Deeredriver

Very well done! That is a beautiful scheme.

The M61A5 has long been on my want list of kits. It certainly builds into a nice looking model.

I would like to thank Gil for his reply and clarification on the previous post. I am certainly glad to know you encourage all modelers to build whatever subjects they enjoy and to have fun while doing so. I do agree that teens should not be the focus of active recruitment by the organization; a few will become modelers, most will not. Times are definitely different than they were 20 to 50 years ago, and the digital age has brought a whole host of entertainment options be they good or bad. However, there are a fair number of us in our mid thirties to early fifties who grew up with Star Wars, Star Trek and numerous other science fiction shows. Our grandfathers served in WWII and our fathers in Vietnam so we heard a good deal of history from them and could relate to many military subjects through their experience. As a result, it seems many of us are very fluid in our building interests. Most of the guys in my club who are under 55 will be as likely to build an X-Wing as a P-51. There is also a sizable gaming community in our area who build Warhammer and several other gaming subjects. These kits are often more expensive for what you get in terms of quantity and quality than Tamiya. However, we've been fairly ineffective in recruiting members from these non-traditional modeling genres. I've heard more than once that IPMS is "Just a bunch of stodgy airplane builders." I would hope this attitude would change over time as IPMS shows include more categories for non-military subjects and those categories continue to see increased participation. We do need to attract these people who are already involved in plastic modeling and have the resources to support their hobby. It's for this reason I find it discouraging when I see posts on the national organization's forum referring to "our hobby" and disparaging certain genres of models in general. It could be quite off-putting to someone who happened to see that post without reading the follow up. It is unlikely such a person would want to join IPMS and would likely perpetuate the idea that IPMS may not be welcoming to all modelers. I do appreciate Gil's follow up post and the clarification provided therein. At the end of the day it is all a hobby and should be fun.

I rarely post on this forum as I'm sure you can see, but I do try to read most of the new messages each morning. I generally enjoy the content and find it interesting to see what others are working on. Today I feel I must make a reply to Mr. Hodges' comments regarding who and what IPMS should be about. I will certainly not dispute all his assertions regarding the activities the youth of today seem to find most interesting. However, I find his third point regarding non-military builders to be most off target regardless of the age of the modeler. I am 40 years old, grew up building Revell and Monogram WWII fighters at the kitchen table, joined IPMS over 10 years ago, and now enjoy sci-fi and other genres more than traditional military modeling. When one looks at the numbers of new tool Gundam, Star Wars, Macross, Ma.k, and Warhammer kits currently coming to market on a near weekly basis it is hard to believe these are a mere minority on the periphery of the whole of the modeling community. I would venture that world-wide these genres may now be at parity with or even the majority of total model builders. The desire of some to actively exclude those modelers from "our hobby" would almost certainly doom IPMS to failure in the not too distant future. It is for this very reason I can barely keep enough members in our local club to maintain our charter. I believe the goal of the organization should be to promote all aspects of plastic modeling regardless of whether every member finds them interesting. I would also challenge those members with such low opinions of the non-military modeling community to spend some time on youtube or other social media of their choice to see the quality of work being done. There are many builders whose building, weathering and painting skills would challenge the most seasoned military modeler. It is also true many sci-fi kits are molded in colored plastic, but I seem to recall several recent releases of military aircraft with the same fault... I hope this attitude of exclusivity in the old guard of IPMS will gradually fade and the society will survive. As was pointed out, it very well may not, but the hobby will continue. Perhaps for those who do not wish to be in an organization where people build and display Gundams it is time to consider whether you want to renew your membership next year.

If you switch out the female connector on your compressor you may find the new one to be incompatible with the hose and other attachments you currently use for filling tires and other garage duties. The simplest solution is definitely to take your male bayonet connector and your airbrush hose to a hardware store--Lowes, Home Depot, Ace, or local. They all have a huge section of fittings in the plumbing department. Select the fittings you need to make the hose attach to the coupler. The store should have an employee in that department to help if you can't find the exact pieces. I would recommend steel or brass fittings as PVC may not be rated to handle the pressure your compressor can generate should your pressure regulator fail.