A Look Back at 2024

 I went back thru my blog for a look back at what I've done this year. so so many as in the past but pretty respectable.
Also not too many vehicles this year. Thanks for looking, and Merry Christmas to all that do that sort of thing. ;) 

 

 

3d Print Grow Lines - Getting rid of

While looking around You Tube for the subject in the title there were a number of coatings that could go on. All were rather thick and could hide small detail. 
Then I saw this one: https://youtu.be/rn4edNztaPU

Basically you spray the model with a rattle can that sticks to plastic and then immediatly spray a gloss clear coat. The videographer then put it under a fan to speed drying. 
In the vid he did admit that his grow lines were fairly thick and that to cover it some detail was lost, but under small printing, the detail remains. HTH. 

For full disclosure, I haven't tried it yet, but I have the perfect model to try it on soon.  Thanks for looking.

Bases

In looking to have a clear desk to finish off 2018, one thing that has held be back was finishing off the bases and putting them on the shelf. Seems like I'm quite behind on bases, so here we go.

The easiest one to finish was the base for the TIE Predator. All I had to do was take one of the Death Star Tiles from the set from SSM,  I glued it to a wood base. The fit was just about excellent. It will get a shot here and there to create interest with some white gray paint.

The next three are carved in foam, and then coated with some Sculpt-A-Mold. From left to right- a base for the Kappa, Pitch Black's Marauder, and a 1:72 T-Rex by Krentz Presentz. 
Once dry, they will get their coat of primer and then a paint job.

Check back for completed models and thanks for looking.

Adam Savage joins the Anti-Recasting Army with a nice PSA

I'll Never Complain again

I just came across this video that shows a man's life work of scratchbuilding British warships - all carved from matchsticks!
WOW, I'll never complain about crappy resin kits again! ;) 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5IT90vZBRo

A Report from Phoenix

As usual it was a great IPMS USA Nationals show from the Phoenix guys. The hotel was right across the street from the convention center which vastly expanded since the last time (this is my 3 trip to the Phoenix Nats).  To make things even more convenient, there was a train to the light rail, which drops you off less than a block from the hotel - all for less than $5.

There are images all over the 'Net, so you can look here for the gallery -

https://gallery.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/category/album-2018-ipms-usa-nationals-phoenix-arizona

A copy of the award's Presentation is here - http://svsm.org/gallery/phoenix2018-awards

Going by the numbers, here are the preliminaries:

Contest Entrants: 424.
Models grand total: 3,523.
Models in competition: 2,723.

-Display 800 (including one CA member who had a collection of 700 armor vehicles).
-Jr 70.
-Aircraft 670.
-Military Vehicles 501.
-Ship 143.
-Dio 169.
-Misc 508.
-Auto 257.
-Space Sci-fi 168.
-Figures 237.

I brought two models. I had chose carefully, for fear that the baggage handlers and/or the TSA would damage the models en route. In the end I chose the Huygens lander (as it was to be featured in a seminar), and a one piece dinosaur vignette.  The Huygens didn't score an award, but Fine Scale Modeler photographed it. Maybe we'll see it in print. The dinosaur did snag a 2nd in category 800... Dinosaurs. That was my first Nationals win. ;)

I didn't attend any of the side trips (Pima, and Orbital). There was a lot of  good seminars, but trying to keep wifey happy at the same time, I did miss some that I wanted to see.

• There was a good one of scratching building a McQuarrie style Y Wing.He covered building the internal support, and a bit on vac forming some parts.

• Dem Brudders did a cool (and typically humorous) seminar on transporting and displaying your Models. It got me mad (not really) in that some of their techniques were so simple by using cardboard and some foam.

• There was another seminar show and telling ways of keeping track of your models. From Excel thru Access, he ended up at a software specifically designed for models from Suisoft. This one is pretty comprehensive and includes the ability to add images. I need some tracking ability, so I have to decide to just use Excel or go for the $44 and get Suisoft ...

• Last but not least, I was part of the Real Space Modelers seminar. I talked about building my Huygens Lander and my partner Rob Schorry. talked about 3D printing parts for real space models. At the end of the talk Rob announced a new kit by Real Space Models (designs by him) of the first US satellites - Explorer 1 and Vanguard in 1/24 scale. They are tiny, but in scale with the rest of what's generally accepted scale for unmanned satellites. The Real Space Modelers seminar also acts as a reunion for the members of the Yahoo group of the same name.

The Vendor room looked a little sparse until it was pointed out that the aisles were extra wide. I read somewhere (prolly on the IPMS USA site) that all the vendors went home happy. It is also a good time to meet up with some old friends.  I did get to meet up with a fellow I meet on SSM, whose alias is AZRhino. Mike had his own little venture now, Rhino's Tools and Models. I got a very nice Ma.K kit from him. His tables also hosted Andy from Andy's Hobby HQ, (You Tube channel and store in Glendale, AZ). A double strike out there, in that I missed the meet and greet, AND visiting his store. He builds mostly armor, but he's entertaining to watch. Look him up.
As usual, Rare Plane Detective was there and amongst his stash for sale was a number of Anigrand, and Fantastic Plastic kits. RPD sells collections and other kits gotten from estates etc... I looked and waited, and of course missed a few Anigrand kits I wanted. But I did manage to snag FP's Caprica's Viper.

The extra curricular around Phoenix was that I did get to see my first haboob. On top of the Hyatt Regency is a restaurant that revolves slowly to give diners a view of the city. At one point *everyone's* emergency alert on their phones went off at the same time declaring a haboob was coming. We revolved into the right spot to catch it coming up from the south -  

There were plenty of places to eat within a few blocks of the hotel, including 4 places in the hotel and 2 in the convention hall. While I didn't get to Alice Cooperstown, I did hit the Hard Rock ...

Was a nice time, and I can't wait for Chattanooga next year.

Gauges - Scles -- What the Heck?

I have a bunch of soon to be dioramas sitting around waiting to be finished.  I jumped on the eBay to look for some plants other than grass.  Only a few things to see by looking at scale. So I jumped in the model railroad section and there was a lot to see - all set up by gauge.

I had a model railroad as a kid. When I bought something for it, all I had to look for was HO on the box and I had my item.  But now I have a 1:20 scale model.  What gauge would that be? Had no idea. 
Doing a little web surfing, I was able to make this handy chart. Some gauges I never heard of, but if I need that scale *whatever* I know where to look. 

Hope this helps someone else.

2017 IPMS/USA Nationals, Omaha, NE

This year, the Nationals were awarded to Omaha, NE, and was held at the Convention Center just outside Omaha, in LaVista. There was a number of hotels for the attendees. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott. Nice place.

 

The Convention Center, with the Embassy Suites. On the other side was the Courtyard Marriott.

My wife and son with one of the many Visit Omaha globes.

 The model clubs running the convention did and outstanding job. As usual, for each convention a set of decals are given in the welcome packet representing some model that could bebuilt with the sponsoring state insignias. This year the decals will fit 1:48 and 1:72 (not shown) F-105, F-4C, A-6B, A-4E and F, A-7C.

 The vendor room was actually 2 large rooms and 2 smaller rooms this year. All with plenty of kits and tools for people to buy. 
Now the contest room; I took pics of the genres that interest me, and apologize to the car, and ship guys. Even in the genres I like there are just too many models to image each one. So this is more for the flavor of what was there. My son and I entered for the first time. He had a KV-5 tank in the Junior divisions, I had 3 figures, in the Figures division. 
You can click on the pic for a larger image, just remember to hit the back button to come back. Enjoy.

This was my son's first entry in any Nationals.

My son with his entry.

This year was my first entry - the Frost Giant in the foreground.

Two more of my entries in the foreground.

Planes of Midway

A trio of Mercury capsules

1:72 model of the Palomar telescope

1:16th scale!

IIRC this won Best Group Build

This one was awarded Best Diorama

Sorry about the glare. The base was a mirror and directly over all those lights.

 This won Best Plane.

Besides the Contest and Vendor Room, there was also Seminars. The Yahoo Space Modelers Group always takes a slot to hold an annual Meet and Greet with members usually having a Show and Tell. 
In past years Mike Mackowski, the owner of Space in Miniature was the moderator. But last year announced that after 22 years he was stepping down. Cincinnati modeler Rob Schorry stepped up to continue the tradition. He asked me to do 5 or 10 minutes on building my 1:5 scale New Horizons. He countered with his build of the Real Space Models 1:24 scale New Horizons including the after market parts from Shapeways.  The Real Space Modelers moderator Sven Knudsen recorded both talks and you can find them here - 

720x576 resolution (632 MB):
http://ninfinger.org/models/ipms2017/schorry-720x576.mp4

1280x720 resolution (1.08 GB):
http://ninfinger.org/models/ipms2017/schorry-1280x720.mp4

We usually take a few extra days after the Convention for the family vacation part of the trip. Coming up, I will post what we were doing in and around Omaha. Thanks for looking.