April 2014 Meeting

     Greetings, Northern Colorado modeling aficionados,

     Last night, Tuesday April 29th, saw the monthly gathering of the High Plains Modelers at the McKee 4H Building at The Ranch. Despite high winds that threatened to blow us off the road, and gathering thunderstorm clouds that tumbled off the mountains, 17 members and two guests managed to squeeze in for a night of plastic shenanigans.
      First up, we took care of some club business. Preparations for our annual show & contest on October 11th continue to proceed normally. We're tweaking the categories this year for a better fit with our participants by adding a Fantasy category and eliminating the Group Builds category. Also, Pablo reported the flyer is nearly ready for publication in the IPMS journal as well as promotion elsewhere.
    IPMS High Plains will be showcasing a full day Build & Bull event at HobbyTown USA Fort Collins. On May 10th we'll arrive at 10am to set up tables and unpack the tools in a day-long frenzy of plastic, glue-sniffing, and bloodied fingers. Should be fun! Stop by and see us or bring a model to get in on the excitement!
 

    *** IPMS High Plains would like to give a warm welcome to our newest members, John, Scott, and Jim. Welcome aboard!***

And now, let's take a gander at some pics!

Cody's '78 Trans Am looks fast standing still.

Pablo's Jetson's Space Car. Pablo reviewed this kit in a recent issue of the IPMS Journal.

'72 Scott's Gepanzert LandWasserSchlepper. It schlepps pretty good, I think.

Michael's out of his comfort zone with a great looking P-47 Thunderbolt.

Chris's BRDM-3 Soviet amphibious vehicle.

Gary brought a Dragon Wagon which was definitely not draggin'. 

Chip's 1/130 scale B-29 by Testors, with experimental tail surfaces ;).

New Scott brought this gorgeous P-51 in 1/48 by Monogram.

Dave sails in with a 1/700 Japanese I-boat.

Tomasz rocked it with this Ju-188 torpedo bomber by Hasegawa.

After the Bring & Brag, Randy put on an excellent demo on installing decals.

Smiling faces while Randy prepares the decals.

The decal has soaked for a bit and is ready to slide gently and slowly on to the car.

If only all of us had an extra pair of hands sometimes. I intend to install some on my bench posthaste!

Unfortunately, as has happened to all too many of us, Randy had a little accident and spilled his bottle of Micro Set. Luckily with some quick paper towel work and recovery skills, Randy was able to finish marking the 2nd car. I can't seem to get a pic of the incident attached, so you'll have to use your imagination.

    That wraps up the meeting summary for the month of April. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next exciting episode!

March 2014 Meeting

     Greetings Northern Colorado scale model fans! Secretary Nuge here to update you on the latest shenanigans of the High Plains Modelers!
    On Tuesday, March 25th, HPM gathered once again at the usual hideout to talk all things styrene, resin, and oatmeal. We had eighteen attendees, even including a guest (a brave, brave man to enter into this den of scum and villainy). For once the weather cooperated and there were no accidents on I-25, making attendance slightly easier.
    The club spent a few minutes discussing business. Preparations are underway for our 25th High Plains Con, and a firm date was set for October 11th, 2014. Check out the contest page for further details. Tentative discussion was held on moving to a custom style award rather than medals and on the idea of adding a supplemental description form for models entered in the show.
    Dave floated the idea of a quarterly in-house model contest, with a $5 fee to fund a prize for the winner at the end of the year. Models would be properly judged on construction and finish as opposed to the popular vote we take for the monthly contest. Points would be awarded on a basis of a 1-4 rating. Tony and Dave decided to hammer out the details on this in the coming month.
   HobbyTown will be having an open house the 2nd weekend in May, and will be hosting HPM for a day-long Build & Bull session to bring increased exposure to plastic modeling. HPM will be featured right out front-and-center on the main floor of the store as opposed to our usual haunt in the basement. Should be a fun time.
   This month's modeling clinic was Figure/Face Painting by Michael Adams. He gave an excellent presentation on the nuances of figure paints, tools, and techniques. Thanks, Michael!
   But enough about mundane club business! Let's get on to the pics we know you all want and love. Check out the builds as well as the photo feature of Michael's demo below:

Chris brought Tamiya's '80's vintage 1/48 A-10A Warthog. The 'Hawg!

Scott brought this SS-100 Luftwaffe heavy tractor. Look out for the giant hand!

Gary's 1/35 Kangaroo. Basically an M7 Priest converted to APC duty.

Another shot of the Kangaroo.

Marty's 1/72 Airfix Typhoon blew our doors off.

Tomasz with a squad of German armor.

A better shot of Tomasz' Elefant.

Chip brought in an F-4S in 75th anniversary markings for VX-4.

Another shot of Chip's F-4. 

Cody's 2007 Nissan 350Z by Aoshima. It looks fast standing still.

Dave brought in a 1/72 Mustang by Airfix.

Another shot of Dave's P-51.

Michael begins his demo on figure painting.

A shot of some of Michael's work.

Demonstrating a figure secured to a paint bottle with Blu-Tac.

Add caption

Closeup of pen useful for painting eyes.

The master at work. Everybody quiet!

     That's it for this month, folks. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode when HPM meets in April, featuring a demo on decals by Randy R. Auf Wiedersehen!

February 2014 Meeting

   Hello modeling fans!Sit down and strap in for the latest update on the shenanigans of High Plains Modelers!

    A fast blizzard rolled through the northern Front Range, making the trip to The Ranch treacherous, to say the least. Only 11 club members and two guests managed to make it, but we did have a great time in spite of the circumstances.
     Thanks to the efforts of Pablo, the club was able to enjoy a 2 hour presentation on resin casting given by Reynolds Advanced Materials. Topics covered included the various forms of resin and urethane available for use in casting copies of model parts or in making your own unique creations. John Hamilton did an excellent job of demonstrating the various resins as he cast several car bodies, a Millenium Falcon, a seat, and other parts. Samples of the parts as well as mixtures that were still curing were passed around, and it was neat to feel the heat from the chemical reaction as the quicker-curing products did their job. Although the club was not able to conduct very  much business due to time constraints, the 2 hours of resin casting demos were more than enough to make up for it. Lets give Pablo a hearty round of applause for arranging this demo, and also huge props to John and Jesse from Reynolds Advanced Materials for coming up to perform the demo.
     Here are some pics of the resin casting demo:

John prepares a resin mixture.

John separates a two-part mold of a spark plug.

Spark plug mold. Note detail of threads and electrode on the plug.

John diagrams the construction of a box mold for a scale saddle (shown in cross section view).

Mixing more resin. Some of the quick-cure resins generated so much heat the cup was hard to hold. Very hot.

Pouring catalyst for the resin.

View of work table with various sample molds and products.

After the resin casting demo, the club conducted an abbreviated "Bring & Brag", where we voted on the models members brought, but did not discuss. Gary won this month's contest with his Hudson Hornet racer. Let's check out what everybody brought!

Chip built this 1/144 MiG-31 interceptor. Nothing like the brute look of Russian hardware!

Here's Cody's Mercedes. It even had car show posters in the back seat. 

Gary's Hudson Hornet.

72 Scale Scott brought this building. It's square, has two stories, and features a yellow roof and some reddish brickwork. Did I mention it's square?  ;)

My favorite was New Scott's F-84 Thunderjet. He did a great job on the NMF and on masking the canopy framing. I hate masking.

Well, that's it for this month. Stay tuned for another action packed update after our next meeting in March. Model on!