Happy Easter

Greetings and  Happy Easter to all.  Do have a peaceful and enjoyable Easter with your family and friends.  My dogwood trees are not ready to bloom at Easter this year as they normally do, but when they do arrive it will be nice as the flowers of the tree are pretty and have that very appropriate Cross pattern in the petals.

Chad and I took a trip to Frontline on Saturday and had a good visit with Christian and his team at the store.  They had coffee and – of course – donuts waiting for us.  We gladly took advantage of that.  The highlight for me was getting the Meng 1/48 F-14B Bombcat, which Christian had ordered from his distributor for me.  Chad got a bunch of small stuff (it’s Chad remember!) for under $30.  Christian gave some deep discounts for the both of us.  Afterwards, we both munched on street tacos at the nearby Mexican restaurant and visited a gaming store about a block away.  All in all it was a good trip to Staunton on a rather nice day.

Good news all.  We have crossed the $2000 barrier for our chapter account balance.  It took us just about 1 year to do so but we made that goal I had set out.   Thanks to Ross, Chad and Scot ahead of time on giving a primer on decal placement and setting for this month’s talk.  FYI to all, our honorary member John will be officially handing over one of his superb fire engines to a fire hall in Pennsylvania and graciously offered to do so on behalf of the Shenandoah Valley Modelers chapter.  John and I will work on doing a write up of the event for an upcoming issue of the IPMS magazine. 

In closing, having a great Easter.  Put the sprue down and spend time with those close to you today. 

– Chris

Captain Winters

Hey gents.  Here is a start of a bust of Captain Dick Winters of Easy Company.   I am doing this on reverse, in that I will paint his jacket last and doing the relief work first (straps and stuff). I dabbed a light layer of Ammo non-slip on the helmet to give it that rough steel texture.  Will let it dry a full day before priming it and eventually painting it.   The pistol holster and the more green looking straps were AK lacquer airbrushed color but the off-green and browns are AV Vallejo acrylics brush painted.  The jacket will be AV Vallejo as well and brushed on.   

– Chris

GT 500

Here is the Shelby GT500 all finished. The little details of this kit were nearly its undoing. The grille/bumper assembly fit is atrocious, the exterior mirrors are cartoonishly ill proportioned. The interior tub was molded with the alignment pins crooked making the interior sit funny relative to the body. All overcome with patience and profanity. Lol

– Ross

Peterbilt Custom

All you truck modelers with sensitive stomachs may want to avert your eyes for this one. This is a vintage AMT Peterbilt conventional built by my father when I was a wee lad. He conveyed it to me recently as part of a group of old decrepit built up kits. This one has been restored/ modified in the low rider style and turned into a tri-axle. The parts for the conversion came from an unsalvageable Autocar tractor. The front bumper, exhaust stacks, and bogey wheels are all scratch built. The paint is original, brought back to life by elbow grease and carnuba wax.

– Ross

Summer Events

I used to be a member of NOVA IPMS before Chris snatched me away, but I still get emails from the group from time to time. Occasionally there’s some good stuff in them and this one in particular I thought would be worth sharing.

This summer there are two cool things happening just a few hours away:

Personally, I REALLY want to see the Tricolori team. I’ve seen the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, and the Red Arrows, and every one of them has been a blast. The battleship tour isn’t as big of a deal to me but it would still be pretty enjoyable I suspect and I’d absolutely be down to tag along with someone else.

These events seem like they could make for fun club trips if anyone would be interested in going to either event. And I suspect there are more events like this that might be of interest as well. I typically see at least one air show a year and I know my wife would be more than happy to sit at home and let someone else babysit me for a day or two…

So if anyone sees some cool events coming up, perhaps we can make a list and find a way to get some more club time in between meetings.

– Chad

Beachcon 2024

Beachcon is an annual competition hosted by the Grand Strand Scale Modelers in Myrtle Beach, SC. This year’s event took place on the 23rd and while it appears that only Randy was able to participate from our club, he still represented us quite well by bringing home 5 awards, including a Best Of trophy! Let’s all be sure to congratulate him at the next meeting.

Below are some photos of other models that were entered in the contest. Looks like it was a pretty fun event.

– Chad

Assassin Bike Update

Gents; the assassin bike got its paint design set in.  Thanks to those who had ideas on paint schemes. I wanted the bike to be “dark and mysterious” for its anti-hero lady killer rider.  The black will go with her outfit and the red represents the “kills” she is hired to do.  Of course she only accepts contracts on bad guys.

I will let this dry for 2-3 days then give several coats of a clear varnish.  Once that is done I will mount the body panels and fenders.  While the paint rests and dries I will work to finish the front tire assembly so I can get to my killer babe!!

– Chris

Scott’s Most Recent

AMT Peterbilt Wrecker

This kit is less than stellar as parts were warped and there are fitting problems. 

The model is pretty much box stock with the exception of the use of framing wire for the tow cable. The accessories on the bed were added for a touch of realism. They are not glued in place.

– Scott

Ross’ Shelby

Progress is being made on the Shelby. Paint came out fantastic. Base coat is flat black, followed by Testors Blazing Black lacquer. Interior is three shades of red. I ended up removing a fair bit of the front crossmember to lower the engine enough for the hood to clear. Even with all that I still needed a 60s Mopar “mailbox” hood scoop.

The aforementioned mail box, which required the Shelby hood louvers be filled and sanded to shape. The exhaust also needed custom work in the form of a NASCAR style x pipe with drag dumps. The rear section under the rear axle is made of solder. These pipes will exit through a custom rear valence adapted from a Dodge Sidewinder.

– Ross