December 2006.Tonight we welcome the families of club members and wish you an enjoyable evening.

· There is a selection of food and drink at the buffet, so please tuck in! Remember, “there is no such thing as a free meal”: see later for the onerous and challenging task awaiting you!

· Please feel free to contribute a prize and purchase a ticket for the raffle. Vic will be the MC for this.

· Undoubtedly modellers will bring in models to sell in the “bring & buy” sale. Be the first to grab that bargain!

· We shall also be awarding prizes for the club’s annual competitions. Club members have voted already on the entries for each class. We also award an “Overall Winner” and each and every person here this evening will be asked to vote for their favourite. Choosing “the best” from the entries in the competition is the onerous and challenging bit!

Hobbyboss kit build.Our 30 Hobbyboss kits of the F4U-1 Corsair have been supplied to us by Just Add Imagination in Botley and you can collect yours this evening for the amazingly low price of £3.45.

Remember the rules: out of the box apart from decals, where you have a free choice of finish to apply to your kit. Airbrushing is not only permitted, but encouraged! Please do talk to other members about how they intend to build their models and do be open with your replies: I know we each have a competitive streak, but let’s learn as much as we can from each other whilst we enjoy building these little kits.

Voting will be in April for the Test Trout trophy.

For ideas and inspiration, do take a look at the photos and notes on a wonderful model built from Tamiya’s 1/72 kit by Michael Rinaldi on the internet. Look under “Plastic Pics” on the forums of www.hyperscale.com. I had intended to print the information in this newsletter, but Mike has told me that can’t be done owing to a contractual arrangement / restrictions he has with his publisher. So, sorry about that!

Events since we last met.

IPMS Scale Modelworld 2006.Paul Adams writes…..After a break of two years Dan and I made the long trip to Telford to see the sights and sounds of Scale Modelworld. Though, on this visit, we had a chance to simply look around, chat and shop as we weren’t displaying.

The trip was also an opportunity to meet up with some fellow car modellers, the guys from Les Garagiste (the organisers of the Modelsport show) who virtually fell over themselves upon the news that Dan and I would be attending the March 2007 show! Next years theme will be ‘Ferrari’. I’m sure Dan had a surreptitious hand in this idea somewhere!

The show is an opportunity for many manufacturers to release and reveal forthcoming kits, and this year was no exception. Of note was Heritage Aviation Models - they had a 1/24th Mosquito and in the same scale, a

Lancaster, appropriately named ‘the divorce maker’! Revell had a superb 1/72nd Gato class US Sub on their stand. This model eclipses the Type VII U boat by being about a foot longer – it’s 53 inches in overall length!! Quality looked to be on par with the VII – expect to see one at a club night soon….

The competition area was packed full of some beautifully built and painted models. As usual, the aircraft classes dominated the number of entries, with many of those being in large scale prop. Entries in automotive were down on previous years – Sci fi looked to have increased, a sign of the times I guess. After judging had finished we learned that a relative of Dan’s had won gold in large scale armour with his highly detailed 1/25th

Trumpeter T34.

The day concluded with some light shopping, Dan purchased some items for eBay, and I collected a free, part finished Ford RS200 resin rally car kit from Patrick Watson (the red and white one that’s featured in TMMI this month) for me to finish, hopefully before Modelsport. Overall, an enjoyable day out and certainly a show worth attending if you haven’t done so already.

I was saddened to read on the Hyperscale website that the editor of Military in Scale actually had his completed Heinkel stolen from the stand at Telford. This does raise the possibility of it happening to one of us at a show. Be vigilant!

Bugle Call 2006.

Phil writes….

The Bath show was good as usual although it was noticeably quiet; maybe the bad weather put people off going. The trip down was fairly grim. Simon, Terry and Chris were there to represent Southampton.

Forthcoming Events.

London Model Engineering Exhibition.The “South’s Largest Model Engineering & Modelling Exhibition” is in it’s 11th year and will be held at the Great Hall, Alexandra Palace from 19 to 21 January. Opening times are 10.00 – 5.30 Friday & Saturday, 10.00 – 4.00 Sunday. Tickets are £9.00 excluding concessions.

Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.I have booked 18ft of table space for Model Show 2007 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, on Saturday 10 February 2007. This is a very popular outing for the club, with stands amongst the aircraft exhibits, so do make a note in your diaries to come along to this one.

Military In Miniature 2006.The Aldershot Branch of the BMSS will be holding their show at the usual venue, The Princes Hall, Aldershot on 17 February.

Modelsport.“Les Garagistes” are having their second 'Modelsport' show to be held at The Holiday Inn, St Quentin Gate, Telford, Shropshire, on March 25th. 'Modelsport' is aimed at the motorsport enthusiast, be that cars or bikes.

What the papers say……

The Aeroplane.

DATABASE: The Tupolev SB Bombers: the full story of one of the Tupolev SB high-speed bomber, which was built in the thousands and saw action in five conflicts around the world. Includes scale drawings by Tim Hall and cutaway by Mike Badrocke.Reborn after 70 Years in the Dark: restoration of a 1930s light aircraft found in France. From Roundels to Red Stars: only one British heavy bomber ever served officially with the Soviet Air Force. Vladimir Kotelnikov explains how six more made it into red stars. Aeroplane Explains: slots and slats. Propulsion Kings: some of the pioneers who helped shape the history of engine design. 'Tiger on the Nose, Devil in the Detail': Ron Fagen's rare Curtiss P-40K, winner of the Oshkosh Grand

Champion Warbird prize. A Most Peculiar Affair: the true story behind a bizarre suicide pact involving two society girls and a D.H.84 Dragon in 1935. Mosquito Update: progress report on the rebuilding of Bob Jens's de Havilland Mosquito.

Air ModellerDec 06Coarse - sair - Fanch Lubin roughs up a French Naval Corsair.Phooning Around Part 2 - The Editor concludes his look at MDC’s 1:32nd scale Typhoon with a step by step painting guideGutless Cutlass - Part Two of Ricardo Rodriguez’s twenty month project looks at the paint techniques applied to the Fujimi 1:72nd scale kit Xtreme Detail - F7U-3M CutlassFat Cat - Julien Haccoun describes his Tamiya P-47 RazorbackFranck’s Frank - Franck Oudin builds the 1:32nd scale Nakajima KI-84”Frank”.

Fine Scale ModelerJan 07.COVER STORY: John Vojtech's Nationals-winning B-2 stealth bomber. AIRCRAFT HOW-TO: Brush-painting a war-weary Corsair; Building a better BansheeDIORAMA HOW-TO: Making the sceneProfile: Modeling as art with Kevin KusterWorkbench Reviews: ACH-47A Chinook, M1A1 AIM Abrams, Eurofighter Typhoon, USS Gato SS-212 1941, T-72M1, Volkswagen Type 82E staff car & PzKpfw 38(t) Ausf GHistory You Can Model: Happy Birthday, Buzz Aldrin

Military In ScaleARMOURFIRST IMPRESSIONS: of Dragon's new American M2A1 half-track.ISLAND HOPPER: Academy's Marine Corps M4A2 Sherman, finishing it off in a suitably 'weathered' fashion!COLLECTOR'S ITEM a very neat diorama built up around Tamiya's 1/48 JagdpantherA NOT SO BIG MACK: WWI Trucks are hardly thick on the ground and so the release of another is welcome. Steve Irwin builds two of RPM's super little Mack BulldogsAIRCRAFTHIGHLY POLISH'D: The PZL Karas may not be the most attractive of aircraft, but it makes for a great subject in miniature. Haris Ali has built the Mirage 1/48 kit and tells all in this special reportLA FERTÉ ALAIS: a wonderful air display held in the Parisian Countryside. With plenty of classics on show, there was much to photograph...PAINT NOT REQUIRED... Ade Pitman takes a look at the range of pre-painted aircraft kits from Doyusha. The Scale? One Hundredth...FEATURESMESSERSCHMITT ME.109 F-2 CAMOUFLAGE AND MARKINGS Mark Rolfe offers up alternatives for builders of the new ICM kitWAR & PEACE 2006: The Hop Farm in Kent played host to one of the largest gatherings of military vehicles and associated paraphernalia anywhere. We take a look back at this year's show with some exclusive photosKARAS CAMOUFLAGE AND MARKINGS: Peter Green illustrates some alternative schemes for builders of the Mirage PZL Karas

Model Aircraft Monthly.

Hawker’s Perfect Storm: history and colour schemes applied to the Hawker Sea Fury.

Harriers at Sea: On 31 March 2006, No 800 NAS recommissioned with the Harrier GR.7/7A, and embarked its new Harriers aboard HMS IllustriousTyphoon Night Fighters: As night flying trials found it easier to fly than either the Hurricane or Spitfire, a different career seemed to beckon...Antonov’s ‘Flying Tractor’: The Antonov An-2 first flew in August 1947, and looked dated at the time it was designed, but it was extremely rugged, perfectly suited to its tasks and is still going strong todayHeinkel’s ‘Volksjäger’: Tamiya’s latest 1/48 scale German jet – the He 162 ‘Volksjäger’Photo Recce Mirage: AML’s 1/72 scale kit as Mirage No ‘458’Kiwi Macchi: RNZAF MB 339CB using the FREMS 1/48 scale kit with the Alitaliane MB 339 CD conversion setPoisonous Pair: RAF Venom FB.4 and FAA Sea Venom FAW.21 from 1/48 scale Aeroclub kitsAirborne Draywagon: Skyraider AEW.1 in 1/72 scaleFold-out Scale Plans: Antonov An-2 'Colt' 4 pages in 1/48

Scale Aviation Modeller International.Dec 06, on sale 25 Nov. £3.80.

Avenger TBF-1C: 1/32 Trumpeter. Colour profiles by Jerry BoucherGrumman Avenger: 1/72 FROG. Breathing new life into a Grumman Avenger A-12 Avenger II: 1/72 Scratchbuild of the stillborn MDD/GD A-12 Avenger IIBf 109G-14: by Paul Adams. 1/32 Hasegawa. Car modeller Paul builds a Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14 in Erich Hartmann’s Eastern Front winter scheme from 1945RAF S.E.5a 1/48 Revell. Colour profiles by Jerry BoucherVickers Valiant: 1/72 Mach 2 No foes stayed his might, as Tony laboured night and day to build Mach 2’s Vickers Valiant (with apologies to John Bunyan)Sutton Coldfield Model Spectacular2006 IPMS Belgium National Convention 2006

Scale Models International.Dec 06, on sale 25 Nov. £3.25.

Sayonara Schumi: Ferrari 248F1, Amalgam 1:8 diecast, stats and collectablesDive Bomber: Douglas SBD Dauntless. Trumpeter 1:32.Slot Car: SSC Meeting. Wolverhampton SSC Trans Am and Saloon meetingAction Figure Aces: Reach for the Sky with 1:6 scale aviatorsLondon Icons: Routemaster Buses. DiecastFlaming Dragon: SdKfz 251-1. Dragon 1:35Hot Litlle Ford: Ford Escort RS1600. Scala 43 1:43, Resin and white metal

Model Airplane International.Issue 17, Dec 06, published 23 Nov.Kwik Build: Libor Jekl builds the Special Hobby 1:72 F2A-3 Buffalo, while Nick J. Wigman tackles the Roden 1:48 B.E.12bSnake Bite: Steve A. Evans tackles Hasegawa’s new P-400 AiracobraSchnellbomber: Hasegawa’s new 1:72 Junkers Ju 88A-4 built by Rev. John McIllmurrayBasketweave Bomber Pt.2: The editor concludes our look at the Trumpeter 1:48 Wellington with ideas on how to deal with the fabric effect, amongst othersCobras & Caribous: Bell’s unorthodox P-39 fighter is the subject of Richard J. Caruana’s feature this monthMitsubishi’s Masterpeice: Nick Wigman updates the Tamiya 1:32 A6M5 with CMK and Eduard sets

Tamiya Model Magazine International.Issue 134, Dec 06.TALES FROM THE RIVER BANK: A 1:35 slice of life from WW2 ItalyTEXAS TORNADO: Tamiya’s 1:12 Yamaha M1 ‘Laguna Seca’FANTASTIC FORD: Ford RS200 Group B rally cars in 1:24KIT PREVIEW: Tamiya 1:72 F4U-1 Corsair X2, Plus Model 1:35 Stoewer radio car, Eduard 1:48 Fw190A-8; Revell 1:144 Type XXI U-BoatPRETTY IN PINK: White Ensign Models’ 1:350 HMS KellyTHE GREAT AIRBRUSH TAKEAWAY! All in one box airbrushing solutionsI WANT THAT ONE: Tamiya’s 1:48 VW Beetle and Luftwaffe Ground EquipmentHALF A CENTURY, NOT OUT! Revell celebrate 50 years of model kit production

Model Military International.Issue 9, Jan 07. Published 7 Dec.PAKWAGON: the long awaited Sd.Kfz 234/4 Pakwagon from DragonFULL SIZE 234 REF: full sized reference photos on this futuristic looking vehiclePANTHER IN THE UNDERGROWTH: stunning 1:48 model of Tamiya’s Panther GMOG-INIFICENT: building and painting the Perfect Scale Modelbau UNIMOG S404PREVIEW: Darren Thompson takes a look at the Dragon’s all new Marder II, Revell’s reboxed MH-53J pave Low III, Dragon’s tiny 1:35 Flakpanzer 1 gets our opinionBRAVEHEART: Full size AS90 reference. We take a look at the British Army’s SPG in the fieldM60 BATASH DIORAMA: Graeme Carruthers converts the good old M60 into the futuristic looking IDF Batash using the Legend conversionKEEPING THE PEACE: Moustafa Assad has sent us some very topical photos of the French Army deploying to the Lebanon to start their peace keeping role

Scale Aircraft Modelling.Aircraft in Profile: The ‘new’ Luftwaffe at 50: Thomas Newdick recounts the history of the ‘new’ Luftwaffe in its 50th anniversary year, while David Howley provides colour artwork.Pacific Fleet Avenger Mk III: Part 1: Tony O’Toole converts Trumpeter’s 1:32 scale TBM-3 Avenger into aFleet Air Arm Mk IIIModelling Masterclass: Part 15: External details: In the fifteenth instalment of this important monthly series, Vic Scheuerman continues his back-to-basics look at scale aircraft modellingSAM plans: Avro Anson Mk I: Peter Green draws 1:48 scale plansCT-4 Airtrainer: Building a ‘Plastic Parrot’: Julian R. B. Edwards made the acquaintance of the PAC Airtrainer at the Warbirds Over Wanaka show earlier in the year. Inspired by what he saw, he tackled the Kiwi Resin Models kit to produce a colourful replicaA camera aboard HMS PerseusIn this Scale Aircraft Modelling exclusive we present a selection of photographs taken aboard HMS Perseus as it performed steam catapult trials in the early 1950sAlso at Pearl Harbor… Sikorsky JRS-1 To mark the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Editor asked some regular contributors to see what could be done to recreate some of the less well known aircraft types involved in the action. Alistair McLean tackled Sword’s JRS-1 amphibianOccasional Colours: Indo-Pakistan air war Thirty-five years ago, in December 1971, India and Pakistan entered into bitter conflict. Mark Rolfe commemorates this war, and previous clashes between the countries, with a special artwork

Reference CD-ROM.

Please be sure to pick up your CD-ROM of reference material. It contains information on aircraft, vehicles (civil and military), ships and general modelling.Please join me in thanking the contributors: Paul Adams, Tony Adams, Les Cooper, Richard Stewart and Keith Trotman as they went to a lot of trouble to provide the material. Finally, please respect copyright and do contact me if you intend to use any of the material in a published piece so that I can obtain the originator’s agreement. If you have material of your own that you would like to contribute to the next CD-ROM, please let me know.

How do you do that?!

Following publication of Paul Adams’s article on his Bf109 in SAMI, Gary Jarman contacted Paul to ask whether some of the techniques he used for building the model could be demonstrated during club evenings.

Paul and others have done such demonstrations in the past and I know will do so again if the membership is interested. We endeavour to make these demos quick and snappy; ideally 15 to 30 minutes duration. That means not allowing the demo to become too broad ranging. If a topic needs longer than this, then an alternative approach is to do a 15 minute or so introduction and then continue during the evening with members checking on progress and asking questions as we go along.

If there are any particular topics you would like to see demonstrated, then please let me know so that I can compile a list.

Something else I would like to see explored is the basic sequence we use in building a model: stages such as filling and sanding / priming / undercoating / painting / gloss coat / panel lines / weathering / matt coat / transparencies / resin / photo etch, etc. I'm looking for what Einstein might have called a "Unified Theory Of Modelling" had he been smart enough to be a modeller. It is a topic that I would like us to discuss early next year. We could then have demos (or workshops) and hear from members their own ideas and preferences for achieving each stage of construction. Please do get involved as I think this will be rewarding for us all, novices and experts alike!

Baaaaa – Humbug!Okay, that is as close to “A Christmas Carol” as this story goes……..A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Prada suit, Gucci shoes, Dior sunglasses and D+G tie, leans out the window and asks the shepherd: "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you let me choose one for free?"

The shepherd looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers: "Alright. Why not?" The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his AT&T cell phone, surfs to a NASA page on the internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans thearea in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of complex formulae. He uploads all of this data via an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out afull-colour, 50-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturised HP LaserJet printer, turns to the shepherd and says: "You have exactly 1,586 sheep".

"That's right. Well, I suppose you can take one of my sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the boot of his car.

Then the shepherd says to the young man: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my sheep?" The young man thinks about it for a second and then says: "Okay, why not?".

"You're a consultant," says the shepherd.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie. "But how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required," answers the shepherd. "You showed up here even though nobody called you, you want to get paid for an answer I already knew to a question I never asked, and you know bugger -all about my business.”

"Now give me back my dog."

On the Workbench.

HMS Triumph Part 3.

Last month I had got as far as undercoating the model. The central part of the ship has a large number of ship’s boats on mounting chocks. The chocks come as tiny resin mouldings that need to be glued in place one by one. Positions for these were scaled off from Burt’s drawing and they were tacked in place with white PVA glue, followed up by thin cyanoacrylate once everything was correctly aligned. The normal recommendation is to glue the mountings to the underside of the boats first of all, but I wanted to use the mountings as a painting guide so I could paint in the shadows that the boats would cast onto the deck using a dark grey oil paint mix. One problem is that I forgot that I intended to have one of the boats (a very nice looking steam pinnace) on the sea display base and not on the ship, so now I’ll have an invisible boat casting a shadow on the ship’s deck! Another problem is that the boats in the kit are smaller than those scaled from the Burt drawing and the mountings will now look too far apart. Live and learn, as they say.

The ship’s funnels are nice castings that need to have a photo-etched (PE) grille attached to their tops. The flat PE grille needs to be dished upwards beforehand and that is a fairly tricky operation done by placing the part on a rubber pad and pressing down with a dome-ended tool. What often happens (and did this time with me), is the outside ring crumples here and there. You could trim the ring away afterwards for a neat job, but I thought this a bit risky so glued it on anyway. One of the things I should have done was to thin the wall around the top of the funnel before gluing the grille in place as it would look a little better.

The funnels have three circumferential weld seams that are missing on the castings. I used a loop of stretched Lycra thread to represent these with a coat of Johnson’s Klear to hold them in place. The funnels were then airbrushed grey and a sooty top sprayed with Tamiya Panzer Grey. They were then tacked in place with PVA and continuously moved, prodded, poked, checked against a set square, etc, until they looked to be vertical. Then I ran cyanoacrylate glue around the join to set them in position.

The various parts for the masts come as resin castings. The spars are too flimsy so I replaced these with brass rod, filing and sanding the ends to get the correct shape. This was all PVA/superglued in place and rigging added from heat stretched sprue. Now some kind soul had left a box of sprue behind from last months meeting so I had a chance to do some experimenting with this stuff. Some plastic pulled easily to form really fine monofilament, whereas others just didn’t want to know. The stretching of plastic sprue forms a corollary to “Sod’s Law”: the colours you want (black or very dark grey) don’t stretch very well. The brilliant colours (which are often useless because you then have to paint it) stretch, well, brilliantly!

To apply the rigging, the length was gauged using dividers and the stretched sprue cut to this size. A small dot of PVA glue was put on the deck or mast and the end of the sprue placed into this. The other end was teased to where it should go and then tacked in place with another application of PVA. Once all were set in position, I followed up with thin cyanoacrylate.

Ships railings were applied in a similar manner. Dividers were used to gauge the length needed (try to go for short stretches of railing rather than one long piece) and a slightly overlength piece cut from the PE fret. I have found the new (to me) Swann-Morton 15C blades to be a lot easier to get the small parts off the fret. You may now need to form the shape of the PE to match the model. If you have tight corners, try to have a stanchion at that point: this is where I often use separate pieces, with just one of them having the stanchion. If you need to form a curve, place the PE on a piece of rubber or foam and use a roller. Use a big roller and stiff rubber for shallow curves and small roller and deep, softer foam for tighter ones. Frequently check and adjust until the PE fits the model and then trim the end(s) to size. I used a #9 blade to do the cutting, having placed the PE on some glass to avoid it bending. I also found the #9 blade was good for folding the PE, being somewhat thinner than a safety blade it slides under the PE easier. Place two or three dots of PVA along the edge of the deck and position the railing in place, teasing it in place. Once done, run thin cyanoacrylate along the bottom edge of the rail. Many of you know that my preferred applicator for this is a cocktail stick with an end trimmed to the shape of a screwdriver blade. Dip this into a puddle of superglue and transfer it to the model: it works a lot better than any other applicator I’ve tried.

Fig 10 Foredeck of HMS Triumph.Photo: Agria website.

Before attaching the rails to the deck, I did paint the wooden areas with an oil paint mix of Naples Yellow + Rowney Raw Sienna + (touch of ) violet blue + Flake White + Liquin over the undercoat of Tamiya Desert Yellow. I have also painted the hull using a range of greys mixed from Ivory Black, Paynes Grey, Cadmium Orange and Flake White. Shadows cast from details have been lined in using a very dark shade. The model is not looking too bad now and completion is in sight.

Club Calendar.

January 17 Test Trout trophy: “The Italian Job”.

February 21

March 21

April 18 St George’s Day & Test Trout “Hobbyboss” competition.

May 16

June 20

July 18 American Trophy & Test Trout “The French Connection”.

August 15

September 19

October 17 Test Trout “Germany Calling”.

November 21 Annual Competition

December 19 Christmas Evening.

RAAF reveals new Top Secret fighter

Fun for all the family……

Christmas, as we all know, is a family time. A time to relax and enjoy those things we love. So just how do you get on with your modelling when you should be spending time with the family? What you need is a distraction for them. Jigsaws are a good choice. Failing that, give this little game a try. All they have to do is find the missing words and so that should buy you an afternoon ……

By the way, I don’t have the official answers, but I’m sure that between us we should be able to answer every one!

Next Meeting: January 17

Test Trout trophy, the theme being “The Italian Job”.

Your entries can be of any scale or vintage (in other words a model you have had for some time or a newly completed one) that meets the theme, however imaginative your explanation!

Happy modelling! Pat Camp Tel: 02380 266828, email patrick.camp@btinternet.com