Quad-City Scale Modeler Society’s
May 2008 Newsletter
The Minutes:
For the last meeting, a few of us headed up to
Bob’s meeting notes from the Carriage House: I have to plead
no contest to this one….I wasn’t taking notes so this has to be a really off
the cuff critique of the meeting. We did
have a comfortable turnout of members. Somewhere in the neighborhood of about
ten galoots showed up for the festivities.
We rounded up the usual suspects as they said in “
Thought for the day: Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90).
The Dates:
May 10: chapter meeting. Club photo shoot
May 16-17: Omacon ’08 (2008 IPMS/ Region 5 Convention);
June 14: chapter meeting. Club barbecue and annual club contest.
July 12: chapter meeting
August 9: chapter meeting
September 13: chapter meeting
October 11: chapter meeting
November 8: chapter meeting
December 13: chapter meeting. Christmas party, Annual “What if?” contest and gift exchange
Regional Update:
Hello Region 5,
Ah Life….full of surprises. The tranny on my
car decided it was working too hard. About the same time my 80 yr old
mother-in-law was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. So things got
a bit crazy for the last 3-4 weeks or so. Not only that the recent rains
have caused a fair amount problems for some friends here in the
Mike George
R5 RC
More on the B-49/B-35 History
By Harold Stockton
I enjoyed your comments about the history of the
"what-if" B-35/B-49 histories, but you left out the story of the RAF
versions which were not called the Viking, as this was a transport, but rather
the Vengeance. With the failure of the Sperrin to meet the RAF's requirements, the Valiant
being withdrawn early from operational life because of wing-spar cracks as did
the early versions of the B-47, and the TSR.2 requirement years in the
future, the B-49B/D was adopted as their B.Mk.1 and 2 versions. These were all
assigned to operate within the RAF 100 Group. The bomber squadrons of 100 Group
utilized various specialist electronic jamming devices to disrupt enemy
radio/radar/electronic communications. During 100 Group's existence over 32
different devices were evaluated and used. Specially equipped 100 Group
aircraft would fly within the bomber stream of both Vulcan and Victor
squadrons/groups as pathfinders. The
squadrons of 100 Group were the old WW-II "heavy" pathfinder
squadrons of 157, 171, 199, 233, and the resurrected RAAF 462. One special type
of mission that 100 Group undertook for NATO was GARDENING - RAF operations
dropping mines in strategic sea lanes, usually at the request of the CoS Naval Liaison Officer based at
Kit review: AMT Models, Peterbilt 359 Wrecker. Model kit # 31750
By Bob Horton, IPMS Quad Cities
I seem to be a little partial, even at this early stage in truck model building, to Peterbilts in general and 359’s in particular. I had been considering tackling a wrecker model, especially after going to a truck model website and getting a bunch of reprints of old model truck articles. In a collection of older articles on super detailing various truck models, there is a two part article on building up a Holmes 750 twin boom wrecker unit to replace the single boom wrecker that comes on the above mentioned kit. After obtaining the kit and seeing the rather bare bones representation of this single boom wrecker, I was sold on doing the conversion…after all, isn’t conversions my middle name. The article does tend to leave a little bit to be desired in filling in some blank spaces when it comes to some details. In the process of researching trucks in the local area, I found a wrecker company that had an old Holmes model 600 hanging around the back lot. I took a bunch of pictures which did help in filling in some details. (Unfortunately just about the time I had finished all of the conversion assembly work, I did find a website that had really good shots of a 750. Such is life amongst the model community.) I began by building up the Peterbilt kit main chassis, cab and engine pretty much just out of the box. This kit really impressed me. I can’t say that I have had much experience with Peterbilt models yet, but I really thought that the way AMT depicted the chassis and especially the rear end dual wheel suspension was much better then the Revell/Monogram issue. I would imagine that the standard tractor version by AMT would be the same as for the wrecker. I have in mind that should I want to do any other Peterbilt 359’s I certainly will grab one of these wreckers as a starter. As a bit of a plus, you will find in the kit for the wrecker that there is a complete fifth wheel assembly and also a sleeper cab unit that is not used in the wrecker version but would certainly serve building an over the road hauler version. If you intend to build the wrecker “as the single boom out-of-the-box item,” continue on as the instructions lead you. If you decide to do the Holmes 750 twin boom modification, it is time to begin some surgery on the body of the wrecker. Following the article and before mounting the rear body onto the chassis, the front of the rear body is cut down and some surgery on the rear deck apron is also required. Also the tow bar unit should be rebuilt and repositioned on the rear deck. (See the end of this article for the website location to get the article and the detailed layout directions.) You will need a few pieces of Evergreen stock to build the support tower and booms. I had to make just one major deviation from the construction directions in the article. The directions call for obtaining two sets of gears to represent the two hoist drum drive units. I felt that since these directions were better then 20 years old, those items were most likely not still available. I represented the two gear sets by building up some thick laminated slabs of styrene sheet stock and cutting them out into a representation of tear drop shaped gear cases which could enclose the gear sets. This made life a little simpler in assembling those drum drive units. Before this boom tower/drive drum unit is set onto the rear platform, you must cut two small square holes in the area of the deck where the cables for the boom outer support cables come back and travel down the tower tubes to two drums that are located under the flooring, just ahead of the front pair of rear dual wheels. This is one of the points that is not covered in part one or two of the conversion instructions. I used some rather heavy ship model cordage to represent the steel hoist and boom support cables. One other cute little trick I worked out is: across the top of the boom support cross tower, there is, on the real life Holmes wreckers, a large plaque with the words “ HOLMES and the wrecker model number, 600, 750 or whatever. In this case it is of course 750. This plaque and the wordage are all in raised lettering. This stumped me for a bit as to how to make this look really right….decals weren’t going to do it. It then occurred to me that I just recently acquired a bunch of plastic strip stock and other plastic doo-dads from a guy that was getting rid of all his plastic modeling supplies. Just as luck would have it, he had three sizes of sets of letters and numbers from Plastruct. One set of these was exactly the size I needed for making up the Holmes sign….the stars were in alignment for that one folks. I am very happy with the kit and the conversion is coming along except for problems with my two main bug a boos with truck model kits in general. One: attaching and fitting the clear windshield parts. It appears that when a lot of these kits were first produced years ago, the clear parts were separate pieces that fitted up into the window openings. Nowadays with these reissued reruns, the window casting was changed to consist of an ill fitting one piece tub that is supposed to look like it really fits inside the cab and does a poor job of it. Bug-a boo number two: The chrome plated parts. I am tending to believe that the engineering staff that lays out the parts on the sprues, manages to add the casting joiner tabs at exactly the place that when you remove the part from the sprue, after it has been plated…is going to be in the place where the most ugly bare spot will show up. I defy anyone to find something that can touch up those bare spots and look like the original chrome plating. All in all I would definitely recommend this kit either to build up as the wrecker or to modify and use the other kit parts as a tractor.
Reference Notes:
1: The truck article reprints can be found at: www.scalerealism.com Go to second topic on the list, “scale realism truck detailing.” Click on the top line topic, Holmes wrecker detailing. It will show about 17 pages from the original two part issue. They do not reprint really well but very easy to get the information to do the job.
2: Holmes Wrecker web site for general search under “Holmes Wreckers.” A lot of picture galleries show up with detail shots of many of the Holmes model variations.
Toilet Cleaning
This was sent in From Alex Broman, currently serving
in
1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet
shampoo to the water in the bowl.
2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You
may need to stand on the lid.
4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash"
and rinse".
6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no
people between the bathroom and the front door.
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.
8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run
outside where he will dry himself off.
9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean!
Sincerely,
The Dog
Kit Review: Ferrari 250 GTO
Mfg: Revell
Kit #: 07395 Scale: 1/24
Review courtesy of the GTR Newsletter
The 250 GTO, that is still regarded as one of the finest of all Ferraris, was designed with the primary aim of suitability for private use, but at the same time for winning races in the three-litre class. The Gran Turismo body shape was aerodynamically optimized and resulted in a perfect combination of suitability for purpose and beauty. The front of the 250 GTO was particularly attractive due to the three cooling vents for the 2953 cc engine. The 250 stood for the capacity of one of the 12 engine cylinders, the O for omologato (= type approved), the FIA approval for races in the GT class. The GTO was shown for the first time in 1962. Thanks to its 300 hp engine and good aerodynamics it achieved a speed of about 280 km/h with acceleration from 0 to 100 in just 5.6 seconds. For three whole years (1962, 1963 and 1964) the GTO dominated its racing class in inimitable style. This kit is a reissue of a kit from I believe either Protar or Fujimi. It is a full detail model, lots of parts. It is molded in white and black plastic, with a chrome tree for small details and multi piece chrome wire wheels that mount on rubber tires. The body features separate movable bonnet, doors and boot lid. Molding looks nice and clean considering the age of the tool, minimal mold lines and flash. There is a detailed, multi-part 12- cylinder engine featuring six Weber carbs. Separate exhaust assemblies (for road and race versions) are included. Included are decals and detailed painting instructions for one road and two racing versions. Included are decals for the blue Mecom Team car #24 driven by Roger Penske and a green #47 driven by David Piper.
Subject: More things I cant do
By Alex Broman, our Iraq correspondent
- I cannot fire a MPAT (Multi Purpose Antii Tank) round through two buildings to
hit the RPG gunner in an alley on the other side
- I cannot paint my kills, animal or otherrwise, on the side of my HMMWV
Same goes for the tank
- As far as I am concerned the at-4 in thee back is for decoration not for fun,
I am quoting a CPT on that one
- I cannot hit on the gay Philipino barber for free
haircuts
- “You rang?" is not the proper way tto respond to a 1st SGT
- I cannot suggest patrol routes that takee us by the college as it gets out
- Once I clear the .50 mounted over the maain gun I must get back in the turret,
not hold onto the barrel as we come through the gates yelling "High Ho
Silver AWAY!!!"
- Burning poop builds character or so Plattoon sergeants will have you think
- I cannot trade 9mm rounds to the IP for rides on their chai
boy's moped
Kit review, Revell “41” Chevvie Pickup Truck 2-n-1, Kit # 85-7207.
By Bob Horton, IPMS Quad Cities
This kit as produced can be built two different ways. It can be built “stock” as it was produced or
can be “tricked out” with some extra chrome, low profile tires and chrome
wheels into a street rod. I acquired this
kit as almost a “least worst” choice, at a Quad Cities
Club meeting a couple of months ago. There was a makeup raffle of some left
over kits and several of us that had missed the earlier meeting were allowed to
take a pick from the left over pile hence, “my least worst
choice.” The kit looked to be very nice
and I had been tending toward trucks lately.
But those projects have all been 18 wheeler types. So the kit came home and languished for
several weeks. During a brief lull in
the first of the year kit building frenzy, I looked on the shelf and there sat
that little pickup. My mind tended to
wander a bit and in a little episode of “what if”. I thought that it would make a good little
exercise in building a converted model of a pickup-like truck I drove as a
Power Company employee in the late fifties.
In the late fifties the local power company was still using trucks from the
early and late 40’s in the Customer Service Department. Some were fitted as pipe trucks and some with
trouble truck “telephone style” rear bodies.
The truck I usually drove was actually an International but we also had Chevies and Fords. I started construction on the Revell Chevie with the idea that early in the project I would cut
off the rear half of the chassis unit that held the front fenders, the rear
fenders and running board unit. The
frame of the chassis built up very nicely and the little Chevie
six cylinder engine is a jewel. Some
modelers with intentions of opening up the hood should certainly find a basis
for super detailing. In dry fitting the
chopped down set of fenders and partial running board, I found that the kit as-
furnished section of rear bed planking would fit onto the rear chassis and work
perfectly for the inside of the box body parts side bins that was used as pipe
truck bodies. The side bin sections were
cut out of sheet styrene stock and mocked up.
Luckily the first time around the pieces all looked to be about what I
remembered of the general shape of the old pipe trucks. The “box” body set down
onto the floor sections and we were progressing fine. I cut out thin rectangles of styrene and
applied these to the outside surfaces of the box body. These represented the side bin doors that
were used to store pipe fittings, parts and tools. There had to be a shallow
box trough that set above the left side bin and this was built up on short
legs. Above this was a pair of support racks that held the stock of pipe
lengths that we carried. Inside the bed
of the body along both inner surfaces of the side bins there were two parallel
pieces of padded boards that served as tie down anchor points for any load
carried in the bed of the truck. When it came time to install the bumpers and
front grill another recollection came to mind.
In the truck fleet we had at that time, along with the updated early to
mid fifties trucks, were a couple of ‘41’s, early 42’s and even a ’46 or two.
These trucks had a particular feature…the chrome parts on these trucks were not
chromed. At the very beginning of the war, through to the
first few models to come out post war, had literally no chrome. So out came the oven cleaner and soak the
parts to remove the chrome plating. These parts were then painted a medium grey
color. The remainder of the truck was painted a utility truck bright
yellow. I wanted to try to duplicate
the original Iowa Illinois Gas and Electric Company round emblems that were on
the doors of all our trucks. I knew my old truck number was 127 and the numbers
came easy. To duplicate the old round emblem took a bit of doing. First I searched the internet for any
National Update:
RCs,
3.5 months to go! August 6-9 is looming large for the committee, which hopes to bring you a first class event. Not much modeling going on here...
A business trip recently completed delayed this report,
but I did have the pleasure of attending the IPMS
- A tax break is coming and the Administration and Congress wants us to spend it - why not here?
- While gas prices are higher, a vacation by car/SUV/Minivan is still the most affordable option.
- Make airline reservations sooner rather than later to take advantage of lower prices
I have attached the latest on trophy package sponsorship. Our goal is too sell the categories out, so that it truly is a national contest. Sponsorship has picked up, but there are still plenty of opportunities for clubs and individuals. I encourage them to get their requests in now. I also encourage people to not wait on registration. Here are some great reasons to pre-register now:
- People pre-registered will be allowed to check in at
- Avoid the lines of walk-in registration. We are working hard to keep these bearable, but pre-registering is a good way to avoid them.
- Remember the rate goes up July 1st, so register now and spend that $5 savings in the vendor room.
- Due to the need to plan food purchases, there will not be on-site sales of banquet tickets or the Fighter Factory BBQ. If you want to go, sign up now.
-
Use your tax refund to register early!
There are hotel rooms still available in the new hotels that we have brought on line. We recommend that people make reservations soon as demands for hotel rooms in the region pick up as the summer season approaches.
Virginia Beach Resort Hotel and
75 Suites - $179.00 a night – potential to add more rooms. 4 rooms sold so far
Wyndham
30 Rooms - $169 a night. 12 Rooms sold and activity has increased. Potential to add a modest number of additional rooms
Quality Inn Pavilion (The other hotel adjacent to the
Convention Center)
30 Rooms - $144.00 a night. Popular, 23 rooms sold so far. Potential to add a small number of additional rooms
We look forward to seeing our fellow IPMSers
in August and hope that many if not all, take advantage of all that this part
of
All the best,
Charles Landrum
Chairman
Kit: Porsche 550 Spyder
Mfg: Jimmy Flintstone
Scale: 1/25 Kit # nb169
By Chuck Herrmann, Courtesy IPMS GTR Newsletter
At the recent
A blast from the Past:
The Royal Macedonian Air Force
By Glen Broman, Quad Cities Scale Modelers
While watching CNN, I noticed an old Piper Cub parked on the
edge of an abandoned airfield in
spectacular, the bravest of Alexanders legions broke and ran at the onslaught, although not particularly deadly, the effect was dramatic and thus was born the dreaded OCM, or Organic Cluster Munition. Later experiments with oats and various native wildflowers led to some particularly nasty area denial weapons. It was not too long before Prince Bubba discovered that each Pegasii could carry several soldiers besides the pilot and thus was born the Airborne Infantry. During early engagements the Pegasii landed and allowed the soldiers to dismount. This led to an increase in casualties among the Pegasii and a new technique was developed. The Pegasii would swoop in low, spread their wings to slow down and the soldiers would jump (or be pushed) off. After a period of time Prince Bubba's recruit pool started to dry up so he started to actively recruit men from the lower intelligence levels of the army who had difficulty envisioning what was going to happen once they jumped off the Pegasii. These early Airborne soldiers often landed hard, and not only on their heads, which tended to give them a short, ugly appearance, traits which are still exhibited in Airborne Infantry to this day. About this time the distinctive battle cry of "yo, Bubba" was adopted as a tribute to their leader, the Prince. After helping Alexander achieve victory in nearly all of his battles, the end of the fledgling Air Force was particularly sad. During a fly by of his victorious pilots, one of the Pegasii released an OCM at low level directly over Alexander himself. Alexander unfortunately ingested a large amount of the OCM while "oohing and aahing" the aerial demonstration. Alas, within a few short hours he died. His Generals immediately suspected a plot by the Air Force to take control and the rumor began to spread that certain Air Force officers had spiked the oats before the fly‑by. This was never conclusively proved but the Air Force was disbanded, the officers executed (buried under pighloughts, a particularly gruesome way to die) and the Pegasii were all put to death. The effect of this purge has led to the dearth of information we have on the Royal Macedonian Air Force to this day. Historical Footnote: This article had its roots in an article I read in the now defunct "AIRFIX" magazine about 10 or 15 years ago. I wish to credit the author for the basic idea but am unable to do so. This also points out the danger of exposing unoriginal and highly retentive minds to the scholarly work of others.