Nick Filippone

Here is a different school of thought: Aircraft ( and armoured vehicles and ships, etc) have panel lines and they, therefore, should be depicted. A modeler, I believe, is a miniaturist. His or her goal is to depict each detail as clearly and neatly and completely as possible. We are not trying to simply achieve an impression of the full-scale prototype. Rather, we are trying to amaze the viewer with the wealth of colours, and shapes and sizes ( no matter how small) that make up main body of the subject as well as it's various accoutrement. Otherwise, how boring! Viewed from a scale distance, how does a 1/72 scale Wellington appear? Well, it's darkish on the top. Maybe I can distinguish between the Dark Earth and the Dark Green, but in fact in many lighting conditions, they blend together. It's darker on the bottom, but could it be dark grey, black, or black with some red in it? Who can say? Who cares? So why sweat "accurate" colours? I see the turrets, but at this distance, I don't know how the framing is arranged, so why should that be important? Applied to 1/700 ship modeling, concerns about detail, if we accept the distance theory, become even more absurd. They are all a grey blob! And,why, therefore should we concern ourselves with the precise details of the grating on a tank deck or a the exact details of the treads? At scale distance, the grating would look solid, and the treads may as well be those rubber band tracks we got in the old Airfix armoured vehicle kits in the 60's- God bless them." "Impressionist" modelling should not be necessarily disparaged. The Impressionist painters of the 19th Century are among my favorites. Monet and Degas and Renoir got rich and famous at it. But equally skilled and successful were those painters of the " Trompe l'oiel" school who " fooled the eye" with a dramatic abundance of detail! " " To each his own, said the old lady as she kissed her pig"........but detail wins contests. Cheers, Nick.

Al, Remarkable rendering of the face! Virtually photographic. Enviable work and artistry! What is the backstory of the individual you depicted? Regards, Nick

A " Proxy registration " enables a member who is unable to physically attend the Convention to have his models entered in the Contest ( presumably brought to the Convention by another person) . " The " Adult pre- registration " allows those adult members planning to physically attend the Convention to register before arriving on site. I hope this clears this up. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge.

Perhaps Japanese Interior Blue Green? And wasn't the Shindenkai a pusher fighter?

What took me a little while to understand is that, although when I clicked on the blue "Visit the Forum" on the Home Page and got an error message, all I had to do was click on the far left of the three little icons in the upper right corner of the error message page. Then I was good to go. This technology is always a little difficult for me to adjust to when changes are made. I cannot imagine actually trying to create the changes! Thank you, Eric, for your efforts on behalf of the Society. Nick

Interesting! I never would have thought of that. Thanks. Nick

Pete and Ron make excellent points. I, too, would emphasis that approaching the TSA staff with attitude will be counter- productive. They are doing an important job and we model builders are no more entitled to a free pass on security than anyone else. My personal experience with the TSA (and I have flown models many times to the Nationals) has always been positive. I always try to engage them in a conversation about what the models are and about the competition. Often, they are enthused about the miniatures. I have always had a positive experience and nothing has been broken yet. But approach them with a chip on your shoulder and they can and will try to knock it off. You do catch more flies with honey. I always travel with clear boxes with clear plastic wrap for padding. They should be, as Ron suggested, low enough to sit below the sides of the trays. They should be small enough to fit under the seat in front of you. Putting them in the overhead is a non-starter! Even if you put your models in first, subsequent travelers wil shove it around trying to fit in a suitcase they should have checked. If you think the TSA is rough on a package of models marked "fragile," watch your fellow passengers try to squeeze 50 lbs. of luggage in a 25 lbs. overhead! Whatever class you travel in, do not pick a seat that has no seat and hence no underseat space ahead of it. If you are concerned about size of case that will fit under the seat ahead of you, the dimensions of underseat spaces for each aircraft is available on line. But keep in mind that the space between your seat edge and the seat back in front of you may be smaller than the underseat where the model case is to go. You may have to tip the case at a sharp angle to get it on the floor. Be sure, therefore, your models are secure within the carrying case. Good luck! Nick Flippone

I have been to the two previous Phoenix shows. They were excellent! The hosts always do a great job and the venue is perfect. I have no doubt they will do it up just fine again. I am not frustrated but I am impatient -for August to arrive! Nick Filippone

The Diamondbacks are not in town until Thursday.

This seems to be a recurring problem with IPMS staff - indolent, over paid 9 to 5ers, slacking off at the holidays. It is not unreasonable to expect these people to discharge their assigned tasks in a timely way, regardless of what else is going on in their lives and regardless of how much of their spare time -especially modeling time - those Society tasks consume! Just like those lazy loafers on the NCC- dragging their derrières on the contest rules changes for the National Contest! Oh! You're telling me they're volunteers? Who knew? How insensitive and ungrateful of me! No apologies are necessary Ron. We have a great organization, a great National Convention and Contest and a polished, professional Journal. Only someone doing more than you and the other members of the leadership are doing can, in fairness, criticize.

Gil, You are quite right. And you can certainly speak with the authority of one who consistently violates that very sound advice by starting with sow's ears and producing silk purses with enviable regularity - a 1/48 vacu-form Martin B-10 indeed! Beautiful model! Will we ever get a good injection molded B-10 in any scale? Most of us lack your fortitude.

The issue with raised panel lines is not whether they can be made to look realistic. They can, using some -but not all - of the techniques described above. The problem is maintaining a consistent style of panel lines across the entire model. I personally do not think mixing raised lines with rescribed lines or drawn on lines is a good practice. I think they look too different and inconsistent. Inconsistency is a killer drawback on a contest model. So, what to do? One approach to restoring raised lines lost during seam clean up is the use of Archer Fine Detail resin decal panel lines. They come on a variety of widths and are effective on relatively flat surfaces or gentle curves. The are harder to get to stick on shorter radius curves, however. My personal favourite technique for restoring raised panel lines is to apply two strips of Tamiya masking tape very close to each other - the gap equal to the width of the panel line to be restored- and then paint the gap with something. I use Mr. Surfaced 500 or 1000. Let it dry and peel away the tape. A gentle sanding with 600 grit paper will remove the " meniscus" effect- the two raised edges on either side. If it is too thick, sand a little more. Don't like it? Sand it off completely and do it over. When painted over, they look great. There are many great old kits out there that deserve to be built. Overcoming this roadblock has helped a lot in building them to the standard I consider desireable. Rivets are more of a challenge but Acher has these also, as demonstrated a few months age on a wonderful build of an old Monogram DC-3- the '50's one- on this very forum. I have experimented with some other methods of reproducing rivets but this is still a work in progress. Regards, Nick

Hank, If I may ask- where did you order the kit from? Thank you. Nick

Mike, Great information. Thank you. I have heard of CafeReo kits but had never seen one. Having reviewed both your links, it appears that my version has better clear parts, but no cockpit interior of any kind. Regards, Nick

It could be less than 10 years old.

Can anyone perhaps please solve this little mystery for me? Yesterday, I blundered across a forgotten kit in my stash. It is a 1/144 scale Heinkel He-111. It is definitely NOT the Crown/Mincraft Kit. Great surface detail, engraved. Open bomb bay with detail and nice landing gear bay detail.Comes with bombs and torpedoes and includes markings for a desert scheme. It is engineered with long locating pins and sockets, indicating it might be intended to be a no-glue, snap together, although it looks accurate. It comes in a rather plain white box with the name "RLai Systems," with "Lai Models" underneath. It is kit #003. I cannot recall where I got it, but I have had it, I think, about 15 years. Has anyone ever seen this kit or others by Lai models. A Google search turned up nothing. Thanks. Nick

Steve, Thanks. Doing the actual room swap through the hotel would seem to be the best option. You folks in Phoenix are right on top of everything. I am really looking forward to this National. In an entirely different vein, I wou!d like to mention that the Diamondbacks are home in Phoenix that weekend starting Thursday evening. The field is walking distance from the host hotel. Nick

Last year, I made my hotel reservation for Omaha early with every intention of going. However, my wife surprised me with a trip to Oshkosh as my Christmas present. ( Actually, I ended up paying for most of it, but that is a story for a different day.) I therefore contacted the hotel and transferred the reservation to my friends name. The only other info they required was his credit card number. It was very easily done. if the Hyatt Regency in Phoenix was agreeable to this, could IPMS perhaps create a list of people looking for a room in the block and somehow make that list available when someone has to cancel? I admit that my switch was before the block deadline. But if the hotel would go along, there would be fewer disappointed convention goers and a better chance of filling the block. Dos his sound crazy? I certainly am not looking to create more work for an already very busy National Convention Staff! Perhaps a member could act as a clearing house for the process. I could, for example, accumulate and create a list of the names of those looking for a room. When someone has to cancel their reservation, they could e-mail me and I could give them the e-mail address of the person at the top of the list and let them work it out between themselves and with the hotel- assuming the hotel,was willing. Of course, the members might have to be willing to share info, possibly even credit card info. Hmmmmm!!! Nick P.S. Oshkosh was amazing! If you are an airplane junkie like me, it is the only thing worth missing the Nationals for.

I believe the theme is " Build it, Bring it, Show it." And if I am understanding it correctly, it is thus to be a celebration of what should be the core goal of our hobby- the simple enjoyment of constructing models- and thereby putting less emphasis on competition. More fun and less stress! Bravo! Nick

Made mine on computer at 8:00 A.M. Very user friendly and easy. Congrats to the Phoenix crew for the most convenient reservation system yet! Nick

King Charles of which country, please? Regards, Nick Filippone

When I was building cars in the early 60's, I remember these promo car models. I do not recall where I got them. I always wondered if these were assembled from the same parts in the AMT and SMP kits or were they entirely different moldings? Anyone have any more info about these? I think they may have been molded in heavier plastic.

Kevin, Might I ask: what brand of white did you use and what brand of gloss coat did you use? How long did you wait between the two? I inquire because frequently, we all can learn from these experiences. Thanks. Nick

Thanks for the explanation. Everything is so complicated! But you are on the ball. And you definitely will see me in August. Ah!! I can almost feel the dry heat now! Regards, Nick

Thanks for the update. Any particular reason why the hotel moved it up from January 1st? Nick Filippone