VonL

Maybe the way to square the corner on that food & beverage requirement is to plus-up the Chattanooga format to a ticketed, catered buffet & cash bar; keep the informality while offering table reservations, overflow seating (and the cash bar) for the awards session and go from there. Perfect way to do a Texas BBQ, for example.

Just got home from this one and enjoyed it very much. Great accommodations (Staybridge), efficient admin & programming, excellent exhibit hall & vendor set-up, cool seminars and fantastic, inspiring work to see. Through my lens, the Display-Only and the non-banquet dessert-social ideas were very successful. (Only caveat might be to make any awards to previous Nats winners by 'popular vote' only.) Fun-factor: Pegged. Shipped booty: Enroute. Top marks, crew!

Stray thought here: Include a current screenshot of this website's Chapter Map with the new member's first Journal, or welcome-packet/letter and in the Society's generic recruiting pitches. A 'big board' showing this at the Nats, etc, might recruit unaffiliated members, or even new national members. A couple of my acquaintances were unaware of IPMS chapters near them, that would likely have motivated them to join earlier. Also, whenever I moved (usually at the behest of the armed forces), the effort to scope out my new home always included finding the nearest hobby shops & clubs.

Beautiful model! Huge fort fan here...inspired to get my B-17 on...

I'd be quite happy to see both Vegas and Omaha happen over the next few years; for all the right reasons. Hopefully one crew doesn't get butt-hurt and give up, if the other gets selected first.

Revell's big Saturn-V with a few minor mods. Botched it at age ten; still a challenging kit. Still got my scrapbook, too.

THANX for that! Light Ghost Gray it is! Am a fellow enamels holdout: "Cold Dead Hands" and all that. Will prob'ly put down Dark Ghost Gray first, to force the shadows a bit. The flight deck started as Panzer Gray, with the kit's decals & homemade deck numbers, all blended with a mist of Gunship Gray, before I hit the exhaust-crud areas with a black/brown mix. Might have overdone the exhaust crud, but I wanted the deck markings subdued, rather than fresh looking. Still needs details, like the dark metal catapults. Cheers!

Joisey is lookin' SWEET! A truly magnificent piece of work and a great reference, if just for inspiration! Seems like this is the place to ask: What are the hobby paint colors you've matched to the Vietnam-era Haze Gray & decks? Reason for the quextion: Am doing a 1/800 (sic) CVA-64 for a relative who served aboard Connie for her last(?) Vietnam cruise and her first Tomcat cruise in the early-mid 1970s. Having scoured online, in books, etc for contemporary pix, it appears the Arii kit is the only one that properly represents Connie - and without the 1980s CWIS mod; started this before the Trumpeter existed. To my eye, the period color pix of Haze Gray look alot like Light Ghost Gray (I normally build airplanes), given varying paint specs & batches, tropical weathering, camera filters...blah, blah, blah...and the Chiefs' prerogative. Am not hesitant to play the 'artistic license' card, but I'm hoping for an initial gouge from somebody who really knows. Your thoughts? (Here's a quick look in a crappy phone photo. The only thing done is painting the flight deck. Lots of PE in her future. And yes, the superstructure is crooked; not to be glued on til' much much later.)

DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP (model)! Strongly suggest doing the spars (and masts) of these in real wood, or even brass, vs. plastic. Time-consuming, yes, but 1000% more structurally sound and forgiving during the rigging process. You will never go back. There is a set of random sized wood spars available for this kind of thing (Micro-Mark?). If you can't find that, send me a PM and the sizes you need. I'll check my stash...sketchy odds there.

Good one, amigo! And kudos for doing commissions. I've found they suck the fun out and would rather surprise people...on my own, extended timetable.

Love these jets. Well done, pinning all that ordnance - the result is mo'debly worth it. Best lookin' version of the scooter, IMHO. Especially with those Blue-tail Flies markings. I wonder whether they exist in 1/72-?

Fantastic!

1/72 Formaplane Nimrod MR.1 vacuform kit Prefer to trade for any of these: 1/72 Hasegawa A-1H Skyraider 1/72 Tololoko KTO Rosomak Wolverine AFV (Afghan ISAF, typ.) 1/72 ZSU-23-4 Shilka 1/72 Toxso SCUD missile AFV

Very cool - Thanx for posting it. Would like to see more of the AP-2H Neptune gunship that dashed by. But that is what they do (did).

Love it! Never saw one built before. Very cool - but she's gonna be hard to spot amongst all of those Essex carriers.

Nice work - Looking forward to seeing the bird!

That is a FINE SEA camo job!

Lessee...Have got an Italeri F-104C that's been in the stash since at least c1988, long enough to gain a bagged-kit box-mate. Oldest thing in the entire stash may be a small portion of the nose from the first, or second of those old 1/72 Revell B-17s I built as a kid in the early 1970s. No special plans for that, other than the occasional, nostalgic encounter in the bottom of the spare parts box.

Love this build. Am especially intrigued by the Light Hub system, as I've got one of these standing by for installation on a big jet. Any suggestions or surprises from that stuff? I did find a place to hide the splitter, mounted on a Velcro strip in a weapons bay. Lots of inspiration in this article. Have had family members aboard CV-64, LHA-5 and others, so that's the direction it will take...eventually.

Fantastic piece of work here! Love it.

Nice model! I remember the 185th TFG guys, too. Good times!

Sure makes me wanna go build one! Only suggestion I would add is to maybe weather the finish a bit more, as applicable to the subject. I suspect that the camera/lighting is washing out a great paint job on the C-46. Am not suggesting that you go full-Verlinden-mad on it, but just a bit more, to pop the surface detail and such.

That's what I get for being away for a while and passing by this gallery - missing stuff like this. Beautiful piece of work here! Got more pix of 'er?

FYI - There is a product called Smooth-On that's supposed to help with the rough surfaces from 3D printing. Great online pitch, but I've never seen it in person.

That is one vicious looking airplane. One of my faves, beautifully done.