119: Show and Tell

The theme of the March meeting was "The Final Frontier: Real Space or Science Fiction".  Theme builds totaled seven, while non-theme builds totaled five.  The theme this month was rather lopsided with one "Real Space" build, and six SciFi builds.  Not surprising, considering this follows the formula of most meetings, a little truth with a whole lot of fiction...

Taking top honors this month in the theme build voting was Mike Colvin with his Polar Lights 1/350 Space Ark from the movie "When Worlds Collide".  Mike built his completely box stock, complete with launch platform.

Jim Rotramel was on hand with the lone "Real Space" build with his 1/72 Revell X-15A-2.  Jim also finished his model OOB.

Representing the bulk of the theme builds this month was "Doc" Haugh with his collection of 1/72 Star Wars models by Fine Molds.  Doc brought along his Slave I, X-wing, TIE Fighter, and TIE Interceptor, all built OOB.  Quite an impressive display.

Rounding out the theme builds was David Fuller, also with a Fine Molds 1/72 TIE Fighter.  David added thin sheets of .005" clear styrene between the solar panel wings and frame work to represent a protective coating to the solar cells.  If you've never tried one of these Fine Molds Stars Wars kits before, you owe it to yourself pick one up.  They are a fun break between the more serious builds.

Along with his Space Ark, Mike Colvin also brought along his 1/32 Revell X-1.  We've been watching the progress in past months on Mike's X-1, and it's nice to see the finished product.

Another build that we've been watching with interest over the past few month's is Ryan Turgeon's F/A-18E Super Hornet.  Ryan has been working on the 1/48th Hasegawa kit to which he added an Afterburner Decals F/A-18E/F detail set and finished in Fightertown Decals VFA-14 Tophatters Anniversary markings.  Ryan will be donating the model to the Museum's Tophatters squadron history display.

Switching up scales and era's we have this 1/72 Heinkel 51-B built by Jonathan Wright.  Jonathan built the ICM kit out of the box, but poor decals necessitated that the bulk of the marking be painted by hand.

Rounding out the show and tell builds, we have these two obscure 1/35 armor models built by Doc Haugh.  These models are so obscure in fact, that we know absolutely nothing else about them.

As many of you are aware, long time member Vince Mankowski will soon be packing up the wagons and heading west.  Before leaving however, Vince decided to pass along a useful tip to any of us that may have to move our models across the country at some point.  Vince brought along a couple of the boxes that he uses to transport his models and showed us how he takes foam padding that can be bought at most craft stores to create pockets that each model will fit in nice and snug.  Vince says that this technique saved his HE-219 UHU at last year's Richmond contest when a gust of wind sent the box and model tumbling across the parking lot.  Seems like time well spent to protect your works of art.