A couple bits...

Well, the 2012 Nationals at Disney are in the past.  IPMS Pelikan Model Club did an OUTSTANDING job hosting the convention.  While everyone I saw was having a very good time, there did end up being some controversy regarding the venue.  For some, they simply refuse to step foot in the land of Mickey, for others it was too far to travel, and for many of the vendors, the Mou$e greatly reduced the amount of loose change that many modelers had to spend in the vending rooms.

But, again, it really was a very good show, and the Pelikans should be very proud of what they did!  Now on to Loveland CO for 2013!

On another note, I came across this link to the US Marine's publications library.  There is a GOLD MINE here for Marine Corps history.  I'd be willing to be there are hundreds of thousands of pages of free material and tons of great pictures buried in those pages if you're willing to dig.  I know I spent a good 2-3 hours downloading interesting looking PDF's.  Just make sure you've got some free space on your hard drive before digging in!

Marine Corps publications

This one is FUNNY...

And yes, I've certainly had similar conversations in hobby shops!

How about a FREE tutorial on painting and weathering armor models?

That's right...FREE.  Sven-Ake Grufstedt has published a brief PDF booklet demonstrating his techniques for painting and weathering armor models.  Though titled Braille Scale Modelling, the techniques are just as applicable to larger scales, and with some immagination, even planes, cars, sci-fi...heck any model!  Some of the techniques included are using pigments, oil dot filtering, and the hairspray technique for chipping and showing heavy wear on the paint.

Sven-Ake Grufstedt's Braille Scale Modelling

And speaking of the hairspray technique, check out the new Chipping Fluids from AK Interactive.  I've tried the hairspray technique on a few models.  A couple have been successful, and one was a complete failure.  Although I followed the technique as described by the guys who did a great job with it, I always had a hard time removing the upper layer of paint to reveal the undercoat.  But, at the AMPS International show a couple weeks ago I watched a weathering seminar by Mig himself and he used the AK Interactive Chipping Fluids.  I was VERY impressed with how easily the top coat came off to reveal the undercoat with the Chipping Fluid.  I went away from that determined to pick some up.  I know Jack is out of it right now, but I'm sure he's got a re-stock of this fantastic new product coming.  Check it out at MidTenn Hobbies.

And speaking of Mig's seminar, he mentioned one of the coolest things I've ever heard a modeler of his caliber say.  He made a point, even saying please at one point.  His comment?  I'll paraphrase here:

If you make a mistake with painting, please don't strip the paint and start over.  Cover up the mistake with a tarp or stowage, keep going and move on to the next model!

What a cool attitude from someone I think most of us would consider a master!  I'll have to give it a try!

Big news for our 2013 show!

We have a new venue.  After two years in the Family Life Center at the East Brainerd Church of Christ (and HUGE thanks to them for giving our show a home for two years while we got it off the ground!) we realized we'd out grown the space.  So we've moved...to the Chattanooga Convention Center.

We'll have 18,000 sq ft of carpeted space in one room, plus a seperate room for the judges meetings and seminars.

The dates are January 11th & 12th.

Check the show page for more details!

FINALLY...a new update!

So what's new these days?

Pictures have been posted of our show.  We had two guys busy with cameras so I hope you can get a good feel for what the show had to offer.

I've also posted small galleries of both the 2012 Atlanta Figure and AMPS show and the 2012 Old Dominion Open.

And finally, here is a link to some absolutely FANTASTIC scratch building tips from a master scratch builder, Ben Jakobsen.  Ben has been doing master patterns for many years for many different types of models including display bases, tank parts and aircraft sets.  Even if you don't do much scratch building, you should check this out because I guarantee you'll pick up at least a tip or two that will help you out:

Ben's scratch building tips

And don't forget to check out the other galleries on Ben's Fotiki page.  He's got galleries of some of his personal projects.  His 1/72 Helldiver was my first exposure to his work (that I was aware of.  Years ago I used the F8F wingfold he mastered for Cutting Edge, but I didn't know about Ben at that time).  Spend some time browsing through, I don't think you'll be disappointed...