THE ROTUNDA STEVE’S BOAT, gold winner at the Nationals, won most popular vote last month, whilst Gem’s Fury, with it’s alternative camouflage scheme won the Hospice (still modelling’s premier competition)
INSIDE:
another bumper issue with many pages, some from home grown contributors!
SHERMANIA 2015
CLUB MEETING DATES AND FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2015 MARCH 15TH APRIL 19TH MAY 17TH JUNE 21ST JULY 19TH ABOVE: entry no. 29. Ask Terry…
AUG 16TH SEPT 20TH OCT 18TH
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT this was barely HALF of the competition entry last month…
NOV 15TH
AGM
DEC 13TH
XMAS EXTRAVAGANZA
SAD NEWS Roger reports that “Kate Robinson from the Wobourne club - known to many - unfortunately passed away in January after battling cancer. A lovely lady well known to many of us. Rog”
MIKE’S MID-WEEK MEETINGS 2015 29th July A quick look at the 2015 diary would put mid 2nd Sept week meetings as follows: 30th Sept 25th March 28th Oct No mid week meeting in April 25th Nov 27th May No mid week meeting in Dec 1st July Mike G
MY FAVOURITE MODEL: thank you to Terry for his contribution this month. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING PLEASE DON’T FORGET Karl’s humanitarian request to give a better life to neglected plastic figures (see elsewhere) SHERMANIA 2015
COMPETITION THEME FOR 2015 THE MONTHLY THEME for all ten competition months of 2015 will be "THE SILVER SCREEN” Ideally it would be nice if this was to form a themed centrepiece to the club's Telford display in 2015 Don’t forget the other competitions*: Three of a Kind
Three models linked by a common idea or
theme. Jaguar Trophy
Anything with a Jaguar theme. Not just cars.
Best All-Rounder
A car, a ship, a plane and a figure presented during the year.
Hudson Trophy
Any conversion (not just different decals).
Ivor Dowe Trophy
Any Diorama
Flats, Busts & Figures *models entered in these competitions also qualify for the Eager Beaver Trophy.
From the Chair March 2015 This months 'From the Chair' will be brief as I've not got a lot to say ….... alright who said “Hooray”? I received some positive feedback from the February meeting and my challenge to bring along a current project to work on, so once again please have a look at what you have on your modelling bench that could be shared with the membership. On the Midland Expo 2015 organisational front we are now getting trader bookings in, however I have had a problem with my external hard drive I have stored the information on, which as a result I cannot currently access. In itself this isn't a disaster, merely an inconvenience, I can build a new spreadsheet from the booking forms that have been received. Also the transfer of the Show Treasurer role to Mike Gossage should have been completed by the time of the meeting. Finally, something that I have felt for some time, long before I took on the role of Chairman, is that we could do with an alternative meeting each month, on a weekday evening for members (and potential new members) for whom Sunday afternoons are difficult or impossible to attend. Mike is kind enough to invite existing members to his midweek meeting, but I feel it would be unfair to advertise this for complete strangers to turn up at his home. So I have been looking for a venue that we could use that costs us very little (nothing) to run for a trail period and courtesy of my predecessor, Pete Betteridge I think we may have a solution and I will be making an announcement about it at the meeting. Roland SHERMANIA 2015
LAST MONTH after a vote we decided to donate the proceeds from the ‘hospice’ competition to diabetes uk. I WAS RECENTLY bemoaning the way that our precious language is being corrupted as new words continually creep in; I forgot the WORST ONE OF ALL: when did waterslide transfers become ‘DECALS’ for Gods sake? CAN I, as always, thank everyone who has contributed and otherwise helped; some people have really responded and have done us all proud; they will all get a newsletter! FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of SHERMANIA 2015 (are you making one yet?) I am really pleased at the support for my proposal of ‘F-16MANIA’ for next year (notice the colour coding, khaki for tanks, grey for F-16’s). At Terry’s suggestion this will perhaps become ‘VIPERMANIA’. NEMS: in case you wondered (I did). is a phrase apparently coined by John Kesler for those who chose to model AIRCRAFT above all other subjects, NEURONE ENHANCED MODELLERS SYNDROME EMBARRASING CONFESSIONS OF A MODELMAKER: When I was a kid in the ‘60s I remember my Dad teaching me to make sure the ‘props on model aircraft spun when you blew them. It was after many years, in the '90s, when I had re kindled my interest in the hobby that I learnt that ‘props would sit much better when glued or at least placed firmly into place. It still doesn’t seem right somehow. Worse than this, perhaps because I don't make tanks very often, it was quite a few years after THAT when I realised that I was positively making a rod for my own back by trying to make the tracks and wheels on a tank turn (honestly). I also remember, that paint didn't seem to cover very well when I was a kid, it seemed a bit thin. It was MUCH later when I found out you had to stir it first! Who knew? JD
(OLD) BILL NEWS so to speak… Hi all Yes he has done it again, bomber is back in hospital following a fall a few days ago. Although nothing is broken doctors feel that some mobility rehab would do him good. He is now on ward 5 at Moseley Hall hospital. Thanks John K for asking dad is still in and we think will be for a while. visiting is 2 to 4 and 6:30 to 8, he is in the best place but if any of get the chance please visit. I will keep you all updated with his progress. Cheers
Matt SHERMANIA 2015
BRANCH SECRETARIES NOTES AND DIARY Sunday 15th March 2015 Welcome to this Month’s Newsletter. This Month I won’t be attending the Club Meeting. So I send my apologies to you all and I hope you have a good meeting. 2 shows to attend within the next month. Details below. Our next show is East Midlands Model Show. Sunday 29th March at The Leisure Centre, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 OJR. We have 2 tables allocated and set up most likely will be 8.00am onwards. There may be passes involved, but we can work around that. I still have not received any emails from them, but we are booked in. So if you want to come along please do. It is a large show with plenty of Traders. Our next show after this is Shropshire Scale Model Show (IPMS Shropshire & Telford) Sunday July 12th. Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, Shropshire. We have 3 tables booked, but still awaiting details of exactly where we are located and timings. There is a Parking Charge about £3.50 for the day. As soon as I know more details I will email you all. Again a large show with plenty of Traders and Exhibitors. Very well attended by the Public. Over the coming months. I will be asking members to fill in Membership forms for 2015. This information is for Club use only. So we can contact you via email etc. and to update our Membership Directory. Our first Membership directory for some time will be available at the meetings, it is only provisional and will be updated and improved where needed. If you do wish certain details to be Unavailable please let me know. Last of all a quick update on Midland Expo 2015 as Exhibitor Secretary over 65% of the tables have now been taken up by various Clubs & Sigs. Over the next 2 or 3 shows I will be chasing up the clubs that have not replied. Any Questions you would like to ask. Please feel free to do so
Rob Barwick
[email protected] 2015 DIARY
March Sunday 15th
Club Meeting
Sunday 29th
East Midlands Model Show (East Midlands Model Club). The Leisure Centre, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 OJR. 25th Anniversary. 2 tables Confirmed not sure if they are Single or Double depth. Awaiting details.
April Sunday 12th
Shropshire Scale Model Show (IPMS Shropshire & Telford) Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford, Shropshire Invitation received. 3 Tables Confirmed booked.
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Sunday 19th Sunday
26th
Club Meeting ModelKraft 2015 (IPMS Milton Keynes) Stantonbury Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes, MK14 6BN Invitation received. 2 Tables confirmed booked.
May Sunday 17th
Club Meeting
June Sunday 21st
Club Meeting (We have to change date)
Sunday 21st
IPMS Coventry & Warwickshire Model Show. The Midland Air Museum, Coventry Airport. Baginton, Warwickshire. CV3 4FR. 2 tables applied for awaiting details.
July Sunday 12th
Staffordshire Moorlands Show (IPMS Staffordshire Moorlands) Invitation Received. 3 tables applied for.
Sunday 12th
North Somerset Model Show (IPMS North Somerset) International Helicopter Museum, Western Heliport, Locking Moore road, Weston-Super-Mare, BS24 8PP. 2 tables applied for. (Mr Steve Newton and Family will represent the Club at this show)
Sunday 19th
Club Meeting
Sunday
26th
Midland Expo 2015 (IPMS Birmingham) Leasowes Sports Centre, Leasowes High School, Kent Road, Halesowen, B62 8PJ. Our Own Show. Volunteer’s required
August Sunday 16th
Club Meeting
September Sunday 20th Sunday
20th
Wings & Things (IPMS Fenland & Spalding) Club Meeting
October Sunday 18th
Club Meeting
November Saturday & Sunday 7th/8th
Scale ModelWorld 2015 (IPMS National Committee) Our usual 2 tables have now been booked.
Sunday 15th
Annual General Meeting
December Sunday 13th
Christmas Bash, Charity Draw
If there are any shows not mentioned that you know of or would like to attend on behalf of the club please Contact me.
Club Website: http://ipmsbirmingham.blogspot.co.uk Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IPMSBirmingham
SHERMANIA 2015
HANNOVER CL.11 BUILD In 1917, the issued an official requirement for a high performance, two-seat fighter needed primarily for low-level tactical support of ground troops, and that also would be capable of serving as a two-seat escort fighter for reconnaissance aircraft. responded with a novel design for a lightweight multi-purpose aircraft that eventually became known as the CL.II. The German Army’s C classification identified the CL as a two-place biplane and the L designated it as a lightweight aircraft. And lightweight it was. Its framework was skinned with a very thin layer of plywood veneer (only 2mm thick), with fabric laminated over that. It featured a deep fuselage with crew positions placed high in the fuselage to give both pilot and gunner an excellent field of view. In addition to this, the tail plane was also a biplane with a shortened vertical fin, designed to give the gunner a nearly unobstructed field of fire rearward. It was a popular aircraft with the crews who flew in it .The Hannover CL.II was powered by a six-cylinder 180hp Argus As.III liquid cooled inline engine. It was the same engine used in the Rumpler C.VII, Albatros C.VI, and the Roland D.II and D.III…and powerful enough to bring the CL.II’s top speed up to 96 mph. The Wingnut Wings Hannover CL.II kit contains 261 grey plastic parts. The molding is truly excellent with fine detail the decals are lovely as always with Wingnut models. There are lozenge camouflage and a light blue example which was a training unit the instructions are also great with good colour callouts. Also lots of reference photographs and information of the units. Cockpit The cockpit was the first part to be tackled the breakdown of the parts makes painting easy to follow the paint guide. I used Tamiya nato brown as main colour then sealed with klear once dry. I used raw umber oil paint to add a wood grain the rest of the parts were painted as per instructions using Tamiya paints. The cockpit builds very quickly with no fit problems at all. I weathered the cockpit with humbrol enamels using dry brushing technique. I then added the seat belts and transfers.
Engine The engine which in this case was ARGUS AS 111 is a kit by itself. This is my 3rd Wing nuts kit, the detail of these engines always surprises me The breakdown of the parts are great and designed for ease to paint. They give you a choice of either pushrods molded or without. I chose to add the pushrods myself using 0.4mm copper wire from Pinnacle model Supplies. The paint I used again was Tamiya paints as per instructions. I used fine wire for the spark plug leads. I then used a wash technique to create a look of used and worn look. SHERMANIA 2015
Assembly I assembled all the subassembly together into the fuselage. I closed the fuselage up again the fit was very good no filler used at all. At this point I had decided on light blue colour scheme 690/18, FEA 8, late 1918. I mixed the colour using Tamiya. I assembled the top The engine which in this case was ARGUS AS 111 is a kit by itself. This is my 3rd Wing nuts kit, the detail of these engines always surprises me The breakdown of the parts are great and designed for ease to paint. They give you a choice of either pushrods molded or without. I chose to add the pushrods myself using 0.4mm copper wire from Pinnacle model Supplies. The paint I used again was Tamiya paints as per instructions. I used fine wire for the spark plug leads. I then used a wash technique to create a look of used and worn look wing, tail plane and elevators they came together very quickly. I added the decals whilst the model was subassembly trying to minimize the handling of the model later on. I started assembling the wings on the fuselage the fit was light and positive. I glued the struts and landing gear on before gluing the top wing. I decided to add rigging before putting it on again hopefully making life easier later on. The plane was beginning to taking shape and now was the time to add a wash to make it look like it had been used. I started the rigging which was quite easy and not complicated as I thought it looked. The model was nearly complete I added the observer’s machine gun, added fine wire to the generator on the landing gear. Next I tackled the propeller I painted it first in Tamiya desert yellow, then I cut thin strips of Tamiya tape and place on to propeller then I used raw umber oil paint thickly, then wiped off with a sponge. I removed the tape using a large brush. I blended it in making a grain effect which you find on most WW1 aircrafts. The Hannover was complete. The kit was an excellent build and it was one that is a beautiful 1/32 scale replica of an important WW I aircraft. The kit follows in the footsteps established by previous Wingnut Wings kits Thanks, Shaun
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MY HOSPICE AS WE BID FAREWELL to model making’s greatest competition for another year, here is my annual round-up of people’s builds. Can I thank everyone who DID respond; I haven’t included all the no-builds, but thank you anyway for replying. Kit was Mirage Hobby 1/35th czolog OT-134/T26C !!!! a tank!!! Made a change from aircraft. A complete kit no doubt from tankmans stash. First job was too take a sharp knife and remove sections of chassis as per instructions- no clear guidelines as to where to cut though. Some fit issues, front part of body fitted fine as did rear BUT the centre section would not fit-too large, brute strength, clamps, strong glue and quite a few choice words and then it fitted reasonably well. Rest went ok except tracksfar too loose, had to remove quite a few links before they would fit and look as if they would work. Painting was spray in one colour then whitewash for winter camouflage. weathered with pastels. No masking so a much easier task than usual aircraft. Would I build another target-sorry -Tank, yes currently building a Tamiya Sherman and Tamiya Sd.kfz7/1 Flak so it has got me out of comfort zone along with usual aircraft (currently finishing a Halifax and a Mig 15 ) Steve LING TEMCO-VOUGHT A-7 CORSAIR II I OPENED THE WRAPPING and joy of joys, it wasn’t one of Mike’s tanks! He’d filled the sack with old 1/35th armour in the hope I’d get one. Even better it was an Airfix A-7 (I’ve already got a USAF SLUF in Vietnam colours so this was very welcome), I probably wouldn’t have built another one otherwise, so it forced my hand. About a second from opening it and having all these thoughts run through my head, I thought “ BOMBS”! There are literally dozens of ‘em. Two dozen to be exact. They’ve all got a yellow stripe round the front too, and I spent ages and much experimentation before I came up with a solution to painting them. I was NOT going to try to mask them with tape (well, I did try) before I hit upon a workable solution (which I think is OK in ‘72nd scale). I cut some little pieces of bicycle inner tube and punched a small hole in each one. I slipped one over the front of each yellow nosed bomb and sprayed on the olive green body colour. Hey presto, quite a reasonable result I think, certainly good enough for this model. All in all a very pleasant and rewarding model to build and I’m very pleased with it. Costing someone 42 pence from WHSmith once upon a time (!) this contrasts with the SH*TE ESCI 1/48th SLUF I’d only just finished, which looked OK from a distance but was vile to build. JD SHERMANIA 2015
Double Bubble Grumman F14 Tomcat This is my first year participating in the Hospice Trophy and in my enthusiasm, and the fact I love a challenge, I made a dive into the goodie bag not once, but twice. My first dip earned me a really random kit; an F14 Tomcat. This kit has turned out to be a very strange one. On the one hand, I got a kit with no decals, a single side of A4 of build instructions, no paint guide & no defined scale. It sounds like a really awful kit that pound-shops have in the discount bin. However, there is much to like about it; the cockpit includes seats & consoles & the wings do have a working sweep-mechanism. It even includes a stand! With the rules pretty clear, and no instructions to keep me on the straight & narrow, I decided to experiment a bit. My first thought was a custom paint job & sod any markings. I considered a yellow, orange & red flame scheme, but given the F14 was a naval aircraft, I elected for a series of blues & blue-greys. Knowing the rear of the aircraft was going to be a uniform blue-grey, I got cracking with that & had a sudden moment of inspiration to give the leading edges of the tails & tail wings. Obviously, the wing sweep has to work, the set-up is simple teeth on the ends of the wings that interlock inside the body & as 1 wings moves, the other moves with it. Simple easy to remember & perfectly functional. However, I was keen to make sure the paint scheme lined up no matter where the wings were in there sweep, so once the kit had been primed, I sketched on in biro the outline of the flame pattern & used that as a basic guide. Frankly, the biro trick worked beautifully. As you can see, the flame pattern isn’t a failure either. I’m sure it’s something that any competent builder would think of, but having never painted a flame scheme before, or a sweep wing aircraft for that matter, it was something that I could quite easily overlooked. The rest of the kit was straight forward, although the paint scheme is in fact three colours, the darkest one is very dark, but by that time, I was committed & it hasn’t turned out too bad. The other challenge was the underside, which on the F14, is very fiddly & I was keen (For no conscious reason) to switch to a more uniform colour, in the way a normal aircraft camo scheme isn’t carried onto the underside. For this, I kept the uniform blue-grey, but the dark blue I’d used for the flames on the leading edges I carried onto the underside of the wing along a convenient line. The effect ties the two paint schemes together nicely. Final job was to paint the stand; matt black for simplicity & the weapons which I did in white with red tips & strip for a bit of visual interest. And that’s it; my first Hospice Trophy submission was complete. Within a week or so of the December meeting. But I’d made allowances for this. By going back for seconds… MIG 25 ‘Foxbat’ The result of my second delve into the Bin-Bags of Surprise was something a lot more conventional; a 1:144 scale MIG 25. This I was actually more disappointed about than the F14.
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For one, I don’t like 1:144 scale – there’s no detail to get excited about, sometimes you don’t even get a cockpit & the decals amount to the main insignia. In this case, the instructions & paint guide were combined onto the rear of the box. Great! To top it all off, the plastic was disgusting. It felt cheap & nasty & horrid. Instead of even a slot where the seat should be, I got solid body work. Hooray! However, I’d just finished the F14 so I was all up for a challenge. So I carved a slot in the two halves of the fuselage & using a few piece of the box, fashioned a seat. Ok you can’t really see it now the canopy is in place, thanks to the stupidly small scale, but it is there & by the book. The build itself was mind-numbingly easy, I built stuff like this for a laugh back in my early model-making days. So, as with the F14, I decided to put my eggs into the basket labelled “Paint Job”. For the MIG, I elected to try & go for a dis-used, exsoviet grave-yard sort of thing. I ditched the suspiciously large missiles, leaving it unarmed. I then painted it as per the instructions. I then pulled out my nicest brushes & got to work dry-brushing. It’s an effect I really like being able to use, even if it is a relatively recent discovery and on occasions I still have to grit my teeth to ‘ruin’ the beautiful paint job that has just dried, but in this case, I knew the effect was exactly what I wanted. I used three tones; a light grey to look like paint-fade, a black for scorching or damage & a brown for corrosion. I learned very quickly that too much on the brush ruins the effect, but too little can be added to &, in general, I’ve managed to not overdo the effect. The aircraft looks dirty & uncared for, which is what I wanted for it. Sadly, my proudest touch is one you won’t have seen at the meeting; the ‘rust’ effect on the landing gear. For this, I dipped a bush in the brown, then used my finger to flick the paint off the brush, onto the landing gear, which I painted silver to really enhance the colour difference. I think the outcome is exactly what I aimed for, but one that you’d have to know of & look for to see. This is the first 1:144 scale kit I’ve done that I’ve really enjoyed, because I had a ‘detail’ that I could focus in on & really apply some effort to. The abandoned/poorly maintained effect works (Or at least I think so), and therefore I call a success. All I’m hoping for is that at least one of you noticed these two in amongst the highly professional workmanship that usually graces the competition table. My resistance to joining the dark-side held as I refused to do anything by brush paint everything (I go through brushes like crazy though), however I would like to apologise to the Aircraft Union if I’ve failed to use/misused correct term. The fact I managed to build these two kits within weeks of the December meeting, with everything else being put on hold, is proof enough that I enjoyed the challenge of taking two pretty crap kits & (attempting) to make something worthy of them. Oh and by the way, the person who submitted the F14 (I know who you are now), good work for finding something so unusual. If you’re the person who submitted the MIG, good work for finding such a naff kit, although 1:144 is cheating slightly as most 1:144’s are naff. Look forward to this year’s goodies. MD
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Santa's Got a Brand New Bag! And in it was an ancient Matchbox Skyhawk which came without a tailplane courtesy of Matchbox's great packaging (missing part, having fallen out of the box was very kindly replaced by the donor). Overall, it's not a bad kit. Decals were ancient and very suspect, panel lines were a mix of raised and oversized recessed. Looked like the work of different toolmakers. One wing upper half was short shot and needed extensive filling which would remove much of the raised detail and rescribe the recessed panels. No bad thing but I'd have to remove the same off the other side to match. Will I build it? Probably not at the moment - I've so many unfinished want to do, I'm unwilling to spare the time projects that I fiddling about with something that doesn't really inspire me. Sorry Santa! Hi John, You asked for this so you've got it....enjoy. I drew out the Airfix 1/600 scale HMS Amazon - a ship, just my rotten luck! Not that it's a really bad kit; the fit of the parts was quite acceptable. The kit could have benefited from brass etch in various places to allow for the small scale: for example the rotors supplied for the Lynx helicopter would have looked more like RSJ beams if scaled up to life size. The real problem, for which I lay the blame fairly and squarely at John Duffield's door, is that I've lost the ability to use hairy sticks (a.k.a. paintbrushes) after John had brainwashed/browbeat me into using an airbrush. I sprayed all the vertical surfaces but the horizontal ones were to fiddly to mask and were all a different shade from the vertical ones so I brush painted them and not very well. All in all not a bad kit, it just fell into the wrong hands. Now I'm off to work out where to put the wings on my Sherman. George TERRY: (Matchbox FJ-4B Fury Errr.... relatively easy that one: never got round to building the bloody thing!
MIKE gave an aural report of what he thought of his covered wagon in December when he ‘won’ it! That look says it all!
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My 1st Hospice Trophy Draw: 1:72 Hawker “Sea Fury”, A.K.A “Tribal Hawker” "Why?"... That is the question - after spending 11 hours painting a jaguar print pattern on an Airfix Angel Interceptor, I took one look at my first Hospice Trophy draw and knew I was going to have to do something special with it. "Something special" turned out to be a hand-painted tribal pattern and the response has to be, well - "why not?". The kit itself was not great, to be honest (and polite!) about it. It is a 1:72 Hawker "Sea Fury", part started, with some bits missing, and some very dodgy looking decals. So, I threw authenticity out of the window (something I do quite cheerfully and on a regular basis, to be fair), stuck the kit together as best I could, and then set to work on the paint scheme. At first, I had a vague idea of airbrushing on a yellow and orange base coat and painting on some tiger stripes, but it thought that might be too similar to the aforementioned Interceptor. So instead, I simply brush painted on a red base coat, painted the underside black, got out my smallest paintbrush, took a deep breath and set to work on the detailing. The patterning on the Hawker is based on tribal-style tattoo artwork. It is basically about random shapes and patterns fitting together to fill an available space - either a defined shape or simply to cover whatever surface is available. To do it at this minute scale certainly requires patience, a steady hand and a degree of insanity. In my case, clearly only 1 out of the 3 really applies!! The pattern on is model is entirely random. I built it up as I went along, literally making it up on the way. I did use a few images from the internet as inspiration and reference, particularly Maori tattoo art samples, but for the most part I just painted whatever came to mind. At the most basic level, the pattern simply consists of lines, dots and block shapes, mixed into random geometric designs. The photographs hopefully show quite clearly how such a pattern can build up and take shape over time. I do these designs because I find it quite relaxing to carefully paint tiny details over the course of many hours, losing myself in concentration, broken only by bouts of colourful swearing when it goes wrong!! It's very similar to painting miniature figures, working layers and layers of small detailing, but that's perhaps an article for another day. On the whole, this kit was actually a lot of fun to do, as I invested myself in the painting rather than the build quality. I am very honoured to have won the highly coveted Hospice Trophy - that rather tatty and unwanted Hawker now has pride of place on my shelves, alongside that jaguar Interceptor... And I am very open to suggestions for the next crazy paint scheme to try! - Gem SHERMANIA 2015
My 2nd Hospice Trophy Draw: Warhammer Games Day Skaven Warlord Whether it was masochism, desperation or sheer excitement, I found myself returning to the Hospice Trophy black sack of wonders to tempt fate a second time... My first rummage had resulted in the now-infamous Hawker Sea Fury, so I was curious to see what else I might be (un?)lucky enough to find. I delved deep amongst the remaining few parcels, and in the bottom corner of the sack my fingers closed around a very familiar shape of package - a very small blister pack. Excitement mounting, I dashed away to the table, could it be, amongst all those planes and oddments in the blocky boxes, could it possibly that I had found my own little diamond? And indeed I had - a Games Workshop white metal miniature. My chosen field, home turf for me; I learned all of my model making skills from my dad, who first introduced me to it through Warhammer figures when I was about 8 years old. How fantastic for me to end up with this lovely little Skaven - a rat-like creature wearing tattered robes and carrying a powerful staff. My very grateful thanks to the person who submitted it! You know who you are... Isaac! In short, obviously, I loved this kit. It was easy to put together and, for me, a very simple 2-3 hour paint job. I know it was almost impossible to see on the competition table, it was so tiny I don't think many people even noticed it, but hopefully the photos make it a little easier to see some of those lovely little details I do so enjoy painting... Look out in a month or so, I might well be writing an article on how these things are painted, there's a lot more to it than you might think! - Gem
Hospice hostage I think this kit, Airfix Red Arrows Hawk A02005 is the spawn of the devil, it fought me every inch of its trip to the table I’d been told that this is the latest version from my old heroes Airfix and thought I’d be in for a treat, instead it has over thin decals/transfers that fell apart when moved They didn’t want to respond to Microsol much either and when I was getting the decals on I discovered that the instructions didn’t warn you to put the underwing ones on before you put the flap tracks on and didn’t tell you where to place the wing fences Some fuselage panels were a lousy fit too L THEN I found that the undercarriage doors were way too small, later finding out that history was made with this kit Airfix withdrew it and made a good one, look for model number A02005A, if it doesn’t have the final don’t buy it I think I’ll bung Matt a five pound fine next year and go to see the Huddersfield show to catch up with some mates instead BM SHERMANIA 2015
MATCHBOX SKYHAWK A4 I failed to finish this so happily ( ?) paid the fine ( for a good cause). It is my intention to finish this having got about 2/3rds through. The kit looks ok but is a mix of trenches and raised lines and unfortunately the decal sheet and the protective paper had decided to merge over the many years of storage so they are probably unusable. Following the competition rules I had to scratchbuild some parts from the sprue, the box, and the instruction sheet but that makes you think more about what you can use rather than replacement bits of etch brass or resin. Parts were cleaned up and the raised panel lines sanded down which is where the delay starts in getting it done. In your mind's eye you see the super model finished. Unfortunately that is still some way off. but I have too many half done things so it is my intention to finish a lot of them off before doing the latest shiny new desirable model. Hope I can stick to my guns. You'll see them if I do. Rog REVELL STARWARS FIGHTER SNAP TOGETHER KIT about 1/200 scale judging by the size of the pilot At first I was a bit disappointed I thought it was a snap together kit from a box of cereal. I later saw the same kit in W H Smith Modelzone at about £9.00. I admit I just knocked the kit together but it still took 2 to 3 hours. Actually as a starter kit I think it would put youngsters off some the parts were exceptionally small and needed cleaning up a lot. Can't say I enjoyed making the kit up, but as they say it is the taking part that counts. Dave Jeffery
My hospice prize was as basic as can be an, Airfix Red Arrows Gnat. Containing all the parts and a decal sheet made up from several others. I cannot bring myself to build such a classic, however it may find itself stuck to the side of some galactic inter-planetary craft.
SHERMANIA 2015
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU to Terry, who is not only taking this seriously but even pausing to THINK about it. Nonetheless I will, if he doesn’t mind, print his preliminary thoughts: “I've been thinking about the best/favourite model thing & in all honesty I don't know - I can remember what the first model I ever built was-(Matchbox 1/72nd scale Huey Cobra helicopter) but I wouldn't say it was the greatest kit I've ever built. I suppose the cliched answer would be that my favourite model is the next one that I complete and I'm happy with; I do have a little bit of a soft spot for that scratchbuilt robot that won the "Shot Glass Challenge" and got a class win at the Stoke show last year though. Some years ago I kitbashed a fairly accurate M4A3 Sherman with HVSS, way before there was even a half-decent kit available. I don't know what happened to it though!” Terry P.S. can I nominate Helena Christiansen or Claudia Schiffer as my favourite model? (‘course you can-JD)
A SAD DAY. TERRY WRITES: “Hi again John, are you going to mention the passing of Leonard Nimoy in the newsletter? Personally I think you should as I'm sure that most of us with a modellers mentality are sure to be at least closet Trekkies.” NEW BOEING 747 GUNSHIP! fantastic
"It's not whether you win or lose, but how you place the blame." (God bless Photoshop!) SHERMANIA 2015
I HAVE RECEIVED THIS from Terry who wanted everyone to see it ASAP
LOST IN TRANSLATION: Terry invites you all to enjoy these kit instructions (Trumpeter, if I remember, although I’ll soon be corrected if need be!).
SHERMANIA 2015
Greetings from the Winter Wonderland and IPMS Syracuse!
“Hey Targetman, 60" or 5' of snow since February 1st and up until today, February 22nd we have not been above freezing so every flake that has fallen is still on the ground! Photo’s was taken this afternoon for full effect! Feel free to include in your newsletter if so inclined. Jim was just here and he's making a trip to Walt's just to get out of the house and BUY something, anything! Silver Medal Meister and his wife had done a runner to Las Vegas which is balmy and 17degrees C: John Kesler’s message is: John, do yourself and Arlene a favour and stay in Las Vegas!”
SHERMANIA 2015
Tamiya SOMUA S35
Coming soon to a model shop near you! The SOMUA S35 was a French Cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to both its French and foreign contemporaries, such as the German Panzer III. It was built of well-sloped, mainly cast, armour sections, that however made it expensive to produce and timeconsuming to maintain. During the 1940 German invasion of France, the SOMUA S35 proved itself to be tactically effective, but this advantage was negated by the French command's strategic mistakes in their piecemeal deployment in support of the infantry. The defeat of France in June 1940 limited the total production number of these tanks to 430, and some captured SOMUA S35s were modified and used by the Axis powers for internal security in France and in the Balkans.
The hull and turret were castings with a maximum thickness of 47mm and 40mm respectively — the former of four sections, bolted together: two longitudinal plates formed the bottom; the superstructure was divided in a front and back section. The turret was a variant of the APX 1 as used on the Char B1: the APX 1 CE (chemin élargi) with a larger (1,130mm (44in) as against 1,022mm) turret ring, allowing the radio operator to assist the commander in loading the gun from an ammunition stock of 118 shells (90 AP, 28 HE) and 2,250 machine gun rounds. SHERMANIA 2015
Still, as with the B1, the commander was expected to direct the tank while also aiming, loading and firing the 47mm SA 35 main gun — although at least the radio duty could be left to another crew member. The suspension was designed by Eugène Brillié. He had worked with the Czech Škoda company and based his design on that of the LT35: eight road wheels paired on four bogies with leaf springs and an equally large tension wheel. The first fifty vehicles had tracks consisting of 144 track links, each link with a length of only 75mm; later vehicles had 103 links of 105mm length. Some 440 tanks were completed prior to France’s surrender The new Tamiya kit is quoted at £32 pounds on the Hannants future release pages and reports suggest it will reach the shops at the end of this month. TARGETMAN 2015
AMAZING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY! I am alerting you all to a great employment opportunity, not for yourselves but for your little neglected plastic people. I am offering the fantastic opening for your unwanted pilots to gain some airtime in various different aircraft types. Unfortunately the jobs offer no wage, but they do allow your little plastic people to do the thing they love more than anything, flying! These are equal opportunities positions offered to all colours, shapes, sizes and nationalities, so if you have any little plastic pilots languishing lazily in your spares that you are happy to allow go on to a new home and enjoyable employment, please let me know... Regards,
Karl. I RECEIVED THIS correspondents:
via one of our American
“I was a tanker in the U.S. Army for 21 years and was crew member on M4A4s, M48A2Cs, M48A5s, M60A1s, and M60A3s. Track on an operational combat vehicle will not rust. To start with, track is made with rust-resistant hardened steel. On a combat vehicle, the track becomes quite hot from contact with the ground and metal-on-metal contact with the drive sprockets, end connectors, centre guides, and road wheels. Also, sand and rocks in the soil constantly burnish the metal. The metal parts of the track are polished smooth and turn a colour almost like a case-hardened firearm. This holds true for all-steel tracks, too. At many Army posts and museums around the country; that are tanks on display from World War I to the present, and there is very little rust, if any at all, on the track. a Metkava, operating in a very sandy environment, will not show any rust. Stop spending all that money on rust paint and pigments. It just isn’t true.” — Ernest Brown, U.S Army (retired) SHERMANIA 2015
Introducing ‘The boys from Syracuse’ Anthony (Manpants) Casella
Sci-fi - fantasy Tony’s main specialty is in large scale busts and figures mainly of the Sci-Fi - fantasy type. Fine Scale Modeler has used several of Tony’s models in the reader’s gallery! The last time they used his Lon Chaney phantom of the opera bust. One of these days he should submit an actual article. There are some pictures of the phantom on Tony’s web page.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/listing/user/lexesbeanz http://www.picturetrail.com/lexesbeanz Anthony (Manpants) Casella
Tamiya 1/48th scale – Komatsu G40 bulldozer as featured in the reader’s gallery of FSM For the Dozer blade I used a bottle of Testors stainless steel Metalizer, and an old stiff sable brush. I shook the bottle until the pigments were blended well, then I mashed the brush around only in the bottle cap which picks up just enough pigments for the job. I kept blowing on the bristles to makes sure they were dry, and once they were I just mashed the brush directly onto the surface of the Dozer blade in a back and forth motion with some pretty good pressure, after a few seconds the scrubbing action polished the blade to a mirror shine...pretty cool stuff!! After that I just did several more washes over the blade of rust and dirt colours to make it look like it had been sitting out in the elements for a while. TARGETMAN 2015
John Kesler – head NEMS
John (SKIP) Schmitt SHERMANIA 2015
Jim Marconi
John King - (silver medal meister)
SHERMANIA 2015 WITH THANKS to contributors from both sides of the Atlantic (mainly Mike) I present a round up of news and reports from some of this year’s entrants; Shermania is fast becoming the SECOND greatest competition in modelmaking (after the Hospice of course).
John ‘SKIP’ Schmitt builds the Tamiya M4
There seems to have been a race by the aircraft building NEMS to get the Sherman’s out of their faces so they can get back to building large scale aircraft; although Skip seems to have decided to build all the 1/35 scale MTB’s that are available at the moment so perhaps he is not such a NEMS as he claims! As for the sartorial elegance I can only apologies and assume that it’s a consequence of all the stripes on his D-Day models!! Skip commented: I can tell you what I've done, if it's any help to you. I assembled the bottom of the hull, looking ahead in the steps for all the tow hooks, grab rings, etc., and glued all on. Same with upper half, including the skirts, they're easier to mount before painting, rather than scraping paint later, at least to me. I treated the turret as a separate model, but, again all the small stuff securely glued on 1st. I chose camouflage scheme, so sprayed all with Tamiya XF51 Khaki. When dry, I sprayed the camouflage pattern free hand with Tamiya XF57 Buff. The inside of the turret is sprayed with Tamiya XF2 Flat White. I'm using the figures, and you'll be able to see inside the turret thru the commanders hatch opening. The tracks I sprayed with flat black from a rattle can. When dry, I used Model Master metalizer Lacquer ‘Titanium’ to accent all the bare metal connectors, teeth, etc., by hand, going up one side, and down the other, slowly, so as not to miss any then turned them over and repeated this procedure. It took me an hour. for each track. End result, to me, on close scrutiny, it's worth it.
SHERMANIA 2015
Via TARGETMAN 2015 A progress report on the M40 for Shermania: it's at the washes/filters/detail painting stage now. Gotta start work on the perishing tracks soon now! Terry
MY NEWSLETTER, MY FAVOURITES… above, splendidly presented George’s Gnat from the film ‘Hot Shots’. excellent SO MANY MODELS last month; I have interspersed a few more pictures throughout SHERMANIA 2015
TERRY pointed out that I hadn’t got a decent shot of Gem’s Steampunkt Sherman in the newsletter, so he has kindly provided one.
RIGHT: part of the Bowater armoured brigade. Very nice too, speaking as an apprentice Treadhead…
SHERMANIA 2015
Sherman build - 2015
John ‘Skip’ Schmitt: Tamiya M4 Early
FINISHED!!!
Charles Wise: Sherman "Jumbo," the early Mk. III (El Alamein), and the M4A2 (76) (Russian). Although the other models were already started Chuck has decided to concentrate on the EMCHA as his sole Sherman for the team build; at least at the moment.
Roland Turner: Tamiya 1/48th scale Sherman ‘Firefly’
SHERMANIA 2015
Terry Walton: M10 Tank Destroyer & an M40 Gun Motor Carriage and now the Tamiya 1/48 scale Achilles
John Kesler: Tamiya 1/35 scale M51 Isherman (Israeli Sherman)
Peter Betteridge: Tamiya 1/48th scale M4 Sherman
John Duffield: Revell 1/35 scale M4A2 PTO version and now a 1/72 M4A1 76mm model as well!
Karl Robinson: With a Revell (ex Matchbox) 1/76 Sherman Firefly.
Martin Collmer: Tasca / Asuka Sherman Mk. VC "Firefly.
Shaun Bowater: Dragon Hybrid hull Firefly Ic and the Tamiya M4A3
Mike (treadhead) G: I am tackling the 1/35 scale Dragon M4A2 ‘EMCHA’ to start with followed up with a Dutch Firefly Bunker installation!
Matt Nicholls: Dragon 1/35 scale Firefly Vc
George ‘Gyorgii’ Green: ‘Still thinking about’ building the Dragon 1/72 scale M4A4!!!! Brass etch; or not, that is the question!!!!
Steve Baker: Building the Tamiya Howitzer
M4A3
105mm
John King the Silver Medal Meister: Dragon M4 (105) Howitzer Tank
Gem Hover: 1:76 Sherman Calliope – Steampunk version?
FINISHED!!!
Brian Howard: Tamiya M4 Early
FINISHED!!!
Jim Marconi: Tamiya 1/16th scale M4
A summery as of 1st March 2015 Targetman
