aircraft being worked on

outside the hangar in a

field, and occupied han-

gars with US equipment.

Took a vote and the dio

build for Nats has been

approved.

Jeff discussed bringing in

WIPs to the monthly

meetings for the rest of

the club to critique before

these are ready for Nats.

Took a vote and this was

approved as well.

Carpool to CoMMiES-

Fest? To be discussed at

January B&B CoMMiES-

Fest sponsorships? Voted

on a $50 sponsorship for

the CoMMiES and was

approved.

Randy stated dues are

due next month’s meeting

(February). ◊

By Chris Nugent

CoMMiESFest is Feb 16th.

Jeff asked about carpool-

ing.

Re: the theme build for

July, ideas floated were

something Polish, Yellow,

a Colorado theme. Looks

like Colorado wins it.

Theme for October show:

Korean war theme, a 1953

theme, Lucky 13 theme,

decision tabled until next

month.

Financial report was a

general $3500 for now,

written report to be sub-

mitted later.

Flyers: postponed for now

pending Larry’s return.

Regarding clinics- Tomas

offered to do a clinic on

track colors for armor, in

March. Last year a decal

clinic on complex and

large decals was re-

quested. Jeff asked about

72nd scale antenna installs

on aircraft. Dave Dardine

offered to do this one. Jeff

also floated the idea of

glosscoats, esp. using Fu-

ture. Chip wants to see a

clinic on masking clean

lines. Jeff is doing an A/V

presentation in February

regarding winter weather-

ing for armor.

Dave D. discussed the

group build for the Na-

tionals show. Diorama of

German airfield, captured

and now used by the

Americans. Everyone

would contribute a por-

tion. Hangar would oc-

cupy corner of the dio,

with a captured German

January Meeting Notes

Did you get a Model for Valentines Day?

By Jeff Brown

Neither did I. Apparently

this is a one-way holiday

where men shower

women with chocolates

and flowers and a nice

dinner and in return we

don’t get a gift.

As it was pointed out to

me, buying you a model

so you can lock yourself in

your room alone is not

what Valentine’s Day is

about. It’s not like I was

going to work on the

model on Valentine’s day.

Most model builders I

know aren’t out carous-

ing, so I don’t understand

why significant others

don’t really appreciate

our hobby.

Oh well, maybe for my

birthday… then again.

High Plains Modelers

February 2013 Volume 2, Issue 6

High Plains Gazette

What’s New This Month:

• IPMS National Update

• Pictures of Models

• The Italian Campaign

• CommiesFest Recap

• Clinics on Page 13

Inside this issue:

January Meeting Notes 1

Valentines Day Rant 1

The Carpet Monster 2

Book Review by Pablo 3

National Contest Update 4

March Calendar 8

IPMS Membership App 12

CommiesFest Diorama

Region X Newsletter of the Year 2011

By Jeff Brown

(Editor)

Physics cease to exist

when building a model.

In fact a lot of things

cease to exist when build-

ing a model, including

patience, anger manage-

ment and sanity.

I am sure we have all

dropped a part on the

floor, never to find it. De-

spite hours upon hours of

searching for some parts

where they should have

landed, and if we do find

them they are yards away

from where they first hit

the ground. How does a

small part that weighs so

little fly so far bouncing

on a soft carpet when it

was dropped from only 1-

2 feet? Mind boggling.

Anyway, some missing

parts you can scratch

build, some missing

parts you can cover with

mud, so it isn’t a total

loss, yet we all crawl

around the floor looking

like an idiot with our vi-

sor on scanning every

piece of carpet for a miss-

ing part. Sometimes we

find other parts, ones that

have been missing for

years, despite having vac-

uumed the floor a hun-

dred times. Where do

they go? The same void as

socks? Probed by aliens

like Larry Hersh? How do

they find their way back?

I don’t know the answers

that’s why I’m asking… all

I know is when I drop

something I get as angry

as the Fuhrer.

The Carpet Monster: Editor’s Opinion

“Despite hours

upon hours of

searching for

some parts…”

Page 2

Volume 2, Issue 6

I can’t find the part for my

Focke Wulf.

Miniarts Park Wall Dio-

rama Base

slip from the blade can

ruin a piece, or cut off

some detail. Building the

wall was a challenge in

that the pieces have noth-

ing to grab onto when you

glue them. I ended up

using some styrene strips

to help hold the walls

together. Once they were

set, I used some white

putty to cover the seams,

and a small stiff brush to

add some texture. Once

this dried I glued the

walls to the base. While it

took some work, in the

end they look very nice,

and when painted they

are well detailed.

The next step is assem-

bling the extras that come

with the kit. In my opin-

ion these are more than

worth it, since you get

items that you might not

use here but can use on

other dioramas. The park

bench is really neat, as

are the manhole covers

and drains. While I did

not use them for this

base, I am going to use

them in another MiniArt

build that I should finish

reviewing soon. The plas-

tic for the extras seems to

me to be of a little better

quality than the walls and

base, but in the end eve-

rything worked, and that

is the main point.

I finished it in a winter

theme, adding a little

snow and a Wespe. All in

all it was a nice little pro-

ject that is not too time

consuming, and provides

a nice background for

your vehicle.

I would like to thank

MiniArt and IPMS/USA

for the review sample.

REVIEW: Miniart Park Wall Diorama

By Jeff Brown

This review is of the

MiniArt Diorama with

Park Wall; that is part of

their Diorama series of

bases for armor models.

It was a pretty easy build,

and it looks nice when

finished, but it did take

some work and some

modifications to make it

look good.

First of you get a sheet of

very soft plastic to use as

the base. This has some

very nicely done details

with the pathway and

some small rocks in the

road. The base is marked

off for where you will put

the wall.

First you have to cut the

wall pieces out of this

single sheet of soft plas-

tic. You have to be very

careful doing his as one

High Plains Gazette

Page 3

This book cov-

ers all the

fighter aircraft

in the Roma-

nian Air Force

during World

War II.

Romanian IAR 80C

Romanian Fighter Colours

the Hawker Hurricane, Bf 109E and 109G, He 112, Bf 110G, PZL 11 and PZL 24, IAR 80/81, plus captured Mig-3, I-16 and Fw-190A/F.

The book has chapters for each aircraft type in detail, including a brief history of the aircraft service in the Romanian Air Force before moving into a section on camouflage and markings for the given aircraft being depicted in the chapter. This section also includes infor-

mation on lettering, num-bers and factory logos ap-plied to each aircraft.

After the section on camou-flage styles and markings, the main feature of each chapter follows: numerous and gorgeous color profiles (sometime even 3-view or 4-views) of different aircrafts, next to a historical picture of the airplane, which in some cases is in color, but in most cases is in black and white.

By Pablo Bauleo

The Romanian Air Force in World War II saw extensive combat in the Eastern Front against the Soviet Air Force and against the USAAF and RAF in home defense roles. Later, in late 1944 Romania changed sides and saw com-bat against the Luftwaffe.

This book covers all the fighter aircraft in the Roma-nian Air Force during World War II. The fighter aircraft inventory included British, German, Polish, and locally

designed airplanes, plus captured soviet airplanes, yielding to a rather varied set of camouflage styles. Specifically, the book covers

Finally the book has a few appendixes covering details on Romanian Air Force ranks, paints and colors used in the aircrafts (including color code and FS equivalent) and a very de-tailed section on the evolu-tion of the Romanian Air Force markings, including both Axis and Allied mark-ings.

I’ve truly enjoyed reading this book. The information provided on it makes it very valuable to the modeler and several of the pictures have not been published before.

I know that I will add more Romanian models to my collection now that I have what could be the definite reference on the Romanian Fighters in World War II.

I would like to thank Mush-room Model Publications for the review sample. ◊

Review: Romanian Fighter Colours (Yellow Series #6123)

“fighter aircraft

inventory included

British, German,

Polish...”

Romanian Bf 109Gs.

Romanian Hurricane

Romanian Messerschmitt Another Romanian Messer-

schmitt

Romanian Numbering

for Aircraft

Mark brought sign up

sheets for volunteers.

Need people good with

keyboard, runners to act

as guides for contestants,

security, raffle. Discussed

volunteer info needed and

club association so as to

divide up the profits, if

any. 4hr shifts were dis-

cussed. 3 shifts 9-1, 1-5,

and 5-9o’clock. If volun-

teering, plan on doing

more than one shift and

more than one job due to

small size of NoCo clubs

and limited pool of volun-

teers.

Mark also discussed fund-

raising. Asked all NoCo

clubs to chip in on pur-

chasing a vendor table

from Hobbytown $100.

Therefore we would chip

in 1/3. Randy cut a check

for $33.34.

Mark discussed com-

puters networked to-

gether to handle registra-

tion. There is software

designed for IPMS con-

ventions. The software is

updated for every year.

Mark asked for volunteers

knowledgeable in com-

puter networking and

building the network for

this convention. Tony and

possibly Paul may assist

with this.

Mark’s update as to

what’s going on so far:

IPMS registration is

online and live for the

con. Online store is live.

This is very similar to the

same way IPMS online

memberships are bought.

Mark discussed tours: the

Buckley tour is very lim-

ited, (38 people), as are

one or two more. The

Buckley tour involves an

emailed USAF form to fill

out. Tour includes the

120th and possibly the

helicopter squadron. Bus

size dictates tour size.

Mark discussed spon-

shorships for award pack-

ages. An email from that

coordinator is pending.

Sponsorships are $85 and

$100. We can purchase

these online as well. Jeff

stated the last notes he

got were that depending

on what award we spon-

sor, members from this

club get to pick the win-

ner for that category. Nats

chairperson prefers that

judges are more scattered

from different clubs in

order to preserve the ob-

jectivity of the judging.

Mark discussed judging at

Nats and the guidelines to

be followed. He talked

about judges who find

one model with flawed

paint, one with flawed

construction, and one

with mediocre detail, re-

sulting in an apples-to-

apples problem. It’s a

function of negotiation

between judges basically.

Also Mark mentioned

judging training for

noobs. They go through a

judging “OJT” for one

year’s contest, then the

following year they are

considered a regular

judge. After 3 yrs, they get

a certificate.

Mark asks that all Colo-

rado participants get reg-

istered by Tuesday the

week of Nats in order to

give the registration staff

a “practice run” in prepa-

ration for the rest of the

week.

Tomas asked Mark re-

garding name spelling for

contestants and ensuring

that those names, espe-

cially foreign ones, are

spelled correctly.

Tony asked regarding the

overall health of the Nats.

Mark stated that, given

the turning of the year,

things are starting to

move faster and the com-

mittee is beginning to

take more action and take

it seriously. Pablo also

added that he did not vol-

unteer due to lack of con-

fidence in the convention

as it’s being run so far.

Also one of our members

stated was that this show

is happening in our back-

yard, and proper respect

has not been rendered

considering that. Mark

P’s answer to that was

that most modelers are

introverts and thus do not

possess the “soft skills”

often required when in-

teracting on a diplomatic

level. Thus the snub was

accidental and unin-

tended.

Mark went over some

IPMS National Report By Mark Persechetti

Page 4

Volume 2, Issue 6

CommiesFest Focke Wulf

August 14-17, 2013 at the Em-

bassy Suites in Loveland, Colo-

rado.

CommiesFest Dale Jr.

High Plains Gazette

Page 5

“ I think we

did rather

well in the

contest hav-

ing won sev-

eral firsts,

seconds and

thirds.”

Jeff discussed issues regard-

ing the publication of the

newsletter and whether it

should be paper or elec-

tronic (DVD/ROM). Jeff

conducted an informal poll

in which most participants

want a paper issue as op-

issues at previous shows that

caused those shows to be

less than spectacular in an-

swer to Pablo and Tony’s

concerns (as well as the rest

of our concerns)

posed to an electronic ver-

sion. ◊

IPMS National Report By Mark Persechetti (Cont.)

CommiesFest Ferrari

August 14-17, 2013 at the Em-

bassy Suites in Loveland, Colo-

rado.

tion, go to our Registration

page, the IPMS/USA online

store, or download our mail-

in registration form. ◊

This Update is pulled

from the contest web-

site.

Registration is now

open! For more informa-

IPMS 2013 National Contest Update

around for a few hours as

well.

I think we did rather well in

the contest having won sev-

eral firsts, seconds and

thirds, and even a surprise

By Jeff Brown

On Saturday February 16th,

2013, at the Jefferson

County Fairgrounds in

Golden the IPMS Commies

held their annual Commies-

Fest contest.

Pablo, Randy, Gary, Chip,

Tony and yours truly en-

tered the contest. Word has

it that Da Prez, Michael Ad-

ams, went down and took

some photos and hung

second for Tony in a cate-

gory where he had the only

model!

Actually the biggest surprise

for me was that I actually

swept a category. I took

home first, second and third

in Star Wars.

Pablo picked up three firsts,

a second and a third. Gary

got a first and a third, and

Chip took home a third. ◊

CommiesFest Recap

“...a surprise

second for Tony in

a category where

he had the only

model!”

CommiesFest Second Place

Towing!

CommiesFest Stug III G CommiesFest Star

Destroyer

By Kevin Cummins, IPMS #35536

10. "We felt that the cross-eyed effect on your figure was too exaggerated."

9. "What toy store did you buy this from?"

8. "We needed some comic relief, so we counted up the flaws on your aircraft. You should be able to view it in the Journal in several months. Should be about 3 pages."

7. "We really admired the finish. What is that, Sherwin-Williams industrial semi-gloss latex?"

6. "Out of curiosity, was there any historical significance to the "one blade at a different angle" propeller design?"

5. "We really liked the effect that the 1:1 scale spider living in the cockpit had on the judges. That's a nice touch."

4. "You mean you actually entered this? We didn't judge it, we thought someone put it out here as a prank."

3. "We thought it was really neat the way that you painted the rocks on the base so that it looks like nothing is holding that section of tank track off the ground. Oh wait! Nothing is supporting that track, is it?"

2. "Does the upside-down national insignia indicate that the pilot is in distress, or that the air force is surrendering?"

1. "We didn't know that this many flaws could exist on one model. We took about 40 digital pictures and slammed them out on rec.model.scale for com-ments. We used your name..."

And one I've been tempted to use, but had the courtesy not to:

"You are NOT a modeler, you are a butcher. Your work should be crushed and

melted as a warning to others." ◊

Some Judging Humor

Page 6

Volume 2, Issue 6

CommiesFest B-25

“You are NOT a

modeler, you

are a butcher.

Your work

should be

crushed and

melted as a

warning to oth-

ers."

CommiesFest Best Figure

High Plains Gazette

Page 7

“...troops from

just about

every Allied

nation includ-

ing Britain,

France, Poland,

Canada and

Italy ”

to research these schemes

and searching for a decent

picture of a Sherman with

these colors when I came

across some interesting

things about the Italian

Campaign.

Anzio is one of those major

campaigns that is much for-

gotten. Maybe forgotten is a

stretch, but it is safe to say

Anzio is overlooked. In fact

much of the Italian Cam-

paign is overlooked by not

only historians but Holly-

wood. Not to mention the

battle for Monte Cassino, or

the invasion of Sicily, or the

northern mountain battles.

Reading as many of the his-

tories I could get my hands

on I became fascinated by

the theater, and the battles,

and the equipment. In Italy

the Germans used a lot of

different types of armor, but

the Wehrmacht did not get

the latest and greatest there.

By Jeff Brown

I was recently reading a his-

tory of the Battle of Anzio

from the British perspective.

Of course the slant was pro-

British, just like I imagine

most history written by a

country is pro-that country.

There are lan-

guage differ-

ences, how-

ever, for ex-

ample during

one attack, the

British writer

said, “….one

night we beat

off the Ger-

mans…”. Yes

here in Amer-

ica we would

have used the

phrases “beat

back” or

“fought off”

since in our

country the

British ver-

sion has a very different

meaning.

Anyway, back to Anzio. I

have a few Shermans, and

they call for a different paint

scheme, yellow with olive

drab. I was discussing alter-

nate paint schemes a few

months ago, and was trying

The Tigers were older mod-

els, the Panthers were older

models, my guess is that the

high command was saving

the best stuff to defend the

Fatherland. I have yet to

find a King Tiger in Italy,

which is interesting consid-

ering that the Germans in

Italy put

up a better

fight than

the ones in

France. In

fact there

were more

Allied

casualties

during the

Italian

campaign

than all of

the West-

ern Thea-

ter com-

bined.

The Italian

Campaign

included black combat

troops (the Buffalo Sol-

diers), and Brazilian troops

(the only South American

country to send troops to

fight during the entire war).

There were literally troops

from just about every Allied

nation including Britain,

France, Poland, Canada and

Italy part II.

I for one plan on learning

more about these battles. I

find it fascinating . I also

found over 120 photos in

Germany’s Bundesarchiv of

panzers in Italy, which gave

me some great ideas for

some of my unbuilt kits.

Viva Italia! ◊

Italy: The Forgotten Campaign

Two tone Sherman in Italy.

The Gustav Line - The often overlooked Italian Campaign

An Elefant in Italy.

A Panther in Italy.

Volume 2, Issue 6

Page 8

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

March 20 1 3

Build N Bull

HPM Meeting

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

Apr i l 20 1 3

HPM Meeting

Build N Bull

Photo of the Month for October

High Plains Gazette

Page 9

The usual suspects at CommiesFest on February 16th.

Volume 2, Issue 6

Page 10

Model of the Month for October

Best Diorama from CommiesFest

January Model Gallery

Photos by Jeff Brown

High Plains Gazette

Page 11

Chip’s Chinese Fighter

Gary’s Truck

Pablo’s P-47 Chris’s Mirage

Randy’s Van Dave’s GTO

Monthly Contest Entries:

Pablo - 1/48 P-47

Jeff - 1/48 Citroen civilian

Chris - 1/48 Mirage 2000C

Gary- 1/52 Honest John Missile & Transporter with Kenworth tractor

Chip - 1/144 Chinese J-8 Interceptor

Tomas – 1/35 Panther

Cody – 2011 Ford Mustang GT

Randy – Ford Van

Dave D. – GTO

Monthly winner: Tomas

Tomas’ Polish Panther Cody’s Mustang

Jeff’s Citroen

Volume 2, Issue 6

Page 12

over 220 active US chap-

ters (including groups in

Canada and the Philip-

pines as well as one

"cyber-chapter" existing

entirely on the internet).

These chapters are organ-

ized into 13 geographi-

cally-determined Re-

gions, overseen by Re-

gional Coordinators. The

IPMS/USA Executive

Board, made up of elected

and appointed members,

serves as the overall gov-

erning body for IPMS/

USA.

IPMS/USA produces the

Modelers' Journal, an all-

color magazine supplied

to our members 6 times

each year. Sample copies

of the Journal are avail-

able upon request, and

you'll find several cover

shots elsewhere in this

handout.

In addition, IPMS/USA

maintains one of the larg-

est and most-visited pub-

lic websites in the model-

ing community

(www.ipmsusa.org).

Members and visitors can

view product reviews,

chapter and contest infor-

mation, see examples of

members' work, and view

images of contest, mu-

seum walkarounds, and

the like. A members-only

Forum allows discussion

of specific topics of inter-

est amongst our member-

ship. The remainder of

the website is open to the

modeling public and sees

thousands of hits weekly.

From: www.ipmsusa.org

IPMS/USA is the United

States Branch of the In-

ternational Plastic Model-

ers' Society, whose roots

can be traced to the

startup of the first IPMS

National Branch during

the 1960's in Great Brit-

ain. In 1964 a US-based

modeler applied for a

charter to start the US

Branch. In the ensuing 4

decades, IPMS/USA has

become a 5,000 member,

all-volunteer organization

dedicated to promoting

the modeling hobby while

providing a venue for

modelers to share their

skills in a social setting,

along with friendly but

spirited competition in

the form of local, re-

gional, and national con-

tests and conventions. As

this is written, there are

About IPMS/USA

Meetings are the last Tuesday of the month at The Ranch in Loveland. They start at 7pm and end around 9pm.

Editor: Jeffrey Brown jgdtiger007@yahoo.com President: Michael Adams Vice President: Jeffrey Brown Treasurer: Randy Robinson Secretary: Chris Nugent Our club has plastic modelers from Northern Colorado, mainly

from the Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont area. We also have a few members from Wyoming.

Honestly, if you need an excuse to get away from home a few days a month, join our club. Your skills will improve and you will have a few laughs.

Stop by a meeting, the first one is free!

High Plains Modelers

Next Meeting March 26, 2013. 7pm at The Ranch.

Website

http://ipmshpm.blogspot.com/

`

Page 13

High Plains Gazette

Classifieds and other Happenings For Sale or Trade: .

*** Posting Ads are free

for High Plains Modelers

Members to post items for

sale or trade. If you are

not a member of the club

it cost $2 to post an ad

which goes towards our

annual club contest.

Clinics for this year are:

January: None First Meeting of the Year

February: Chris-Polishing canopies

March: Tomas, track colors for ar-mor

April: Dave Dardine- 72nd scale air-craft antenna installs

May- club auction, no clinic

June- Pablo-NMF clinic

July: Chris-masking clean lines

August: Randy R. – Decals

September: no clinic due to plan-ning meeting for High Plains Con

October: Larry H.- Airbrushing

November: Jeff – Winter Weather-ing

December: No Clinic Christmas Party