ghodges

Love the "aging" of the fuselage metal finish! Gil

Beauty of a Bearcat! Great paint scheme on an underappreciated airplane that never really got to prove itself in combat. Kudos to finding a way to overcome your setbacks during the build too! Gil

Nice clean build that emphasizes the clean and eye appealing lines of the plane! I really like those "T" tail designs from that time period too! Gil

It appears that it IS a rare kit. I went to Scalemates.com and there's no BANDAI 1/24 jeep listed in any form. However, there are several issues from ARII, another Japanese company that issued a 1/24 jeep several times back in the 1970s (but none with a trailer). Have your friend check the kit sprues to see if perhaps it's an ARII molding in a Bandai box. Even a google search basically said that Bandai mostly did 1/48 armor, had no direct reference to that kit, and said Bandai's larger scale items were released more as toys than kits. It may indeed be a rare kit. It'd be nice to see an image of the box and its parts to help identify and authenticate it. Gil

This is indeed as they say a "sticky wicket"! I'm approaching my 50th year as an IPMSUSA member and getting members to VOTE has ALWAYS been a problem. Part of it stems from our members being willing to let others do the work for them in their clubs and thus they don't view themselves as needing to be more active or interactive locally and especially nationally. And then, even if they do intend to vote, it often just slips by the wayside until it's too late to do so. However, I do think it's a problem that WE can more easily solve than ever before. 1) I know (according to the business meeting at the NATS) that IPMSUSA is about to "revamp" its website. I HOPE THAT INCLUDES A MORE OBVIOUS AND EASIER WAY FOR MEMBERS TO LOG ON AND IN! The current system, while it certainly works, just isn't that easy to find and not "intuitive" enough. Also, if you're a Chapter Contact like myself you have to be sure you're not signing in as "the club" instead of yourself. Making it easier to sign on/in is the first step to making it easier to casting a vote on line, where it's now done for the most part. 2) IPMSUSA STILL NEEDS TO INCLUDE PRE-POSTAGE PAID PAPER BALLOT POST CARDS for the members. This IS an added expense, but if you put it in the FRONT of the Journal (not bury it in the middle) with a large add page immediately behind it that says "TEAR OUT AND VOTE NOW" (and make the card RED!) as well as that page also saying "throwing this card away WASTES IPMSUSA's money which might cause a dues increase- SO VOTE!!!"; more members are more likely to vote than in the past. The members will not be able to open that Journal without having to page past it. If they still tear it out and throw it away...... then that's on them. IPMSUSA needs to remember that as a graying Society, we have many members who just will not want to go on line, log in, and vote electronically. If you want THE MOST VOTES, we MUST include a way for those members to do so easily. 3) Continue to use the Wild Apricot system to mail voting reminders to the CCs which can be forwarded to the club members. Do it once a month early on and every couple of weeks the last couple of months. 4) HAVE AN IPMSUSA VOTING MONTH! We now have LAPTOPS that can be taken to our club meetings. IPMSUSA should promote that each club have someone bring in a laptop to one of the club meetings THAT month and the club use part of their meeting time letting the local IPMSUSA members log in on it and VOTE! This may catch a few more votes and who knows, might even perk the interest of some non-members (who are being excluded) in wanting to join so they CAN participate. There may be more ideas that will help, but those are the first off the top of my head. It will STILL be like pulling teeth..... Most of our members didn't join to be a part of running anything or to be "political"; they just want to be a part of hanging around other modelers with the same interests and/or they wanted the Journal. We can certainly appeal to their "sense of duty", but then again that's never been a real vote prompter in the past so it'll take more than that going forward. I think some of my suggestions put it more "in their face" and hopefully lessen the chances of simply overlooking and forgetting to vote. Lastly, I AM NOT FOR LOWERING OR CHANGING THE CURRENT VOTING QUORUM REQUIREMENTS. As pointed out above, it puts IPMSUSA at greater risk of a very small minority hijacking the Society for its own uses. I would remind everyone that we JUST barely avoided that only a couple years ago and we do not want to set the table for any others in the future by making their efforts easier to accomplish! Gil #10803

That's an exquisite looking build! Gil

Nice build, and that's a helo I wasn't aware of! Gotta wonder if anyone called it "Rocky" since it's a flying squirrel! Gil

well that's a colorful little bloodsucker! It may just sit on your shelf but it'll also brighten it greatly! Gil

Good looking build despite the obstacles the kit presented and I appreciate the "review" so we know what to look for and which kit might be a better choice! Gil

This was my 33rd or 34th Nats I've attended since 1978. I've seen plenty of debacles and many, many excellently run Nats. I've been a Nats judge since the late '80s, was a Contest Chairman for the '97 Nats, and thus (at that time) had a hand in putting together the awards ceremony pics (slides, back then!). I say all that simply to point out that I've seen the Nats from the outside AND the inside and know how much work it takes to host one. The Ft. Wayne folks (along with their IPMSUSA counterparts in registration and judging AND all of the volunteers) can take credit for THE BEST IPMSUSA National Convention in my experience! From registration when I arrived right up to the Awards ceremony that closed the show they ran things smoothly and seemingly seamlessly, and did so while also dealing with record attendance and model counts in both the contest (3110) and the Tiger Meet (over 1000). I also want to commend their choice to break with tradition and simply SHOW all of the pics of the Nats winners at the awards show without announcers telling us what we were looking at. It not only sped things up, but this format means IPMS no longer needs to find the next "Bill and Aris" show each year. I also agree with awarding the Juniors earlier in the afternoon in order to give them their recognition at an earlier time as well as more among their own peers. All I would add is to show the Junior Best Ofs and Junior Grand Award winner (10 or so pics, less than 2 minutes time) to start the regular awards show in the evening. Ft. Wayne has set a very high bar as well as establishing some new ideas that I think should be carried forward. They deserve all of the praise you may have read elsewhere, but I wanted to add my personal thanks and kudos to a job so very, very well done! Gil Hodges #10803

I seem to recall the same thing happening to me long ago when I tried to airbrush it, except it was also "spiderwebbing" out from the airbrush as well. Since your paint actually made it onto the model it sounds like a much milder form of the problem I had. My guess is that it's drying and sticking to itself in the air.... in my case so badly it never went onto the surfaces and in your case only enough to where the residual particles in the air bonded together, and since they were essentially dry they simply brushed away after they settled. I never found an answer as I've never tried airbrushing it since then. The only answer that comes to mind is perhaps adding a retarder of some sort into the mix. Gil

Very cool vehicles and nicely built too! I especially like the metallic ones, as they're not overly bright and seem to fit the look of "test" vehicles. What silvers did you use? Gil

Oooo, Fowler type flaps..... always fun to fumble around with! 😁 Great looking work! Gil

Excellent looking build and love the camo job! Gil

Nice build of an interesting sales idea that never really took off..... 😁 Gil

Love it! And not unlike this pic I took decades ago of a F9F-8 Cougar fuselage on a flat bed trailer with the trailer's spare tire strapped down inside it! So for anyone saying "nobody would do that to an airplane"....... there ya go! Gil

That thing has about 7 times as much stuff on it than I ever imagined would be as I watched you building it! Impressive! Gil

It takes real skill to wring as much out of that old kit as you did. Reworking the Scarf ring and the wash you judiciously applied (especially to the engine) are great touches. And I still say no one can stretch sprue as even and consistently as you can! I also got a kick out of the box art since it says "1916" but shows a Fokker D-VIII from 1918 shooting at the R.E.8! Gil

This is the Hasagawa (HAI!) 1/48 Ki-44 Tojo kit. I built this just for my shelf mainly to get 1 model built before getting ready to go the Nats. This is a very nice kit with plenty of detail, so I built it OOTB except for some PE belts added to the kit seat. Since the finished cockpit could be added into the fuselage from the bottom and the fit was so good between the major components (the tail planes are just sitting in their slots here) I decided to take the unusual path of painting the wings and tail planes separately from the fuselage. I also decided to paint ALL of the markings, using no decals, cutting my own masks from tape using the decals as a guide. Painting things separately really simplified masking off around the tail plane roots as well as the leading edges of the wings. There's lots of little "boogers" here and there on this one, but they're due to my working fast and not showing as much care as needed for a contest model. Still, it's a very colorful scheme for my shelf and I've finally replaced the old Otaki Tojo I built decades ago and had bit the dust in moves over the years. Comments, questions, and critiques welcome as always! Gil

I decided to build a base for my Hellcat. I used .03 sheet styrene and scribed it, painted it, and then added a brown wash over it. After that I very lightly rubbed the whole thing with a very fine sanding pad to give it a more worn look and some "scuff". I then used dry transfer (rub on) "black dash" decals to simulate the carrier deck drain holes on a couple of the planks and finished it off with an overall flat coat. I set the base into a refinished picture frame I had used as another base for many years. The Hellcat as it will be displayed now that the kitty has a new home! Gil

Thanks for not only the detailed answers, but also the impressive response time! That's a real confidence booster for the show. See y'all in a couple of weeks! Gil

Ok...... I understand the reasoning to use the registration numbers assigned to us for the show, and that our IPMS# is NOT a part of our model registration process. I also get that YOU and your team seem to have straight in your mind and (evidently) within your computer data bases everything that's going on, so that to you it seems there is no identification problem. BUT..... I have 4 printed model entry papers that will be under my models in the room with the #1237-(1/2/3/4). Since no one has mentioned asking either Keith Redman OR myself to redo out paperwork, HE will have at least 1 of his models in the room WITH THE SAME ENTRY #1237. Our models will not likely be in the same class, let alone category; so I also understand that there's not much likelihood for the judges to get confused with duplicate numbers. I guess I'm not following how you will differentiate within the records when searching for #1237 if needed, since you'll have at least 2 identical entries (1237-1) for two different contestants and models. Also, it COULD cause problems for the photographers who will be seeking the models needed to be photographed using a paper with just a category#, description of its type, and that registration# and who might not be very familiar with the subjects they're taking pics of. This problem is even further compounded IF Keith and I aren't the only ones with duplicate registration numbers. I'm glad to hear that y'all seem to have a handle internally on identifying models with the same numbers. But how will it be handled IN THE CONTEST ROOM??? Gil

I registered my models yesterday (7/19) for the Nats. I then posted on Face Book on the NATS FB page about doing so along with a comment about how my registration #1237 boded for a very good model turn out at the show this year. Another member, Keith Redman then posted that HE was #1237 (he'd also "just" registered that day) along with a screen shot of his entry form confirming it. I also posted a pic of MY paperwork showing MY #1237 (see below). I then asked for someone from Ft. Wayne to look into this. Mark Stevens replied that he did so and was able to a "test check in on both" (whatever THAT means) and from that implied that we were good to go despite that with no need to change either my or Keith's number(maintaining our duplicate registrations). Here's my reply to Mark: "Glad to hear that our model registrations SEEM to be "ok".... but I'd still like an explanation as to HOW the system is giving out duplicate numbers AND ALSO why this will not be a problem in the record keeping. I'll be helping the judges/photographers with tracking winners during the judging on Friday night and duplicate registration numbers would appear to be a potential problem for that, as well as for when trying to find the proper models (from the records) to be shown during for the awards program." SO..... as I've stated above this COULD be a potential problem for the show and raises questions. Is anyone else getting assigned a duplicate model registration number? Also, since we ALL must be IPMS members to enter the contest, I thought we'd switched to USING our IPMS# as our Nats contest entry number; or was I mistaken about that? Is the model registration number assigned on our paperwork some sort of "Ft. Wayne" tracking number that serves a separate purpose? There may indeed by some good, simple explanation to allay my questions and put to rest any qualms about problems with record keeping due to the use of duplicate numbers, but would someone PLEASE take the time to address that here FULLY? Thanks! Gil Hodges #10803 Reply

Wow! What scale is that? Gil

Nice! Connie is starting to take on her magnificent shape! Gil