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At our Annual Show this year a Wood Ship Model was in entered in the Contest. What is stance or Rule for this since we are a "Plastic Model Society? Thanks Dan Bauer

A kit I would love to see is the USS Alaska or USS Guam. In 1/200 or 1/350 scale. I've never seen either one in kit form.

Hello from Oklahoma. I have been building models of all sorts for too many years to talk about. I have been heavy into Plastic Models for around 35 years. Mainly Military Aircraft and German Armor as well as a few Ships of various types. I love the hobby and most of the people I have met while attending local and national shows. I have been a member of IMPS for many years, but have not been on their website forums until now. Hello to all and I hope everyone enjoys a happy and healthy new year.

I'm sure everyone has one or two kits that they've used to test various techniques, paints, solvents, etc. I picked up this little old kit in a huge lot I bought at a hobby shop that was going out of business. I -think- I may have paid two bucks for it. The good: - Hull shape was good - Major structures were OK - It was cheap - Molding was crisp The bad: - LOL @ the bridge windows being stickers - Turrents and other weapons (minus AA) - Masts were overscale and she at least had a dimple where the anchors should go The ugly: - Oh god. The AA. Oh god. - No one seems to have informed Tamiya that his DD had linoleum deck planking. - Depth charge racks? Nope. Those things looked more like sticks. I built this little DD out of box for a change of pace. It looked, er, simple. I ended up using the hulk to play with various weathering techniques I learned on modelwarships and shelved the little thing. After a long and frustrating (read: hexed) build of the Queen Elizabeth, I decided to try to make this poor little kit something worth looking at. I used: - Flyhawk 1/700 IJN hand rails and port holes - Tom's PE for IJN DDs and some parts off of their heavy cruier etch - Various bits of styrene - Copper wire & tubing - Pit Road 1/700 IJN bits and pieces This build really showed me how much of a joy an old kit can be. I began by completely rebuilding the bridge with 1/700 PE ladder (windows), styrene (to simulate later war plating I've seen may have been on the bridge,) and bits of Pitroad IJN equipment. Her masts were both replaced with copper to help strengthen them for rigging. All weaponry was replaced by PitRoad's excellent collection of IJN turrets, torpedoes, and AA. I have some photo etched AA, but didn't want to waste it on what essentially started as learning build. I fully intend on trying to fit her to a water base this weekend using clear resin. I'm debating if I'll have her in motion or static, as I've never really attempted a good water base. Comments, suggestions, or anything related is always appreciated. In-progress pictures.

I have completed and published a long interview with Mr. William Blackmore who is the founder, owner and shop labor of Cottage Industry Models. William is a long-time modeler and member of IPMS who has won a number of Nationals competitions and is known for going his own, unique way in the modeling world. He is the first, and probably only, person to have designed, built and created kits for the only accurate model of the Confederate submarine Hunley, both in small scale and large scale cut-away versions. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the large modeling companies, Cottage Industry Models has had an enormous but quiet impact on the modeling scene over the years and is to a great part, among others, responsible for the development of the healthy and growing details aftermarket as well as the "big boys" move toward more detail and accuracy in the models they produce. I think you will enjoy getting to know William and Cottage Industry Models and learning more about how one modeling business was begun and how it still operates. The text and some photos are on my blog: http://modelbuilder.blogspot.com Regards,