ghodges

Excellent! Gil

Very nice progress! Good job on drilling out those exhausts too..... a job I hate! Gil

So WHAT is to be done about the IPMSUSA Nats Award Ceremony and banquet? Having attended many, I have a few thoughts.... First, the HOSTS need to stop patting themselves on the back for so long at the banquet. Let me couch that criticism by saying I HAVE been a part of hosting a Nats, so I know how much work and dedication it takes from everyone to put on a Nats. BUT, in my view it is sufficient for the Chairman to simply give a GREAT thanks to his committee members (and their wives), ask for a very deserved round of applause, and say that they will be having their OWN PRIVATE dinner/gathering to pat themselves on the back and give out any awards they want to each other. Get that all over in 5 mins or so and move on to the awards that everyone is there to hear. Next, I strongly recommend that the hosts/announcers be sure to be served their dinners FIRST so they can eat and be ready to work BEFORE the crowd is fully done eating. The non-contest awards should be started while dessert is being eaten! This gets things off to an earlier start and interrupting a bite of cheesecake to applaud the Best IPMS Website, Best Newsletter, and IPMS Member of the Year isn't difficult and MOST people aren't really paying close attention to those anyway since what they want to hear are the contest winners! Be sure to keep the "blurbs" and announcements about the coming Nats shows very short and sweet. The crowd does NOT need to see a "presentation". Instead, a simple announcement that THAT info is (or will be) posted should be sufficient. While it may seem like IPMS wants/needs to drum up enthusiasm to attend the next show, remember WHO you're speaking to: Nats banquet attendees most of whom already attend most Nats and who need NO "pushing" to go to the next! Also, simply announce who won the bid presented that year for the Nats 2yrs away, where it will be, and when it will be held. There's NO need to call up that "winner" to make any remarks nor is there a need for them to sign the contract in front of a crowd like it's some sort of blood oath with their soul at stake. All we need to know is that the next show is still on track and where we'll be going 2yrs later. IPMS really needs to find the next "Bill and Arris". We were spoiled for DECADES with their innate ability to read the awards at a fast rate, adjust to any problems between their script and the pics (they saved MY bacon in '97!), and be familiar enough with odd names and subjects to get through them smoothly even if not perfectly. I'm sure there's people out there who have those abilities! BUT.... IPMS also needs to find people who can do it AND also attend most every Nats... for the sake of reliability and consistency. That makes for an even taller order! However, IPMS CAN offer some possible incentives for those taking on such a daunting job such as (perhaps) free show registration, free banquet meals, and/or even a comped hotel room IF they need to have an added travel cost (such as flying) in order to attend. While I think there are those who would do the job for free (and God bless them!), IPMS needs to make this a higher priority than many may think and NOT just hope and rely on there being "someone" in the host chapter who can step up. As to the actual running of the pics of the winners, there are several ways to speed that along. First be sure that the hosts are using the tried and true system that has consistently worked for several years now. It's good to add things like "streaming" so others outside of the banquet can also view the awards; but NOT at the expense of crashing the system. The Eboard (or at least the 2nd VP in charge of the convention) should have an "AV committee" (if he doesn't already) that is thoroughly familiar with the equipment to be used and at least 1 or more of those people should be in attendance to trouble shoot any problems that may arise. IF IPMS has to pay someone's way to a show for that purpose, it may be worth it to avoid all of the repercussions that arise from a failed or severely faulty awards presentation. Next, while ALL of the models that place should have their picture shown, I'd only announce the 1rst place winner. VERY GOOD readers (like Bill and Arris) can get quickly through all 3 names per category. However, it would be MUCH more relaxing and help more potential announcers if they only had the one name to ready in each category. I think all 3 pics (1rst, 2nd, and 3rd) should be shown since it is the NATS and they deserve that "moment in the sun".... but I also think that IF you want your name called then step up your game and win the 1rst place (which I've NEVER done, by the way)! One more suggestion is that the awards COULD be split into two different nights..... the non-contest awards could be held on Friday evening and timed so that they are all over before the judges meeting (6pm) or the judging begins at 7pm. Then, the contest awards ceremony could be held on Saturday evening with the only other needed item being the announcement of who won the Nats bid earlier that morning. The banquet could be held EITHER night, though I suspect holding before the contest awards would be preferred. And by the way.... for those of you reading this and wondering WHY hold a banquet at all.... it is a REQUIREMENT at most every venue since that's one of the venue's "money makers". A last suggestion is that the hosts start holding EVERYTHING earlier! Start the cash bar at 4pm and LET THE PEOPLE IN TO SIT DOWN AT THAT TIME! Have the banquet dinner served and over by 5:30pm. Get the awards rolling at that time and NO later than 6pm. Even if it drags on for 3 hours, we're still out by 9pm if not a little earlier. BUT ABOVE ALL.... STICK to whatever schedule is come up with and printed in everyone's convention schedule! Those are just some ideas..... your milage may vary! 😁 Gil

I'll comment on this because I have what I believe is a unique perspective on what happened, have now attended 34 Nats, and can answer your question since I was at the banquet both last year and this year. After the awards fiasco in Madison it was decided to make changes to "speed up" the awards process. The failure in 2024 was due mainly to equipment problems and trying to "reinvent the wheel" (host's fault) as well as having the planned speakers bow out and having a couple of people step in at the last second to fill in (not the host's fault, and why they seemed so unprepared). Those of us with L-O-N-G Nats banquet/awards experience appreciated the "Bill and Arris Show" precisely because in spite of the occasional joke and bantering, they DID move very quickly and smoothly through all of the categories. You're right in that IPMSUSA needs to find some people who can take their place; but that WILL be a tall order. In order to shorten the length of the 2025 awards program someone in Hampton (or perhaps on the Eboard) decided to SHOW all of the pics of the regular category winners while we were eating WITHOUT any announcers. This is the first time for that and I concur that it was a bad idea. I was trying to keep track of things but it was hard to split your attention between your plate and the pics, let alone also heed any conversation still ongoing at the table. Also, it was IMPOSSIBLE for those with their backs to the pics (almost half of every table) to eat and see the pics behind them since they had to face their plate to eat! Lastly, your point about this being THE big show for IPMUSA and thus ALL winners deserve a chance to hear their name called is worthy of debate. Personally, I'd suggest showing pics of all 3 places but only announce the first place winners to speed things along; but that's just my take. I need to inject a harsh criticism about the Hampton banquet at this point. THERE WAS NO REASON TO KEEP US ALL STANDING IN THE LOBBY FOR 45 MINUTES BEFORE LETTING US INTO THE ROOM! My wife and I were very close to the doors and could see in. Everything was set in place by 5:15; we could see tea and water on the tables as well as the deserts. Even if there was something still to be done, they still ran 15mins late in opening the doors from their scheduled 5:30 start time keeping us waiting until 5:45. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT MOST OF THE PEOPLE STANDING FOR THAT 45MINS ARE NOT YOUNG AND IN FACT MOST ARE OVER 60. It is difficult for many of them to stand for so long, especially when it is so seemingly unnecessary! All it does is create a STAMPEDE for the tables once the doors are opened and THAT isn't good for any crowd, let alone one with so many older people who don't move as fast as they used to. I'd like to hear from the Hampton hosts WHY the doors couldn't have been opened at 5pm when the cash bar started, even if the tables were still being set. It wouldn't have hurt the cash bar any as we drinkers are going to imbibe anyway. The servers MAY have had to reach over and around people to finish up, but then THAT is their job and the they do so serving the meal dishes anyway. People could have found a place to sit during that time and a rush avoided. Perhaps the servers MIGHT have needed to refresh the tea, coffee, and water a bit more; but THAT shouldn't be a problem since we're already overpaying for the food anyway. I'm hoping the Ft. Wayne and Huntsville Nats planners take note of this stupid habit of keeping us locked out of the banquet seating until the very last second and make arrangements to let us in early so we can SIT during the cash bar. I had 2 very good friends who were LIVID about missing the awards presentation. They, like most people arrived about 7:30 in the "streaming" room to see the awards ceremony only to find it was all but over. And then the announcer made a remark (paraphrasing here): "The awards pics will be online faster than you can pack up your models this evening". This was said when the regular category pics were done running BUT before they ran the Juniors and all of the Special and Best Of awards. Those of us with long Nats experience knew that was simply a reference to doing a better job at getting the results posted than in past years. My friends, and MANY others in the streaming room took it to mean that the awards were done and they could go pack their models. Unfortunately when they got to the room they were told it wasn't open yet. THIS (of course) made them even ANGRIER since they'd already missed seeing the awards pics and thus it seemed the awards were done; though they weren't. Faced with a mob of unhappy modelers, the door guard did the RIGHT thing and let them in to pack their models. Things got ugly in the room after that with at least one of the host members YELLING at people who were packing up to get out.... ALL of this was avoidable. All the hosts had to do was to adhere to their PRINTED schedule. Although I'd prefer an announcer, they could have started the pics at 7:30 and I believe we all would have been out of there no later than 9pm; which would STILL be 1-2hrs earlier than the Nats award presentations have run in the past. No matter HOW you might think the awards should be done, I cannot fathom WHY they decided to run the awards so early and deviated from their printed time schedule. Ironically, the entire reason to shorten the awards was (supposedly) to give everyone more time to pack their models at their leisure and visit with friends a bit longer before turning in. In the past, with everyone getting into the room at 11pm-midnight there WAS a real need to get packed and get to your room so as to get the most rest before hitting the road the next morning. It seemed everyone had NO time to visit and talk as they rushed to get their stuff packed and out of the room in 30mins-1hr. So what happened when we got out at 8pm and we had THREE extra hours? Everyone went in and packed up in 30mins-1hr and left! I totally agree with shortening the awards ceremony.... but if this year is any indicator, it will not prolong people's time in the contest room after the show! Overall the Hampton Nats was a GREAT success. It's unfortunate that it ended on that one sour note, especially as it was entirely avoidable. What's worse, those who didn't attend the actual banquet may now feel cheated out of part of the show; like THEY weren't as important as those who bought banquet tickets. I hope most of them will realize it was simply a botched attempt at trying something new with the worthy goal of shortening the night overall. Since I've commented on the problems as I saw them..... I'll post a possible solution below so as not to just carp about things! Gil

A refreshing tour indeed! I have to say that I use superglue more and more these days both for strength and speed of assembly; and also use the gel type for filling gaps. I've found it to be better in the long run though you DO need to be sanding those seams within 24hrs before it cures "rock" hard. Gil

Nice start! Gil

Very nice Ron! Those multi bay biplanes with single straight struts are my least favorite type of biplane due to their number and the need to align them all, not to mention all of the extra rigging. Gotta say yours all look fine! Congrats on a fine looking build and posting a vac, as it makes me look a bit less nuts! See ya at the Nats next week! Gil

Fresh off of the workbench this is the 1/32 Trumpeter P-51D Mustang. The kit has a lot of options I decided to omit so as to "git'er done" quicker. Thus, I closed up the gun bays and left out the engine, making the needed adaptations to fit the exhausts and add gun barrels in the wings at the end. The kit comes with separately molded flaps, but they're not really designed to be shown in the down position. I had to grind off a molded in step under the rear of each wing root and then fill in a molded in step in the end of each flap, as well as cut off their original mounting pins so I could drop them. I opted to do the very colorful "American Beauty/Lovely Lila" flown by ace Capt. Voll. The kit decals include all of the striping but I opted to paint all of the striping myself. The rest of the decals I used were excellent and turned out to be one of the highlights of building the kit. If you're a Mustang purist, this kit has a lot of problems, inaccuracies, and irritating small flaws; so I can't recommend it since Tamiya and Zoukei-Mura have newer 1/32 bubbletop Mustangs that are most likely much better. Still, it's a relatively easy build and has indented surface details which most modelers like. On to the rest of the pics! Questions, comments, and critiques welcome as always! Gil

If you're not there already, you need to check out the Vacuform/Resin Kit Builders page on FaceBook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/695711033832473 They have people there selling vacs (and groups of them) and you can also post saying you're looking to buy vacs. If you're here in the U.S. I have a few extra vacs/vac conversions (2nd copies) I can send you, if you build in 1/48. Gil

Whatever will fit into the box on the form will print on the front of the form (I believe there's a character limit). You can certainly type and print you OWN list of what was done if you feel the area given isn't big enough to list all your work and then staple it to the model form or simply lay it adjacent to it all. The FORM is important and MUST be used because it prints out a QR code that is specific to that entry and model. You'll have a top half with that code to keep as proof of ownership (if needed) and the bottom half is cut off and put under the model. Gil

My order of 3D printed parts and decals from RESKIT in the Ukraine arrived today. These should really help some of my older kits and one of my vacuform kits. It took just under a month to get them after placing the order, which ain't bad for that distance and considering the upheaval in that region. I've already got them sorted into the kits they go with! 🙂 Gil

The stash MIGHT start quaking in fear a bit IF I could stop buying/acquiring new kits...... seems I get as many as I build each year and the stash just doesn't shrink much if any. Gil

You're much more industrious than me. I think I only put about 1/3 as many cross-members in my gear wells to detail them! Gil

Great tutorial on de-warping plastic. Looking great! Gil

Just finished my 10th for the year. This is the ESCI 1/48 F-4J kit originally released back in 1980. This was actually a bagged kit I'd picked up at our club auction and found it had a few missing minor parts, a short shot main canopy, and a broken main left gear. Also, this was a "Blue Angels" issue and thus had no underwing ordnance. Not to worry! I had some SAC metal landing gear to take care of the undercarriage, used a spare main canopy left from the Tamiya F-4B kit, and the rest I could supply from my spares box. I crammed a True Details resin cockpit into the front, used some 3D printed tires, added resin burner cans to the rear, and scratchbuilt some FOD covers to avoid all of the work needed inside the intakes. I added the position light to the leading edge of the vertical fin and replaced the twin fin pitots with fine telescoping tubing. The bombs and missiles came from the spares box and were drilled and pinned to make them more secure. I built this so I could do these "lucky" VMF-333 Trip Trey Marine markings. The outer wing tanks were seldom used, but I couldn't pass up adding the shamrocks to them and hanging them in place! On to the rest of the pics! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome as always! Cheers! Gil

That exhaust looks great, especially the weathering. I'm sure getting it to look as seamless as it does was more work than you've implied. Replacing the kit hook makes a world of difference when you compare the two. Really enjoying this "old skool" build! Gil

Have you tried using an epoxy putty like ApoxySculp as a filler/blender instead of the old red autobody putty? It's advantage is that the excess can be wiped away and smoothed with a wet finger which really cuts down on the needed sanding. Just a suggestion! Gil

Thanks for the very kind words! I'm not a fan of those decal seat belts either.... but it is one of the things that keeps it "legal" in the IPMS Out Of the Box competition. Gil

Picked up the display case I had made for the A-7E and got the decking for it done today. I also added a squadron patch and made the "E&M" shield for Excellence in Maintenance to honor his 20yr career which ended with his being a maintenance officer. This is the final product that I'll be giving to my pastor. Cheers! Gil

That is a slick looking whiffer with an excellent NMF! I even like the idea that it'd been relegated to Air Guard duties after some sort of previous "history". Congrats and thanks for sharing! Gil

To paraphrase, the devil is in the tedious details.... like filling all of those knock-out pin marks! Did the multiple tail fins align pretty well on their own (fit) or did you need to use a jig of some sort to get them set properly? Gil

Amazing build incorporating more display details than I'd have ever considered! Did you do this on commission, or just as an attempt to build something you'd seen? Gil

Great looking build and the clarity and crispness of the canopy glass is far above "average"! Betting your friend will absolutely treasure it! Gil

Good looking interior and I really love the fabric texture to those webbed seats! Gil

Excellent looking build that shows off the Zero's classic lines very well! Did you have to apply the Aotake over a silver base, or did you apply it directly over a primer coat? Gil