IPMS Clacton

Seven contributions for January 2021

Well, we are still locked down with no hope of a meeting until March, probably. As it is, we have seven member's contributions to the virtual table.

I like to start the blog with a feature model but, as I don't have access to anyone else's models, you will have to put up with another one of mine.

This is my build of the recently released Tamiya 1/48th scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk. I.

My problem with the kit is one of expectation. If you check out YouTube, there are a lot of videos saying how great the kit is and how the model can be built to a fantastic level of quality. Ha! I find such talk to be quite intimidating and then struggle to meet what I see as the required finish. I wanted to put the radio aerial on and had some problems doing that but got it made using my old reel of Aeroclub stretchy thread. The thread

is getting quite old now and breaks quite easily. I thought that I had done quite well and you may agree if you watch the video or check out the main image.

However, I was quite pleased with the cockpit and determined to show what I had done. That was until I saw the image in close up. Well, here it is and you can see what I mean - ugh!

On to the rest of the table.

Peter Terry

Peter says "Sorry i am a bit behind, Two 1/72 scale Airfix Bf109s hand painted with kit decals and one version with Teck Mod decals figure comes from the Prieser range of Luftwaffe figure sets. Looks as if we will have to run the blog for February ? Peter"

Bill Banks

"Hi David hope you and yours are fit and well, My latest project,

The aircraft is a WW1 French designed Nieuport Mk 16 nicknamed Bebe. Baby.

Constructed entirely of wood and linen,Very light and easy to control. It had a 110 HP le Rhone 9 cylinder rotary engine and could fly at 165 Mph.They were constructed in 4 factories in Russia. The rockets are for destroying balloons.The model is in the colours of the Imperial Russian Air Service founded 1912,19th Corps Aviation Detachment 1st Battalion Aviation Group 1916.

The kit is a 1:48 SMER Czech,. This is the first model I have rigged. The EZ line was too thin which was like knitting cobwebs. You can just see the rigging in the photo.

A Russian Ace flying this machine type was Alexander Kazakov, he was credited with 35 kills. He had more but the Russians only credited those that fell on Russian soil. With the advent of the Russian revolution he flew for the Whites. In 1918 he joined the RAF with the rank of Major. At an air show in 1919 he crashed in a Sopwith Pup, He was considered to have committed suicide."

John Rose

"Hi David

Just the one this month.

Tamiya 1/35 Panzer lll. Tracks, decals and weathering to finish off.

John Rose"

John Ovendon

John tells me "This is the 1/35 GMC M10 Tank Destroyer from AIrfix/Acadamy.

Mounting a 3" 76.2mm gun in fully rotating turret it served from April 1942 till the end of

the war although production ceased in December 1943."

Jim Smetherham

Jim has provided some more work in progress images of the Airfix 1/48th Gloster Javelin that he is building.

Peter Carlo

Peter has provided I'm ages of two Su-27 Flankers. He says:

"Hi David second model is a 1/48 su27flanker hobby boss kit . This looks a simple kit when you open the box but the deeper you go, the more complex it gets. The cockpit is very good just the PE straps needing care. Fit is good all over very little filler needed.

There are several paint schemes but l found this one on the net and with some spare decals was able to make it up. Painting it was complex to say the least as it is an all over scheme seemed like a mile of masking tape. I seem to have forgotten to mention that this is a Far East winter scheme.

Cheers Peter"

Sum Up

A nice selection of models and some interesting comments. Not the same as being there, though, is it? Never mind, we will all be back to normal soon. I have had my first vaccination so I am on my way. I hope that the rest of you are all doing well and getting through this by getting lots of modelling done. Keep the images coming.

It's our Christmas meeting but without the mince pies

Well, we normally get together with everyone brining some goodies to eat. Not this year. We all had to stay at home. However, the proceedings were lightened by a small competition (of which more later).

There were only four contributors to the table this month. First up, though, is our featured model, which, again, has to be on of mine as I don't have access to other's models.

Featured Model

The Table

This model is one of mine. It was an "interesting" build for a few reasons. First off, the main details are as follows: a Hobby 2000 kit (which means ex-Hasegawa) but with their own decals. Given my recent showing of my trip to the USS Intrepid, I chose this because one set of decals was for the Valions on that boat.

Overall, the kit went together very easily and I was most impressed with the fit - not quite Tamiya click and stay but close. The only trouble I had was with a couple of parts that go in under the air intakes. I couldn't see how these would fit, no matter which way round I tried them, so I just cut them a bit and slid them in. Now, what went wrong? I managed to move the upper wing decal after I had applied MicroSol and the decal, of course, just disintegrated. Fortunately, Hannants Xtradecal have a sheet of exactly this aircraft so I was able to recover. Along the way, I found two fairly serious errors, one of which was recoverable. The recoverable one was that I had put the Valions logo on facing backwards. As there was a version on the Xtradecal sheet, that was easily solved. The non-recoverable error was the paint job. When halfway through, I thought that I had made a mistake in using "Dark Compass Grey" instead of "Dark Ghost Grey". In fact, the error was bigger than that as I should have been using "Light Ghost Grey". Never mind. It is done and looks ok.

Next up was Peter Terry who sent me a text saying "Please find attached my contribution for the December blog. The Airfix SAM Missile kit now long out of production the mould tool now long lost Airfix do not know what happened to it so although a rarity i made it for the enjoyment completed as a North Viet Nam missile battery at the height "

John Ovenden sent in his contributions as follows: " here is my input for virtual club table

all 1/35

Tamya Archer self propelled gun and crew on a Great North roads diorama

base (street corner) and an Airfix / Academy Hetzer tank destroyer early version on the same base.

Both easy builds with few problems.

Last, John Rose sent in a couple of "work in progress" builds as, I think, he has been away for much of the previous month. His contributions are, in his words:

"Image 1. 1/35th Sherman m32 recovery vehicle. I wanted an M32 that was a bit different, so I took an Italeri one and, using references online, modified with sheet styrene and odds and ends from the spares box. Still a WIP and will end as a late war USMC version.

Image 2. OOB Tamiya 1/20th Ferrari 312. Just needs seat belts and decals.

On the bench - x2 Shermans used in the Trinity test area. To be continued...."

The competition:

We had 10 votes for the various contributors. Up until late, it was looking difficult with three entries all with two votes but then a final, casting, vote came in leaving John Ovenden as the winner. He sent me the following:

"What a nice surprise. Please pass on my thanks to those who voted for me

Merry Christmas to all

JohnO"

The Web Site

I have an apology to make regarding the club web site - well two in fact. Firstly, some web browsers are starting to try and block web sites that don't use the super secure "HTTPS". This was originally created for securing credit card transactions as the S in the title means that all data being exchanged is encrypted. It also means that the owner of the site has been verified.

However, so browsers are now extending this to every site on the spurious notion that every owner has to be verified. We have no need for verification as there is no two-way interaction involced in browsing club information, I see no need to involve the club in extra costs and no need for me to spend the extra time setting this up, which (as I have done this before for my shop web site) can be an extended process. Most browsers allow you to override the block. If you have any difficulties, please contact me with the details and I will try and help.

Secondly, I build the website using a programming system called "Seaside". This is an addition to my normal programming environment. However, there is a bit of an issue in that the site freezes up around every 24 hours or so. I am in the process of trying to resolve this with my environment providers but, at the moment, I am unable to ensure that the site runs continuously. I do go in and restart it as often as I can think of it but there may be times when you can't access the site. If this is so, then please just try a few hours later.

January Meeting

You should have heard from Peter but, if not, here is what he said.

"Hi Guys,

I have had it confirmed that we can restart meetings as from the 7th of January at the Brotherhood Hall i will advise all member's if there is any change to this situation that you will need to know about. Please stay safe and have a good Christmas.

Regards Peter"

So, it looks like we will all be back together again, assuming that the tiers don't change. Looking forward to seeing you all again.

David

November Virtual Meeting - with a twist

Well, we are back to virtual meetings again, hopefully only for November - fingers crossed.

We have had a good response this month but there is a twist in the tail - see later.

First off, we have the regular featured item. I don't like featuring my own models but I have no choice this month as they are the only ones that I can touch. Anyway, here goes - It's my Tamiya 1/35th Jadgpanther.

This was a very nice kit to make and went together as one would expect of a Tamiya kit except for --- The means of loading up the fittings for the side skirts was, to my mind, indistinct and I ended up getting the on wrong, which meant that there are visible holes in the side skirts. It's a pity as the rest of the kit oooks really nice to my mind. I enjoy airbrushing the three colour camouflage. It takes a bit of planning with the wheels, etc. but it all got done nicely, except - I tried to fill the fitting holes for the side skirts and paint over the filler but it failed on one corner leaving a nasty smear. Oh well, there is always another kit I can mess up! Wait for it!!!

The Table

OK, lets go down the table. First off, Bill Banks brought along a partially completed Scammell Tank Transporter - I had a Dinky toy one of those when |I was a kid - grin. This was his second attempt as he previously tried one of the tricky IBG kits but these are full of tiny parts and no fitting points. It seems that the Aurfix kit was a better bet and so it seems as he is nearly there. Bill was worried when he put a Churchill on the back that the scale seemed different but it appears to be correct.

I have been joshing with Colin as he hasn't had any models on the table for the last couple of months, which is not at all like him. Here is his response:

As we're all once again meeting on the internet, I've attached four photos of the reason why I had not put anything on the actual table at the past two Branch meetings. I finally finished this Catalina a couples of days ago - it is definitely not the world's best kit, but I did enjoy the build, despite the inaccuracies in the Revell instructions relating to the undercarriage doors, and some very vague instructions . (Their instruction sheets have improved but, in my opinion they still lag well behind those of Airfix, Eduard, and Tamiya for examples - and as for their ridiculous paint mix "recipes"... Why can't they give the correct names for the colours to be used?)

My model is of a PBY-5A Catalina amphibian of the US Navy Reserve, based at Glenview, Illinois, during 1947.

Next up we have my couple of models. I mentioned the Tamiya Jagdpanther earlier so here I have to tell of my efforts with the Italeri RAF F-35B in 1/72 scale. This was a very nice clean kit to put together but...

I got quite caught up in following the instructions and Youtube videos, all of which place great score by the anti-radar markins all over the fuselage. However, once I got to see an actual RAF plane of reent times, it seems that all of this is very understated and I didn't need to paint all of the intricate patterns. It seems that I didn't need to use some of the decals as well. Still, overall, I am happy with the model. I painted it with the required dark grey but mixed in a little Vallejo metal color steel to give it the required metallic sheen.

John Ovenden's efforts have resulted in huge beast of a model. His offering this month is a Hongkong Models North American B-25 Mitchell in 1/32nd scale!

He says "Here is my contribution to the next virtual meeting.

MK Models B25-H Mitchell gunship in 1/32 scale.

An excellent kit to put together no real problems. At this stage just waiting for Matt varnish to dry so I can weather in sepia ink.

I like the scale, like the detail, liked the build. It’s dear but would recommend. "

Back to old times with Pater Terry's monthly contribution. I will leave it to him to describe it:

Matchbox Lysander 1/72scale

"Pulling this kit from the stash was a big step back in time when Matchbox boxed there kits with excellent box art and the Lysander kit is no exception. This was not going to be a complex build in fact it was going to be nothing added nothing taken away with only one modification and that was drilling out the exhaust pipe.

This was a simple and enjoyable build with good positive fixing of parts of which the fitting of the wings to canopy was easy presenting no problems. I completed my my model in the markings of 16 squadron 1940, the historical not on the art work stated, "Lysander's of 16 SQN attacking a German motorised unit advancing on Dunkirk in May 1940" Given the fact that many sources claimed the RAF were no were to be seen during the Dunkirk operation Matchbox new what we now know is that the RAF were there and active! Well they do say modelling is holding history in your hands...."

Last up is Peter Carlo with a couple of MiG-21 models.

Peter says "Eduard MIG21

Camouflaged MIG SMT. The Big Spine variant as used in Afghanistan.

With the big spine came controllability problems so there were not very many built but they are an interesting shape.

Silver MIG21 PFM. The best of the MIG family and shown as a Polish interceptor.

The kits are Weekend and Profipak versions. The only real difference is that the Profipak has resin components, an etch brass cockpit, and three sets of decals.

The Weekend edition (Ha Ha) has no etch and only one decal sheet; otherwise they are identical kits with interchangeable spine mouldings. They are both good kits but I will only purchase the Weekend editions in the future because of the price difference.

Well that's it for the virtual table.

The Competition

I came up with an idea that I hoped would inspire everyone to contribute however only the usual suspects are represented so here goes: We would hold a competition whereby each entry would comprise of:

A photo, or photos of your display area for completed models and
A description of where you keep your stash.

I was careful not to request photos of the stash as I felt that some members may be overwhelmed with what they saw or might feel a little inadequate we might say. However, some brave souls gave me images which I might just find space for - smile.

This is what you do - read the entry comments and check out the images. Against each entry is a link for an e-mail. This e-mail has the owner noted so you just have to send the e-mail to vote for that entry. Voting for two will result in me coming back and asking for clarification. Voting for yourself is, of course, a no-no and the vote will be discarded. Here we go:

David Pennington

My models are all displayed in three cabinets in our bedroom (mother-in-law has taken my hobby room for now).

My stash comprises of just three kits - a partially built Airfix 1/72nd Phantom, a Revell 1/72nd scale Shackleton and a 1/48th scale Tamiya P-38. I have provided a photo.

The children's fireman helmet has a back story but not for now.

To vote for David's entry click HERE

Vote for David

Bill Banks

HI DAVID MY COMPETITION ENTRY

MY STASH IS KEPT IN VARIOUS WARDROBES AND A CUPBOARD. THEY HAVE TO SPREAD AROUND AS I STILL HAVE MY LATE WIFES CLOTHING SHOES BAGS ETC AND DO NOT HAVE THE HEART TO DISPOSE OF THEM EVEN AFTER 6 YEARS. THUS THEY ARE IN MY WARDROBE AND 3 OF HERS.
I DO NOT DISPLAY MODELS AS FIRST I HAVE NO SHELF SPACE AND MY CONSTANT BATTLE WITH DUST PRECLUDE DUST MAGNETS AROUND. ANY I THINK WORTHY ARE DISPLAYED ON THE CLUB TABLE AT SHOWS, THEY ARE KEPT IN BOXES AND IN A CHEST OF DRAWERS IN MY HOBBY ROOM. SEE PHOTOS VIA I PAD

Vote for Bill

Colin Ovens

I have no display area for my models other than suitable bases placed on the tops of a pair of stereo speakers in my lounge, currently they're occupied by a Bristol Blenheim 1f and the newly completed Catalina. (I store all my completed models in large, deep stackable plastic storage boxes: the stack is now currently 12 boxes high - another stack will be started - as soon as I get some more boxes from The Range, after the lockdown, or in the New Year.)

With regard to the question of my stash: I like to think that it's held within a certain well known warehouse in Oulton Broad... though it's not yet paid for !!

Vote for Colin

Jim Smetherham

Jim admits to a stash of 12 models including 2 in the process of completing kept on the top shelf of a built in wardrobe. Jim says "I have Been in that state since lockdown 😜"

Completed models kept on shelf in rear of garage where my train layout is.

Vote for Jim