January 2022

 January is always quiet and our meeting reflected that. There were just 6 of us around the table and only three of us had brought models. I usually avoid putting my model on the turntable for the "featured model"  but there was a tale of woe attached - of which more later.

Three of us had brought models for the table and the other three had all brought kits that they were planning to build.

Peter Terry

Peter brought along a "heritage" Airfix kit in the shape of a Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX in "French" airforce colours - actually RAF and Pierre Clostermann.

Peter Carlo

Peter showed us a huge model of a Douglas Skywarrior built from a Trumpeter kit in 1/48th. He says that he thought about converting it to a B-66 but it would have involved too much work. There are two perfectly formed jet engines buried inside the model. Peter says "at least I know that they are there!". It was a complicated kit with, as an example, over 30 parts to the cockpit alone.

                                       

David Pennington

David brought along three 1/24th scale cars, one of which had been seen before. 

Firstly, he brought along a pair of Ford GT40s. One was a Meng kit and one a Fujimi, both purporting to be the Ken Miles/Denny Hulme car from Le Mans 1966. The cars differ in quire a few ways, not the least in the height of the car, the shape of the back window and the colour of the orage/red stripes on the bonnet.

David explained the "mud" on the windows which wasn't mud at all but overspray coming from him spraying the grill on the rear end of the car and forgetting that it was a mesh so the paint all sprayed onto the inside of the windows! Oh well, another one for the bin! 

The other car he brought was a Tamiya 1/24th scale Mercedes AMG GT3 in custom Haribo colours. In 2016 HARIBO Racing Team entered the Mercedes-AMG GT3 "Haribo Racing, No.88" for the seventh race of the VLN long distance driving championship at the Nurburgring, ultimately finishing 2nd. The kit went together like all Tamiya kits. The one problem was that he tried using Zero Paints 2 pack varnish which, unfortunately, formed a lot of "pebbles" on the finish. He used 2,000 grit paper to get some of it off but it was too hard to shift. Finally, it was improved a little by a few coats of Gauzy Intermediate varnish.

Crispen Block

Crispen brought along some Tamiya kits to show us and explain that he was building a 1/16th scale diorama so needed these as models for him to make larger versions.

Andrew Stacey

Andrew had made a visit to the model shop in Long Milford and purchased an unusual kit. This is  a 1/56th scale Rubicon Models Centurion Mk. 5 tank. Interestingly, this requires ABS (plumber's) glue as it is made from a different type of plastic.

John Ovendon

John also brought along a box rather than a model. This time it was a Das Werk Borgward IV PZJg. Wanze.  The Wanze was equipped with with six RPzB 54/1 anti-tank rockets. These rockets were also known as the Panzerschreck or in english tank fright or tank's bane. 

Conclusion

Well, that's it. Lets hope for a bigger turnout next month. Don't forget that you can click on the images to see larger versions.

December 2021

 Getting nearer to Christmas. This is the last formal meeting of the year with just the social meeting on 23rd to come.

First off, John Ovenden brought along a really nice Trumpeter SdKfz 7. I chose it as the featured model as he explained clearly how he moderated the finish and weathered it.

I asked John to explain how he went about the tasks. He said "Hello David,

I initially painted the model in panzer grey which I felt left it rather bland, 
so I coated it in XF2 Tamiya matt white to give a winter camouflage effect.

Then, to wear down the effect over time, I used Decalfix as the distressing agent which works very quickly and effectively on un-glossed varnished paint. After which I coated it in sepia ink diluted with water.

Hope thats ok for you mate".

So here it is - don't forget that you can click on the image and enlarge it to the great detail.

Now onto the rest of the table.

Bill Banks

Bill teased us with his Rafale last month but has now finished it. 

This is his Revell two seater Dassault Rafale B in 1/48th scale.

He says that he has had enough of modern kits and is going back to tackling the older kits in his stash so look forward to some interesting models over the coming month.

David Pennington

My contribution is a trio of models that I have been working on over there last few months. I have been taken with the story of the Banff Strike Wing in late 44- the end of the war. Their job was to interdict the German iron ore traffic coming down from the north of Sweden along the Norwegian coast. These three represent the three main combatants. First off there is a 144 Squadron "Torbeau" or a TF Mk. X - PL-O. This flew out of Dalaachy in Morayshire and was damaged on "Black Friday" 9th Feb. 1945 when they were jumped by a large number of FW-190s.  It is made from a 1/72nd scale Tamiya kit whilst the markings were made up from a selection of sheets as the specific markings were not available.

Next we have a DH Mosquito FB-IV as flown by 333 (Norwegian) squadron. 333 operated as "outriders" whose task was to fly out ahead of the main force and choose targets. The Norwgian flag on the nose used to raise cheers when they flew low over the local towns and villages. The decals came from an Aviaeology set.

Lastly, we have an RAF Mustang Mk IV from an Airfix 1/72nd scale kit.  This represents a Mustang of 65 Squadron flying top cover for the wing out of Peterhead.  This aircraft is documents as having ditched in Sweden having been damaged over Norway.  The pilot was repatriated a couple of weeks later along with sensitive equipment, whilst the plane itself was repaired and joined the Swedish airforce after the end of the war.  Once again, there were no decals available so they are constructed from other sets. Interestingly, the Mustang arrived from the USA pre-painted so it would not be in standard RAF colours but their FS equivalents. Also, it seems that the Americans got the camo wrong as the colours are reversed!

Gordon Fisher

Gordon brought along a "work in progress" of a display at an aircraft museum. It is intended to show a Rolls Royce Merlin engine. So far, we have the barriers and the people. Let's hope he brings it along when it is finished.

The people are all from Airfix 1/76th scale military figures suitably carved to make them into civilians. I particularly like the camera man.

JIm Smetherham

It was nice to see Jim back again. He told us that he had got a bit bored with making aircraft so he has had a go at a couple of military subjects. He was asking for some advice of finishing these models interns of washed, mud, etc. First up is an Italeri PzKfw VI Tiger Ausf. E. This is currently W.I.P. so we hope to see it finished soon.

Secondly, he brought along a Tamiya "Easy Eight", actually an M4A3E8 in European Theatre colours. 

We look forward to seeing the finished items.

Peter Carlo

Once again, we have a lovely pair of 1/48th scale aircraft from Peter. He does go in for some tricky camouflage finishes! First up is a Zvezda Sukhoi SU57 "Felon". This has an amazing camo finish involving, according to Peter, over 600 pieces of masking tape. He certainly has more patience than me!

Secondly, he brought along a Sukhoi SU-17 Fitter done out in Kazakhstan markings. Again, a handful when it comes to masking!

Peter Terry

Last on the table and probably the smallest was Peter's little Cessna O-1 Bird Dog in the colours of an artillery spotter in the 14th Army in Burma. This is a little Airfix 1/72nd scale kit.

Crispen Block

Crispen brought along a small range of tools that he had acquired. The most impressive was the RP Tools Miter Cutter which he is using to cut up "lolly sticks". I am afraid that I missed taking down the target model for these - sorry Crispen. This looks an impressive piece of kit up against my simplistic looking equivalent from MicroMart in the US.

Conclusion

It was a very good meeting with lots of conversation and coffee. We are looking forward to the social meeting on the Thursday before Xmas - 23rd, so see you all there for Mince Pies, a bit of music from me and lots of friendly chat as usual.

IPMS Clacton November 20231

 Quite a sparse meeting this month, in terms of models on the table. Even John Rose only brought three! Still one of them was a beauty. More details later but here it is as the featured model.

Peter ran through the arrangements for the up and coming Telford Show. David then described the new Search facility on the club web site. After that we got down to the main event - models on the table.

David Pennington

David brought along two models. The first was an Italeri 1/72nd scale Lockheed F-35B in RAF colours.

David admitted that he hadn't tried to add all of the patterns on the original aircraft. He tried painting them but it got so messy that he decided to leave them all off.

David's second model was a work in progress (W.I.P). He has already had one go at making the Hasegawa Lockheed S3-A Viking but gave up on it when he realised that the jet nacelles would block any attempt at painting the body. This time, he has wisely decided to leave them off until the bulk of the work is finished. However, he is finding the huge number of decals to be daunting. Watch this space.

Bill Banks

Bill is in the process of building a Revell Dassault Rafale B 2 seater. He reports that it is going together very well.

John Rose

John brought along three variants on a theme - Sherman M4 A3. The first was an Academy kit which is very much W.I.P. with a lot of scratch building going on. I didn't record what the final target was so we will have to wait for another day.

His second showing is another W.I.P. but this time it is an M4 A3 E8 from a Tamiya kit. As usual, it is going together very nicely.

Lastly, he showed us a completed Italeri M4 A3 E8 which he compared to the Tamiya version above. This kit cost around 30% less than the Tamiya kit. It is modelled on the "star" of the 2014 film "Fury". He pointed out what a bargain the kit is because it went together nicely and, in comparison to the basic version supplied by Tamiya, it includes lots of stowage, hawsers etc. to make the kit look like that one in the film.

Peter Carlo

Peter showed us two beautifully finished 1/48th scale models. The first was a Hasegawa Dassault Mirage 2000 in Taiwan (ROC) colours.  Peter's comment was that it was a nice kit, with good decals, which required little filler.

The second was an amazing Academy MiG-29. Quite how Peter has the patience to mask and paint the camouflage on this one is beyond me. Again, he reports that it was a nice kit with good decals. It required very little filler but it did need 3 weeks of masking and painting with over 250 individual pieces of masking tape!

Peter Terry

Peter brought one of his favourite AZ 1/72nd scale model kits - this time a Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk in early was USAAF colours - before the red inner dot was disposed of.  This one is built out of the box!

Conclusion

That's it for this month. Don't forget that you can click on any of the images to very a larger version. That is why I take the trouble with my cameras! Mind you, given that I had a lot of trouble messing about with my new Canon 90D trying out the connection to my phone, I am pleased that we have any photos at all. Next month, I will have it cracked. Watch this space.

Lastly, don't forget the next social evening on the 25th November. Bring along a kit to build or just bring yourself and "JawJaw" all evening.

October 2021 First social meeting

 I won't be blogging every social meeting as there is really only two things that happen - some of us do a little bit of modelling and everyone has a really good chat to everyone else. But, as this was the first one, I thought that it needed noting. Well here we go!

I managed to get a bit of a wave from most them.

Well that's it really. I brought along  a KP Spitfire, because Peter has been promoting these kits so earnestly. It's a nice little kit but is missing all of the attachment pins and slots that one gets used to with a Tamiya kit. Apart from that it is beautifully moulded.

Well, the plan was good. However, there was so much conversation that this is as far as I got.

Never mind, it was a great evening. So much so that I left about 30 minutes later than normal!

Well, all that's left to do is to celebrate the evening with some snaps of the boys. Some smile and others - well, see for yourself!

October 2021

 Well, this was the first meeting since this year where the journey both ways was in the dark. Winter draws on, as we used to say. A small group made it but there were a nice few models to show. First off, we have the feature video. I had better explain why you only see 1/72nd scale aircraft and up to 1/35th scale armour. This is because anything larger doesn't really fit either on the turntable or into the photo booth - sorry.

Now let's get down to the models on the table.

Bill Banks

Bill brought along his finished Me 163B-1. This is a "centuries old" Airfix kit and Bill had a lot of fun investigating it and then making it. Bill says that "the aircraft portrays one from 2 AG Brandis. The airfields for these had to be under the Fortress flight paths  en-route to their targets as their flight time was only 12 minutes (up from 2 1/2 originally, then 5 minutes!).  There was a radio aerial but it continually fell off, with Bill finding it on the table top!

David Pennington

David had recently completed the new Meng 1/24th scale Ford GT40 representing one that competed in the 1966 Le Mans 24 hour race - and was the subject of the film Le Mans 1966 with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. He painted it up to be the car driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme. He brought along his Fujimi GT40 that was painted for Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.  It was intended that Ken Miles should win the race but Bruce nabbed him at the line. In fact, even if Bruce had been behind at the finish, he would still have won because of the way that the race was started in those days - all lined up side by side at the edge of the track. Bruce's car being further down the track meant that he had travelled the longest distance.

We did a comparison between the old Fujimi kit and the new Meng and came to the conclusion that the Fujimi kit was the better one! Paint on the No. 1 car was by Zero Paints (Hiroboy.com). This is a lacquer based paint and sprays brilliantly. However, you can't hand paint with it so great care is needed.

Gordon Fisher

I think that, at long last, Gordon has been able to see his models on the web site as he, himself, doesn't have internet access. This time he brought along an Airfix Mitsubishi A6M Zero which had been very nicely painted.

John Rose

John brought along his usual suitcase of models. This time, we saw 7 different work in progress models. Two of interest were being built as a couple of Sherman M4A2 that were part of the Trinity tests in the Arizona desert on 1945. They were being used to ascertain damage etc. However, John only allowed me to photograph one of the models as he felt that too much W.I.P.  was not needed on the blog. 

Anyway, I have one to show everyone. This is an ICM 1/35th scale BergPanther that has been converted to a what-if Flakvierling.

Peter Carlo

Pete brought along a couple of nicely finished 1/48th scale models. First up is a Revell Dassault Rafale 'C'.  Peter's comment is that is is a good kit with poor decals. It didn't need much filler and I am left with lots of spare parts!

His second model is a Kinetic 1/48th scale Lockheed F-104G Luftwaffe 'Widow Maker'. As usual, with Kinetic, it is a nice kit but very firm fitting so take care. It needed no filler - goodness me, how often can you say that?

Peter Terry

Peter, as is normal, brought along two very cleanly built 1/72nd scale WWII aircraft. The first is a Supermarine Spitfire Vc in desert camouflage. This is a KP kit. Peter really rates this manufacturer.

Note as in this picture, they even give you nice little decals for the built in recce cameras! A nice touch.

Secondly, Peter showed us a heavily weathered Hobby2000 kit (ex-Hasegawa) for a Douglas Dauntless SBD-5. Peter used some Print Scale decals for "3. SBD-5, 'White 51", NZ 5051, flown by F/Lt. J. W. Edwards & F/Sgt. L. A. Hoppe, No 25 Dove Bombing Squadron RNZAF, Piva, Bougainville, April-May 1944.". The interesting part of these is that the national insignia is repeated on both wings, both upper and lower. It is assumed that this is an attempt to stop their own flak and fighters from attacking them!

Finally

All in all, it was a good meeting. Peter handed out a list of dates for forthcoming meetings which I shall post of the club web site in the next week or so. Included are the dates for the "social" meetings. These are the 2nd meetings in each month where it is not expected to have a "let's go round the table" Rather, members will spend their time in social chit chat and. maybe, build a few models.  The next social evening is on 28th October so I shall see you all there.