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Ralph Nardone

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Everything posted by Ralph Nardone

  1. Nice work, Gil. Which squadron will this one be?
  2. Nice job! I built one back in the day, and thought it odd that there was no nose greenhouse and that there weren't many guns in the nose--until I realized that there was one big gun up there. Then it went from being cool to being ultra-cool... I also remember it was one of the first Monogram kits I built that had the Shep Paine diorama brochure in it. I think I still have it here after this time. Ralph
  3. C'mon, Timmy...a little Elmer's Wood Filler, some Microballoons, and a trowel. Roll yer own, man... :) Ralph
  4. Timmy, I'm with Ron--even protected new marble still has an almost translucent, semi-gloss sheen to it. I'd use an off white and let it dry. Then I'd seal it with a gloss varnish (Future), let that dry, and use Payne's Grey oils to add the veining to it. Once you have it to your liking, let the oil paint dry and overcoat with semi-gloss clear. Ralph
  5. Hasegawa, like all model kit manufacturers, has produced many fine kits. They've also made a few dogs, too. The best advice I have is to do a Google search or ask questions pertaining to a specific kit. For instance, if you want to know about the Hasegawa 1/48 P-51D Mustang, my impression is that it is a fine kit, but the wheel wells are a bit shallow. It certainly builds quickly into a very nice model. The only competition right now that I know of would be Tamiya's kit, which is just a bit better on the fit, finish, and detail side of things...but you can't go wrong with the Hasegawa kit, either. Ask about specific kits and people who have built them can comment. Ralph
  6. I gave a seminar on this at the National Convention in August. I'm trying to put it together and post it... The Readers' Digest version: 1. Remove the parts and clean up sprue nubs, mold marks, ejector pin marks, and any other molding defects (draft angle deficiencies, out-of-round, etc.) 2. Dry fit. If it doesn't fit, adjust it until it does fit. 3. Paint the interior areas. You can prime first if you like. Any light grey or white paint, preferably matte, will work (I like Tamiya's white primer in the spray can. And yes, I use the can--I don't decant and airbrush) 4. Install the interior bits and assemble the fuselage. Be careful to make sure all of the interior bits that needed to be installed were installed... 5. Allow to dry. Assemble the wing halves. 6. When the fuselage seam has dried, I dress the seam. I use one of those 7-grit nail buffers from the local Walgreen's or CVS. When I have to use sandpaper, I use 3M wet/dry, 320, 400, and 600 grit. Start with the 320 and work your way to the 600. Try to eliminate as much of the seam as you can without resorting to filler...more on that later. 7. Join the wings to the fuselage. Make sure they're at the correct angle--make a template if you need to, use a square, use a ruler. Straight, Square, and Plumb is the scale modeling legal team, and if you violate one of their laws, they will bust you! Let the cement cure. I use Tamiya Extra Thin, by the way... 8. Join the tailplanes to the fuselage. Again, make sure they are straight and square! Allow the cement to cure. 9. Dress the wing and tailplane seams as you did with the fuselage. Again, do your best to erase the seam without having to resort to filler. 10. Now, if you can't eliminate a seam and have to use filler, avoid using large quantities of putty. Sure, it is handy and convenient, but it shrinks as it dries and can fall out of the gap. if the gap is larger than say 1.16", fill it with plastic--Evergreen strip, stretched sprue, either work. Use the same cement to attach the shims, let dry, and dress them with the sanding stick/sandpaper. Putty should really only be used to fill small cracks and scratches... 11. Once you've dressed all the seams, you can paint. You can prime, if you want to. Painting is a subject unto itself--do you want to paint it with a brush? An airbrush? What kind of paint? 12. Once the paint is dry, apply the decals. That, too, can be a can of worms... 13. Final assembly time. Clean up, paint, and attach landing gear, propellers, antennae, gun barrels, ordnance pylons, etc. Remember our legal team--these al need to be straight, square, and plumb, too! 14. Touch up any paint issues, put it on the shelf, and contemplate the next one. This is, of course, quite simplified. Once you get started, you'll have questions. Post them here, you'll get many good--and equally valid--answers. Ralph
  7. In Columbia we've learned that when the thermometer hits 100+ outside, shorts are an acceptable fashion item. If I recall, all of us (Convention Staff) were wearing shorts and a Staff shirt for the banquet, and those not in shorts were wearing jeans. So, I'm good with slacks, jeans, or shorts and a collared shirt (golf/polo or button) and closed shoes (or nice sandals for the ladies who like to wear them)--no "Holy Pants", no T-shirts, no flip-flops. Also, add that they should be clean and in good condition... As for the hats inside, that has become a huge problem. My wife has to constantly remind her students that hats are not to be worn indoors, yet every semester she'll have at least two students who will wear a hat all the time.
  8. $790 for the chips, $150 for the fan deck--and this is represented as FS595a. I believe the current document is FS595c... Most model colors these days are matched, or there are color conversion charts for those not so matched (Tamiya and Vallejo immediately come to mind)... http://www.paint4models.com/ There are also other places where you can get FS595 information for nothing more than the energy it takes to click the mouse... http://www.federalstandardcolor.com/ http://www.ipmsnymburk.com/tamiya%20mixing/FSTamiya.pdf http://www.fed-std-595.com/FS-595-Paint-Spec.html http://www.e-paint.co.uk/Federal_standard_595_colour_chart.asp While having the chips or fan deck handy at the bench is a nice idea, there are ways to do it cheaper than $150.
  9. Rod, I don't see negative in the thread, only people trying to make suggestions. You mentioned no Make and Take--IPMS has ended the program. You mentioned the big manufacturers throwing in some money--but these are the same people that led to IPMS having to kill the Make and Take due to them raising the costs to IPMS. The juniors are out there. Each Chapter has to court them. All the Make and Tales in the world won't cause a young person to stop in at your meeting and say, "Here I am!" You need to go out and find them. Junior-only Chapters work in some areas--if they'll work in yours, go for it. In other areas, there aren't enough interested Junior modelers to form a sanctioned IPMS Chapter, so the existing Chapter will have to do what they can to entice the kids to join. So, I don't see negative except your "Sorry to have wasted your time". You didn't waste anybody's time, and the people who responded added a great deal to the conversation. Ralph
  10. In my first Seminar on Thursday, I mentioned juniors in a scenario I used to illustrate someone getting back into the hobby and introducing their kid to it as well. A few things I mentioned: 1. The kid was probably not interested in old, propeller driven airplanes from a long-ago conflict 2. The kid was probably looking at fast cars, fast jets, or Sci-Fi and Gundam. Backing that up, I work at a HobbyTown. For every "traditional" (i.e., military or car model) we sell, we sell at least a half dozen Gundam kits. 3. I left the identity of "The Kid" gender-neutral. Young ladies are joining the hobby in larger numbers than ever before. We need to accept that and stop treating them as oddities, stop patronizing them ("Gee, honey, did your boyfriend teach you how to build models?"), and accept them as what they are--model builders. Jodie has pretty much nailed the other aspects of this particular subject--if you want to attract Juniors, first take a look in the mirror. Do your meetings resemble a smoke-filled poker hall, with a bunch of middle aged men leering at a nekkid lady on an airplane or, as I once saw it put, a "painted, dainty metal maiden in her birthday suit"? Sure, a 14-year old boy will eat this stuff up. But the person who brings said 14-year old boy to the meeting (Mom and Dad) will recoil in horror, and the future of modeling will be headed out the door, never to be seen again. And, in keeping with #3, a 14-year old young lady will have a look around and see that the only thing that's happening is that she's being objectified, and she, too, will head for the exits. There are many great suggestions in this thread. Perhaps, if all the Chapters out there acted on them, this will help the situation. So, what are you going to have your Chapter try in order to get new members? Here's an idea, one that came up yesterday at the shop. If you have an adult member interested in Gundams, maybe you can start a Gundam club within your Chapter. Take some time to understand Gundams yourself, and then advertise. Put up flyers in the local shop--"Hey, Gundam fans! We're starting a Gundam Club!" you never know where it could lead... Other ideas, such as the JROTC Detachments, Air Shows, Car Shows, and the like are excellent suggestions. So, take these ideas to your Chapter. Be the POC for these efforts. And see what comes of it... Ralph
  11. Thanks so much. I have another post to another thread--we had lots of help. One thing that I told the rest of the committee when we won the bid was that most IPMS guys would love the fact that we were walking distance from The World of Beer, The Flying Saucer, Moriarty's Irish Pub, The Liberty Tap Room, The Hickory Tavern, and many other beer joints... :) Ralph
  12. Another alternative: Thermal receipt paper. You know, the paper your receipts are printed on at the "Pay at the Pump" gas stations and many other places. It is thin, takes paint well, and is surprisingly strong. It threads through PE buckles in a snap... If I had known this back in the day, I would have kept the boxes of the old fax paper we threw into the garbage when we upgraded to plain paper fax machines at work. Ralph
  13. Gil, we're dusting off the old vinyl and testing the turntable just for you. :) Ralph
  14. I'll agree with Kevin--I just painted a Hasegawa 1/72 DAP Beaufighter Mk. 21 with the Vallejo NATO Green Surface Primer, and it reminded me of how enamels behave--you know, chasing the wet spot with the paint pattern from the airbrush. A drop of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner to every five or six drops of paint...sprays nicely, lays down nicely, goes down "like buttah". Of the 10 minutes of the seminar I got to see at the AMPS International show, their rep does say that you should--not a requirement, but should to be on the safe side--use the Surface Primer under any topcoats. They don't need to be full coverage coats of the Surface Primer, and judging by the way the green sucked down tot he surface of the Beaufighter, it won't be too thick if you top coated... I've heard people have had issues with the Vallejo "Liquid Metal", but the "Metal Color" is apparently the best acrylic metalizing paint out there, along with the AKI equivalent. Ralph
  15. Whether it was mentioned during the bid proposal (I'm 99.999% sure it was, by the way) doesn't matter--what matters is that we had it in the vendor contracts and on the website from Day One. If individual vendors didn't bother to read the contract before they signed, how can we as the Hosts Chapter be held accountable for that? This is exactly why we not only wrote it into the contracts, but made great pains to make the requirement public news as soon as the website went live. I'd be willing to bet most states have similar requirements, too. Whether or not other Host Chapters have done their due diligence in reminding their vendors of such a requirement is unknown to me, but we knew about this requirement long before we ever bid, since we knew the State of South Carolina required Transient Vendor Licenses. And, because we knew it, we made sure to post it so that everyone else knew it, too. Ralph
  16. This wasn't a last minute addition to the vendor requirements. As Rusty says, it has been there from the beginning. This was included in the vendor contracts from the outset, and the link to the DOR requirement has been on the Vendor page of the website since it was launched. Furthermore, each vendor was told about it when they received their contracts before they paid for their tables. If you want to play with fire and decide to save the $50 by not filing, consider this: The South Carolina Department of Revenue offices are blocks away from the venue, and we're betting good money that SCDOR Officers will be there and they will be checking transient vendor licenses. $50 is a whole lot less than the potential fines could be...you pays your money, you takes your chances. But I'd rather be safe and pony up the $50 than get caught without and win up paying north of $10K per day in fines. Ralph Nardone Seminars Coordinator 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention "Every Model Tells A Story"
  17. Nationals in Las Vegas? Someone better tell those of us planning the 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention here in Columbia, SC that the venue has changed... ;) Hope to see y'all this August. In Columbia. Vegas is nice, but the Big Show is in Columbia... Ralph Nardone IPMS/USA # 33984 Seminars Coordinator 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention "Every Model Tells a Story"
  18. I would say it probably remained without the weather radar as long as it remained in the Army's inventory. I have found a lot of photos of Army CV-2's without radar. However, once it transferred to the USAF, it did receive the radar--this is the same airplane as the much-photographed "Santa-Bou", with Santa's face painted on the nose. At this later date, it does have the radome in place. Be aware, though, that the kit radome is not exactly correct--if you do decide you need it, you'll have to do some fitting and carving to get to to mate with the kit fuselage and to get it shaped correctly. The kit depicts is as almost a button-nose (i.e., nearly hemispherical other than the mating skirt) while the real thing is more of what the old-timers would call a "nipple nose"... Ralph
  19. Something else, and I believe it has been mentioned in the past when the subject has come up--if you think your club with 6 guys in it isn't large enough to shoulder the workload of a National Convention, why not contact the other clubs in the area to see if they'd like to present a joint convention? Orlando in 1999 was the first I recall where members from several Chapters joined together to host a Nationals, and it seems to be more and more prevalent these days. The Columbia show is being co-hosted, as a matter of fact. With the National office handling the finances, it is actually even easier now than it was them... Ralph
  20. An interesting discussion... Food for thought. We're seeing the "First Tier" cities (think Atlanta, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, etc.) being priced out of our market. When we bid for the Nationals here in Columbia the first time (2012 for the 2014 show), we went to the Convention Bureau, and they were more than happy to put together some ideas for us. We went back to them when we lost the bid and told them we were preparing a re-bid for 2016, and they did some quick math and revised their estimates to fit. Once we told them what the financial take was from the past several conventions, they literally started falling all over themselves to help. They are interested in putting Columbia on the map as a convention-friendly city, and are truly excited to be hosting IPMS this August. So, if you live in a smaller city that's not quite on the lips of every American, contact the local convention bureau--you may be surprised what they're willing to do to attract people to their city. I'm thinking of places all over the country--Phoenix has bid several times, but what about Tucson? Scottsdale? Sacramento? Portland? Santa Fe? Grand Junction? I'd attend an IPMS Nationals at any of those places. Some other cities that I think might have a willing partner in the city's convention bureau? Aiken/Augusta (SC/GA), Charleston (SC), Charlotte, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Jacksonville/St. Augustine/Daytona Beach, Saint Petersburg/Ft. Myers/Naples, Lincoln/Omaha, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, Birmingham...we've already covered OKC and Phoenix, but there are other cities out there that could host a dandy Nationals. It all starts with desire on the part of the local club, and a willing city convention bureau. You won't know if you don't ask. Ralph
  21. Mike, I believe that is being worked on. Until then, the website is http://www.ipmsusa2016.com See you there! Ralph
  22. We've had sub-forum for all the IPMS/USA National Conventions dating back to 2011. All of them went live as soon as the preceding Convention was in the books. Except 2016. Are there plans to start one for 2016? We have less than seven months to go...people are already asking questions on other sub-forums... Thanks! Ralph Nardone Seminars Coordinator 2016 IPMS/USA National Convention
  23. At one point in my life, that kit was my Holy Grail and Great White Whale wrapped into one--I wanted one badly, yet could never find one. When I finally did, I botched the job and had to wait to find another a few weeks later. Those old Otaki kits were some of my favorites back in the day, and most still hold up today. Nice job! Ralph
  24. Do you have gaps in the seam, or is it a ghost seam that reapears after a while? If it is a ghost seam that comes back after some time, it could be your cement--Ambroid Pro-Weld sometimes does that. The solution is to either use less or switch to another cement. I like Tamiya's Extra Thin myself... If there are large gaps or seams that don't want to take filler, here's my advice: Along with what has already been said, the biggest thing to do is to try to eliminate as much of the seam before you apply glue--test fit, see where you need to make adjustments, file and sand accordingly, and test again. When it looks as if you have made things as good as you can, then apply the cement. If there is going to be a gap no matter what you do, rather than using standard solvent based putty to fill a large gap why not use plastic? It won't shrink like regular putties do, and it sands rather easily when the cement has cured. You can use stretched sprue from the kit or Evergreen strip to fill the void. Let the cement dry thouroughly--read that as at least overnight, longer if the plastic is still soft when you start sanding--before you sand. Another option for large gaps is an epoxy putty like Milliput--it has some body to it, it won't shrink, and you can work it with a wet finger before it cures. Once it cures, it can be further sanded and shaped. Super glue will also work as a filler, but you must sand it smooth as soon as it cures--it gets harder and harder as time passes, and if you wait it becomes almost impossible to sand without using a large file first. I like the bead of plastic trick--if the seam is minimal, that bead of plastic may have done all the filling you need. It takes some practice, but you'll soon figure out how to eliminate those pesky seams... Ralph
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