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Nostalgia
by Tony Humphries, ASM Vice President
Part 1 (of a 1 part series)
As members of our own esteemed club will be
aware, I am generally an armor, diorama, and/or figure modeler. I enjoy the
challenge of 750 tiny individual track-links and enough brass to equip an
entire orchestra. Sometimes. But sometimes even I feel the need for a
change. Maybe it is the smell of styrene on the wind. The stirring of the
sap in springtime. The irresistible urge to gargle tequila, wear sandals
(with socks) and Bermuda shorts, and head (farther) south for the winter.
Anyway, for reasons best known to myself and my therapist, I have decided to
hang up my armor hat for a while and have a stab at a few aircraft kits this
year. Well, nobody's perfect, after all. I have developed an interest of
late, in WWII aircraft that flew from the county that I grew up in.
Wiltshire (in the southwest of
Why pick these subjects? Well, nostalgia I suppose. Many traces of WWII airfields still existed when I was a young whippersnapper, and we explored them endlessly at the time. Kind of like the movie Stand by Me but with surplus gas masks and live ammunition. Sadly, they are gone for the most part now, and I was terribly disappointed to see just how much has gone on my last trip to the old country. Call it progress if you like. Cultural vandalism is probably nearer the truth though... Back in the day, we found WWII surplus all over the place, but of course weren't sensible enough to keep it. We were more sensible than some though--the kid that I remember vigorously hitting a "live" 40mm Bofors shell with half a brick to see what happened, for example. He's still alive, remarkably enough, although I don't think his eyebrows ever grew back. Part of it was also sparked by my father, a metal detector enthusiast and historian who recently found yet another cache of Garand M1 ammunition (a change from the Roman stuff that he often turns up) and now probably has enough to start his own civil war. Actually, if Brexit isn't delivered as promised, he might very well be tempted to do so...
In conjunction with this of course, there is
also a desire to commemorate the men who risked their lives daily, flying
from these now mostly forgotten places. Wiltshire was home to a number of
significant airbases including RAF Colerne, which was a major night-fighter
base throughout the war and which was also home to the first official RAF
jet fighter squadron (Meteors, Mk.I and III, of course) right at the close
of the war in Europe. Spitfires were manufactured in several locations
throughout the county, along with Short Stirlings, a stone's throw away
(literally) from my old office in South Marston. RAF Lyneham, then and now
home to the main transport units of the RAF and Wroughton, once home to one
of the largest aircraft maintenance and storage facilities in the
country--now a branch of
Then there's RAF Boscombe Down--home to most
experimental and test aircraft flown throughout WWII, including many
captured German subjects. It truly was the home of the weird and wonderful.
It's basically Area 51 for the country gentleman. A bit more refined and a
lot damper, but with at least one good pub just around the corner. And the
ever present and far less pleasant nasal assault from the pig farm nearby--a
smell so intense that it has both a physical presence and personality. In
fact it occasionally buys a round in the public bar of the Horse and Hounds,
according to local legend. Of course, with some of the bowel-loosening test
flights in ill-advised experimental aircraft, that may have been a familiar
odor in the cockpit too... There are many hair-raising stories told about
that place. For example, Boscombe Down was home to the only B-25H flown by
the RAF during WWII. One of the first tests of the bloody great on-board
cannon resulted in a shell that went straight through the earth bank and
brick wall that it was aimed at, and straight into the fuselage of a Whitley
parked behind it, which just happened to be loaded with half a ton of marker
flares. Quite a sight to behold, I'm sure. There are probably still scorch
marks on the tarmac even now. I wonder if that's why the RAF decided not to
adopt the "H" variant?
My own local airfields at Ramsbury and
Membury were also busy places. Membury was home to a number of USAAF Recon
squadrons using Spitfires and P-38 Lightnings before becoming a home base
and a major service depot for P-47s. Ramsbury was a training base for RAF
pilots who had learned to fly in the far-flung Empire, on single-engine
death-traps before converting to more modern, twin-engine death traps--I
mean, aircraft. They also had to get used to flying in almost
permanent rain and fog of course... After a year or so of this, and
seventeen documented air crashes in the immediate vicinity (almost all
Airspeed Oxfords), you Yanks arrived and the skies and runways of both
Ramsbury and Membury were then filled with C-47s and gliders, as far as the
eye could see. What makes a man jump out of a perfectly good airplane, or
even worse, sit in the pilot's seat of an un-powered aircraft filled with
fuel, ammunition, or a platoon of swarthy and bad tempered soldiers and then
submit it to a series of barely-controlled crashes, I will never know. I
guess they had to keep training pretty intensively to crash in just the
right way before D-Day came along, though. The really weird thing (to me
anyway) is that British glider pilots from the Glider Pilot Regiment were
trained to fly powered aircraft first, before giving up their engines and
sitting in a wooden aircraft that was uglier than Gary Busey and even less
controllable. Brave men indeed, and if they aren't worthy of commemoration,
I don't know who is.
So, to cut a long story short, yes I will be
building at least one Horsa and a CG-4A
So to bring this rambling narrative to an
end, nostalgia is certainly going to be powering my building efforts for the
coming year. Many of you probably have similar motivations. Maybe you build
aircraft that you flew yourselves, armor that you practiced flattening sheep
in (I've seen the RAC Chieftain and now Challenger tanks on manouvers on
Salisbury Plain...) or ships that you were personally sick in. Being one of
the few members of our club who did not serve in the military (due in part
to a lifelong refusal to do as I'm told), I don't have my own personal
service to look back on. But I do have intense memories nonetheless.
Remember how everything used to be cheaper, bigger, noisier, less safe, and
peculiar shades of brown and orange? How about immortalizing some of that in
plastic? I certainly intend to.
Contest Update
by Josh Pals, ASM President
January marked our first contests of the year with the annual special non-points contest, "Moe Blalters" Sci-Fi/Real Space and Patrick Dick's sponsored contest, "Frickin' Laser Beams."
We had seven entries in Basic, ten in
Intermediate, and six in Masters. If January's contest is any indication,
Intermediate will be the level to watch with a lot of great modelers in that
level!
The winners of the special non-points contest
are:
Basic: Aaron Schmiedicke with his 1/72 Bandai
TIE Fighter.
Intermediate: Jim Medina with his 1/144
"North Ridge" diorama using AMT and Bandai kits.
Masters: Josh Pals with his D&D figure from
Ral Partha.
These are the winners for Pat's "Frickin'
Laser Beams" contest:
Basic: Aaron Schmiedicke's TIE Fighter
Intermediate: James Medina's AT-AT Diorama
Masters: Mike Blohm's "You are Leaving New
Mexico" UFO and Cow diorama
There isn't a contest in February as that is
our bi-annual "Swap Meet" night. The next points contest is in March with
the theme being "Open" so those who entered models in January can enter up
to three of their models in March's point contest.
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January Updates
The Special (non-points) Contest was "Pearl
Harbor Plus 7" to commemorate the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941 and any Pacific War events within the following 7 days.
The winner in Basic was Aaron Schmiedicke's P-40B. The Intermediate
winner was Bob Henderson's P-40B. The winner in Masters was James
Strickland's 1/144 scale A6M2 Zero.
The final contest of the night was the "Adversaries II (Part Deux)" sponsored contest hosted by Mike and Matt Blohm. This contest was open to any two model subjects that were involved in an adversarial situation. There were nine entries which were split into three awards. The "Best Sci-Fi" award went to James Medina's Y-Wing versus TIE Fighter entries. The "Best Aircraft" award went to Larry Glenn's F4F Wildcat versus A6M2 Zero entries. The "Best Others" award (Automotive/Armor/Naval Vessels) award went to Dave Miller's US Navy Gato versus Imperial Japanese Navy I-16 submarines. Thanks to all who brought in entries.
The January 4th meeting is the annual Moe
Blalters "Sci-Fi, Real Space, Science, and Fanasy" Special (non-points)
contest open to any subject, any scale that fits within theme. Besides
the normal awards, there are also "Just Staff" best entry awards, which are
always collector's items. The January sponsored contest is "Frickin'
Laser Beams" hosted by Patrick Dick, open to any subject with frickin' laser
beams. The entire 2019 ASM Contest Schedule is posted elsewhere
in this newsletter.
I found out from the Folds of Honor foundation
that the two 1/48 scale F-16 "Taco" models went for very high prices during
the auctions at the Folds of Honor Patriot Gala event and the golf
tournament on October 20-21, 2018. Chris Kurze's model was sold for
$250 at the Gala, and Patrick Dick's model was sold for $225 at the golf
tournament. ASM received a certificate of appreciation plaque thanking
us for our support to the Folds of Honor Patriot Gala. I will bring
that to the January 4th meeting.
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The Eagle's View
by Mike Blohm, ASM President
Election Results, Year-End
Festivities, and a Look-Back at 2018
First off, I want to thank everybody that served on the 2018 E-Board. We have a few changes based upon the elections for the 2019 E-Board. A big thank you goes to Josh Pals as the 2018 Vice President, who is stepping up to be the President in 2019. Another big thank you goes to John Tate as the 2018 Contest Director, with Chris Kurtze coming in to serve in that role in 2019. Frank Randall remains on as the Secretary-Treasurer. Thanks also go to Jack Garriss (re-elected) and two out-going Pro Tems--Chris Kurtze and Keith Liotta--with Ken Piniak and David Epstein being elected to serve in 2019. It looks like a very good group to lead and serve ASM in 2019.
There are three contests on the plate for the
December ASM meeting, so hopefully you will be able to participate in one or
more of those. John Tate discusses those in his Contest Update article
below. One note on the "Adversaries II (Part Deux)" sponsored contest
hosted by myself and my son Matt: Awards will be based upon
participation in the contest. Based upon the models on the table,
there might perhaps be "Best Big Scale Aircraft (1/48 and 1/32)" and "Best
Small Scale Aircraft (1/144 and 1/72)" awards, "Best Armor" etc. We
had 36 models entered in "Adversaries I" in July 2015, so maybe we can top
that number.
NM State Fair. Next
up was the ASM- sponsored model contest and display at the 2018 New Mexico
State Fair, which had model registration and judging on August 24-27.
We had a record turnout of 83 model entries from 44 entrants, up from 2017's
previous high record of 77 entries. ASM's "1918 - Final Year of World
War I" display had 26 models.
Air Force Ball. The
Air Force Ball model display at Kirtland Air Force Base took place on
September 15th to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the USAF
in September 1947. We had 74 models on the tables manned by four ASM
members showing the history of the USAF from 1947 through the present, and
it was enjoyed by all attendees.
To close, here is another short story on an
American ace. F4U Corsair aces have not received much coverage in the
time that I have been doing these stories, so this month I will be covering
Captain Kenneth Walsh , US Marine Corps (USMC). With 21 aerial
victories Ken Walsh is the 18th ranking U.S ace (tie).; 4th ranking in the
USMC. and the first and top "Corsair ace." He was also the top ace of
VMF-124 the "Checkerboards”. Walsh served five years in scout
and observation squadrons before he joined VMF-124 in Sep 1942, the first
unit to fly the "Corsair" in combat, and arrived at
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ASM's model display at the Folds of Honor
Patriot Gala on Saturday, October 20 went really well. We had 81 total
models on three tables located in the auction room, and we had a lot of
people come by to check out the models and talk about the ones that they had
flown or maintained. There were six ASM members manning the tables: Josh
Pals, Frank Randall, Chris Kurtze, Ken Piniak, and Mike and Matt Blohm.
Chris Kurtze and Patrick Dick both provided a 1/48-scale model of an F-16C
Fighting Falcon in the markings of the New Mexico Air National Guard's 150th
Fighter Wing "Tacos" for the auction. The Folds of Honor provides
scholarships for the children and spouses of
The November 2 meeting is the E-Board election night. We have six people running for three Pro Tem positions. These include (in alphabetical order): John Dodd, Dave Epstein, Jack Garriss, Dave Haskins, Robert Henderson, and Ken Piniak. There was only one nomination for the positions of President (Josh Pals), Vice President (Tony Humphries), Secretary/Treasurer (Frank Randall), and Contest Director (Chris Kurtze).
The November meeting's other highlight is a
"Battle of Britain" presentation being given by noted aviation author
Douglas Dildy. His latest book is
I want to report that ASM will not be
doing a "1918" model display for Veterans Day at the New Mexico Veterans
Memorial. They did like the "1918" display that we did at the State Fair,
but unfortunately they do not have any display area open for us to use at
this time. They may have space open in a few months, so stand by for more
info on that.
We have two sponsored contests in November as
well as the main "Open" theme (points) contest. These include Brian Peck's
"Challenge Build" and Dave Epstein's "Blackbirds." I also want to pitch
December's sponsored contest "Adversaries II (Part Deux)" hosted by Matt
Blohm and myself. This is open to any two model subjects (counts as one
entry) that were involved in an adversarial situation. An example might be a
Zero or Val dueling a P-40B over the skies of
To close, here is another short
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First off, I want to thank everybody that
supported the ASM model display at the Air Force Ball on Kirtland AFB on
Saturday, September 15th. We had 74 models on the tables showing the
history of the USAF from 1947 through the present. It went very well
and everybody enjoyed the display. Thanks to Josh Pals, Larry Glenn
and Frank Randall for helping me man the tables. A few pictures are
included here; a longer
article and pictures
of the display are posted below on this Articles webpage.
Our next ASM model display is at the Folds of
Honor (FoH) New Mexico 2018 Patriot Gala, being held on October 20th at the
Santa Anna Star Casino Hotel in Bernalillo. The mission of FoH is to
provide educational support to the spouses and children of
Thanks again to everyone who made the 2018 NM
State Fair Model Contest a success. We set a new record with 83
entries. Our "1918" display had 26 models. An article on the
state fair results is elsewhere on the ASM Website.
Speaking of 1918, we may be doing a model
display on "1918" at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial to celebrate Armistice
Day. I have contacted the Memorial's director of displays, but have
not heard anything back yet. So stand by for more news. We may
be able to put on the same exhibit as we did at the state fair, if everyone
would like to participate (loan models) in the display.
Next month's meeting on October 5th is the
2019 E-Board Nominations meeting. We will be accepting nominations for
all the E-Board positions, with the election to occur at the November 2nd
meeting. Please consider running for a position. It is a great
way to learn how the club runs and everything behind the scenes. The
positions and duties, and expectations of E-Board members are covered in the
ASM By Laws, which are posted on the
By Laws
webpage. An article on the nominations process and a condensed
versions of the By Laws information is contained in the October Newsletter's
Bonus Pages.
Speaking of the November 2nd meeting, that
night we will be having a presentation on the "Battle of Britain" by noted
aviation historian and author Douglas Dildy. You do not want to miss
this! Doug recently wrote
To wrap up, here is this month's short
American ace story on Captain Frederick J. Christensen Jr., US Army Air
Force. Christensen, with 21.5 victories, is the 16th-ranking American
ace (tie), and 11th-ranking USAF ace. He was the 4th-ranking ace of
the 56th Fighter Group "Zemke's Wolfpack," which points out the skill and
expertise of that unit! He flew 107 combat missions in the European
Theater of Operations, all in the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Additional details and pictures of
Christensen and the build of his bubbletop P-47D "Rozzie Geth II" are
included below on this Articles webpage.
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ASM did very well at the IPMS/USA National
Convention last month in
There will probably be other articles written
on the Nats, but here are my comments. Overall, I thought it was a
great show with a lot of great models on the tables. I heard about
some long delays in getting registered on the first day, but I did not
personally experience that on the second day. They had pretty smooth
model entry procedures, and I picked up some ideas that we might want to
incorporate for the next Chile Con. I think there should have been
some splits in the non-aircraft and armor categories, which also had huge
amounts of entries. The 2020 Nationals will be in
Thanks to all who entered models in the NM
State Fair model contest and/or ASM's "1918" model display, and who helped
with the registration and judging. We will have a report at the
September 7th ASM meeting with some statistics on how many entries and
entrants we had and how many models were in the display. Contest
results will be posted on the website within a few days of the judging.
There are normally around 300 pictures posted each year, so that will take a
few weeks. If you entered any models, don't forget to pick them up on
Monday, September 17th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The next model display coming up is the Air
Force Ball on September 15th at Kirtland AFB. We are looking for
anything USAF from 1947 through the present time. This includes
aircraft (it is the Air Force), helicopters, missiles, X-planes, support
vehicles, figures, ships (yes, they have some), and dioramas. I will be
going through the model pictures from the last couple of years and let the
builders know which of their models could be used, in case you have
forgotten what might be a player. We intend to borrow some of the ASM-built
nuclear bomber models from the
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August
Most members are likely aware that ASM member
Gil Johnson passed away on June 30th. Gil had been a member of ASM
since 2006. A longer tribute article to Gil is published below on this
webpage. Please be sure to read that.
I hope that ASM members who attended the
IPMS/USA Nationals Convention in
I am sure that we will have member reports on
the convention submitted for the Sep edition of the ASM Newsletter.
Anyone is welcome to submit an article to Joe Walters on their perceptions
and experiences at the big show, and they will be published as
received. I will also get those article posted to the ASM Website.
Everyone please take pics of whatever models you entered, and we will get
all those posted too.
We will be starting the first of three big ASM
model displays at the 2018 NM State Fair, which runs Sep 6-16. Model
entries are on Aug 24 and 25 from 9 AM to 5 PM each day. Please
contact Josh Pals if you can help--he is the lead for this effort.
There will probably be a sign-up sheet at the Aug 10th meeting. There
is a longer article elsewhere in this newsletter on entering your models in
the contest and contributing to the "1918" display. We had a lot of
great World War I models on the tables for the "1918" sponsored contest at
the May ASM meeting. I'd like to see all those at the state fair!
Remember that if you take a model to the fair, it will not be available for
either the Sep 7th ASM meeting or the Sep 15th Air Force Ball, our next big
model display effort.
To finish up, here is another short "ace
story." August 31, 1943 was the first use of the F6F Hellcat in
combat, so this month's story is on little-known Hellcat ace Lieutenant
Patrick D. Fleming who scored 19 total aerial victories. Fleming is
the 22nd-ranking American ace (tie), and the 4th-ranking US Navy ace (tie).
He initially served on the cruiser USS Cincinnati until entering
flight training in Nov 1942. He then served as a flight instructor
from Dec 1943 to Mar 1944, when he joined VF-80 (Fighting Squadron 80
"Vipers") aboard the USS Ticonderoga. During 2 combat tours with
VF-80 he scored 10 victories, including 5 kills on 14 Dec 1944 (4 Zekes and
an Oscar) in the
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To open, I think that everybody has probably
heard that long-time ASM member Harry Davidson passed away on June 10th.
He was the founder of the Cavalcade of Wings model display that members have
likely seen at the Sunport. Though his membership in ASM the two
organizations have had great synergy and accomplished a lot of model-related
projects, displays, and service to the community. There is a longer
article that pays tribute to Harry
posted below on this webpage. We will miss him.
We are halfway through the year now.
Please let the E-Board know if you have any suggestions to make the second
half of the year better and to have more fun. Besides our contests and the
model displays on our schedule, what would you like see for clinics?
If you would like to give a clinic on a cool method that you've recently
discovered or tried, please let us know. The same goes for
presentations, if you'd like to do one of those. Of note, the IPMS/USA
National Convention in
Model registration for the NM State Fair is on
Friday Aug 25th and Saturday Aug 26th. We will need members to help
out on those two days, as well as the judging the following week on either
Monday or Tuesday, still to be determined. You can earn points towards
ASM Modeler of the Year by entering models in the contest (50 points each)
and contributing models to the "1918" ASM display (25 points each, max of 3
models total across both for points, but certainly bring more than 3). You
will need to do some strategery about what you want to take to the Fair,
enter in the Sep 7th ASM "Post Apocalyptic" contest, and/or display at the
AF Ball on Sep 15th. Models taken to the Fair will be on display there
from Aug 26th through Sep 16th when the Fair closes (can pick them up on Sep
17th). More
info on the State Fair
has been posted on the ASM Website.
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June 2018 Article:
The May 4th meeting included a presentation on
"1918" by Josh Pals that covered the highlights of events in the first half
of that year. Josh will present the second half of 1918 at the June
1st meeting. John Tate's "1918" sponsored contest at the May meeting
had an impressive turn-out of really nice models. I hope you were
there to see them, or better yet, participated too! If you were unable
to complete your 1918 model in time for the May meeting, please try to get
it done by the end of August, as "1918" is also the theme of our ASM
Display-Only exhibit at the 2018 New Mexico State Fair.
Instead of
featuring an American ace this month, I'm going to talk about an anniversary
that just occurred on May 17th: the 75th anniversary of the completion of
the 25th combat mission by the Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress "Memphis Belle"
and its crew in 1943. The B-17F belonged to the 324th Bomb Squadron
(Heavy) of the 91st Bomb Group in the European Theater. To commemorate
this anniversary the restored "Memphis Belle" was rolled-out on May 17th to
go on display at the
ASM put on a
year-long rotating model display in 1997-1998 at multiple locations on
Kirtland AFB--including the
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May 2018 Article:
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First off, I'd like to thank the folks who did the
four model skills clinics at the April 6th meeting. I think those went
really well and looked to be well-attended, and I hope you learned some new
techniques to try on your next project. Those instructors included
Brian Peck (rigging and wires), Chris Kurtze (black based painting), Henry
McHarney (dioramas and weathering), and Frank Randall (painting white
finishes).
The May 4th meeting will include the "Tamiya
Versus Hasegawa" special (non-points) contest and the "1918" sponsored
contest hosted by John Tate. 2018 is the 100th anniversary of the last
year of World War I, also known as the "Great War" and the "War to End All
Wars." The May meeting will also include a presentation on "1918 - the Year
in Review" by Josh Pals. This will cover the highlights of events that
occurred during that final year of the war. Hopefully we will have a
lot of entries for the "1918" contest, which is open to any subject, any
kit, any scale that fits the year 1918. Please remember that this is
the theme of our ASM Display-Only exhibit at the 2018 New Mexico State Fair.
I would like to take a short moment to address a
condition that is likely very prevalent in ASM that while not serious to
your health, does seem to be communicable by both touch and airborne means.
This is the Uncompleted Contest Build Syndrome (UCBS). How you catch
it is fairly obvious-you try to build models. Luckily, it seems in ASM
that about every three to four years the moons, planets and the Sun line up
again and you have the chance for a partial cure. Of course, when they
do, it's hard to build models when it's pitch black and those monster things
are trying to kill you. That's when a good modeling lamp will save
your butt. See Jerry Little for some help with that. But I
digress. I started a kit for Josh Pals's "Post-Apocalyptic" sponsored
contest back in September, 2011. It was going to be totally awesome,
but it was overwhelmed by the Apocalypse. Now, seven years later to
the month, the universe is again aligned, and I have the chance to get that
partial cure. Wish me luck.
To coincide with
John Tate's "1918" contest, this month's ace's story will cover two aces who
flew with the United States Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force
in
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April 2018 Article:
The April 6 meeting is an "ASM Clinics Night"
so you want to be sure to attend that night. We plan to have four or five
simultaneous rotating clinics that will be repeated, so that you can pick
and choose the topics that most interest you. Right now the topics include
black-based painting, painting white, and diorama weathering. Each will be
30 - 45 minutes long. Stay tuned to the website for the latest on the topics
to be covered that night. There are no contests that night, but
Works-In-Progress entries can be brought in and Display-Only models are
welcomed. We plan to conduct more modeling skills clinics throughout the
year.
Here's an update on the model displays that
ASM will be conducting in 2018. First, we have the "1918--End of World War
I" display at the New Mexico State Fair. That will be on August 24 - 25 when
we do the model entries for the contest. In preparation for that, you can
build an entry for John Tate's "1918" sponsored contest on May 4. The second
display will likely be at the Air Force Ball on September 15. Our
participation has not yet been confirmed for this. Models for that would be
anything USAF from 1947 to the present. If we are short on models, we could
probably sneak some World War II USAAF models in too. The third display is
at the Folds of Honor Patriot Gala, which has been moved to October 20. The
models for that will be any US Service from 2001 to the present. To generate
some new builds for that, the ASM E-Board is hosting the "Global War on
Terror (GWOT)" sponsored contest at the September 7 meeting.
To wrap up, here is this month's short story
on an American ace. I have yet to feature an F-86 "Sabre" ace, so this month
I'm covering Colonel Royal N. "King" Baker, USAF, with 16.5 aerial
victories. Baker was the fifth ranking allied ace in
The model of Baker's aircraft
"The King / Angel
Face & the Babes" is the Testors F-86E kit, and has the patch of the 336th
Fighter Intercept Squadron "Rocketeers" on the nose. This model was built
and put on display at the
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March 2018 Article:
March is the first Open theme contest -
hopefully we will see lots of models om the table. The two Open
contests in March and November typically have the most entries of the year.
The March meeting will have a historical presentation by Dave Allin.
He is a U.S. Army and Vietnam War veteran and comes to us via our
association with the Albuquerque Model Car Club. April is Clinics
Night - let us know what you want to see at the March meeting. We will
pick the highest priorities to present. Also please let us know if you
would like to present a clinic yourself, either in April or later in the
year.
A quick reminder that March 31st is the IPMS
Region 10 CoMMiES Fest 2018 model contest up in Golden, Colorado.
Their theme this year is "A Night at the Movies." There are links on
the ASM Website.
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February 2018 Article:
We had a pretty good turnout of models at
December's Moe Blaters "Sci-Fi, Real Space, Science and Fantasy" Special
Contest, with 18 model entries. The Intermediate division had a great
set of models, with the Orks and Martians fighting it out with the Humans
and Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately for the Humans,
the Orks and Tripod won out.
I wanted to mention some model displays that
ASM is currently working on. The first is the Nuclear Weapons Heritage
Model Display at the
To finish up, here is this month's
short story on an American ace. I noticed that I had not yet featured
anyone who flew the Hellcat. The Wildcat has received a lot of
coverage, but not its younger brother. So to make up for that, I'm
going to briefly cover the top three Hellcat aces who flew with VF-27
(Fighting Squadron 27) on the USS Princeton from May to October 1944.
These include Lieutenant (Lt) James A. "Red" Shirley (12.5 victories), Lt
Carl A. Brown (10.5 victories), and Lt Richard E. Stambook (10 victories).
VF-27's cruise aboard the USS Princeton was cut short by its sinking
on October 24, 1944, but in five months the squadron accumulated 134 aerial
victories, with 104 occurring on three days. and 64 destroyed on the ground.
Further information on these
Hellcat Aces
of VF-27, and more pictures of models of their aircraft, are
included in the main part of the Articles web page.
Left to right above: Lt
James "Red" Shirley and his F6F-3 Hellcat "White 23";
Lt Carl "Brownie" Brown, Jr. and his
F6F-5 Hellcat
"White 9";
and Lt Richard Stambook and his
F6F-3 Hellcat
"White 17"
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January 2018 Article:
A Look Back at 2017 and the Upcoming 2018 - and a
Speaking of 2017, here is a short recap of
what the club accomplished over the year. A few pictures of these
events are included with this article. We put on a great IPMS Region 10
Convention and Model Contest with "Chile Con IV" held at a new venue on June
16-17. It went quite well, with 70 entrants and 466 models from 6
different states. A good time was had by all. The next big event
was the ASM-sponsored 2017 New Mexico State Fair Model Contest on August
26-29. We set a new record for model entries with a total of 77 by 51
entrants. Our display-only exhibit of "Star Wars - 40th Anniversary"
models was also a record with 35 models that filled two whole cases.
Thanks to everyone for making that truly impressive and a great display of
the modeling skills of the ASM membership. For the 2018 display-only
theme we are planning to do "1918" (100th Anniversary of end of World War
I). ASM next put on a model display supporting the Folds of Honor
Foundation at their annual fund-raising Patriot Gala on September 23rd at the Sandia
Resort and Casino. That display had 40 models representing all the
U.S. Services spread out over 6 tables. All the attendees enjoyed
looking at the models, and we are planning to do a display again in 2018,
with a couple of ASM-built models to be raffled-off. We had an ASM
Group Field Trip to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History here
in
Pictures above, left to right: Chile Con IV; NM State Fair Model Contest, Folds of Honor Patriot Gala Model Display; Group Field Trip
ASM also had a pretty productive set of club
meetings in 2017. We had two presentations by book authors: "The New
Mexico Space Trail" by Joseph Page in March, and the "Desert Storm Air War"
by Douglas Dildy in October. We also had 4 model clinics and 2
presentations on field trips taken by ASM members. We plan to conduct
a similar amount of clinics and presentations in 2018 including a whole
meeting dedicated to multiple clinics on April 6th. Please let the
E-Board know if you have a presentation that you would like to give to the
club. Contest-wise, we had 7 Theme (points) contests, 3 Special
(non-points) contests, and 5 Sponsored Contests - thanks to all who hosted
those. If you have an idea for a sponsored contest in 2018, please let
the Contest Director (John Tate) know and we will try to fit it into the
schedule.
To close, here is another short story of an
American "ace" - when you count both aerial and ground victories - Edward B.
Giller, who recently passed away here in
Several ASM members,
including myself, attended the Giller estate sale conducted in June 2016
when he moved into an assisted living facility. I acquired some photo
albums, books, and scrapbooks. John Tate acquired a display set of
four P-51 "Millie G" models that had been presented to General Giller at the
1967 IPMS/USA National Convention where he had been a guest speaker.
These models were detailed in an article by John in the August 2016
ASM
Newsletter. See pictures below. The individual model pictures accompanying this
article include a Tamiya 1/48 scale P-51D kit in Giller's markings built by
Larry Glenn. He used BaracudaCals BC48011 decals for the markings.
This model received a 3rd Place award at the 2017 IPMS/USA Nationals, 50
years after the display models had been presented to General Giller in 1967.
Also included are pictures of the Revell 1/72 scale P-51D kit that I built
in Giller's markings in 1971. Back then this was the best 1/72 P-51
kit available. I believe the decals were from ESCI and Microscale,
with some items hand-painted. Fortunately P-51 kits have gotten a
whole lot better since then. Coincidentally, which makes the
connection circle with ASM complete, to build Giller's "Mille" in 1971 for
my Ace's Gallery collection at the USAF Academy, I used the 1969 article in
the IPMS/USA Journal that detailed all the research that had been done on
his aircraft to build that "Mille G" display presentation set that John
rescued at the Giller estate sale. That Journal article was reprinted
as part of John's article in the August 2016
ASM Newsletter, and I
recommend you check it out. I do not know why the USAF Academy Library
had a subscription to the IPMS/USA Journal and Quarterly, but I spent a lot
of time researching schemes in all the magazines that they had on file.
That was my first exposure to IPMS/USA and I subsequently became a member.
To finally close, I hope that everyone has a Happy New Year and can spend a
lot of time building models in 2018. You had better get moving, as the
IPMS/USA Nationals is only seven months away!
Pictures above: Edward Giller and his "Millie
G"; the rescued 1967 IPMS/USA presentation model display;
Larry Glenn's
1/48th "Millie G"; and Mike Blohm's 1/72nd "Millie G"
For further information on General Giller, his
obituary in the Albuquerque Journal Newspaper can be found at:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/abqjournal/obituary.aspx?pid=187420469
December 2017 Article:
Supersonic - Election Results
- and End of Year Festivities
I have a couple of items to cover, but first I want
to thank everybody who stood for election and re-election to the 2018 ASM
Executive Board, and all who participated (voted) in the election. We
had a good turnout and things went very smoothly. Congratulations to
the following in these positions in 2018: Josh Pals as Vice President; John
Tate as Contest Director, and Jack Garriss, Keith Liotta, and Chris Kurtze
as Pro Tems. Please let the E-Board folks know if you have any
suggestions to make the election process and advertising (newsletter and
website) better. The same goes if you have any suggestions for what
you would like to see the club do in 2018 - clinics, model shows,
presentations, field trips, etc. There will be some discussion on the
2018 contest schedule at the December 1st meeting, so do some brainstorming
on that.
as were his World War II P-51s;
and X-1 hanging at National Air & Space Museum
Speaking of the December meeting, that night is the "Supersonic" Special Contest. We just passed the 70th anniversary of the first official supersonic flight on October 14, 1947. Most modelers know about Chuck Yeager "breaking the sound barrier" in the rocket engine-powered Bell X-1 aircraft - with a shape that resembled a Browning 0.50 caliber machine gun bullet - so I won't delve into the history behind that event. I was asked by one of the members to talk a bit about what it's like to actually "go supersonic." So here is a little bit about my experiences. When you are supersonic, there is really no change in what things look like unless you have something with which to judge your relative velocity. If you are near clouds or pass close to somebody else, say in a head-on pass where you are both supersonic, then you can really tell that you're smokin' through the sky. Going that fast shortens your decision-making time and reactions become more critical. How fast you need to go to break Mach 1 depends upon altitude, temperature, air density, etc. Typically it is about 768 mph (660 knots) at sea level and around 678 mph (590 knots) at 30,000 feet. We typically went around Mach 1.5 during our air-to-air missions. The F-4 Phantom II has vari-ramps in the rearward half of the intake splitter plates that are supposed to control the velocity of the air flow coming into the engine. They rarely deploy, but when they do... The first time I experienced that really got my attention - a huge "thump" and then a howling sound that you could hear through the canopy. They were right in front of where I was sitting.
December 1st is also the "2017 ASM Model of the
Year Showdown" Contest. All the 2017 Best of Show winners from all the
Theme (points) and Special (non-points) Contests in the four modeling
divisions are eligible to compete. You do not have to be at the
meeting, but your model does. See the "Model of the Year" webpage for
a listing of all the contenders, posted by month. There are 28 models
shown - let's make sure all 28 are there on December 1st. Of note,
winners from the "Supersonic" Special Contest are also eligible. Be
there - aloha - no deals! John Dodd is doing a diorama building
modeling clinic, so you do not want to miss that.
To wrap-up, here
is another short story on an American ace. I have so far neglected the
P-47 Thunderbolt aces since I started writing this column, so here is a
story on one of them: Major William Dunham of the USAAF. "Dinghy"
Dunham is the second-ranking ace of the 348th Fighter Group (FG) "Kearby's
Thunderbolts." He is the 32nd-ranking US ace (tie) and 27th-ranking
USAF ace (tie) with 16 total victories. Dunham initially served with
the 53 FG in
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November 2017 Article:
We had a super meeting on October 6 with
about fifty models on the tables. We had a great presentation by Doug Dildy
on the "Desert Storm Air War." If you missed the presentation, you can check
it out in his book, F-15C Eagle vs MiG-23/25 -
The November 10 meeting is the ASM E-Board
elections night as well as an "Open" theme contest. We have candidates up
for election in the following positions (names listed alphabetically): Vice
President (Jerry Little and Josh Pals), Contest Director (Ken Liotta and
John Tate), and three Pro Tems (John Dodd, David Epstein, Jack Garriss, Bob
Henderson, Bret Kinman, Chris Kurtze, and Keith Liotta). Info on the
election process is available on the ASM Website
via a link near the top of the Home Page. Absentee balloting will be
available if you cannot make it to the meeting. The "model challenge build"
proposal for the Contest Director position will not be done.
Pictures of the ASM model display at the
Folds of Honor Gala and the winners of the People's Choice model contest are
posted on the Articles webpage. At the November meeting we will discuss
whether the club wants to attempt to do a model display at the Albuquerque
Comic Con in January 2018.
The November issue of the ASM
Newsletter continues the "Modeling of History" theme with an article by
Tony Humphries commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of El
Alamein in 1942. Model builds were done or included for this article by
Tony, John Tate, Larry Horyna, Aaron Kreltszheim, Don Alberts, and Mike
Blohm. So please check out that article. You might be inspired to do
something similar, either on your own or with a group of ASM members.
The short ace story this month is directly
related to the
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October 2017 Article:
Folds of Honor Model Display
The ASM model display at the September 23
Folds of Honor (FoH) Gala fund-raising event at the Sandia Resort and Casino
went very well, and I would like to thank everyone who loaned models and
helped man the show. We had forty models in the display spread out over six
tables, with good representation of all the US Services in armor, ships and
aircraft/helicopters in a lot of different scales. We had two nicely done
figures/vignettes, but no dioramas. We also had the "What is scale
modeling?" signage out. We had a lot of people come look at the display,
especially military personnel, and they all enjoyed the models. The People’s
Choice (PC) model contest did not get a lot of participation, likely due to
lack of advertisement and the way the ballroom was set up. The PC winners
will be announced at the October 6 ASM meeting. I have asked for some
feedback from the FoH leadership on how they enjoyed the display and whether
they would like ASM to do it again, but I have not heard anything back yet.
At the ASM meeting we will talk about some lessons learned to make it better
if we do it again in 2018. Thanks to Bret Kinman, Josh Pals, and Matt Blohm
for helping to set up and man the display. Thanks to the following members
who loaned models: Frank Randall, Chris Kurtze, Victor Maestas, Bret Kinman,
Theron Brawley, Ken Liotta, David Epstein, John Tate, Brian Peck, and Mike
Blohm. A few pictures of the display are posted below. The FoH Foundation
provides scholarships and other assistance to the spouses and children of
soldiers killed or disabled in service to our country.
The October 6 meeting will include Doug
Dildy's "Desert Storm Air War" presentation that will include his latest
Osprey book "F-15C Eagle versus MiG-23/25,
The next local contest is ModelZona 2017 at
the
Thanks again for the great participation at
the 2017 New Mexico State Fair's "Star Wars - 40th Anniversary" model
display. Posting of pictures to the ASM Websitte's
New Mexico State Fair Model Contest Results webpage is ongoing and will take
a while to finish.
To close out, here is another short story on
an American ace: Major Samuel J. Brown, who is the 33rd-ranking
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September 2017 Article:
The Modeling of History
I am first going to cover some upcoming items on the schedule, and will then talk a bit about "the modeling of history."
Thanks to all who entered models in the 2017
New Mexico State Fair model contest and/or contributed models to our "Star
Wars - 40th Anniversary" display. Thanks also to those who helped out with
the model registration and judging. We will have a report on how that went
at the September 1 ASM meeting. Contest results will be posted on the ASM Website shortly after the judging. Pictures of
all the models will be posted ASAP. There are sometimes over 200 pictures
posted.
The next event coming up is an ASM model
display at the Folds of Honor Gala being held at the Sandia Resort and
Casino on Saturday, September 23. The Folds of Honor Foundation provides
scholarships and other assistance to the spouses and children of soldiers
killed or disabled in service to our country. The Rio Grande Patriots is the
The display is going to be of models of any
genre (aircraft, armor, ships, figures, dioramas, etc.) and any scale that
fit what was/is being used by the
What is eligible will be discussed more at
the meeting. We are looking for 20 - 30 models. There will also be a
"People's Choice" contest for the Gala attendees to vote for their favorite
models, likely split up by model type (best aircraft, best armor, etc.). How
many members we will need to help with the display at the Gala is still to
be determined. Here are a few links that provide information on the
Foundation.
http://tinyurl.com/asm1709a
https://www.foldsofhonor.org/about-us
Lastly, I wanted to talk about "the modeling
of history," which I think a lot of us modelers do either consciously or
subconsciously as we work on and complete our modeling projects. Personally,
I find this aspect of model building to be worthwhile, interesting and fun
to do. I build a lot of models of the American Aces and I end up doing
lots of research on both the pilots and the schemes of their aircraft.
That often involves tracking down biographies and unit histories either in
book format or on-line. For my display, I put together a short biography of
each pilot, and I often learn lots of "little known but interesting facts"
about the pilot, the units, the aircraft, where they served, other people in
the unit, etc., as I dig into the story.
The same scenario applies to almost any
modeling project, if you really get into it. For a ship, you might learn
what schemes it was painted in over the years of its service, what battles
it was in, etc. As Jerry Little mentioned in his article last month, beware
of what you find on the internet.
The same applies to book formats. You will
often find information that differs depending upon where you look. So you
often have to dig a little deeper to verify what you plan to build. Older
folks will probably remember the red-painted "Millie G" scheme for Ed
Giller's P-51D in Profiles magazine (must be true!) and the Revell
P-51D model kit with it depicted like that. Another way to "model history"
is to put together a project that covers or depicts an event in history.
Some good examples were the ASM Chapter
builds on the Char B and Matilda tanks at the IPMS/USA Nationals. One
article was included in the Bonus Pages of the September ASM Newsletter
(and posted further below) that commemorates the 75th anniversary of
the
Battle of Guadalcanal, which began in August 1942 and ended in February
1943. We will be seeing more of this type of article in some upcoming ASM
Newsletters. I encourage you to take a look at doing that -what topic
interests you? You can either build some models to go with an article,
or write an article to go with some related models.
There is no "monthly American Ace short
story" here in this article, because that has been expanded into a separate
longer article on two US Marine Corps Aces that served at Guadalcanal Island
- the article that I mentioned above. There will be another article on
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August 2017 Article:
Hope everyone has
recovered from the Chile Con 4 effort. Thanks again to all who supported the
behind-the-scenes planning and preparations and putting it on; and to all
who participated. Please see the
July ASM Newsletter
for more detailed reporting on the convention. Pictures of the model entries
and the convention - three galleries - are posted on the
ASM Website, as well as the most excellent CC4
Contest Awards slide show built by Joe Walters. Additional results
information will be posted ASAP.
The next event
coming up is the ASM-sponsored model contest at the 2017 New Mexico State
Fair. This is one of our opportunities to promote the club to the community
and attempt to gain some new members. We have been fairly successful in
doing so at the fair. Please go to the
NM State Fair webpage
on the ASM Website
for information on entering models at the
contest. There are 18 categories set up very much like an IPMS/USA contest.
However, you can only enter one model per category and you can only enter
them once, even if you did not place. We have done fairly well lately in the
number of entries. Last year we set a new record with 61. We have been doing
an "ASM display-only theme presentation" at the fair for the last eight
years, since 2009. You can see all those displays if you go to the
Model Displays webpage. We did a
"Science Fiction and Anime/Gaming Models" theme in 2010 that included twelve
Star Wars models. We got feedback from the fair people that our case
was the most popular thing in the Creative Arts building that year. Back in
the early days we normally had about half a display case available for the
display, but lately we have been able to use a full case. With the recent
"Star Wars - 40th Anniversary" theme at CC4, we should be able to fill up a
whole case. If you did not get your entry done in time for CC4, now you have
a reason to complete it and display it. There is an another article on the
NM State Fair in the Bonus Pages about how to bring your models to the fair,
either as entries or for our display, or both, so please check that out.
To close, here is
another short American ace story on James H. Howard. Howard was born in
Canton, China, and lived there the first fourteen years of his life. He
initially served as a US Navy pilot for three years including a tour with
VF-6 aboard the USS Saratoga before resigning his commission in June 1941 to
join the American Volunteer Group (AVG). He scored 2.333 air and 4.0
ground kills during 50 missions as a Flight Leader with the "Flying Tigers."
When the AVG disbanded in July 1942, he joined the US Army Air Force as a
Captain. In September 1943 he was assigned to the 354th Fighter Group
"Pioneer Mustang Group," the first unit to receive the P-51 in the European
Theater of Operations (ETO). Howard received the Medal of Honor for his
actions on 11 Jan 1944 where he single-handedly defended the B-17s of the
401st Bomb Group for thirty minutes against thirty Me-110 fighters during an
escort mission to Oschersleben, Germany. Howard continued his attacks even
after he had run out of ammunition. In that combat he claimed 3 kills, 2
probables, and 2 damaged, although the B-17 crews were willing to confirm 6
kills. He was called "a one man air force" by the 401st's group leader, and
the wartime reporter Andy Rooney called his exploit "the greatest fighter
pilot story of WWII." Howard was the only fighter pilot in the ETO to
earn the Medal of Honor. He named his P-51B "Ding Hao" which means "good
luck" or "very good" in Chinese. The model pictures (Monogram's 1/72 P-51B
kit) depict his aircraft in Jan 1944 and in my opinion it is amongst the
best personal markings on a Mustang during WWII. Howard reluctantly painted
the Japanese victory markings on his P-51 for the publicity pictures
following his Medal of Honor mission. Howard became 356th "Red Ass" Fighter
Squadron commander in February 1943 and 354th FG commander in February 1944.
He rose to become a brigadier general in the USAF Reserves, and retired in
1966. He passed away in 1995. I apologize for the length of this "short
story," but Howard's story is well worth telling.
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July 2017 Article:
Report on
This article provides some information on how
things went at Chile Con 4. There will be additional information published
in the Bonus Section where the team leads will provide info on their
particular areas. From my own point of view, overall I think it went very,
very well and we had only a few glitches during the convention. I believe
attendees enjoyed the new venue - it was spacious and well lit. I hope
everybody was able to get their "special projects" done and were able to
enter them in the contest. The turnout was good and there were a lot of
models on the tables. That fact resulted in one of the glitches - how long
it took to judge the models and then get that information into the awards
slideshow contributed to the awards ceremony starting late. The awards show
itself was great (thanks Joe!). ASM did win the 2016 Region 10 Webmaster of
the Year Award - thanks to all who contributed to making that possible! The
Colorado Modeling Militia Enjoying Sci-Fi (CoMMiES) won the Chapter of the
Year Award. Newsletter of the Year was won by the Sonoran Desert Model
Builders for "Mold Lines." The dinner was probably the best I've
seen over many years of attending other conventions. The vendor room was
full and it looked like there was a good crowd of shoppers. Hopefully folks
were able to find a good deal, and can start building for CC5. Maybe we can
get side-by-side ball rooms for the models and vendors next time if we
schedule it far enough out. We were able to sell almost all the trophy
packages, so that was really great.
The CC4 website has already been updated a link to
a webpage with all the model pictures (thanks Gil!). By the time this
Newsletter is published, the Awards Ceremony slide show and a webpage with
the category winners and model pictures should be posted. We will be
compiling "lessons learned" from CC4 to help us out next time. If anybody
has any inputs on what we could do better or what was great, please let the
E-Board know. Please bring your winning entries and plaques to the July 7
meeting. We will have some tables set up to display those. If you had a Star
Wars model that you did not get completed in time for CC4, please keep
plugging away on that for ASM's Star Wars - 40th Anniversary
display at the 2017 New Mexico State Fair at the end of August.
I do want to take this opportunity to thank
everybody who helped plan the convention, sponsored the awards, helped put
it on, and attended/participated in the event. Without all of you it would
not have happened. In particular, thanks go to the co-chairmen Tom Perea and
Ken Liotta, and to the team leads Joe Walters (publications and award slide
show), Jack Garriss (registrar), Dave Straub (awards), Patrick Dick (trophy
packages and vendor tables), Josh Pals (make & take), Jerry Little
(advertising), Gil De La Plain (photography), Brian Peck (T-Shirts and 501st
Legion Liaison), and Fred Franceschi (Vehicle Display). Also, a big thank
you to Hobby Proz and Ken Liotta for the Super Raffle Prizes. And finally,
thanks to the 501st Legion (Vader's Fist) Dewback Ridge Garrison Star Wars
enactors, and the New Mexico Military Vehicle Preservation Association for
their participation. There is a large graphic on the CC4 website thanking
people and organizations that purchased trophy packages or had a vendor
table.
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June 2017 Article:
We are now less
than a month out from Chile Con 4. I'm sure everybody is wishing they had “a
bit more time” to get that cosmic project finished. I foresee some late
nights coming up in the next few weeks. I wanted to mention a couple of the
Special Awards that have not received too much coverage. Everybody is
probably aware of the four Star Wars
awards (Best Spaceship, Figure, Terrestrial Vehicle, and Miscellaneous) and
the two World War I awards (Best Air and Land subjects).
The other lesser-known Special awards include the
Best New Mexico Subject and the ever-popular and highly-coveted Lopez
Demente award for the best tasteless subject.
Sponsored Awards include the Best Frickin' Laser
Beams subject hosted by Patrick Dick; the Best Kirtland AFB-related Aircraft
hosted by Jerry Little; the "Captain Danny Roberts Memorial - Best American
Ace Aircraft Award" hosted by Mike & Matt Blohm and John Tate; the Head
Judge's Personal Favorite "Art Evans Memorial Award" hosted by Ken Liotta;
and the Chairman's Choice "Don Alberts Memorial Award" hosted by Tom Perea.
Hopefully you guys are building and entering
models that fit some of these categories and themes. If you have Juniors in
the family, please encourage them to build and enter some models. This is
always an under-represented area. We have Junior's categories and trophies
and would love to give them away.
If you would like to help out at CC4, please get
with the points of contact during the June ASM meeting for the area that you
are interested in. We need help with judging, photography, registration,
security, and the Make & Take. The list of CC4 POCs is on the website
(http://tinyurl.com/asm1706a).
To close, here is another short ace story
applicable to the many Battle of Midway themes elsewhere in this newsletter,
on Lieutenant Elbert "Scott" McCuskey, US Navy.
McCuskey was the
top-scoring fighter pilot of the battle with five victories while flying the
F4F Wildcat with VF-3 aboard the USS
Yorktown. He claimed three Vals destroyed
and three damaged during his first sortie on 4 June 1942, and two Zeros
destroyed on his second.
At that time he
was the top Navy ace of the first six months of the Pacific war with 6.5
victories. He later added seven more victories flying the F6F Hellcat with
VF-8 on the USS Bunker Hill,
scoring a "triple" on 21 Sep 1944 (Oscars) over Luzon; and a "triple" (two
Zeros and a Nick) on 12 Oct 1944.
McCuskey had fourteen total victories, and is the
38th-ranking American ace (tie) and the seventh-ranking US Navy ace (tie).
Pictures of McCuskey and a model of his Wildcat are included below. The red
and white tail stripes and red dot in the national insignia shown on this
model were removed from use per a directive in mid 1942 to avoid confusion
with Japanese aircraft markings.
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May 2017 Article:
I want to thank the ASM members that have
stepped up and purchased trophy packages for Chile Con 4. We are about
halfway there, with 43 sold of 83 total, as of April 24. If you haven't
purchased one yet, please consider doing so. Please contact Patrick Dick.
The May 5 contest is "Star Wars - 40th
Anniversary," so we hope to see a nice preview of models that will be
showing up at Chile Con 4. There have been a ton of new kits out to
celebrate the anniversary of the movie, so there is a lot to choose from.
Time is running out, so you'd better be building right now. As Yoda once
said: "Build or do not build - there is no try to build."
One other item that I’d like to plug is ASM
building models for the Nuclear Weapons Heritage Model Display at the
To wrap up, here is another short ace story
on Capt. George S. "Wheaties" Welch, US Army Air Corps. You may recognize
his name as one of the few American pilots who got airborne during the
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April Article:
Chile Con 4 is looming ever closer. Please
read Jerry Little's article on what the membership can do to help out.
Trophy package purchases is where ASM normally loses money by having to
absorb a lot of that cost itself. I encourage members to buy at least one
trophy package. Those are priced at $40 each covering first, second, and
third place plaques. The CC4
Trophy
Package Information webpage is now up. You can see pictures of all the
awards, their sponsorship costs, and what has already been sponsored and is
still available. Patrick Dick is working those, as well as the Vendor
tables. Shop early to get your favorite category! Registration forms are
about to go up on the CC4 website. There is a discount for early
registration (before May 27), and also for IPMS/USA members. There will be
announcement when that occurs.
Next up after Chile Con is the 2017 New
Mexico State Fair Model Contest in September. Our "display-only theme" this
year is "Star Wars," so we should have a bunch of models from Chile Con to
display. Check out the pictures of the "Science Fiction" display that we put
on at the fair in 2010 by visiting the ASM Website's
"Model Displays" webpage. We had thirteen Star Wars models for that.
Please give some thought to whether we might want to do something different
this year, like either some model building demonstrations and/or Make & Take
events on one or both of the two Saturdays during the fair. The demos might
be a simple as bringing some kits to build, and being prepared to demo some
techniques if asked by observers. We may also want to look at having an ASM
Group Field Trip after Chile Con.
Here is another short ace story, this time
with some model pictures as well as the profile at the top of this column,
covering Lieutenant Stanley "Swede"
IPMS
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March 2017 Article:
"Et tu, Airafixo?" It is the Ides of
March month, and therefore one must be careful with one's X-Acto knife. For
all you ASM members with degrees in Latin, you will translate that as "Even
you, Airfix?" Airfix has again put me in an all too familiar position.
They have just released their new 1/72-scale B-17G kit, which from the
reviews that I've read may be the best B-17 kit yet issued. So what is the
familiar position? I already have several B-17 kits in my stash to build,
including the last "best kit yet" by Revell-Germany. I'm sure this sounds
familiar to a lot of you, too. So, do I need to buy this new kit? Of course
I do! But should I? For now I am trying to resist. But as
Obi-Wan Kenobi once said: "Resistance is futile." We shall see.
On to other things. I'm sorry that I missed
the February meeting, but from the pictures it looks like it was a pretty
good swap meet. Chile Con 4 is now one month closer. So many models to build
and so little time. Hopefully you've considered purchasing at least one
trophy package. Patrick Dick is working those, as well as the Vendor tables.
John Tate has completed a whole set of
Star Wars kit reviews that are posted on the
ASM Website and in
this issue of the ASM Newsletter. Please check those out, and maybe
you'll get inspired to build for both Chile Con and the New Mexico State
Fair. Thanks to John for authoring those. Please consider writing a kit
review of your latest build. All it takes is a couple of paragraphs and a
few pictures. If you are trying out a new technique, then other members
would love to learn about it.
To wrap up, here is another short ace story.
Major Don "Buzz" Beerbower is one of the least-known major aces of the
European Theater of Operations in
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February 2017 Article:
First off, I wanted to explain why I decided
to title this column "The Eagle's View." I think the goal of my monthly
articles should be to give a high-flying overview of what the club is doing,
both right now and somewhat over-the-horizon into the future. That's the
kind of view that a high-soaring Eagle has, so I thought that might be
appropriate. It has nothing to do with a certain fighter aircraft with
various monikers that I will not mention here (talk to me later).
The February meeting is our first swap meet
of the year, with no contests. Try to keep your plastic-sold to
plastic-purchased ratio even. Please consider donating a recently issued
kit, book, magazine or decal sheet to the Chile Con 4 Raffle - see Frank
Randall. Note that you can still bring in works-in-progress models for 2
points each (max of 3) at the February meeting.
Chile Con 4 is fast approaching. As a
politician once said, "Ask not what Chile Con can do for you; ask what you
can do for Chile Con" (my apologies to JFK, but I'm sure that's what he
probably meant). I hope there are some more Star Wars models under
construction out there - we only had three at the January Sci-Fi Contest. The
Contest Categories and Contest Rules have been posted on the CC4 website.
Please get with Patrick Dick to sign up for a Trophy Package or to get a
Vendor Table. Hopefully most ASM members will be able to afford sponsoring
one package. The CC4 costs should be somewhere near the CC3 costs, which
were $35 for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd award packages and $40 for the "Best Of"
awards.
Finally, here is my promised short blurb on
one of
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January 2017 Article:
A
Look Back at 2016 and the Upcoming 2017
I want to thank Tony Humphries for his
service as ASM President over the past four years and Jerry Little for his
service as Contest Director for the past two years. Both of them did great
jobs in their positions and helped ensure ASM continued to be a place to
learn modeling skills and have fun doing so. Thank you also to the rest of
the 2016 E-Board for their past service to the club and for agreeing to
continue on in 2017.
Here is a quick recap of ASM events that
occurred in 2016 - we were quite busy. On February 25 we had a group field
trip to the
Our last event of 2016 was the New Mexico
State Fair Model Contest on August 26-29. We set a new record for model
entries with a total of 69 models by 40 entrants. ASM also put on a display
with the theme of "Desert Storm 25th Anniversary" that included 31 models.
Overall, I think we did a great job of promoting scale modeling and the club
with the public in 2016. My thanks to all who participated. There are links
to all these events on the ASM Meeting Pics webpage.
Looking forward to 2017, we have a couple of
major events that will need maximum membership participation. The first is
Chile Con 4 on June 16 – 17. Planning is well underway and we have committee
chairmen that will all need help. We'll talk more about this at the January
6 ASM meeting. Please keep checking the CC4 website for the latest updates.
We are still working to determine if ASM will
have a model display at the 2017 Albuquerque Comic Convention on January
14-15. If this comes to fruition, we will need both models and folks to man
the display in shifts over those two days. Expect it to be similar to our
comic convention displays in 2012, 2013, and 2014. These were all a lot of
fun.
As you likely know, the theme for CC4 is
"Star Wars 40th Anniversary." This is also likely to be the theme of
the ASM display at the 2017 New Mexico State Fair Model Contest. So - I
would encourage you to build some Star Wars models that you can enter
at these two events, as well as the ASM Moe Blalters "Sci Fi, Real Space,
Science and Fantasy Contest" in January. Victor Maestas is working on the
ASM 2017 Contest Schedule. There will likely be a "Star Wars 40th
Anniversary" Sponsored Contest in May hosted by Joe Walters, and Mike and
Matt Blohm. What other year will give you the opportunity to build a model
eligible for four separate contests? And it gives you no excuses for not
entering one—eventually. I encourage you to get busy and build lots of
models and participate fully in our activities. I think there will be a lot
of fun to be had.
For new members who may not know me well,
I've been building models since I was around eight years old. I've been a
member of IPMS/USA since 1976, and a member of several different IPMS/USA
Chapters around the country. I've been a member of ASM since 1995. and have
previously held the ASM E-Board positions of Vice President, Contest
Director, and Pro Tem, and have been the ASM Webmaster since 2004. I am a
retired Lieutenant Colonel with thirty years of service in the USAF, and
flew F-4 Phantoms for about eighteen years. Amongst my assignments was a
tour as an instructor at the USAF F-4 Fighter Weapons School, the USAF's
version of Top Gun. I mostly build 1/72-scale aircraft, sci fi, and real
space models, but occasionally go to the "Dark Side" with armor and 1/48 and
1/32 aircraft. I really enjoy digging into the history behind all my model
subjects. I build models of the aircraft flown by the American aces for a
collection at the
I am looking forward to serving as the club's
President for 2017 and hope we have a productive and enjoyable year.
By Josh Pals, 2018 ASM Vice President
February 2018 Article:
By now all of us had time to look over the
2018 contest schedule. While looking over the schedule you may have noticed
the contest in September, called "Post-Apocalyptic." This contest was
brought up by Chris Kurtze. Several years ago I also had sponsored a similar
type of contest. The idea behind this contest is to give modelers a break
from the normal kits and subjects they do.
Now, I know trying something different is
scary and may lead to the potential downfall of Western civilization!
Imagine armor guys building aircraft and vice versa! But stay with me. Every
now and then I find it helpful to just try some genre I know little to
nothing about. I don't worry if the finished product is "Contest" worthy. I
use this as a test bed for some technique I want to try; e.g.,
hairspray technique, etc. With the pressure of trying to build a nice
contest model gone, I instead focus on having fun with the build.
By doing this I have found that the model
will turn out far better than I could've imagined and leaves me refreshed to
attack a more serious model with some experience on using whatever technique
I just experimented with!
The Post-Apocalyptic contest is a great
opportunity to let everything go and get back to really having fun with
model building! Try some scratch building, kit bashing, parts swapping fun!
You're only confined by the limits of your imagination! Just typing "Post-Apocalyptic" into your search engine will bring up thousands of
pictures that can help get the ideas and creative juices flowing.
You may have also noticed at the club meetings a black Rubbermaid box with red flaps. That is the "Official" ASM parts box. It is filled with all kinds of leftovers from miscellaneous kits and a great place to scrounge for odd parts to use when doing a model for this type of contest. If you have parts left over from a kit and can't bear to just toss them into the garbage, toss them into the parts box! Leftover decals you won't use? Parts box!
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Contest Update
By John Tate, 2018 ASM Contest Chairman
October 2018 Article:
ASM's contest schedule kicked back into gear
at the September 7th meeting with the "Post-Apocalyptic" Special Contest,
the E-Board's Global War on Terror (GWOT) sponsored contest and Patrick
Dick's "Goodyear" and "Best of Corporations" sponored contest finale.
The Special Contest winner was Bob Henderson's
Post-Apocalyptic GMC tanker, with the GWOT award going to Victor Maestas for
his F-117 Nighthawk. Patrick Dick had several winners for his Goodyear
corporate contest: best auto went to Chuck Hermann for his Porsche 924, a
humor award went to Josh Pals for his "Tree Swing" and Dave Straub won a
best aircraft award for his beautiful, scratchbuilt USS Shenandoah
dirigible, which was also the "Best of Corporations" grand award winner.
Coming up on October 5th is a points contest
commemorating the 45th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of October 1973,
with theme open to any subject connected to the Israeli-Arab conflict 1948
to present. As ever, members are free to bring any eligible model to a
points contest, even if not in theme.
Gil De La Plain also has a nifty sponsored
contest lined-up: "Get Your Fix, Airfix That Is," open to any Airfix kit
subject. No shortage of projects there - Airfix has kitted just about
everything under the sun in its many decades of existence and their recent,
new-tooled model releases are some of the nicest kits on the market.
Looking forward to the October meeting -
should be plenty of nice models on the contest table.
August 2018 Article:
Contest theme for the July 6 meeting was
demanding - bare metal - but ASM members rose to the challenge and put some
excellent models on the table.
In Junior, Aleya Montano won a Gold, People's
Choice, and Best of Show for her Star Wars Thermal Detonator. In Basic,
Elias Clark won a Gold, People's Choice, and Best of Show for his 1/72
Wildcat. Intermediate saw some tough competition as usual, with Michael
O'Brien winning a First and People's Choice for his eye-catching Klingon
K'Tinga Battlecruiser and Scott Jaworski winning a First and Best of Show
for his metal-finish MiG-21 PFM. In Masters, Tony Humphries won People's
Choice for his rusted-out Afghan FT tank, and Josh Pals won Best of Show for
his flawless photo-etched Silver Dragon.
My contest favorites were a "What-if"
Supermarine Spiteful in Israeli markings by Dave Epstein and the Silver
Dragon by Josh Pals.
By now, Nationals results have been decided and the winners have their trophies. So bring your winning models and trophies to the August 10 meeting to show off your hard work along with any surplus kits you want to part with at our club swap meet. The contest schedule begins in earnest again this fall, with a healthy number of contests leading to the Modeler of the Year award - still plenty of competition in the months ahead!
July 2018 Article:
Solid turnout at the June 1 ASM meeting for
the "O Canada!" points contest and the "Stormy Weather" contest sponsored by
Jack Garriss. In the points contest, Best of Show and People's Choice in
Basic went to Jeannie Garriss for her Revell Fire Truck. In Intermediate,
Best of Show went to Robert Henderson for his Academy 1/72 CF-188, with Dave
Epstein winning People's Choice for his Tamiya 1/8 Honda Gorilla motorbike.
In Masters, Best of Show went to Tony Humphries for his DML 1/35 Canadian
Sherman Firefly tank, with People's Choice going to Brian Peck for his Great
Wall 1/48 Su-35. Stormy Weather sponsored contest winners were Eli Clark in
Basic for his Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hurricane, Chuck Herrmann in Intermediate
for his MPC 1/25 Ferrari 308GT Rainbow, and Larry Glenn for his Tamiya
1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt.
My contest favorites were a Tamiya 1/12 GSX
1100X motorcycle by Ken Liotta and a Zoukei Mura 1/48 J7W1 Shinden by Robert
Henderson.
The July 6 points contest theme is "Bare
Metal," suggested by E-Board member Chris Kurtze. The contest theme is open
to any model depicting a "natural metal" finish, but as with all of our
points contests, feel free to enter any eligible model.
No need to remind anyone that the 2018 IPMS
Nationals are right around the corner, so now is the time to put the
finishing touches on your best work. Some healthy competition in our own
club, too, with close races among the top three points contestants in
both Intermediate and Masters. Lots of ASM contests ahead this fall, so take
a look at our contest schedule and plan now for your next build—best of luck
to all contestants.
June 2018 Article:
The May 4 ASM meeting had two non-points
contests - "Tamiya/Hasegawa" Special Contest and "1918" Sponsored
Contest - which resulted in plenty of quality models on the contest tables.
Results of the Special Contest were:
Intermediate: Hasegawa:
Masters: Hasegawa:
I sponsored the "1918" contest to help generate interest and model entries for ASM's upcoming "1918" group display at the state fair this year, and members brought in many nice models for competition. In Masters, Dave Straub won "Best Central Powers Subject" for his beautiful, scratchbuilt 1/200 L-11 Zeppelin (below left) and John R. Dodd won "Best Allied Powers Subject" for his unique 1/35 St. Chamond tank (below right). [Both photos by Ken Liotta.]
Thanks to everyone who entered models at the
May meeting. The June 1 ASM meeting will return to the Modeler of the Year
points contest format, with a Canada-themed contest open to Canadian
model subjects, any scale, any era. Reminder—you can still bring non-themed
models to enter in this contest, which can win points, place and be in
competition for the People's Choice award, but won't qualify for theme
points or be eligible for the Best of Show award that night.
The June meeting will also have a sponsored
contest by Jack Garriss, with "Stormy Weather" as its theme, open to any
model subject named after a weather phenomenon, such as Lightning,
Thunderbolt, Typhoon, etc. Kudos to Jack for an interesting contest topic
which should produce some nice entries.
I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone, but the clock is ticking away on IPMS Nationals dream builds; just two months before the big show, so put in that extra effort to get your entries ready to represent ASM at Phoenix - best of luck to all contestants!
April 2018 Article:
The ASM contest year got off to a solid start
at the March meeting, with a large number of entries across all skill
levels.
There were five entries in Basic, 23 in
Intermediate and thirteen in Masters. Intermediate modelers proved yet again
they are the club powerhouse, with a good variety of nicely-done model
subjects. Best of Show and People's Choice in Basic went to Steve Miller for
his "U.S. Cavalry vs. Cheyenne Dog Soldiers" Old West diorama, and Best of
Show and People's Choice in Intermediate went to Dave Epstein for his WWII
I-400 Japanese sub. In Masters, Tony Humphries picked up a People's Choice
for his FT-17 tank and Brian Peck won Best of Show for his Iranian "Ali Cat"
F-14, from the new 1/48 Tamiya kit.
Other models that caught my eye as standout
builds were Robert Henderson's Wingnut Wings 1/32 SE-5a, Jeannie Garriss's
"Scooby Doo Biplane" (would love to see Wingnut Wings tackle that one!), and
Steve Brodeur's impressive Mach 2 1/72 Vostok rocket.
The April meeting is a pre-Nationals clinic
night but feel free to bring any in-progress builds or display pieces.
Thanks again to all modelers for their hard
work and looking forward to a rewarding contest year.
March 2018 Article:
ASM’s contest year begins in earnest this
Friday, at our March 2, 2018, meeting - a chance to show off winter modeling
projects and preview work intended for entry at this summer's IPMS Nationals
in Phoenix, which are approaching faster than any of us would like. A
reminder to new competitors - you are limited to three completed model entries
in our points contests and models must not be past IPMS Nationals
trophy winners. Otherwise, the sky's the limit, since the kickoff contest
for 2018, by tradition, is an open, non-themed contest.
Contest tip: Build outside your comfort zone
and finish models in subject areas you wouldn't ordinarily be interested in;
e.g., if you're an airplane modeler, build a tank, or if an armor
modeler, build a car. You'll rack up more points that way but more
importantly, you'll also broaden your modeling skills and discover
that variety can help maintain interest in the hobby.
A reminder - the April meeting is a
skill-building night of modeling clinics so bring some kits, workbench tools
and supplies and share what you know, or what you're interested in, with
other modelers. Or just watch, listen and learn - you'll be sure to pick up
some useful modeling tips.
Looking forward to the March contest and if experience is any guide, I know ASM will have a big turnout with some real standout models on the tables. See you Friday...
February 2018 Article:
ASM's January 5 meeting was the kickoff for
the contest year with solid entries in Basic, Intermediate and Masters for
the Moe Blalters Sci-Fi/Fantasy/ Real Space Special contest. Best Basic
entry was Aaron Schmiedicke's TIE Fighter, Best Intermediate was
Henry McHarney's Space Ark Mega Gargant and Best Master's was Brian
Peck's Superdog.
Patrick Dick's annual Best Frickin' Lasers
award went to Aaron Schmiedicke in Basic for his TIE Fighter, Logan
Carbin for his War of the Worlds Tripod, and Mike Blohm for his
F-4X Starfighter.
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By Jerry Little, ASM Vice President (2017)
The Column Without A Name
December Article:
Okay, Now what am I gonna do…?
What a great pleasure it is to be part of ASM
and to have served on the Executive Board (E-Board) over the last three
years as Contest Director and Vice President. At last, now is the time for
others to step in and help serve the club in the coming years. I enjoy being
part of what is arguably one of best clubs in the country has made me a
better modeler and hopefully, done my part to make the club a little better
as well. The two highlights during that time were ASM being selected as
IPMS/USA Chapter of the Year and a super successful Chile Con 4. Seeing all
the great work done by the club members and CC4 convention leaders made me
proud to be part of ASM! So thank you ASM for letting me be part of the
E-Board! I look forward to all the great things the new board members will
accomplish!
So now what am I gonna do? Well, in light of
the recent election, I’ve collected a bunch of Russian aviation kits to
build! Look for some articles in the newsletter that cover reviews and
possibly a build article or two and maybe a clinic on how to spend hours and
hours trying to match the most elusive paint colors in the modeling world…
Okay, maybe Brian Peck had a little to do with making me buy those Russian
jets…
ASM has a great opportunity to display some
of the outstanding things the club has done at the next IPMS/USA Nationals
(Phoenix 2018). The question is: What do we do? The host of the Nats has
offered a display (not contest entry) to local clubs to showcase what they
do as part of Region 10 and IPMS. We’ve had a couple of great suggestions
and as a club, we need to decide if we want to participate and what we want
to showcase.
The first recommendation was to display all
of the Nats winners we’ve had in the club. This is to show the participation
and skill that our members have in the community.
The second recommendation was to display some
of the annual Models of the Year to show how our club participation leads to
great modelers. One point is that some of our MoY have gone on to place at
subsequent Nats! The third recommendation was display in groups some of the
extracurricular outreach activity we do in small vignettes like Boy Scouts
Make & Takes, ComicCon displays or even the most recent Folds of Honor.
Finally, the fourth recommendation was to display all the Previous Nats
winners we have in the club. This would highlight all the fantastic modelers
ASM has produced over the years. All of these are important and as a club,
we need to choose which to do and how we should accomplish that. So, give it
some thought and at the next meeting we’ll decide as a club and get started
on showing the modeling world what a great club ASM is!
November Article:
When You're Not Modelling ...
Yeah right... when are we ever "not modeling?" We all wish we could be sitting at the work bench building on the latest Trumpeter MiG-29 kit, but we all know things like life get in the way of that - you know, food and sleep and such! But if you are like most of us modelers, you at least think about modeling when you're not at your desk. There are still plenty of related things to do when not screaming about the fit of the latest Tamiya kit!
One of the modeling things we need to think
about is ASM and what direction do we want the club to go in. We have
elections coming up at the November meeting and will have the opportunity to
vote on a couple of positions for the club E-Board. Basically, we need to
select a Vice President, Contest Director, and some Pro-Tems for the board.
I believe they are all good choices (including me!), so we can't go wrong as
a club getting people involved. The key is voting!
We get members involved on the board, but we
also get members involved in the voting so they can have a say in how the
club is run. This is probably one of, if not the, most important activity
you can participate in as an ASM member. The key question you have to answer
before voting is, "do I like where the club leadership is taking the club?"
Sometimes that is as simple as "yes" and you vote accordingly. Other times,
that may mean it is time for "new blood" on the E-Board. Whatever the answer
is, you have to take the time and make sure your voice is heard.
Another area to think about is what will our
club contests look like next year? ASM does a fantastic job of getting
members and guests to build models every month. I believe the key is having
great subjects. The new contest director will likely call for suggestions
soon, so be ready with your favorite idea. You never know what the list will
include, so it's always fun to see what comes up and what motivates us to
build.
Speaking of the new Contest Director, we have
a couple of veterans running for that position. Both are great modelers and
will bring different perspectives to club modeling.
Speaking of modeling away from the desk,
Nationals is coming to a town near us! As many of you know,
September Article:
Look Around...
...they're everywhere! That is kind of the
feeling I got when I went on my last trip for work. One of the things I love
to do is look for aircraft on display. Most of the time you can find the
aircraft in the obvious places like museums and of course at airports... but
sometimes you can find them at museums in airports! On my "down days" while
on my most recent trip, I had the opportunity to drive around and look for
airplanes on display at Edwards AFB. That is a pretty easy task because just
about every Air Force base will have planes on a pole or, as we like to say,
"planes on a stick!" There is usually a "Gate Guard" at most of the
entrances to the base.
The challenge with the Edwards aircraft is
they are all over the place and it is a very large base! I needed a
way to get to them quickly if I was going to see them all! Besides the
obvious museums on base like the
I knew I was going to spend a day down in Palmdale so I looked on Google for the surrounding airfields and found William J. Fox airfield and, lo and behold, sitting right out there on the general aviation ramp was quite a surprise. A MiG-17, a Fouga Magister, and an Experimental Velocity! That was a trip I had to take and see for myself!
When the trip was over, I had the opportunity to hunt and find a ton of historically significant aircraft. That will lead to a presentation and one of the future club meetings on all the jewels found on my trip! Using Google isn't a new idea and there are plenty of sites dedicated to doing just that; however, it is worth a simple look when you are planning on taking a trip. You might not know what you are going to find!
September Article:
Look Around...
...they're everywhere! That is kind of the
feeling I got when I went on my last trip for work. One of the things I love
to do is look for aircraft on display. Most of the time you can find the
aircraft in the obvious places like museums and of course at airports... but
sometimes you can find them at museums in airports! On my "down days" while
on my most recent trip, I had the opportunity to drive around and look for
airplanes on display at Edwards AFB. That is a pretty easy task because just
about every Air Force base will have planes on a pole or, as we like to say,
"planes on a stick!" There is usually a "Gate Guard" at most of the
entrances to the base.
The challenge with the Edwards aircraft is
they are all over the place and it is a very large base! I needed a
way to get to them quickly if I was going to see them all! Besides the
obvious museums on base like the
I knew I was going to spend a day down in Palmdale so I looked on Google for the surrounding airfields and found William J. Fox airfield and, lo and behold, sitting right out there on the general aviation ramp was quite a surprise. A MiG-17, a Fouga Magister, and an Experimental Velocity! That was a trip I had to take and see for myself!
When the trip was over, I had the opportunity
to hunt and find a ton of historically significant aircraft. That will lead
to a presentation and one of the future club meetings on all the jewels
found on my trip! Using Google isn't a new idea and there are plenty of
sites dedicated to doing just that; however, it is worth a simple look when
you are planning on taking a trip. You might not know what you are going to
find!
August Article:
I Found
It on Google
One of the tools we don't always talk about
in modeling is the internet. It is fair to say that the internet has become
a large part of the way we model today. Whether it's ordering kits online
from a number of retailers or even "chatting" with other modelers from
around the world on our favorite message sites, it has likely become the
biggest tool in our modeling tool bag.
It all probably starts with research! What
used to take a trip down to the local library or the purchase of a magazine
is now all available through a few mouse clicks. If you use "the Google,"
you can find information on any modeling subject conceivable. Pictures,
historical information, and personal accounts from people involved are all
available. The nice thing about the internet is you can find multiple inputs
from a variety of sources that may not be available to you in a more
conventional form. I found two accounts of a dogfight over
Another area to find great information is on
many of the modeling "message boards" on the web. This information ranges
anywhere from the latest kits to be released (http://tinyurl.com/asm1708c)
to builds of subjects that you may be interested in building yourself
(http://tinyurl.com/asm1708d) but wanted a quick look at the kit before
starting. This wealth of information is endless when it comes to picking up
new techniques to even finding flaws in the kit before you start that epic
build. Another important point is that you will find multiple examples of
builds and one will likely fit your style of building.
What also makes this a great resource is you
are not limited to the local area! The internet is world-wide, so you are
often looking at modelers from around the globe. If you need information on
a particular model subject, you are likely to find someone from the local
area where that subject is noted for. An example of this may be looking for
information of a particular aircraft like the de Havilland Hornet and end up
exchanging information with the curator of the only Hornet museum in the
world (he happens to be a modeler too!). Albuquerque Scale Modelers are
connected on the internet with our own website (http://abqscalemodelers.com)
and Facebook page (http://tinyurl.com/asm1708e) with connections around
Region 10, the
With any good thing, there can always be a
bad side. While often you find invaluable information out there on the web,
you can find bad information as well. It's easy to claim one is an expert on
a particular subject when you are trapped in your parent's basement spending
too much time on the internet! So you have to confirm all your sources when
things sound a little sketchy. See pictures below of B-2 wing molding.
The good news is there is always someone out there with the right
information! The other downside can be that we lose local interest in our
brick and mortar hobby shops. If you buy everything on line, the next time
you need that one bottle of paint or glue ... you're going to have to wait a
week and pay shipping. As always, buyers beware!
The internet is a great thing and social
media can play a valuable part in our hobby! It is as simple as a click of
the mouse. A few links for excellent hobby resources:
Google:
www.google.com
Hobby Proz:
www.hobby-proz.com
Squadron:
www.squdron.com
Sprue Brothers:
www.spruebrothers.com
Hobby Link
Brit Modeller:
www.britmodeller.com
Large Scale Planes: www.largescaleplanes.com
Hyperscale:
www.hyperscale.com
July Article:
The nice thing about standards ...
Wow!... just wow! I have to say, and just about
everyone around also said, that Chile Con 4 was a huge success. We don't
often get to have that kind of impact on our modeling community. When it
comes to modelers, sometimes we are our own worst critics. Maybe it's
inherent in the judging we always seem to do when we look at our own models.
Or perhaps at club contests or other contests around the region, we always
look for things we could do better. Well, there wasn't much we could do
better at Chile Con 4, so maybe we have a new standard!
The industry standard at model contests used to be
1/72 and 1/48-scale prop. We even "pre-engineered" a split in those
categories while anticipating the turnout. Something funny happened and it
appeared with had as many 1/32-scale aircraft on the table! That probably
has a lot to do with a few things. First, more quality kits are available.
Also, the crowd isn't getting any younger so those bigger pieces make it
easier to build. Finally, the manufacturers are producing subjects everyone
wants. Not just the same old WWII "Mustawulfire" that we are used to seeing.
It was nice to see a lot on the table ... and there was plenty of room. Perhaps
it will be standard to see more 1/32-scale models at the contest.
The nice thing about the Marriott venue was the
room! It was great to see everyone moving around the room without crowding
the tables. It was great to be able to look at a model without another
pressed up against it. Even with the high number of models in the Sci-Fi
category, the models weren't too close even though the tables were full. It
really made for an enjoyable judging experience by not having to worry about
moving models or missing something important. That makes for a better
contest experience for the club and the visitor.
Speaking of visitors, I had the pleasure of
meeting some new modelers from around the Region. One guy in particular was
attending his first contest. He and his father seemed to really enjoy Chile
Con, and he had no trouble finding a large group of different modelers to
talk about all aspects of the hobby. He is a great modeler and even walked
away with a few plaques for the work he presented. But what struck me was
how he listened to all the modelers hoping to pick up that new technique or
tip. The other thing that came up in conversation was the members of the
501st Dewback Ridge Garrison that were present at the show.
It's not every
day you get to see so many iconic Star Wars characters at a show this side
of Comic-Con. The members of the 501st (http://www.dewbackridge.com) were
outstanding and provided that extra touch for the Star Wars 40th Anniversary
theme of the contest. That wasn't all - the members of the New Mexico
Roadrunner Convoy Military Vehicle Preservation Association turned the
parking lot into a military staging area that was a perfect complement to
the 100th Anniversary of WWI theme at the show. You might say these extras
added the spice to the
Andrew S.
Tanenbaum, a computer scientist, once said; "The nice thing about standards
is that you have so many to choose from." Tom Perea and Ken Liotta did a
great job as co-chairmen. Also a big "Thank You" to the team of ASM members
who worked the contest also helped make this a new standard for Regionals.
The contest was a great success, from the animated Star Wars characters to
the military vehicle display, but the most important part was the modelers
who made the effort to attend and be part of the contest with their
fantastic models. Perhaps that is the new standard for
June Article:
Think of it as an opportunity ...
Modeling offers a lot of opportunities for those
that are members of a club. We get to expand the hobby beyond the workbench
with things like Make & Takes for the Boy Scouts, displays at ComicCon, and
even updating the Cavalcade of Wings at the ABQ Sunport. Just think what the
folks on the other end of those opportunities are thinking. Many of them are
seeing scale modeling for the first time or the first time they’ve gotten to
ask someone about it. It must be wondrous for many young enthusiasts as
well.
We’ll see many new people at the upcoming Chile
Con 4 as we host the Region 10 convention. And yes, there will be people
wandering around the tables wide-eyed and amazed at the models! They’ll see
all the guys diving deep in the details of this or that particular subject
wondering how they know so much. Kids will want to touch and wonder if they
are for sale. You might even get a “can I have that” or two. It will be a
spectacle.
Each of these visitors will quickly find a
favorite, much like we modelers do when we peruse the tables. And this will
be another opportunity to invite others into the hobby. We need to take the
time to introduce the visitors to the hobby. Explain to them the art form
and how they can get involved. Perhaps a personal story or two about how we
each got started and what drew us to this life-long passion (or vice
depending on how you see it!) The idea is to motivate them to pick up a kit
and give it a try. Take the opportunity and maybe we'll have a new modeler
for life.
Although Chile
Con is just around the corner, there's a lot of other activity going on this
summer. Of course the Elephant in the room is the Nationals. This year it is
in
In October (the
21st), the IPMS/High Plains Modelers will be hosting “High Plains Con XVIII”
at the Larimer County Fairgrounds in
May Article:
T-60 and counting!
"Houston, we are go at throttle up" ....those
are the words the crew radios down to CAPCOM with the Space Shuttle engines
reach 104% and the velocity starts to increase after maximum dynamic
pressure. What that represents is the point at which the spaceship is no
longer reacting to the combination of speed and pressure put on it by the
density of the atmosphere... The shuttles engines are throttled down to 64%
to keep the pressure down on all the components of the spaceship. In rocket
science, they call that Max Q.
Well, ASM has reached Max Q in prep for Chile
Con 4. We are now at "throttle up," which means we're past all the rough
stuff and into smooth air. With only 60 days to go, it's time to start
putting the finishing touches on the plan.
Probably the most difficult part of any
contest is judging. Having spent the last few years as the contest director
for the club, I can tell you the desire is to be accurate, but also
important is consistency. Consistency is important because we are only
judging the models on the table. At Chile Con 4, we expect a large turnout.
That means we'll have to get through a lot of model in a limited amount of
time. Efficiency counts! That is why IPMS national standards focus on the
basics. In order to get through a lot of models, you have to have a measured
approach to judging. You start by eliminating the models with major errors
of basic construction. Then continue to narrow the field until a clear
winner is decided.
The problem we will likely see at Chile Con
is the enormous number of talented modelers and they will not have a lot of
"basic" problems so we'll need a lot of experienced judges to start digging
a little deeper! If you've had experience judging at the national or
regional level, please get with Ken Liotta and let him know you will be
available to help judge.
With less than 60 days to go, it's time to
jump in and be ready to go! Let Ken know if you are interested in judging.
It's one of the best parts of supporting a model contest! Remember,
when the Shuttle was "go" for throttle up, they were traveling at 1,600
miles an hour and the engines stayed at max power the rest of the way to
space! Don't wait to be a part of
The date is now set for ModelZona 2017! The
contest is 4 November and will be held at the at the Commemorative Air Force
Museum at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona, on Saturday, November 4, 2016, 10:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ModelZona is hosted by the Craig Hewitt Chapter of
IPMS/USA.
For something a little out of our area
(Region 8), the IPMS
What role will you play?
April Article:
It's a simple question you have to ask
yourself when it comes to our summer convention and contest. For sure there
is something for you to contribute. Albuquerque Scale Modelers does not
suffer from a lack of talent. We've been blessed as one of the best clubs in
IPMS as noted in the last few years by being selected as the IPMS USA Club
of the year. It's not just the ability to build killer models, it's the
level of commitment every one of you have to making this club what it is.
We have an opportunity to host the best Region 10 Convention and Contest alongside of our Chile Con 4 contest. Our goal should not only be the best host that we can be, but to also be better than we were the last time. Chile Con 3 had a few setbacks in the planning stage when the hotel changed the dates on us late in the game. As a club, we rallied around the problem and was able to provide a great event. This time, things are even better. The R10/Chile Con team led by Tom Perea has secured an awesome venue in the Marriott Pyramid and our rooms will be bigger and better than before. So what can you do? Simple... participate. We'll need people to help set up, help modelers register, security and most important help judge. Also, you can be a great club liaison just by helping that out-of-town modeler find their way around the venue. As we get closer to Chile Con, the team will provide more information that will make you a walking modeler's help desk when it comes to the event!
There are also plenty of opportunities to
support the convention by entering your models, buying trophy packages and
even the coveted Chile Con t-shirts. But the most valuable contribution is
your time. Look for Tom or Ken Liotta at the next meeting and see where you
can fit in! Now it's time to bring all that talent from the workbench to the
contest table.
Speaking of events, there is an interesting
one coming up in
Also in the
March Article:
Enlightenment
Enlightened... that's what we all want to be
when it comes to philosophy, life, and, well... models. We seek the truth,
but we settle for opinion. I was recently excited to learn that a couple of
the model manufacturers were going to produce long-sought-after kits in
quarter scale. Hobby Boss announced the Su-34 Fullback, a Russian frontline
fighter-bomber, and Kitty Hawk announced the Su-17 Fitter, a Soviet era
fighter-bomber that became a staple of many Soviet bloc and third-world
countries' air forces. To my amazement, but not my surprise, the kits were
panned in the blogosphere... all the while no one commenting had ever seen
the kit! Not one person had laid a hand on the model, yet somehow, they were
able to determine the accuracy of the kits.
We tend to lose sight of the purpose of this
hobby. We need to come away from the experience with a sense of
accomplishment and enjoyment for the time and effort we spent constructing
the subject. While it may be part of basic human nature to be critical,
we've done ourselves a great disservice by trying to live in an obsessive
world that is in search of constant gratification on a moment's notice. We
don't need to fall victim to the trap of getting sucked into the
conversation that is the loudest, we need to build it for ourselves and our
own education and enjoyment.
And speaking of enlightenment, one of the
downsides of getting old is the incredible amount of light needed when
building models! On my work desk, there has always been a competition on the
battle space for lights, tools, and model parts. I had literally three desk
lamps on the small space just to provide enough light to see.
Well, taking a tip from fellow modeler Chris
Kurtz, I sought a solution in what is called an "Arch Lamp," simply, a light
bar that arcs over the desk and provides ample light for the desk.
I searched all over for the perfect (read
"obsessive") solution, only to realize I needed to build it myself. It was
really quite simple and inexpensive. The basic parts are a one-inch piece of
aluminum bar stock from Lowe's and an LED light kit from Amazon. Both parts
came to less than thirty dollars.
My desk is 48 inches wide, so the arch was deceptively long! The total length is about seven feet when you calculate the distance needed. I used self-adhesive strips on the back of the LED strips to attach it to the aluminum (above right). The challenge - okay, obsession - was "wanting" the aluminum strip to be a smooth arch. The solution was to build a temporary "slip-roller" out of wooden dowels and roll the aluminum into the arch (below). It worked so well, I rolled the aluminum into a hoop! Of course my monumental accomplishment with the homemade slip-roller came back to haunt me later when I unclamped one side of the arch and it sprung back to center and cleaned everything off the desk while doing so...
The light is simply attached to the desktop
by small clamps and has a thumbscrew on each end for positioning. This lamp
provides an abundance of light for the desk and was simple and cheap to
build. The benefit of using aluminum is that it acts as a heat sink and
keeps the desk cool. The only real problem now is if the light is on at
night, aircraft on approach to the Sunport try to land in my driveway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February Article:
Ahh... Region 10. The Albuquerque Scale Modelers plays and important
role in the region. Most significantly, this year, we are hosting the Region
X Conference here in June in conjunction with Chile Con IV (4). I took the
opportunity to head down to
The contest was an excellent opportunity to
get out with other modelers and enjoy the hobby we love. The turnout was
great with well over a hundred models on the table and at least fifteen
vendors in attendance.
While some may consider it "small" by other's
standards, I thought it was great as it allowed for great fellowship and
good chance to see others' work around the region. I was able to pick up a
couple of Gold/Silver medallions for my entries and share in the fun. Oh,
and of course I left with a few kits from the vendors and a new airbrush
from Grex. Gerald Voigt was there representing Grex and proved to be a great
wealth of knowledge and support for my airbrushing activity..... Tip #1: turn
down the air pressure!
Also during the contest, I was able to get
around and tell everyone about Chile Con IV and the Regional. A lot of folks
were excited about coming to
To be honest, Scorpfest wasn't the only thing
I did in
So, one little interesting fact: There is
only one F-14 left in the Boneyard. The rest have all been destroyed in an
effort to keep
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January Article:
Merry New Year everyone! Two thousand
seventeen looks to be a great year for ASM. We've got a lot going on this
year as we host the 2017 Region 10 Convention at Chile Con IV. While CCIV
isn't until June, the time between now and then will go quickly. There is
still a lot left to do in getting ready for the convention, however, we have
a crack team in place to make that happen! I'm looking forward to
Chile Con and all of the other activity happening in the modeling world
between now and then.
First out of the chute is Scorpfest IV being
hosted by the Sonoran Desert Model Builders (https://sdmb.yolasite.com)
in
On the same weekend, the 2017 Albuquerque
Comic Con (http://www.albuquerquecomiccon.com)
will occur at the
Additionally, the CoMMies are coming (No,
they didn't hack the election)! CoMMiESfest 2017 is March 4 at the Jefferson
County Fairground in Golden,
Finally, ASM has a FaceBook page! If you are on FB, go over to Albuquerque Scale Modelers and send a friend request (http://tinyurl.com/asmface). There is a lot good information there for the modelers. The page isn't intended to compete with our website, however - it is a way to see what's going on around the local modeling world. As all the cool kids say these days, "Like us on Facebook!"
Contest Director
By Victor Maestas, ASM Contest Chairman (2017)
January 2018 Article:
The December meeting held the Supersonic
themed special contest as well as the Model of the Year showdown. For the
Supersonic contest, in Intermediate, David Epstein’s X-15 took best entry
and Victor Maestas’s X-1 took best entry in Masters. These models were also
then put into consideration for the Model of the Year contest for all of the
Best of Show models from 2017. There were a lot of great entries to judge
from this year’s contests.
Basic:
Intermediate:
David Epstein’s Yuan Class submarine
Masters:
Chris Kurtze’s F-5E aggressor
Juniors:
Aleya Montano
Basic:
Intermediate:
David Epstein
Masters:
John Tate
This year’s contest tables had a lot of
entries and here are a few statistics:
Contests, spread over 10 contest nights: 7 points / 3 special / 5 sponsored
Total number of models entered (points, sponsored and special contests): 187
WIP entries: 105
December Article:
The November meeting had the final Points
Contest of the year with an Open theme. In Basic, Charles Pitrilli took Best
of Show and People’s Choice with his Nissan Skyline with some heavy road
weathering. In Intermediate, John Dodd’s impressive Bismark
battleship took People’s Choice and David Epstein’s very clean Yuan-class
submarine took Best of Show. In Masters, Brian Peck’s nicely executed F4U-1A
Corsair took both Best of Show and People’s Choice awards.
The December meeting will have a special
contest with a theme of “Supersonic.” Special contests are not for points
and up to five entries per modeler can be entered. Also in December is the
Model of the Year contest. All models that have taken Best of Show
throughout the year are eligible, but the model must be on the tables to be
considered. Winners for Modeler of the Year and Model of the Year will be
announced at the January meeting.
The contest schedule for 2018 is being
developed and the E-Board and the Contest Director (John Tate) are taking
suggestions. Please contact John or any member of the E-Board with any ideas
for contest themes for next year.
November Article:
The October meeting had a Points Contest
Theme of "Red Star," covering any subject that represents
Communist-influenced nations. In Basic, Logan Carbin took Best of Show and
People's Choice with his T-55A tank on a very nice base to show off his
work. In Intermediate, new member Ethan Schwartzmann's Su-100 Tank Destroyer
took both People's Choice and Best of Show. This model had very well-done
weathering and color modulation to break up the green paint scheme. In
Masters, Chris Kurtze's very well-executed F-5E in aggressor markings took
Best of Show and People's Choice awards.
The November meeting will be the final points
contest of the year with an "open" theme. All kits, subjects, and scales are
eligible. Please note that Brian Peck will be hosting his "Heavies"
Sponsored Contest. Any subject that is considered a heavy bomber for its era
is eligible to compete in this contest.
October Article:
The September meeting had a Points Contest
Theme of "First or Last" with a very large turnout. Across all levels, there
were 43 entries! In Basic, Logan Carbin took Best of Show and People's
Choice with his very well done Ho 229 flying wing. In Intermediate, David
Epstein's F-110A Spectre (Air Force name before changing to F-4 Phantom II)
took Best of Show and Scott Williams's Voyager I spacecraft took People's
Choice. This model had very impressive (and fragile looking) photoetch
structures. In Masters, Dave Straub's scratchbuilt USS Patoka Tender
and USS Los Angeles airship took Best of Show and John Tate's Ju-52
diorama "Rommel's Lifeline" took People's Choice.
The E-Board sponsored a contest with a theme of "Knife Fight/Night Light" that combined two themes. Entries could be entered for either or both themes. The award winner for Basic is Logan Carbin's F-117 Nighthawk. In Intermediate, Robert Henderson's P-61 Black Widow took the award for Night Light and Len Faulconer's F-102 Delta Dagger took the award for Knife Fight. In Masters, Chris Kurtze's F-102 Delta Dagger took the Knife Fight award and Frank Randall's Mosquito NF Mk. II took the Night Light award. Awards will be presented at an upcoming meeting
August Article:
July saw the return of a points contest with
a theme of "1967." In Basic, Rick Shryock earned a Best of Show and
People's Choice for his Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser RC truck. It was a very
clean build with scratchbuilt parts including machined wheels! In
Intermediate, David Epstein’s X-15 set world records in '67 and his entry
earned Best of Show. Chuck Hermann’s 1967 Alpha Romeo 2000 GT race car
earned the Intermediate level People's Choice award. In Masters, Chris
Kurtze earned both Best of Show and People's Choice for his nicely weathered
A-37B Dragonfly with scratchbuilt details added. The aircraft was ordered
and the first prototype was flown in 1967.
August's meeting will have a swap meet with
no contests, so bring stuff to sell, barter, or trade! The next contests
will be in September:
- Theme contest: "First or Last." This
includes any subject or any scale that represents the first or last of
anything such as prototypes, aircraft with retirement schemes, first flight,
last flight, etc.
- E-Board sponsored contest: "Knife Fight /
Night Light". This contest is for any subject, scale, or kit that includes a
cutting device in the name (cutlass, rapier, sabre) or in the subject
(figure with a knife) or any subject, scale; or kit that operates
primarily at night (night fighters, armored vehicles with IR spotlights,
special ops, owls, etc.). There will be a special award for subjects that
combine both categories.
- New Mexico State Fair (September 7 – 17):
Display theme will be Star Wars. Look for entry and judging dates.
July Article:
June's special contest had a "Kill Markings"
theme, which included mission markings as well. This month also included
Patrick Dick’s "GM" sponsored contest. There were 24 entries on the tables
this month competing in these contests although there were no Junior
entries. Charles Petrilli's very clean build of an RGM-79SP GM Sniper II
earned Best of Show in Basic. In Intermediate, Robert Henderson's Panther G
tank took Best of Show with rings on the barrel for vehicles destroyed. In
Masters, Ken Liotta’s Hs 129A took Best of Show with mission marking on the
tail. As part of the "Kill Markings" theme, Mike Blohm also brought in a
display of nine aircraft of US Aces.
Upcoming contests
include the fourth points contest of the year in July with a theme of
“1967.” Any subject that represents the year 1967 is eligible for the extra
“in-theme” points. August is a swap meet and September’s points contest
theme is “First or Last” as well as the E-board’s “Knife Fight/Night Light”
sponsored contest. Also in September, the display theme for the New Mexico
State Fair will be Star Wars.
June Article:
May's contest theme was the third points
contest of the year with a Star Wars theme.
In the Juniors category, Aleya Montaño took
Best of Show and People’s Choice awards with her X-Wing fighter in a flying
pose with nicely-done weathering.
In Basic, Logan Carbin also took Best of Show
and People’s Choice with an impressive Rebel X-Wing fighter (Poe’s). His
entry had well-done weathering and laser bolts for a dramatic display.
In Intermediate, David Epstein took People’s
Choice with his well-executed French Submarine/ Cruiser, Surcouf. You
don’t see floatplanes parked on the deck of a sub very often! Adrian
Montaño’s imposing and impressive large-scale Millenium Falcon took
Best of Show.
In Masters, Patrick Dick took People’s Choice
with his TIE Striker in NVA markings. I look forward to seeing the rest of
this collection! Larry Glenn’s sharp build of a TIE Striker took Best of
Show in the Masters category.
Special and Sponsored Contests
Next month we will be having a Special
Contest (Kill Markings) and a Sponsored Contest (General Motors, sponsored
by Patrick Dick). For special contests, the rules are a little different
compared to the regular Theme Points contests.
First of all, there are no Modeler of the
Year points awarded for Special or Sponsored contests. Also, in Special
contests, all entries have to be in-theme, five entries per person are
allowed, and generally there is only one “Best Of” award per divisional
level.
May Article:
April's contest theme was World War I, since
2017 is the 100th anniversary of
Model Contest Judging: This month’s CD tidbit
is on the subject of judging. In our club contests, the upcoming Region X
contest and even National Convention contests, the overwhelming
deciding factor on the placing of a model in a contest is basic workmanship.
The things that judges look for include alignment (wheels, wings, tank
treads, antennas, props, etc.), construction flaws (unfilled seams, glue
globs, floating wheels not touching tank treads, fogging on transparencies,
disappearing pane lines, etc.), and finish issues (fingerprints, decal
silvering, overspray, and paint runs, as well as consistency and symmetry).
Only when all of the above have been
considered, will the judges look for minor things such as detailing,
weathering, accuracy, etc.
The final tie-breaker for equal placing
entries is considering which entry looks most like the subject it is
representing overall. This rarely happens even at the Nationals level. This
approach puts the emphasis on tangible issues, and less on the
opinion/preference of the individual judges.
This is also described in greater detail in
the ASM Contest Guidelines posted on the Club website. Please get with me
(or any of the ASM judges) if you have any questions on what judges look for
in model contests.
April Article:
For the March meeting, there was a good
turnout for the first points contest of 2017 with the customary "Open"
contest theme.
In Basic, Aaron Schmiedicke's imposing
Battlestar Pegasus took both Best of Show and People's Choice, an
impressive build. Steve Brodeur took both Best of Show and People's Choice
with his Ki-43 Oscar in 1/32 scale with a very interesting and well executed
camouflage over natural metal. Masters had a good selection of models with
Chris Kurtze taking Best of Show with his Ta-152 and People's Choice with
his USS Essex. Even if this was built mostly Out-of-the-Box, the
scope and quality of the detail and weathering work on his ship was
inspiring.
The Contest Public Service Announcement for
this month is on entry forms. Please remember to completely fill the forms
out as best you can. It makes putting the results together quickly and
compiling the points much easier with all the relevant information filled
in, especially a week later when trying to remember details from the
meeting. If a question comes up or there is an unclear "grey area" relative
to your entry on any part of the form, please ask.
February Article:
Welcome to another contest season at ASM! The
contest schedule is in final review and will be posted online shortly. There
are some interesting themes to build for (lots of opportunities to push the
envelope) this year. Some of the ASM contest themes are tied to other events
including the New Mexico State Fair and Chile Con IV (Star Wars and WWI), so
if you plan ahead, you can have several opportunities to enter your models.
Speaking of themes, below is a breakdown of
the various types of contests held during the year at ASM.
If there are any questions on the
organization of the contests (types of contests, judging, points awarded,
etc.) you can check the Contest Guidelines posted on the website or get
ahold of me.
The January customary Moe Blalters Sci-Fi,
Real Space, Science, and Fantasy special contest had a bit of a light
turnout, but had some very well-built models on the table. Since this is a
Special Contest, there were only awards for best in each skill level. The
top entries included Anthony Weaver’s War of the Worlds Diorama in
Basic, Michael O’Brien’s Vulcan Warpshuttle Surak in Intermediate,
and John Tate’s Space Marines Vindicator AFV in Masters. For Patrick
Dick’s Frickin’ Laser Beams sponsored contest, the top entries included
Anthony Weaver’s War of the Worlds Diorama in Basic, Ken Piniak’s
USS Constellation and John Tate’s Klingon Battlecruiser in
Masters.
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By Jerry Little. Out-going ASM Contest Chairman
January Article:
The Final Point
So this is the last time I'll write as
contest director for ASM. I've been fortunate enough to be contest director
for another great year in 2016. We've shared a tremendous contest season and
a lot of models were built for the club Theme contests as well as Sponsored
and Special contests. In fact, ASM put 390 models on the table in the form
of contest entries or Works in Progress. That is an amazing number if you
consider we averaged over 38 models a month! Well done, ASM!
When you have great modelers, you have great
models. That is no different this year. Our Model of the Year contest was
very tough. Narrowing the selection to only models that were Best of Show
didn't really make it easy! As you can imagine, when a model is good enough
to earn Best of Show, you know it's going to be tough to pick the best of
the best. With so many to choose from, the team selected Larry Glenn's P-51
Mustang 'The Millie P" as the Model of the Year in Masters. Larry's 1/48
Tamiya Mustang was well done with the iconic prancing horse and checker
nose! In Intermediate, the choice was difficult. With a lot to choose
from, the team selected Chris Kurtze's 1/35 "Beutepanzer M8 Greyhound" from
the "Captured" theme contest. The model even had a unique base made from a
surplus baking pan! The model looked like it could have been snatched right
out of the historical photos it was built from.
Not to be outdone by Dad, Chris Kurtze Jr's
Panther G was chosen as Model of the Year in Junior. The fit and finish of
the model was spot on and really demonstrated the quality of model builder
that Chris has become. Finally, in Basic, Jeannie Garriss reminded us all of
what a great modeler she is with her "French Police Car." Her Best of Show
from the "Rescue Me" themed contest in April was an easy call!
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