Wow…what a fun “out of comfort zone” contest!  I was so pleased to see everyone had fun and enjoyed the good-spirited contest.  By popular vote, we will do this again next March, so start planning now for your build.  It is appropriate to do this on our anniversary month to celebrate what each of us has learned from each other and from the group to make your own builds just that much better.

Congrats to all the winners today and for the creativeness of the builds.  I want to give a shout out to Andre for his very out of the box approach to his tugboat; to Chad for modifying his US Army motorcycle to a civilian post war one; and to Todd for that amazing scratch built semi truck. 

Please forward to me your wish lists for topics to either go over in the group session or for a break out session.  If anyone as well would like to offer to demonstrate a technique they are good at, let me know too!

The next closest show is NOVA in April. I think several of the members are planning to attend.   There are some other shows in March and April but they are quite the drive and not sure how many, if any, are willing to do a long distance trek.  Whatever event members attend, wear your shirt to show off our “flag”.

We welcome our new members to the club – again how neat it was they showed for our March anniversary meeting.  We look forward to seeing your craft, helping you where we can, and learning from you.  We help, guide, and support each other in the Raven-hood and we hope you enjoy your time with us.

Martin will look into programs to support kids’ programs in the area.  Various folks agreed to see if their local library would like to host us for adult/kid programs they run that can use our crafts and skills for their clients.   Chad is going to look into creating web-based themed chat rooms for members to join and hopefully he can set that up for us as well as making “good job” tokens we can leave next to builds we like at show events.

See you all in early April for the meeting and again for NOVA and the museum tour late in April.  Until then, keep building.  As for me, I have a guillotine to paint!


Chris

Good day gents.  Sorry, no photos to share as I just forgot to take any at the February meeting.  The meeting went very well with Randy taking the lead on what judges look for in competitions with a good assist from Scott from the builders point of view.  The use of the room by the kitchen at the church is a much better venue as it gives more space.  Everyone welcome our new members Robert the Big and Robert the small (father;son duo) to the club.  Robert (the dad) was offering good conversation on car builds so we look forward to hearing him out on other occasions.  The models on display were quite good.  I especially liked Scott’s before and after versions of the same model truck – a neat display idea.  Scott’s idea is to place those two trucks on a nice display board with a simulated road way.  Should be another of Scott’s wins at a upcoming show.

Speaking of Randy, he brought the first diorama he ever made many moons ago.  When I asked him why he kept it all these years, he said he used it as a reminder of where he was skills-wise to where he is now (which is remarkable).  That was a neat story.  I thought it might be a good idea if others might want to share a good modeling story like that.

Speaking again of sharing, it is 2025. Everyone think of topics they would like to have presented during this year.  Ours is a teaching club so let’s continue to learn from each other by having presentations on this or that technique, this or that paint or paint method, this or that anything.

It came out in the meeting I am running for IPMS/USA Secretary.  The election is sometime in 2025 and one other person is running for the office.  Voting is done by IPMS/USA members so when that comes out I would appreciate your vote and your getting the word out to friends in other clubs near and far.  It would be a great thing for propel the Raven-hood forward.

Best
Chris

Happy Monday, everyone. The January meeting went really well despite being delayed a week due to bad weather.  We had a few folks return after long absences and even had a few new faces! I believe there were 21 people in attendance.

The main focus of this month’s meeting was an airbrush demonstration by Dave Monet, the instructor that Tom has been taking classes with.  He was generous enough to come down from Hagerstown and give an introductory lesson for us at no cost and was able to answer some questions folks had.  He also gave a few of us a chance to try using an airbrush for the first time.

Dave said he’s more than happy to come down again in the future.  If enough people show interest in having him come back then perhaps we can make a list of things we’d like to see covered and let him tailor a more specific session for us.

As a reminder, make sure you’ve updated your calendars to show our new meeting schedule.  We’ve switched to the first Saturday of every month which means our next meeting is just 2 weeks away!  No big demonstration is planned so be sure to bring in anything you’ve been working on or want to talk about.

For those of you who didn’t pay your dues at the January meeting, please remember dues are….due… between now and the March meeting.  See you guys in February!

-Chad