August 2013 Meeting

      While the sun dropped into the horizon, lighting towering piles of thunderstorm clouds to the northeast, High Plains Modelers convened for their August meeting at the Budweiser Events Center's McKee 4-H building. For the fourth month in a row, we had record attendance as 14 club members and 3 guests gathered to discuss all things modeling.
     Mark Persichetti, the chairman of the IPMS 2013 Nationals committee, was gracious enough to stop by with a comprehensive and detailed debrief on the 2013 National convention. A detailed report on the Nats will be covered on a separate, dedicated post here at the HPM website.
     Two guests and prospective new members joined us for the meeting as well. After secret chants and blood rituals were performed, Jim and Scott were warmly welcomed to the group. Introductions were exchanged and we all got to know each other.
     Besides the Nats, HPM's own "Not The Nationals" October model contest & show was also discussed. Stay tuned on our dedicated "High Plains Con" page for further updates on this exciting event.
    Now, let's check out some cool model pics!

Chris's Blohm & Voss BV-141 observation plane, in 1/72

Okay, who invited Hitler to the party? D'oh! Jeff did. ;)

Michael's mouse monk. Really great base on this one.

Marty's 1/72 Airfix P-51, complete with PSP base.

Scott S. brought this very impressive BF-109 with aftermarket canopy and prop.

Gary's Matilda tank employed camoflage techniques demonstrated by Pablo.

Chip's 1/48 Tamiya Mustang.

Pablo's war-weary 1/48 Hawker Hurricane.

Splatter Resistant Paint Shield

All you need is the top of a 2-liter plastic bottle.

Aurora 1/228 USS Skipjack Atomic Submarine

A very easy kit from 1970 with only 23 parts.  

There are several locations on the hull where incomplete molding is obvious & must be filled & sanded.  The plastic is very soft & care must be taken not to remove too much.  The hull half's do not fit together "perfectly" so sanding is required to smooth it out.

The submarine has very little detail.  Also, this Skipjack release comes with a nuclear reactor that can be viewed by removing the aft dorsal hatch (pic 1, circle aft of the sail).  I just had no desire to mess with it so I sealed off the hatch.  A later issue of this kit (pic 3) included a "Phota-Scope" feature in place of the nuclear reactor.  The kit also comes with a single periscope which I also chose to leave off based on several reference photos.  Finally, the sub was delivered with a 5-bladed propeller not the 3-bladed prop in the kit.

This baby needs a little more prep & will be ready for paint.