Good day gents. Recently, the Shenandoah Valley Modelers participated in the IPMS/USA Nationals at Hampton, Virginia. This Nationals was one of the biggest in recent times, with well over 2,000 models entered into the contest. The competition was fierce and as is usual at Nationals, the quality of models across all the categories was superb. Undaunted, five members of the Ravenhood took to the challenge – and all five placed! Maybe that is a record – a club that has all of its members enter Nationals and all win!

The lead winner was Gabe, who in his very first Nationals took First Place in his category. Wow! The other members who placed at Nationals were our dio expert Scott Saylor with his famous Woody’s Garage dio, John with his excellent large tow truck, Marcin and Mark. This achievement says a lot about our young club and everyone should be very proud not only of these five members, but of the club as a whole for doing it right! Oooga Oooga

Jamie has been fighting for his life in the ICU for weeks now, and the updates have been both hopeful and heartbreaking. After battling severe pneumonia that escalated into sepsis and septic shock, he’s now stable but faces the potential loss of his hands and feet due to infection. Jamie Jo, his wife, has been by his side, managing not just his care but also the family’s daily needs, including mortgage and utilities.

As Jamie continues his recovery, the journey ahead is daunting. He requires multiple surgeries and a long rehabilitation process. Any support you can offer, whether through a donation or by sharing this campaign, will make a significant difference. Your kindness can help ease the financial burden during this challenging time. Let’s rally together to support Jamie and his family.

Thank you for considering helping in this time of need.

Best regards,

Scott

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-to-aid-jamies-recovery-and-family

Facebook page for Jamie’s model truck parts site also has the go fund me link on it for donations.

With the fires in California being all over the news lately, it reminded me of an article I had seen in a magazine about P-47s being used to fight wildfires. I’m sure by now we’re all familiar with the large tankers and specifically-designed aircraft that are currently used to drop water and suppressants on fires, but it’s probably not as well known that aircraft like the P-47 were used with converted napalm tanks.

Anyway, not entirely model-related but maybe it’ll inspire someone to make a US Forest Service P-47 at some point…

Click the image below to read the entire article.

-Chad

Happy post Christmas all. Here is a Book Troll.  Marcin gifted me this “creature” several meetings ago.  I was finally able to complete the creature.  I gave him a modified leopard pattern.  This was a fun little project and many thanks to Marcin for handing it over and letting me run with it.  That’s a nice part of our club-how we freely share with each other.    Happy New Year and the next time you grab a book from your library- – you may want to look first!

-Chris

Gents.  The wife’s LinkedIn account had this super neat video on it and it’s in the Christmas spirit!  Enjoy!

-Chris

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luca-bellagamba-1817885a_happy-nu-year-by-f18-drivers-credit-to-activity-7277255293787398145-dkmb?utm_medium=ios_app&utm_source=social_share_video_v2&utm_campaign=mail

Hey gents, especially you Tom and Donovan, got a neat new reference magazine from the bookstore.  Half Century Baby – a photographic history of everyone’s favorite fighter the F-14.  Just can’t go wrong spending time looking at “the ‘Cat!

-Chris

Hey gents if any of you do not have a subscription to Fine Scale Modeler I recommend you visit your favorite bookstore and get the latest edition (Jan/Feb 25).  It is chock full of articles on all techniques to weather your model.  There are good photos that go with each article to help you understand the technique better.  Go weathering!

-Chris

He gents. I stopped by at Frontline Hobbies in Staunton on my way to Lexington.  Christian is starting his Black Friday sales on the web-store Dec 1 (a Sunday) even though the site will say “cyber Monday”. He is doing 30% off his whole inventory. Put in “Save30” to get the sales price at checkout!

Happy shopping
Chris