A couple items of note...

First, planning for our show in January is starting to come together.  We've managed to finalize how we are going to approach the judging this year, and we really think we'll be able to stay on schedule this time! We've also issued a challenge to all the chapters in Region 3, and anyone else who wants to play.  It's for an OOB build of any 1/72 scale Airfix airplane model.  See the details on the show page.

Second, as is my habit, I'm posting a link to some AMAZING work.  Check Diego's stuff out.  Of particular note to me is the 1/72 F-18 he did.  I remember being blown away by the model when I saw it several years ago in Military In Scale magazine, but now that I can see it as WIP pictures, it's even more amazing. 

Diego Quijano

And, as a purely FUN 4 minutes, check out this video of the "Mother of All Hot Wheels Tracks".  I don't know how much HotWheels track and accessories cost these days, but this is absolutely incredible. And, it's for a great cause...

Mother of All Hot Wheels Tracks

That's all for now...go check out the show page!

The October meeting is back on schedule for the third Monday...and if I could afford this kind of RC...I could be tempted...

I know that most of us scale modelers don't often think too highly of RC, but the fact is, RC is probably keeping more hobby shops in business than we'd like to admit, even if the aisles of plastic are getting smaller.   But, check this out and then tell me that RC can't be cool!  A radio control F-16 with a swiveling camera to give a pilot's eye view of the flight.  Way too cool.  Cool enough that I can pretty much forgive the Kenny Loggins soundtrack.  If you're old enough, you won't have to wonder what I mean!

Click here for a pilot's eye view of a radio control F-16 flight!

And thanks to Dave Reed for the link...

Back on Schedule...The October meeting will be the 17th!

And another, what will hopefully be considered a cool link.  One of my favorite "painters" (and his construction skills aren't exactly below par either!) is a guy from Southern California, Mike Rinaldi.  With a fine arts background, Mike brings a little more thought to the process than many, and he is always pushing for that next step.  He's never afraid to either try something that some one else has pioneered (like Adam Wilder's Color Modulation) or develop his own technique, as presented on Missing-Lynx here.  I think you'll find Mike's presentation very clear, and the technique to be extremely powerful.

Mike Rinaldi "Oil Paint Rendering" on Missing-Lynx

I've already got the whole thing saved on my hard drive to save me the trouble finding it again when I want to refer back to it.  And as Mike relates, the technique is applicable to any genre of modeling...I've already started playing with it on a Wingnuts SE5a, and here is an early comparison of the right (airbrush only) and left (airbrush plus OPR) results.

A quick reminder...and a cool link...

Another reminder here...the September meeting has been moved up to the second Monday, as in next Monday (that would have been the 12th for anyone looking at this after next week!).  Remember, the September meeting is 9-12-11!

And, here's a link to a bunch of nice pictures from Swiss World Expo 2011.  I'm guessing it's mostly a figure show (as that's what 95% of the pictures are of, but there are a few airplane models, including Pierre "Madman, Scale Phantom Phixer's" mindblowing Felixstowe.

Swiss World Expo 2011 

I don't know who Pekka Tapani is, but he took some great photos of some stellar work, and he posted the link on Missing-Lynx (kinda ironic since the link really isn't missing!) so I figure he won't mind if I link to it from here!  Oh, and as for the really annoying periodic prompt to log in...I just kept clicking ignore and made it all the way through the album without any trouble!

Another Meeting night change!

Once again, due to a scheduling conflict with the Church, we will have to move our meeting off it's normal 3rd Monday slot in September.  This time we will be moving up a week to the second Monday (that would be the 12th for those of you who don't have a calendar at hand).

Our last couple of meetings have been really well attended, and have had some great content.  We've taken to doing a bit of a more "formal" (or at least a formal as we're likely to get) presentation of the models and projects we're working on, which gives everyone a better idea of what folks are doing, as well as giving folks a better opportunity to seek input and advise from the whole group.  So come on, bring a project and let's see it and talk about it.  We also featured a killer slide show from Dave Wells this month of his trips to Florida for the last ever Space Shuttle Launch & visit to the Fantasy of Flight facility AND his week spent in Oshkosh.

And in September, you get the opportunity to be bored to death with a slide show of pictures Tom and I took at the Nationals.  Always a real snoozer as there are never any models worth looking at at that show....

And finally, in a tragic, at least to me, bit of news, Rob Ervin has shut Formations down.  Rob was truley one of the GOOD GUYS in the hobby, and his Formations line was second to none in terms of quality and accuracy.  I can't tell you how sorry I am for us Formations fans that Rob is moving on.  On the flip side, Rob is moving on to a fantastic opportunity for himself and his family, and for that, I'm grateful and wish him all the luck in the world!  Rob is also looking into selling the Formations business, and if I know Rob, if and when he does, it will go to another quality individual or company that will produce products that will meet Rob's expectations of his own work!

In the meantime, if you're looking for anything from Formations, I suggest you look to MidTenn Hobbies.   Jack has a pretty good stock of Formations products.  Just don't wait too long...there's no telling when there will be more....www.midtennhobbies.com.

And finally, finally...in a bit of shameless self promotion (hey, I'm allowed, I'm the webmaster!  If you don't like it, and you're a CSM member, feel free to take over.  If you're not a member, you got nothing to complain about!  All said with tongue FIRMLY in cheek!!) I've got a new venture going.  MaxModels.  I'm trying my hand at the resin casting game (totally against Rob's advice!).  My idea and first products are a line of resin aircraft bases replicating concrete ramps.  Soon I'll have carrier decks, modern and WWII, as well as the old Soviet Hex pattern concrete ramps, all in 1/72.  Future plans will be to move into 1/48th scale, and other products as the urge and ideas hit.  But check it out at:

www.max-model.com

Ok, I figure that's about enough for now....