked really good. I have been informed an
importer that Hobby Boss is an off shoot of Trumpeter led by
Trumpeter’s former head kit designer. I look for good things to
come from this company. That’s it for this month, see you at the
meeting.
The Dates:
May 12: Chapter meeting. Club photo
shoot. More Figure Painting techniques from Ralph Nardone from
the Atlanta Regional on DVD.
June 9: No chapter meeting! We will be at
the Regional!
June 8-9: Region V Regional, Knights of
Columbus Hall 401 West Main Street, Ottawa, IL 61350 Contact:
Steve Stohr: 815-434-7279, 2615 Cherie Lane, Ottawa, IL 61350
thestohrs@aol.com
July 14: Chapter Meeting. Club barbecue
August 11: Chapter Meeting
August 22-25: IPMS/USA 2007 National
Convention hosted by IPMS/Orange County; Anaheim Marriott,
Anaheim, CA; details at
www.ipmsusa2007.org
September 8: Chapter Meeting
October 13: Chapter Meeting
November 10: Chapter Meeting
December 8: Chapter Meeting. Christmas party
and annual “What If? Contest. The $20 challenge will also be
held. Bring in the completed kit you bought for $20 from Ed and
get your money back.
IPMS Director of Local Chapters Announcement
Fellow IPMS members;
The “Supporting Our Troops” program is going
very well. Please visit the IPMS/USA website to see how
individuals and IPMS clubs have contributed models and supplies to
our troops. There is now a person that you can contact directly
via email at
george.salerno@iraq.centcom.mil . LtC Salerno has
centralized the efforts on the receiving end. LtC Salerno is
working directly with John Noack, 1st V.P of IPMS. You
can also contact John at JNoack@IPMSUSA.org . As you can see by
the various descriptions offered on the IPMS/USA website, clubs
and individuals are pouring items of all types into the delivery
system. If your club has not yet made a contribution please
consider doing so at your earliest convenience. Telling IPMS about
your efforts in word and picture is not “just bragging on
yourself”. It is an encouragement that you provide to others who
have yet to follow suit, so please document your club efforts and
share your stories and pictures with IPMS. Your information will
be added to the IPMS/USA website. On the 2nd subject,
the IPMS/USA website will soon feature a “gallery” showing the
recipients of the 2006 Meteor Productions Certificate program.
Meteor provided a $25 gift certificate to an IPMS member from each
chartered IPMS/USA club that made a nomination prior to the Dec
31, 2007 deadline. If your recipient is not pictured in the
gallery please send an image to
dmontgomery@ipmsusa.org. A big Thanks goes to Meteor
Productions for this outstanding and generous show of support to
IPMS/USA and to its membership.
Happy Modeling,
Dick Montgomery
IPMS Director of Local Chapters
Kit Review
By Alex Veloz, courtesy of IPMS Richmond
Model Subject: 7.5cm PaK 40 Late Type
Manufacturer: Dragon Scale: 1/35
Model Type: Injection Molded
Ratings:
Molding: 5
Instructions: 4
Detail: 5 Decals: 4
Fit: 4
Clear Parts: None
Accuracy: 5
Photo-etch Parts: 4
Ease of Assembly: 5
Value: 4
Recommended: I highly recommend this for WWII
military equipment modelers. Problems:
(1) Instructions are somewhat confusing in
step 1 because of the many small parts included. If you are not
extra careful, you can easily get assemblies upside down or
backward. I found this out and had to pry a couple of assemblies
apart. Luckily the glue had not fully hardened and the parts were
undamaged.
(2) The photo-etch plate in step 8 is not
wide enough to fit over the barrel as shown in the instructions.
You can either leave this part off or make a replacement part out
of thin sheet plastic slightly wider than the one provided. Glen
Martin also built this kit and encountered the same problem.
(3) Other photo-etch parts add little to
detail because they are mostly hidden from view.
Comments: Overall, this is a great build. The
many small parts are extremely well detailed, fit well with the
exception of the photo-etch part noted above, and look great when
assembled. One of the nicest features of the model is the turned
aluminum barrel, which gives the model some needed weight and
requires no filling or sanding like plastic barrels. There are
also brass shells, five nicely molded Fallschirmjager
(paratroopers), and assorted ammo boxes and tubes with stencils
included. I painted the PaK 40 in a Tamiya dark yellow base with
olive green and red brown camouflage streaks. The figures
were also camouflaged in the same colors. I
applied a burnt umber oil wash to give the model some depth and
bring out details. Rain and rust streaks were simulated by placing
small dots of burnt umber and white artist oils on the gun shield
and other surfaces and spreading them straight down with a wide
fan shaped brush. I also used brown dust pigment mixed with
distilled water on the wheels, tires, and the lower part of the
gun including the axle and brakes. A hair dryer was used after the
wash was applied to speed drying and to ensure that weathering
came out even without pooling at the bottom of parts like wheels.
I bought a Verlinden building ruin and some additional AFV PaK 40
ammo and plan to use these with my gun and figures in a diorama
depicting the Anzio campaign in early 1944.
Kosher Computers
Submitted by our Liverpool correspondent,
Paddy McGannon
I don't know if you know this, but you can now purchase Kosher
computers! They are made in Israel by a company called
DELL-SHALOM. The price is so low, even with the shipping from
Israel, that I bought one. However, before you purchase a kosher
computer of your own, you should know that there are some
important changes from the typical non-kosher computer you are
used to, such as:
1) The "Start" button has been replaced with
the "Let's go!! I'm not getting any younger!" button.
2) I hear "Hava Nagila" during startup.
3) The cursor moves from right to left.
4) When Spell-checker finds an error it prompts, "Is this the best
you can do?"
5) When I look at erotic images, my computer says, "If your mother
knew you did this, she would die."
6) It comes with a "monitor cleaning solution" from Manischewitz
that advertises it gets rid of all the "schmutz und drek."
7) When running "Scan Disk" it prompts me with a "You want I
should fix this?" message.
8) After 20 minutes of no activity, my PC goes "Schloffen."
9) The PC shuts down automatically at sundown on Friday
evenings.
10) It comes with two hard drives - one for fleyshedik (business
software) and one for milchedik (games).
11) Instead of getting a "General Protection Fault" error, my PC
now gets "Ferklempt."
12) The multimedia player has been renamed to "Nu, so play my
music already!" corner.
14) When my PC is working too hard, I occasionally hear a loud "Oy
Gevalt!"
15) Computer viruses can now be cured with matzo ball soup.
16) When disconnecting external devices from the back of my PC, I
am instructed to "Remove the cable from the PC's tuchus."
17) After my computer dies, I have to dispose of it within 24
hours.
18) But best of all, if you have a kosher computer, you can't get
Spam!
Kit Review:
By J. D. Spearman, courtesy IPMS Richmond
Model Subject: Hughes H-1 Racer “Long Wing”
Manufacturer: Planet Models
Scale: 1/48
Model Type: Resin
Ratings:
Molding: 4
Instructions: 4
Detail: 3
Decals: 2
Fit: 4
Clear Parts: 3
Accuracy: 4
Ease of Assembly: 3
Value: 3
Problems: The usual ones associated with
resin kits: a few “bubbles” to fill and smooth, some rough edges
to clean, some sanding and dry fitting to get pieces to connect
well. The problems are minor, compared to most resin kits I have
seen. Be prepared to spend a lot of time painting, light sanding,
and polishing. Recommended, but expensive. One of the best resin
kits on the market, in my opinion. If you like colorful shiny
finishes on rarely seen models, this is the one. Comments: Fit
twice (or 3, 4, or however), and cut once applies. Colored chalk
applied to join parts can help find those high spots that need to
be shaved down. There are 2 vac-form canopies, so one boo-boo is
permitted, but take care because the shape is not simple. The
canopies are clear and distortion free. The engine is well
detailed and installs in the cowling nicely. Paint and polish is
the real time consuming construction step. Primer was Mr. Surfacer
1200, thinned 50-50 with lacquer thinner. Light sanding with 1000
grit and repair unwanted seams with Mr. Surfacer 1200. Wings were
painted with three coats, lightly sanded, of 1-Shot true blue
enamel, then polished with the Micro-Mesh pads. The wings were
then masked with Tamiya masking tape after removal of some of the
stickiness. Fuselage, cowling, and landing gear were painted with
three coats of 1-Shot gloss black enamel and polished to a mirror
finish, followed by three or four coats of Alclad II polished
aluminum lacquer. Elevators and rudder were dull-coated to
simulate dope. Final assembly was straight forward, only requiring
some care in aligning the landing gear.
DML/Dragon 1/35th Scale
M1A1 AIM Abrams
By Bob LaBouy, courtesy of IPMS Seattle
Initial Comments and Caveats: I am going to
try this again. Once again, the single person who apparently has
read my prior notes, asked me to do it again. Those of you who saw
my latest effort at our October Chapter meeting, seemed to approve
and be impressed with the latest Abrams kit from Dragon (DML). I
must admit that I’ve been impressed with the M1A1 when I’ve seen a
couple perform in public demonstrations. It’s very big, obviously
heavy and from all written reports of both our country’s recent
military incursions in the Middle East, an awesome piece of
military technology. Whether a result of tactics, equipment or
training - probably all three aspects – its prowess and
achievements against a variety of Soviet bloc armor during these
conflicts is impressive to say the least. Finally, as part of my
self-education (and the patient, kind assistance of “the good, bad
and the ugly” - John Frazier, Steve and Stan Cozad - I’m not
saying which are which, you can decide for yourself…), I used this
kit as the next step in my armor building and finishing tutorial.
I finally think I’m beginning to see what they have been talking
about. My small success in this instance appears to be largely due
to the beautiful new kit from those crazy guys in China. With my
pre-apologies to those who are praying for me, here goes…
Initial Kit Observations Holy big kit
Batman! This is a large, highly detailed kit and not to trifled
with. There are by various counts, at least 700 plus parts, two
excellent photoetch sheets, several decal sheets and panel
markings, and cardboard boxes (little boxes containing rations –
unfortunately not included). If you want an easy build, buy one of
the earlier Dragon kits and pass this one up. Aside from the fact
that this kit represents almost every aspect of the Abrams, the
engineering on the parts and finish is superb. You see this in the
crisp detail, the small amount of marks or flash that needs
to be removed and in the top/surface detail.
I compared what the kit provides with a few photos I took of an
Abrams and as far as I can see, it is perfect and matches the real
surface very closely. There are also a number of areas where
alternate parts are included, allowing the builder to complete
many things in either their “open,” “closed,” or “deployed”
positions. The barrel is provided in both plastic and machined
aluminum – either of which appear to be acceptable in my opinion.
The detail can be further seen in the external machine guns: both
the .50 cal M2 and the smaller SAW M240 7.62mm are not only
detailed on the surface, but allow for the breech areas to be
opened and have the barrel end open to simulate the actual barrel.
No, while you might wonder, no rifling is evident in either barrel
opening – I guess some detail is still up to the builder (Editors
note: The 120mm is a smoothbore therefore the lack of rifling is
accurate – see below). Another indicator is seen in the small
clear hubs provided for each of the road wheels. In life these
really are clear and allow the crew to quickly determine that
sufficient lubricant is in each wheel hub. The individual track
sections are reasonably easy to separate from their trees, and
almost snap together. One way I judge a kit is the crispness of
its detail and the accuracy of the kit’s engineering. In this kit,
angles are at 90º (where needed), and the edges and lines are
crisp and sharp, leaving very little sanding to be done as you
construct the tank. There are enough decals on the main sheet for
at least several M1s and lots of detailed stenciling marks. Add to
this a sheet of CIPs (see notes below) and ration boxes and you’ll
soon see what I mean. While observing the model, one local wag
commented on there being no rifling inside the main barrel; it
should be noted Dragon didn’t miss anything here – the M256 120mm
cannon, originally developed in Germany for the Leopard 2, is a
smoothbore. References I usually attempt to share what references
I’ve found useful and by that standard there
are two I’ve used – both contain numerous photos of M1s during the
Iraqi conflicts: Marines On The Ground (Mini Color Series # 7516)
written by Gordon Arthur and published by Concord Publications
Co., and Walter Böhm’s M1A1/A2 Abrams (also a Concord Pub. Mini
Color Series, # 7502). I am sure there are more I have not seen. I
also found the Verlinden Publications Warmachines No.
13 On The Road To Kuwait: Marines In The Gulf
very helpful in terms of colors and wear and tear on the vehicles.
Of almost no value was the M1Abrams in Action book by Squadron
Shop, published in 1989, prior to these machines being used in
serious combat. I also found the Echelon Fine Details decal
instructions to be helpful, not to mention the beautiful decals
themselves (URL: http://pachome1.pacific.net.sg/IPMS Seattle
Chapter Newsletter Page 9 %7Ekriegsketten/ ). There are a great
many photographic images of the Abrams on the Internet, most of
them recent and providing a wealth of ideas for painting you kit
as used in the Iraqi wars. Just so you won’t feel as “behind the
curve” as I did, a note to the uninitiated about the “CIP” (or
Combat Identification Panels) notes. One of the several mysteries
I encountered as a new armor buff was to find out what those
shutter like plates or the flat plates on the turret are. Asking
resulted in a number of responses from other modelers, most of
which were wrong. They aren’t special armor panels, depleted
nuclear material, nor flat screen TVs for the guys on the front
lines. It took some digging, but here’s the “skinny.” These
marvelous devices are reasonably new to our military armor and
intended to reduce the number of casualties resulting from what we
used to refer to as friendly fire and now are more politically
correct in being called fratricide or “blue on blue” incidents.
Following the ’91 Gulf War, a simple, yet effective system was
established. There are several panels displayed on the Abrams,
using thermal film and tape, which provides a quick “cold spot”
identification of friendly equipment to both allied aircraft and
vehicles. These panels are easily removable and the two flat ones
on the front facets of the M1’s turret are
held in place by Velcro tape strips (this is the corner painted
markings you see so often in photos and drawings). There are often
also side and rear facing panels which look like shutters or
Venetian blind panels. There are apparently several color
combinations, based on the color of the Velcro/thermal tape and
the surrounding camouflage scheme. For my desert-colored tank, I
used the base color and applied small pieces of real tape painted
the color of the military tape I have in my collection. They look
as close as I could imitate to the many color photo references I
used. Again, your references will provide you with the colors and
locations you need.
There is a bit of a weakness that continues
to plague the Dragon line – the instruction sheet. I know it’s
easy for us to see the problems in instruction sheets, but there
are several items on the sheet which almost defy understanding.
There also seem to be some parts which are not called out on the
six very packed pages of instructions. When you consider that
there may be over 750 parts to be concerned with, it’s no wonder.
To insure completion, I attempted to keep track of my progress,
page-by-page, panel-by-panel, and item-by-item by placing tick
marks and small notes on the instructions. On the plus side
though, one area I really do appreciate on Dragon’s sheets is that
they not only provide the usual Asian language notes on colors by
referencing various Japanese paint manufacturers but also spell
out the Model Master colors (which seems to be in much wider use
on this side of the Pacific). Another most useful and informative
aid is provided in the many detailed drawings Dragon provides on
the bottom (or rear) of the model kit box. I can assure you that
by carefully looking at these detailed drawings, your building
experience will be easier and more rewarding. On more than one
instance, there was a note I should have seen and missed, only to
learn later “oh, I should have added that part there…” These small
scans of the box bottom illustrate what I’m talking about, as does
the amplified portion from this same sheet. In the last few years,
I’ve been almost overwhelmed by the quality I’ve seen in numerous
models. This is especially so in the several armor kits I’ve
enjoyed building. In case you’ve missed or are unaware of the many
kits of the M1 Abrams that been available for the last few years,
you’re in luck. You can now stop searching for a good kit and
probably get rid of the other kits you may have stockpiled; the
latest M1A1 Abrams from DML now provides the clearest path to a
great kit I’ve found. You also need to recognize the many
inexpensive kits listed on eBay
(including many by DML) are of the earlier
version. Now that I’ve already given away the story within the
story (and not the usual ploy used the local news lead of “a
breaking story” later in the article…), I would like to talk about
the very obvious level of quality exhibited by the folks from
Dragon. I’ve been building their numerous great new kits for about
two year now and continue to be impressed with their overall
quality. Aside from the fact that DML gives the modeler a number
of alternate items, hatches, treads and other external finishing
items, the evident quality of what is provided is outstanding. In
my mind, this is Tamiya level of quality and a “10” on a scale of
1 through 10 (with Hasegawa, my long time favorite, getting about
a 6 or IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 10 7). You might “ask
what about details?” Their M2 50 cal. and M240 5.56 mm machine
guns are provided with the end of their barrels hollowed out!
Don’t forget the box top. I offer this reminder, realizing that I
often use the box during the building project to store parts and
carry it around in. However, in this instance there are several
valuable aids included. The box top itself shows an Army Abrams in
Iraq. This photo provides not only a good picture of the subject,
but illustrates much detail about the “field condition” of the
tank in the field. The markings for this tank are contained in the
excellent decal sheet, which provides specific markings for six
different tanks and numerous generic smaller detail markings and
stenciling. The other significant aid is along the side panels of
the box, providing some painting color references and some detail
illustrations which can be very helpful in constructing the kit.
This kit is a winner - in any sense of the word. It provides the
modeler with a very accurate model of one of the U.S. Army and
Marine Corps’ most important and significant pieces of armor. It
is both a large and impressive vehicle, which is evident from the
completed model. In my opinion this kit is a strong “10” and a
project well worth your time and interest.
Building the First Trans Am
Pole Position Winner
By Chuck Herrmann, courtesy IPMS GTR
The early years of the Trans Am Series have
become legendary in the minds of American road racing fans.
American pony cars, such as Mustangs, Camaro’s and Barracudas,
modified from the street versions, and battled it out on famous
road courses. Most of the well known heroes from all forms of
racing appeared in the series. The book Trans Am: the Pony Car
Wars 1966-72 by Dave Friedman is a great reference that captures
the history of these years. (see my review in the February 2002
GTR newsletter). While researching my project to do the first ever
Trans Am race winner (the Alfa Romeo Guilia
Sprint GTA of Jochen Rindt), I came across
other photos in the book, including one of the first pole position
winner and the first lap leader in Trans Am history. I have been
an AJ Foyt since he won the first race I ever attended, the
Springfield, IL 100 miler on the one mile dirt oval for USAC Champ
Cars in 1967. At the same time I saw these photos I had just read
about the AMT reissue of the 1966 Mustang hardtop in their Resto
Rod series, so next time I was in the hobby shop I picked up the
kit and started to build this historic car. The kit needed to be
modified by cutting out the rear seats and filling it in with
sheet plastic. The kit supplies a basic roll bar; I built this
into a cage with plastic tubing. A shifter was added from the
parts box. I used photo etch buckles and masking tape for the seat
belts. From a Lindberg 1964 Plymouth Petty NASCAR kit, I used the
fire extinguisher, racing seat, wheels and tires and exhaust.
Since I was doing a curbside, the engine is unfinished on top and
the hood glued shut. The metal axles run thru the oil pan in the
kit’s 60’s design. I did add the exhausts to the engine because
they are very evident on the finished car and they needed some
place to mount. The body did not need many changes. I left off the
front bumper, sanded the clear headlights and painted them to make
the covers, and added a gas cap on the trunk lid from the parts
box. Bare Metal foil was used for the chrome; the paint is Testors
Gloss White enamel from a rattle can. The stripes and tire
markings are from a Cady sheet, adapted from the fastback body
style. I was able to find most of the contingency decals from
various sheets. The Gulf and Fram stickers are from an Auto World
sheet from 1978 and they went on perfectly! I am still looking for
few to finish it off. I am satisfied with the final results. Since
I never found a color photo I hope the dark blue stripes are
correct. I could have enlarged the wheel openings a bit, but
decided to keep it simple and it makes a good shelf model.
A Step off the Beaten Path:
1/48th Scale Model Sklejania Lublin R-XIII
By Ken Murphy, courtesy IPMS Seattle
Maybe it was the feeding frenzy that made me
do it. How else could I explain buying a kit from some foreign
company I never heard of; of a subject I’d never heard of, with
packaging that did not inspire confidence about the contents? Or
maybe it’s just that some people will buy anything if it’s cheap.
It all started with the month-long going out of business sale at
the Tacoma American Eagles store last summer. Each week for a
month they reduced prices on everything in the store. Kits were
flying out of the store (pardon the pun), but by the last weekend
when everything was marked down 75%, not much was left. Among the
dregs was a stack of Model do Sklejania kits of the Lublin R-XIII.
What, you say? I’d certainly never heard of that company, which
turns out to be Polish, or of that aircraft, which by the looks of
the cover art, was a pre-war single-engine, two seater something
or other. But for the low, low price of $4.74, I thought it would
be worth a look. And after all, it was a sale – I had to buy
something! When I got home I took a quick glance. I was surprised
– it didn’t look all that bad. The parts looked clean with decent
detail. The texture of the wing fabric was nicely represented and
overall it seemed a simple, straight forward build. Which is just
what I was looking for when, months later, I had burned out on my
Jasta Schweinhimmel project. For those of you who aren’t Jim
Schubert, here’s a little background info on this obscure bird:
The Lublin R-XIII was a Polish observation, close reconnaissance
and army cooperation plane, designed in the early 1930s in the
Plage i Laskiewicz factory in Lublin. It was a typical design for
its time with mixed construction, fixed gear, struts, wire, the
works. The “E” version represented by this kit was powered by a
Skoda-Wright Whirlwind radial and mounted a 7.7 mm Lewis gun. A
total of 288 were built in 7 variants, including 20 aircraft for
the Navy. The kit includes floats for this version. It first
entered service in 1931, but most had been withdrawn by 1938.
Fifty were still with front line units when the war broke out. The
history and data on the instructions is very thorough and
detailed, but if you want a less stilted translation, Wikipedia
has some good info and includes the only actual picture of the
plane I was able to find anywhere. As mentioned above, the kit is
pretty basic. The instructions include a grand total of 8 steps –
9 if you build the float
version. There are 64 parts of which 10 are
for the floats. The engine/prop assembly is the most complicated,
with 13 parts of which 9 are the oddly arranged exhaust stubs.
They curve out and up behind each cylinder and are quite tricky to
attach and angle properly. As you can see in the picture, the
cockpit interior is as simple as they get; instrument panel,
bracing, two seats, a stick and that’s it. Lots of room to scratch
build to your heart’s content. I opted to keep it simple and build
out of the box, though I regret not fabricating some kind of
rudder pedals and harnesses, since they would be easily visible.
But my whole point with this build was to keep it simple and not
get carried away.
For the most part, the kit goes together
pretty easily. A little putty smoothed out the fuselage and wing
seams. Attaching the wing was a bit of a challenge, but I managed
it without having to build an elaborate jig. The cabane struts are
small and hard to align, but they fit nicely into the wing and I
was able to eye-ball them into correct position. The rest of the
various struts and braces were easy to fit. My only out-of-box
addition was some
monofilament line for the rigging. One
interesting touch is that the control lines for the rudder run
along the outside of the fuselage, so I included that with my
rigging. The camouflage scheme is my best guestimate based on the
instructions, the box art, and pictures of other models I found on
the internet. I don’t know if it’s accurate, but I like it. Since
the scheme called for nice wavy lines, I used the rolled clay
method for masking. This involves rolling out long ropes of
children’s modeling clay, about the thickness of a pencil or less
and bending them to the desired shape and lightly placing them on
the model. I used rags, tape or paper to mask off the rest. When
spraying, aim straight down. The roundness of the clay gives a
soft edge effect, which can be controlled by the thickness of the
rope – the thinner the clay, the sharper the edge. Oily residue
from the clay has not been a problem. Just don’t leave any actual
clay on the surface! This is a fast and fairly easy technique if
you’re looking for something between a sharp Tamiya tape edge and
an airbrush blur. The only drawback is in creating tight curves,
the clay just won’t bend enough without mushing out of shape. My
choice of colors was mostly based on need. I needed to use up an
old bottle of Pactra Acrylic Flat Dark Green and I needed to try
my new Misterkit colors I picked up on sale at Emil’s. They come
in brown bottles with no way of knowing the color inside unless
you happen to speak Italian. I’m sure that’s why they were on
sale. Fortunately, Stephen Tontoni was on hand to help me
interpret the labels. For the brown and yellow, I used “Bruno
Mimetico” and “Giallo Mimetico.” I must say, the color is smooth
and dense and goes on very well. There is some debate over whether
the undersides were silver or light blue. I chose the later. For
want of any alternative, I used the decals provided in the kit.
They include markings for three aircraft. They are thin, but
remarkably stiff. I had a difficult time trying to get them to
snuggle down around the ailerons. Fortunately, the rest of the
decals go on flat surfaces. Registration left a little to be
desired and attempts to trim the excess carrier were hampered by
the fact that the white areas were obscured by the white paper
background. Also, the white areas were not very opaque and I had
to do a lot of touch up. The unit symbol of a hornet in a square
was unusable. What was supposed to be a light blue background was
dark blue and obliterated the image. Using the decal as a guide, I
painted over it to create the right look. What started out as a
quick and easy distraction between serious builds, turned into
much more as I got involved with this odd and interesting craft.
It was challenging, fun, and stands out on the shelf, so if you’re
tired of building the same old Mustangs and Messerschmitts, you
might take a step off the beaten path and try a Lublin.
Ferrari Superamerica in 1/24 by Revell of
Germany
Kit #07391
Reviewed by Gerry Nilles, from Internet
Modeler February 2007 Courtesy IPMS GTR newsletter. See the
article and additional photos on: www.internetmodeler.com
History: The history of the Ferrari
Superamerica dates back to the 1956-1961 time period when this
unusual convertible sports car first made it appearance. Like its
predecessor the new Ferrari Superamerica, a variant of the 575M
Maranello, is a very unusual convertible. Produced in 2005 as a
limited edition of only 559 units this vehicle touts some of the
most sophisticated technological feature ever seen on an
automobile.
The Superamerica, which is powered by a
twelve cylinder 540 bhp engine coupled to an optional Formula I
transmission boasts exceptional performance as is demonstrated by
its ability to go from 0 to100 km/h (0 to 60 mph) in 4.25 seconds.
Its unique transmission can be used in the automatic or manual
mode as well as “normal” or “sports” at the driver’s discretion.
Likewise its suspension is state of the art and can be adjusted to
sporty or comfort at the flick of a switch. However, and without a
doubt, the most high-tech feature on the Superamerica has got to
be its “electronically controlled color change”
convertible top. This unknown feature is a
first of its kind ever used on a production automobile. Similar to
the idea of eyeglasses that darken to sunlight the “Revocromico”
top can be electronically adjusted from clear to almost black at
the driver’s command. Overall the car has been designed as “user
friendly” and is very easy to drive. Kit: The highly detailed
Revell of Germany 1/24th scale Ferrari Superamerica kit
comes molded in gray and red plastic. Accuracy looks good to this
reviewer. Typical of Revell of Germany the kit includes a very
nicely done power train assembly including a detailed
engine/transmission and rear differential and axle. If desired
this assembly looks to easily lend itself to additional super
detailing. Likewise the interior is very nicely done. A piece of
black screening is provided along with a template of shapes that
are required to cover the side vents, the hood intake and the left
rear fender intake. The hood is molded separately and can be left
in either the open or closed position. Overall the kit is molded
crisply with little if any clean up or filling needed. The
instruction sheet is equally well done and easy to follow.
Markings: There are not a great number of decals with this kit,
however attention to the instruction as to placement and sequence
should be observed, especially with the engine and other internal
markings. Of course the decal sheet also includes the traditional
items such as the Ferrari logos, license plates etc. As for the
quality of these markings the registration looks good and
traditionally Revell’s decals are of high quality. Conclusion: The
Revell of Germany 1/24th scale Superamerica looks to be a very
good kit of a rare and interesting Ferrari. Kit details include
both a nicely detailed power train and interior. You Ferrari fans
should be very happy with this kit.
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