Seattle Chapter News - IPMS Chapter News Seattle Chapter IPMS/USA ... one more than his air-to-air score! ... the right side of the seat to the center latch area

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAOctober 2007

PREZEDITORNOTES

In This Issue

Trumpeter F-100D Build 3Before Is Back 6Schneiders at the Nats 6A War in Miniature 8Hobby Shops Back East 10Who’s Sitting Next to You on

That Flight? 12This Hobby Is Too Expensive

122008 NWSM Show 14Airline Collectibles Show 15Upcoming Shows 15

Terry was unable to contribute his regularcolumn this month, so I thought I'd throwout a few more aviation trivia questions...

1. Which American ace destroyed moreenemy aircraft while a prisoner-of-war thanhe did in his combat career?

2. What US Navy unit flew during WW2carrying both British and Americaninsignia? Why?

3. Which WW2-era aircraft was the lastbiplane in US military service? When werethey finally retired?

4. Manfred Von Richthofen is most closelyassociated with Fokker and Albatrosfighters. He had one victory, however,while flying a fighter designed by neitherof these firms. What aircraft type was it,and why was he flying it?

5. World War Two saw advances in notonly the design of aircraft but also allstages of aviation technology. In October1944, the first fully automatic landing wasmade, using ILS signals and special radarequipment to monitor and/or adjust theautopilot. What type of aircraft was used?

Answers:

1. Howard Knotts was credited with sixvictories while flying Sopwith Camels withthe 17th Aero Squadron, USAS. He wasshot down and captured on October, 1918,but while being transferred to prison camp,saw a railway car full of Fokker biplanesbeing transported to the front. He man-aged to start a fire which destroyed sevenFokkers, one more than his air-to-air score!He was almost shot by firing squad for thisact, but the sentence was commuted, andhe returned home after the war.

2. A detachment of VB-114 operated fromLagens Field, Terciera Island, in theAzores, from August 1944 to the end of thewar. Although the Azores was Portuguese

territory, Britain had an agreement wherebythey could use the airfield as a base foroperational missions. The US had no suchagreement, so the VB-114 PB4Ys wererequired to carry dual US/British markingsduring their stay there.

3. A few Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3floatplanes were used at the US NavalAcademy until 1961 to give familiarisationflights to midshipmen. They outlasted theAir Force's Stearman biplane trainers by 13years, the last of those being retired in1948.

4. Manfred Von Richthofen scored one kill,a BE.2c on February 1, 1917, while flying aHalberstadt D.II. In late January, 1917, hisAlbatross D.III suffered a wing failure atlow altitude, but fortunately for him,Richthofen was able to land safely. Whilethe problem was being investigated andhis aircraft fixed, he flew the Halberstadt.

5. A Boeing 247. The only Boeing 247 inthe RAF, serial DZ203, it was based atDefford with the TelecommunicationsFlying Unit.

Robert

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore M. Keith Laird Spencer Tom Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 1825 South 330th St. F-201 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Federal Way, WA 98003 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 206-491-0096 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $24a year, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further information about theChapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter Page 2

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2007 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

October 13 November 10December 8


Trumpeter 1/32nd ScaleF-100D Super Sabre

by Norm Filer

I did an “in the box” review of this kit inthe July 2007 newsletter. Probably noreason to kill off more trees or electronswith more of the same, so head on back tothat first review for your history fix.

Perhaps the first thing I should do isestablish my viewpoint as I suspect it doescolor my opinions and viewpoints hereand there. For the past 45 years or so Ihave build almost exclusively 1/72ndaircraft. So if at times you get the impres-sion that I am thinking something like“Wow! This thing is big” you understandwhy. I spent a couple years around the F-100 and when this thing showed up on thelocal hobby shop shelves it was too muchtemptation.

Another item before we venture into theland of glue and X-acto blades. The kitprovides parts for both early and latemodel F-100Ds. The differences are thatearly birds had straight refueling probes,the small cutout in the dive brake, with amatching well, and no arresting hooks. Ifyou want to build one prior to about 1960or so, all of the above would apply. If yourchoice is a later bird then go with thealternate parts.

Since the front office seems to be the placeto start construction most of the time, wecan start this one there as well. Overall, theinterior parts are good. The cockpit tub is agood fit, and reflects the sidewalls of theF-100 pretty well. The individual panels arenot really accurate, but since these tendedto move around and change some withupdates and new equipment additions tothe real bird, they do give a good impres-sion of the real thing when carefullypainted. Only thing that needs to be addedis the throttle.

The seat is another matter. While generallyshaped pretty decently, there are someserious problems that are fixable but

annoying. First, the backrest has some oddcushion-like item in it. Not sure what it isintended to represent, but it should not bethere. The fix is really pretty quick andeasy. I separated the offending bottom partof the backrest from the upper backportion, then, used the bottom cushionpart as a pattern, cut an identical sizedchunk out of the side of a soft drink can.The curve is near perfect and then I superglued the top part onto the new back part.A bit of filing and fitting and it fit the restof seat near perfectly.

Next on the seat was the seat bottom. Thisis actually a survival kit with an O. D.cushion on top that stays in the seat at alltimes. There is a big cutout in the front forcontrol stick clearance. The kit bottom partdoes not have this cut out. The fix for thisis easy; all that needs to be done is to cutout the notch.

The last item on the seat is the twoarmrests. Apparently Trumpeter copied amuseum seat that had the armrests in theup position like they would be after theseat had been used. Normally these werefolded down alongside the seat pan andback, with the hinge at the aft/rear end.The fix is pretty simple, just cut them offand relocate them. But the seat takes up allthe available width and if you attach thearmrests to the outside of the seat youcan’t get it into the space between the side

consoles. You have to cheat a bit and gluethe armrests onto the top of the seat pan,not the outside as they should be. When itis done and in the model it looks just fine.

The seat cushion is actually a survival kitand stayed in the seat at all times. The twoetched brass parts intended to be lap beltsare near perfect for the two harnessconnections that sit on top of the cushion.The lap belts were rather complex andincluded a flexible tube that comes fromthe right side of the seat to the center latcharea. None of that is included in the kit.One very noticeable omission is the cut-out in the front of the seat cushion forcontrol stick clearance.

Last item in the cockpit is the instrumentpanel. It is probably the most accurate partin the cockpit. Most everything is where itshould be and reasonably accurate. Theoversize gear retraction handle can beshortened and the drag chute handle onthe upper left is good when painted yellow.They did miss other yellow pull handles onthe lower corners of the instrument panel,but they are easy to add.

One suggestion on the instrument panel,the overly thick panel, combined with theclear backing that sticks through the holesmakes the film backing sheet impossible tosee and everything looks clunky. Sand theback of the panel to as thin as you feel


comfortable with, then discard the clearpart. Paint the back of the film white, thenglue it to the thinned panel and fill theshallow instrument holes with CrystalKleer or something like that.

I built the fuselage with all the panels andstuff closed up. I was more interested inthe markings and the overall model thanone in apparent overhaul. I had someconcerns about fit of all the differentpanels and rear fuselage. With this in mind,I decided to close all the panels before Iglued the two fuselage sides together.That way I could access both the front andback of the panels while fitting. I am happyto report that everything fit very well. Ithink I used just a little putty on a couplecorners.

Apparently Trumpeter did not bother tolook at both sides of the fuselage becausethe kit has pretty much the same panelsand stuff on both sides. They did catchthe fact that the drag chute cover platesare only on the port side, but it looks likethey caught that at the last minute and hadto go back and fill the row of bridle doorson the right side. They didn’t really get itclean, but a little work with the filler andsandpaper makes it good. The otherdifferences are mostly panels and ventsand stuff like that. Better to ignore thedifferences than to drive yourself todistraction trying to fill and re-scribe it all.

This thing probably has the most detailedjet engine ever put in any plastic kit! Whilea lot of it is somewhat simplified, all the

stator blades,compressorblades, after-burner spray bars,etc. are there. Acomplicatedmodel in itself.And pretty mucha total waste ofplastic, brass andeffort. While youcan leave the aftfuselage off themodel, and showthe afterburnersection stickingout the rear of the

fuselage, there is NO provision forshowing any of the fancy interior or evenfor showing a separate engine should youwant to. When you get the model doneyou can see about 1/8th of an inch of thebottom of the front of the engine byshining a light down the intake. Thetailpipe is the usual black hole. I assembledjust enough of the engine to allow me toglue it to the intake trunk on the front, andglue the afterburner nozzle on the back. Inother words, it is a great big spacer for theafterburner nozzle.

After all the various bays doors, engineand misc. stuff is attached it is time for thebig test, gluing the left and right sides

together. Everything fit very well and therewere no surprises or mismatches at all.Before gluing the aft fuselage halvestogether, here is something to consider. Allthe control surfaces on the F-100 arehydraulic. So everything but the elevatorscenter on shut down. The only displaceditem is the horizontal tails. They go noseup to about 15-20 degrees. If you want todo this you need to remove the little tabson both horizontal tails and fill the slot onthe fuselage. Then drill and insert a shortbrass tube into the end of the horizontaltail and a sleeve fit short piece of tubinginto the rear fuselage. The short part thatgoes into the fuselage needs to be short.Otherwise it interferes with the tailpipe.

Wing assembly is really pretty straightforward. You get an upper and lower mainwing, with separate trailing edges thatinclude both the ailerons and flaps. Theleading edge slats are the only seriousassembly on the wings, with all the littleslat tracks as separate parts. While all thelittle slat tracks are still moveable, youneed to make sure they all line up with thecorresponding cutouts in the wing leadingedge.

A note on those flaps, unless the bird wasin heavy overhaul, they were never parkedwith the flaps down. The flaps were raisedat touchdown to increase braking capabil-


ity, and there was no reason to lower themagain. In fact, if you taxied in with the flapsstill down, the crew chief would signal(rather emphatically) to raise them Theground crews hated them down becausethey were always in the way and seemedto just wait for someone to crack a head onthem. Doing a walk around/preflight on abird with the flaps down just aboutguaranteed a ding somewhere on yourpink little body and a lot of (not very)hidden smiles on the ground crew thatusually gathered to watch the fun.Unfortunately, the guy providing all thefun was seldom the guy that left the damnthings down in the first place. But youonly did it a couple times and did notforget to retract them again.

For some reason Trumpeter ran off thetracks early on with their choices of whatordnance to put with what kits. So far all oftheir big U. S. jets have had inappropriateordnance, this one is no exception. Theonly really usable items are the Sidewind-ers, the practice bomb dispenser and thetwo fuel tanks.

There has been some discussion about theshort 275 gallon drop tanks. They wouldbe correct for an early F-100D with astraight refueling probe, the small divebrake and probably no tail hook, but mostof the post-1965 tanks had a 28-inch plugjust in front of the pylon to increase fuelcapacity. What some enterprising aftermar-ket guy needs to do is make a set of thebig 450 gallon fuel tanks.

Early F-100s were natural metal, latermodels were painted silver lacquer. WhenVietnam rolled around, they went to theS.E. Asia scheme. Prior to 1960, TAC wasfull of very neat and colorful F-100s. In thewinter of 1959/1960 everything went silverwith nothing more than the TAC emblemand lightning bolt on the tail. I chose tomodel one of the 48th Fighter Wing’sparticipants in the 1958 Fighter Weaponsmeet at Nellis AFB. They were certainlyone of the more appealing schemes duringthis period.

The kit decal sheet is big and initially veryimpressive, but there are some problems.

First, all the “U.S. AIR FORCE” and buzznumbers should be a very dark Blue, notBlack. And some of the buzz numberlettering looks a bit odd. The stenciling is ariot of misspellings, odd words andnonsense. It might not make muchdifference to the overall model, but if youstart reading them you start laughing a bit.One glaring example is the white words inthe red lightning bolt on the 31st FBWaircraft. It should say “The Annihilator”What it says is….well I don’t know.

Another item that will need attention is thetwo big “U.S. AIR FORCE” decals for eachside of the nose. The large rescue mark-ings panel and arrow should only be onthe left side. The right side only has asmall panel saying you needed to goaround to the other sideto rescue the pilot.

I replaced most every-thing with markingsproduced with AdobeIllustrator and printedwith an ALPS printer. Asthis is being written itseems like all the after-market sources aregearing up for a bunch ofresin and decal offerings.Hopefully they willprovide replacement

stenciling too, not just fancy squadronmarkings.

Somewhere about now I need to say“Wow! This is one big hummer!” Now thatit is done I have no idea where it is goingto sit. My display case is already nearlyoverflowing with 1/72nd stuff. But thebuild was as enjoyable and satisfying asanything I have done in a long time. Fit ofeverything was excellent, and unlike myusual dinky scale stuff, each little part isproject in itself. It was fun to completeeach little subassembly and then add it tothe model and watch the whole thing grow.

I will happily go back to my little stuff for awhile, but it was fun playing in some oneelse’s playpen for a little while.


Hurricane Bookshelf:Before Is Back

by Scott Kruize

Before Hawker Aircraft LTD., there wasThe Sopwith Aviation Company ofKingston-Upon-Thames. (Everybodybesides Robert, our Editor, needs to wakeup and pay attention here! Accept nosubstitutes: don’t go around dealing withany of those other companies that mighthappen to be named ‘Sopwith’, but aren’tupon Kingston-Upon-Thames!)

Before the Hurricane, there was the Camel.

Before The Canvas Falcons and Time/Life’s Knights of the Air, there was Snoopyand the Red Baron.

And before The Blue Max and Flyboys,there was It’s the Great Pumpkin, CharlieBrown! For the first time, America—andthe whole world—could see not just stillimages, but actual action in motion, of thathero of heroes: The World War I FlyingAce.

His calm courage and kindly attitudetowards his inferiors were such aninspiration to his ground crew. Hisastonishing flying skill led him to assign-ment of the most dangerous missions,which he never shirked: “Another impor-tant mission today, eh what? - But I daresay they are all important, eh what?” Hisresourcefulness enabled him to triumphover the girls jumping rope, and Linuspulling his wagon…I mean, the barbedwire barricades and the desperate strugglewith the engineer of the train carrying vitalenemy munitions! Despite terrible danger,his courageous attitude enabled him toactually voice contempt for the anti-aircraftartillery of the enemy: “Archie, we call it…Nyahh, nyahh, nyahh, you can’t hit me!”

But he was not so proud as to be abovecriticism: he accepted the serious ‘tearingoff a strip’ he got from his CommandingOfficer, “…for losing too many Sopwith

Camels!” (How I wish this scene was partof the television special, not just from theSunday papers…)

Throughout, his charm persisted, makingfor instant rapport with the young Frenchgirls in farm cottages where he frequentlytook refuge, or with the barmaids when hewould quaff a few root beers in an attemptto forget the War for a little while…

For he was never too foolhardy to ignorethe danger: “I never should’ve left theDaisy Hill Puppy Farm!” Or to overlook thelarger issues of war and peace:

“Curse the wickedness in this world! Cursethe evil that causes all this unhappiness!”

But in the end, despite all adversity, heremains inspiringly optimistic about theFuture:

“Some day I’ll get you, Red Baron!”

The book (from Holt, Rinehart, andWinston) and the television specialdebuted in 1966. I was given the bookthen, as a present, and watched the first

broadcast. After forty-one years, I intendto watch it again with just as muchenjoyment as ever. It’s been a spur tobuilding the many WWI planes I’ve built,including two Sopwith Camels: the Aurorakit back in my Calvin-esque days, and theDML/Dragon one I was roped intobuilding for the Champlin Fighter Project atthe Museum of Flight. But I shall abandonmy work bench at the end of this month fora half an hour, and urge you all to do thesame. The best approach is to gathertogether well-wishing friends and relativeswith whom you exchange yearly PumpkinCards, especially children who weren’teven imagined back in 1966. Light the roomwith only Jack-o’lanterns carved frompumpkins taken from the most sincerepatch you can find. Concentrate to followthe various sub-plots involving the othercharacters in the presentation. Admireonce more The World War I Flying Aceand his imaginative aerial mount. Thankthe Great Pumpkin for the inspiration givento Charles Schulz. And have a HappyHalloween!

1949 Schneider TrophyRace: Report from the

Nationals

by Tim Nelson

All of the racers are safely back in townafter a round trip trek of 2,400 miles to theIPMS/USA Nationals in Anaheim, CA inAugust. Our IPMS/Seattle group entrywas a great-looking and very populardisplay. It got no attention in the contestresults, and may not have even beenjudged for all we know, but that’s besidethe point.

The display was a battle from the start.Despite advance e-mail coordination withthe Anaheim Nats organizers, we had toput the display up not once, not twice, butthree times. They were short on tables, soVersion 1 was extremely dense, like a shorttrack NASCAR race with airplanes. We


Thoroughbred

succeeded in getting some extra space, sowe were able to spread out a bit in Version2. Then, the Fire Marshal dictated somechanges to the tables along that part of thehall and we had to move to a differentlocation, which was Version 3. All thephotos reflect Version 3.

Space constraints made it impossible todisplay the “histories” with each model.So, I placed all of them in a “fan” on theright side of the display. That meant fewerpeople reading the stories, but made for acleaner display.

As for the contest, the Best Group Entryaward went to a display of the aircraft ofLuke AFB. However, had there been a“Most Enthusiasm-Generating GroupEntry”, we would have won it hands down.The display generated excitement, interest,and smiles from many, many modelers -usually accompanied by a “We are goingto do something like that in OUR club!”There were even a few large scale “post-war Schneider racers” in the hypotheticalcategory, inspired by our project.

Thanks to all for making this project - andthe Nats display - so much fun. A tip of thehat to Terry Moore and Carl Kietzke forhelping to transport the models toCaleeforneeuh. Thanks to Stephen Tontoniand Mike Medrano for helping with theset-up logistical challenges, and also toAndrew Birkbeck during takedown.Thanks also to Terry and Jill Moore for

their acidic wit and humor throughout thesurreal Anaheim Nats experience, whichhelped get me through the hard parts. Weshould deploy the Schweinhimmels and/or

future Seattle group builds next time thereis a convenient west coast venue. (Note -someone else can organize that!)


A War in Miniature

by Don Conrard

With the September 21 opening of “A Warin Miniature” exhibit at the Museum ofFlight, Seattle could very well have themost comprehensive collection of WorldWar II scale model aircraft on earth.Encompassed within the collection’s 426models are nearly every combat aircraftflown during the war by the Allied andAxis powers. The eclectic fleet includeseverything from the obscure Italian BredaBa 88 Lince and the Russian Beriev Be-4(KOR-2) to the more familiar P-38, Zero, Bf109, and B-17 Flying Fortress.

All of the models are 1/72nd scale, makingit easy to see the relative difference in sizeamong the aircraft. About 70 percent werebuilt from commercial injection-molded,resin, and vacuum-formed kits. The restwere scratch built from wood, brass, andstyrene plastic because no commercial kitsare available. Among scratch-built modelsare the Hawker Hart and Boeing StearmanN2S-2 Kaydet trainer, which earned thenickname “The Yellow Peril” because offrequent mishaps by inexperienced pilots.

The collection, located on the ground floorin the southwest corner of the PersonalCourage wing, is beautifully displayed inwell-lighted Plexiglas cases built by themuseum staff. Axis aircraft are on the left,Allied on the right. Dividing the two sidesis a touch-screen computer that allowsvisitors to view the history and specifica-tions of every aircraft in the collection.

All of the models are the work of Dr. H.Logan Holtgrewe, assistant professor ofurology at the Johns Hopkins UniversitySchool of Medicine in Baltimore. Pastpresident of the American UrologicalAssociation, the 77-year-old Dr. Holtgreweis a noted surgeon and cancer researcherwith numerous scientific articles to hiscredit. In addition to his professionalaccomplishments, Dr. Holtgrewe is a well-known railroad modeler, having appearedon the cover of Model Railroadermagazine six times.

He turned to aircraft modeling after readinga story in USA Today noting that morethan 1,200 World War II veterans are dyingevery day. “The greatest generation is nowa vanishing generation,” says Holtgrewe.“Very soon, there will be no more peoplearound who witnessed the war. My motivein building the collection was to giveyoung people who weren’t alive then anopportunity to see the machines that hadsuch a huge impact on the outcome of thewar and the history of the world.”

Although too young to serve in themilitary during World War II, “like mostyoung men I had a profound interest in thedaily news from newspapers, radio and theweekly editions of LIFE magazine, all ofwhich recounted events of the conflict,especially the air war,” says Holtgrewe. Hejoined the U.S. Navy after graduating frommedical school and went on to serve aschief surgeon of the Sixth Fleet in the late1950s.

What became the “War in Miniature”exhibit was launched in the early 1990swhen Holtgrewe began collecting WorldWar II aircraft kits while traveling tomedical conferences around the world.

“Wherever I was, I would check out thelocal hobby shops for aircraft kits on mylist,” says Holtgrewe. Actual constructionof the models didn’t begin until 1999,shortly after Holtgrewe celebrated his 70thbirthday. “Working evenings and week-ends, it took me about seven years tocomplete the collection,” he says.

Although Holtgrewe built one model anaverage of every six days, he used noassembly line techniques. Some of the lesscomplex models were completed in onlytwo days. “I would build one model andthen go on to the next,” he says. “I onlysleep about four or five hours per night,which gives me a little more time formodeling than the average person.”

Indeed, according to his son: “My Dadwould come home from work at night, eatdinner, then head down to the basementwhere he had set up a little shop and workon his models until about 3 a.m. He wasusually up and off to work at his day jobby 8 a.m. In all the years I’ve known him,I’ve never seen my dad sit and watch TV.He is always building something.”

If you think speed equals low quality, thinkagain. Without exception, the models are

With a real Russian Yak-9U in the background, Dr. H. Logan Holtgrewe speaksduring the Sept. 21 opening of an exhibit of World War II aircraft models he created.


meticulously crafted with great attention todetail and historical accuracy. Modeling’smarathon man purchased more than 500books on World War II aircraft during theproject to ensure the markings, paint colorand camouflage schemes of each modelwere correct.

All of the models in “A War in Miniature”are painted with acrylics, “because water-based paints are safer,” says Holtgrewe,who claims the fumes from sprayingenamel paint can cause kidney damage. Heused both kit and after-market decals.When no commercial decals were avail-able, he made his own using a computerand photo printer.

Holgrewe did not include all the differentmodels of many aircraft because they lookso similar. “Sitting side-by-side, mostpeople can’t tell the difference between anMk 1A and an Mk 1B Spitfire,” he says.“But you can easily see the differencebetween a bubble-top and razorbackMustang or Thunderbolt, so both variantsof those two aircraft are included in thecollection.” For the same reason, there alsoare two Fairy Swordfish, two HawkerHurricanes, and several Bf 109s.

Looking for a place where his collectioncould be viewed by the greatest number ofpeople, Holtgrewe contacted the Museum

of Flight, offering to fund an exhibit andprovide an endowment for maintenance.The museum happily accepted. “Thecombination of this collection and ourrange of original aircraft offers museumvisitors an experience demonstrating theswift evolution of aviation technology as-well-as the massive scope of aerial warfarethat occurred between 1939 and 1945,”said Laurie Haag, chief operating officerfor the Museum of Flight. “It also will helpfuture generations learn about the people

and machines that fought in history’slargest aerial conflict.”

Officially, the collection is on long-termloan to the museum. All 426 models in theexhibit were shipped to the museum infoamed-lined boxes built by Holtgrewe.Nevertheless, several were damagedduring their transcontinental trek, includ-ing the B-29, which lost both wings.Aircraft with tricycle landing gear wereespecially hard hit. All were expertlyrepaired by Alex “Sandy” Morton, amuseum docent and model builder.

Although his World War II collection isfinished, Holtgrewe isn’t done modeling.Now he’s building a collection of the 100most significant aircraft from World War I.Because of their relative small size, thiscollection will be in the larger 1/48th scale.

With a collection of 426 World War IIaircraft, a large collection of models on themezzanine level, the NWSM display in thelobby plus many other aircraft modelsscatted around the facility, the Museum ofFlight may now be as much model museumas aircraft museum.

Laurie Haag, left, COO of the Museumof Flight and Dr. H. Logan Holtgrewecut a ceremonial ribbon to officially

open the new exhibit.


The Poor Modeler’s GrandTour or Hobby Shops Back

East

by Jon Fincher

Recently, my wife Sabrina and I took athree week vacation back east to visitfamily in southern Illinois and easternTennessee. We decided to drive back toIllinois – the planned cost of gas, food,and hotel lodgings appeared a little lessexpensive than flying (actually, it was a bitmore in practice), and had the addedbenefit of neither being invasivelysearched by a minimum wage governmentworker nor having to remove our shoes oncommand. We also got to see parts of thecountry we hadn’t seen from eye level,make a few stops along the way, enjoyeach other’s company, and shop withoutas much worry about how we would getour new acquisitions home.

The ProblemWhen we packed, I decided to lighten ourload a little and avoided bringing mymodeling field kit. For those of you whohaven’t seen it, it’s a Plano tackle boxwhich I purchased at my local X-Mart foraround $25. Utilizing all that modern tacklebox technology has to offer, I am able toput most of my modeling tools in thissingle convenient case. Plasticcustomizable compartmentalized boxeswith locking tabs, which came with the boxand can also be purchased separately aswell, are used to store most of my handtools; these fit into slots behind a largedrawbridge-style locking door. A smallerseparate drawbridge door in the frontreveals smaller boxes which I use to holdpieces I’ve working on. The top opens ona shallow space I store less frequentlyused tools, and a deep well for bottles andother bulkier items. I’ve found that I canstore 95% of the modeling tools (minuspaints and brushes) I need to work on justabout any model in this kit – it’s what Ibring to TNIs, some IPMS meetings, andall the shows I attend. And it’s what I leftbehind for the sake of space.

The SolutionSo, when we finally got to southern Illinoisafter a four day drive, I found I neededsome modeling gear. A quick trip to thelocal dollar store, the local Dollar General,the local K-Mart, and about $20 later, I hada small pencil box containing liquid and gelCA glue, four snap-off hobby knives, a setof foam covered sanding sticks, and a setof diamond files. Coupled with my pocketknives and a few more plastic storageboxes and bags for parts, and I was readyto start cutting plastic! The problem was,all my kits were sitting with my field box inmy workshop some 2300 miles northwestof where I was. Thus begins the quest forhobby shops in the Midwest.

The QuestI had scoped out IPMS chapters in Illinoisand Tennessee before I left, hoping to pingthe local clubs to find the local shops Icould poke around in. Imagine my surpriseto find the closest IPMS chapter tosouthern Illinois was in St. Louis, Mis-souri, some 90 miles away! The nearestIllinois based IPMS chapter was in theChicago-land area. With no local clubs,there is almost no support for a modelstore there either, and with no plastic in thelocal X-Marts, the best I could do insouthern Illinois was:

Hobby Lobby. A staple of most of theUnited States (stores are located in 34states, excluding the West Coast, most ofthe Mid-Atlantic, and New England), thisstore is best compared to a merging of asewing store, craft/hobby store, and a PierOne import. If you’ve ever been to aMichael’s or JoAnn Fabric stores, you’vegot a good idea of what you’ll find.Occupying a space the size of any K-Mart,the aisles contain a plethora of paint bynumbers kits, yarn, imported occasionaltables, doll house furniture, framingsupplies, cheap art supplies, kiddie art kits,and some models. It was in the single aisleof plastic models, among the Revell carkits, Tamiya warplanes, and Minicraftairliners, I managed to find a 1/48th scaleTrumpeter HH-65 Dolphin kit to work onwhile I was on vacation.

After a week in Illinois, we all packed intomy mother-in-law’s car for the seven hourdrive to eastern Tennessee to visit mysister-in-law and her family. As before, Iscoped out the local IPMS chapter, andwas able to exchange some e-mail withMike Driskill from IPMS Knoxville aboutlocal hobby shops. He pointed me to aHobbytown on the west side of Knoxville,and a place called Magic and Fun Worldnorth of Knoxville. He also referred me amuseum at the Sevierville airport sportingsome P-47s, MiGs, and other items. Since Iwas staying in Morristown, which is anhour east of Knoxville, I didn’t want towaste a day on a 150+ mile trip just to visita Hobbytown.

So, when I got to my sister-in-law’s place, Itook an undocumented third option –doing my own hobby shop search. Thelocal phone book turned up two hobbyshops (that’s right, only two). Theaforementioned Hobbytown was one, andsomeplace called the Rod Shop in Newport(20 miles south of Morristown). A Googlesearch turned up a few other places, andsome phone calls to find out what theyhad narrowed the field significantly. Withmy mapping tools in one hand and thekeys to my mothers-in-law’s car in theother, I plotted a circular route that took meto my destinations and back home again.First stop on the list was:

Great Smokies Hobby Shop. Located inSevierville, a commercial little Tennesseetown on the way into Pigeon Forge(famous for Dolly Parton and Dollywood)and Gatlinburg (famous for being morecheesy than Leavenworth), this was what Ihad been looking for – a real model shop,something that reminded me of SkywayModel and Galaxy Hobby. The shop,located in a small strip mall, was itself small– imagine a model shop in half the space ofa 7-11, and you’ve got the idea of small.Despite its size, it packed a good deal ofplastic into it – lots of good Revell andAMT car kits, a good but small selectionof planes and ships, a host of magazinesand books, and good selection of resinfigures from Verlinden and Jaguar. After abrief search and some conversation, I


managed to locate an AMT Chaparral anda 1/6th scale resin figure of Dana Sculleyfrom the X-Files. Sabrina even foundsomething there to trip her trigger, thePolar Lights Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde kit. If youfind yourself in the Smokie Mountainsnear Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg,or even as far away as Knoxville orAsheville, NC, pay this shop a visit. Theselection is light, but it’s real, and the guybehind the counter knows his stuff, whichis much more than you’ll get from the folksworking at Hobby Lobby.

We continued on from there to a localrestaurant for lunch, then further along atwo lane state highway to Newport, TN. Aslow drive through the scenic and historicdowntown, and we were on another two-lane state highway heading north, out oftown but on our way to:

The Rod Shop. This small two-buildingshop in rural Tennessee is a father/sonoperation on their own land, with automo-bile audio customizing gear in the front,and a great shop filled with collectibles inthe back. Rodney Buckner has filled hisAntiques and Memorabilia shop with toys,cap guns and holsters, action figures,lunch boxes, movie posters, records,books, and everything in between that anykid growing up in the 50’s through the 80’swould have had access to, with a heavyemphasis on old TV westerns. I saw itemsfrom “The Lone Ranger”, “Have Gun WillTravel”, “Gunsmoke”, “Rawhide”, upthrough “The ‘A’ Team” and “The Dukesof Hazzard” – you get the picture. Somemodels were interspersed in thecollectables, but the nostalgia was thetreat in this part of the shop. Upstairs,however, Rodney’s son Charles hadcollectables of his own, including a fewhundred kits from his old NASCAR shop.Heavy on the Revell/Monogram NASCARkits, he sported a few rare kits (an originalissue AMT Dale Earnhardt NASCAR waslisted at $115, and an old Kyle Pettymodified was $75) and a few unusual kits(some original ERTL Star Wars kits) and afew Revell cars as well. I made off with theMPC Indy Pace Car trio set, some pics of aPlymouth Satellite under restoration, and

about an hour of memories, good conver-sation, and friendly folks.

Alas, three weeks wound to a close tooquickly. The week before Labor Day, wepacked our car with our luggage and newpossessions and headed back for Seattle.As on our trip to Illinois, we passedthrough St. Louis, Missouri on the wayout – however, since this time we werepassing through early in the trip ratherthan late, a stop at a model store waspossible. Again, relying on my ownresearch proved to be most beneficial – mysearch showed half a dozen “hobby”shops in St. Louis, and more in-depthresearch showed one that was worth astop:

CRM Hobbies. Oh. My. God. After theveritable drought of model shops so far onmy trip, this fantastic place in theSouthtown district of St. Louis was likeentering the Promised Land. Imagine, ifyou will, a shop that combines the qualityand quantity of plastic of the best Seattleshops (Skyway Model, Galaxy Hobby, andAmerican Eagles comes to my mind). Addto that the reference library selection of theoldest and most prolific members of IPMS.Sprinkle in aftermarket resin, photo-etch,and decals to taste. Just for kicks, stir in acouple hundred metal and resin figures –not just Jaguar and Verlinden, but garagekits, Michael Roberts, and Alpha kits aswell. Add paints, tools, and sheet and rodstyrene, then stuff it all into a shop slightlybigger than a double 7-11. When done,throw in the expertise and enthusiasm ofBob, Emil, and Gordon there as well. Now,you’ve got the idea of what awaits youhere.

Floor to ceiling along the walls, andthroughout the densely packed store, the“normal” selection of kits is peppered withoddball items (Fujimi car kits with animecharacters, old dragsters, Heller insects,and old dinosaur kits are just a few things Iremember). Every aisle brings somethingnew to see – I didn’t spend nearly enoughtime or money there. In fact, I don’t think Icould – there was so much to see, evenwith the unopened boxes in the aisles. I

managed to walk out with a MichaelRoberts figure I’ve wanted for some time,some flyers from the local IPMS chaptersupcoming contest, and a plan to returnASAP. If you find yourself in St. Louis anddon’t go to this shop, don’t cry to me –this is quite simply the best model shopoutside of the Puget Sound I’ve ever seen.

After 5000 miles of driving and three weeksof separation from my normal life, I’d liketo pass on some brief observations:

1. We’re spoiled. When it comes tomodel shops, there are three fantastic oneswithin a 30 minute drive of my house (theaforementioned Skyway Model, GalaxyHobby, and American Eagles in Seattle),and a host of other shops I can visit thatcarry models and supplies as well. Insouthern Illinois and eastern Tennessee,the stores and selections are much morelimited – modelers there rely on chainhobby or retail stores, or the Internet, tofeed their styrene addiction.

2. Modelers are the same no matterwhere you go. Talking with the owners ofGreat Smokies Hobby Shop and CRMHobbies, I got the same feeling I got fromtalking with local shop owners andunknown vendors at IPMS shows. Theseguys know the hobby, feel the hobby, andare the hobby. I was happy to visit andsupport these shops, and urge you to dothe same, both locally and when youtravel.

3. When travelling, pack your fieldkit – the kit I hastily assembled was justbarely enough to allow me to work onplastic. It wasn’t enough to do anythingmore meaningful that cut and clean upparts.

Contact Info:

Great Smokies Hobby Shop1436 Winfield Dunn ParkwayPioneer Center, Suite 3Sevierville, TN 37876(865) 453-0093

Continued on page 16

photo by James Tainton


Who’s Sitting Next to Youon That Flight?

by Stephen Tontoni

The plane was getting pretty full for myflight back to Seattle from Anaheim afterthe IPMS Nationals were finished. Anolder couple took the two seats next tomine and I noticed a slight accent of thehusband. I asked if he was Swiss, and hesaid, no; he’s originally from Germany. Heand I talked most of the three hour flight toSeattle.

His name is Helmut and he and his wifeHanna Laura were travelling to Seattle fromwhich they would take their cruise toAlaska. When Helmut asked me what I wasdoing in SoCal, I told him about themodeling convention, building scalemodels, etc. As our conversation woundalong, we seemed to have a number ofinteresting intersections.

First, he mentioned that he was a retired(71 years old) tool and dye maker, a tradehe’d been engaged in for over 40 years.We talked about how computers are verycentral to the process now, and he pointedout that nothing would replace hand-madedyes. Knowing of some of our kits we seenow that are produced with a CAD/CAMprocess, it made me think of that quote“everyone makes mistakes, but to reallyscrew things up, it takes a computer”.

I later showed Helmut the book that I hadpurchased at the convention and hadpulled out for the flight, the MushroomModels Publications MiG-1/MiG-3 book.He was very interested in the developmentof the aircraft and pored over the orthodrawings in it. Then he mentioned hisfather, who was a chief designer forMesserschmitt during the war. My eyesmay have bugged out of my head a bit ashe told me his story. Helmut’s parents wereboth involved with sailplane clubs inGermany in the 1930s. That’s how theymet. His dad worked first for Junkers, thenmoved on to Messerschmitt as an engi-neer, thus avoiding being drafted through-

out the war. Helmut was born in 1936, andhe vividly remembers the bombing ofBerlin. At some point (this was unclear) hisfather worked with Werner Von Braun.After the war, they were on the Russianside and the Soviets made his father workfor them. One day, his father simplydisappeared. Helmut and his motherstayed where they were, looking for him,and he finally turned up two years later –on the American side! They were able torejoin him on the American side some timelater.

The family moved to Canada after Helmut’sfather’s business partner absconded withall the company’s money. Even though hewas a master engineer and aircraft de-signer, he first worked in Canada as arailroad porter. His break was with afledgling helicopter outfit that hired him asan engineer, until the company went bust.

Helmut worked for years in various outfitsdoing tool and dyes, but he pointed outthat he did a lot of the Mattel Hotwheels!

I told Helmut about the Me 262 project inEverett, and suggested that he take a tourof it if he had the time. It turns out that heknows a lot about the Me 262 construc-tion. He said that they used a lot ofdifferent materials on that, even usingsome plastic gearing. I hadn’t ever heardof that before.

We had a wonderful conversation, and I’mnow wishing I had asked for his e-mailaddress. I didn’t even ask his last name!

This Hobby is TooExpensive…I Can’t Afford

That Kit!

by Scott Kruize

The title thought was while I was atSkyway Model Shop, contemplating astack of Eduard Antonov An-2 utilityplanes, priced at $11.99. The following

thought was: Holy Toledo: how could Iregress more than 40 years with a singlephrase?

My whine about not having enoughmoney for model kits—then or now—needs to be taken with a grain of salt.Maybe a boulder of salt. I’ve never beenpoor. My childhood was spent in thecomfort—even luxury—of the uppermiddle-class, and I never wanted foranything as my father went off to work atDon Burr’s architectural office, and later toBoeing. But before age 16, when I startedearning my own money, first with a paperroute, then as a Safeway box boy, I hadonly a modest allowance. Plastic modelairplane kits were pricey—and had tocompete with my lust for Ghirardelli Flicks,Milkshake candy bars, Turkish Taffy, andPez!

Candy always competed with my hobbiesfor my modest means. Previous eras sawthe money consumed on dinosaurs, armymen, squirt guns, rubber bands for anarsenal of homemade rubber band guns,roll caps, and finally the ultimate (before Idiscovered plastic modeling), SupermanD.C. National comics!

Flash was my favorite, closely followed bythe Justice League of America as a group,but I admired other individual members,such as Batman and Aquaman. My next-door neighbor, Robert, was a GreenLantern fan. And both of us liked Super-man, as adult and as a boy…and all ofthese had their own monthly issues.Robert and I shared our purchases witheach other, but there was no way that evenpooling our resources could get us everysingle issue of the comics that we wanted.No parental support there: Father’s alwaysbeen too down-to-earth to even glance atthem, and Mother hated superheromagazines, referring to them throughclenched teeth as “funny books”, as in“Quit wasting your time on those funnybooks and go out and play!” Bob’sparents must have had a similarattitude…so that’s the sense in which wewere “deprived”.


Plastic modeling slightly mollified myparents. They thought the craft was a moreworthwhile activity, but that’s not to saymy allowance was increased to betterfinance it. My memory is: when I started toshop for kits on my own, my weeklyallowance was fifty cents, with a nickelgoing to the collection on Sunday. Thatdidn’t leave much; even if I curtailed allother purchases, I could buy, at most, onlya half an Aurora kit per week.

Hence my near-euphoria when the Airfix/72series first appeared at Thunderbird drugstore. Sure: the notion took root that,technically, one should build all models tothe same scale, but besides 1/72nd scalebeing so convenient, readily available, andextensive, it was also cheap!

WWII single-engine fighters, my primaryinterest, were only 39¢ apiece in the Airfixline. I’m not depending here solely on myaging Baby Boomer gray cells. I still havein my possession, at this very moment, theSeptember 1966 issue of ‘Model AirplaneSale’ from America’s Hobby Center, Inc., ofNew York City. If you’re extremely nice tome, come to my house bearing gifts, andpromise to wear white gloves and notdrool, I would let you see it. There on page56 is the Airfix line: the Stuka, Mustang,Zero, and Me-109 are only 39¢. In otherwords, within one week’s allowance.Others required more Financial Planning:the Spitfire, Focke-Wulf 190, Swordfish, P-

38, and Me-110 were 49¢, and theWellington, which I must’ve really wantedto have saved up so long, was 98¢.

Monogram, on the following page, hadonly one similarly scaled and pricedfighter: the P-40 Warhawk in the ’49-er’s’series. Revell’s collection, on page 60, waseven more extensive than Airfix’s, andencompassed types never seen anywhereelse, such as the Hawker Tempest V,Kawasaki Hein, and Nakajima Hayate andHayabusa. But all of these were 50¢.

So the arrival one day of a new series ofmodels at Thunderbird was great. Hawkcame out with four potential additions tomy collection, illustrated here. They werefine, desirable fighter planes, had goodartwork on the cover, and most of all, werealso at that magically-low price point of39¢. I examined the first box that came tohand, and read that it was of:

One of the best known aircraft of WorldWar II. Flown in many theaters of opera-tion, the fighter became a legend in its owntime and holds a slot in history’s ‘mostfamous’ list of military aircraft. The kit iscomplete with decals to correctly finishthis fine model. Molded in the well knownscale of 1/72, this kit will be a proudaddition to your collection of historicalmodels. Special bonus features:

• Picture box—can be framed• Collector’s 1/72 scale• Colorful decals

I picked up the second box and laughed.The description of the aircraft’s historyand kits features were just same; the boxeswere different only in the illustrations onthe top and two ends. A clever way to savewriters’ salaries and printing costs. Evenmore clever, although I didn’t appreciate itat the time: the box top lists the instruc-tions as being in English, German, French,and Spanish, so it could be sold literally allover the world without incurring anyadditional printing or stocking costs.

Of course, like other relics from our dearlyremembered past, no collector nowadayswould give them more than a passingnostalgic glance. Certainly no one wouldexpect to build them with any hope ofapproaching the scale fidelity we now takefor granted. Much of the reason for theeconomy of the Hawk kits was low partscount: there were no separate landing gearmoldings at all, nor anything to fill the holeunder the plastic canopy. The Spitfire andZero are only eight parts each; the othertwo, just nine. And the ‘colorful decals’referred to were only a few nationalinsignia, augmented in the case of theSpitfire with a pair of fin flashes, and onthe Zero, a stylized tail number. That’s all.

Still, parts fit was acceptable, and evennow, I would describe the detail engravingas good. The overall effect was reasonablyscale-like, and for a brief time these kitsextended my purchasing power as I addedto my collection. I remember them withonly good feelings.

So I was instantly transported back to theThunderbird drugstore one day not longago, at a Seattle IPMS meeting. Anothermember brought a couple of these oldHawk kits to donate to the raffle. No oneelse wanted them, so I worked a specialdeal with our raffle donations maestro.Now, with the help of eBay, I have thecomplete series of four airplanes as yousee them here…pretty impressive, huh?

continued on page 16



More Upcoming ModelShows and Events

Friday and Saturday, October 12-13Sci-Fan: The Northwest's PremierScience Fiction Fantasy Modeling Event.Galaxy Hobby, 196th & Highway 99,Lynnwood, WA. Phone: 425-670-0454. E-mail: [email protected] Web site:http://www.galaxyhobby.com/scifan.htm

Schedule: Friday, 12 noon - 7 PM ContestEntry & Display. Saturday, 10 AM - 12noon, Contest Entry & Display; 1:30 - 2:30PM, Closed For Judging; 4 PM, Awardsand Door Prizes.

Categories:Movie/T.V. SpacecraftReal SpacecraftOther SpacecraftGround VehiclesOther Sci-FiDisplay Only (Free Entry)Diorama1:1 ScaleMovie/T.V. RobotJapan Anime RobotOther RobotJapan Anime FigureHuman FigureAnimal/Monster FigureMovie/T.V. Figure

Entry Fee: $5 for up to five models; $1 foreach additional model.

Coming Up at the Museum of Flight:

368th Fighter Group Pilots Panel Discus-sionSaturday, November 3, 2pm

American Fighter Aces Association PanelSaturday, November 10, 2pm

Veterans' Day ProgramsSunday, November 11, 2pm

The B-47: A Revolution in AviationSaturday, December 8, 2pm

Airline Memorabilia TakesWing

by Don Conrard

Remember the days when airlines servedmulti-course meals on china plates whileflight attendants handed out free packs ofplaying cards, plastic pilot wings, keyrings, and other trinkets featuring thecarrier’s logo?

Modelers and airline fans can relive thoseglorious days during the 17th annualSeattle Airline Collectibles Show. Slated for9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, October 13, at theMuseum of Flight, the show provides anopportunity to admire vintage advertise-ments, flight schedules, aircraft models,pins, buttons, posters, postcards and morefrom airlines around the world. Collectorscan walk down Memory Lane as theystock up on memorabilia from carriers likePan Am, Eastern and TWA that have goneout of business. Modelers researchingtheir next project will find hundreds ofbooks and photos on civilian and militaryaircraft.

This year’s show will feature a specialguest appearance by noted aviation authorRobert J. Serling, who will be on hand tosign autographs and answer questionsabout his forthcoming history of AlaskaAirlines.

More than 500 collectors from 22 statesand five foreign countries are expected toattend this year’s show. Among the manydoor prizes is a pair of unrestricted ticketson Alaska Airlines valued at more than$1,700. The tickets are good for travelanywhere on the Alaska Airlines routesystem.

Admission to the collectables show is $5for adults, $3 for children ages 6 to 15.Admission to the show does not includeaccess to the Museum of Flight at large.However, show attendees who wish totour the museum will receive $2 off theregular price of $14.

For more information, check outwww.seattleairlineshow.com.

2008 NorthWest ScaleModelers Show

by Tim Nelson

The faint drumbeat of “Bring All YourModels!” can now be heard. Make yourplans to do just that at the Museum ofFlight on February 16-17, 2008.

This year’s flyer, created by Don Conrard,is shown. In addition to the usual andspectacular display of models, there arethree (3) big things to note for 2008:

1. Mike Shaw, the new owner of GalaxyHobby, is eager to continue the greatGalaxy Make ‘n’ Take tradition establishedby Bob Jacobson in recent years. That willoccur on Saturday, February 16.

2. Emil Minerich, owner of the “CheersBar” of our modeling community, SkywayModel Shop, will be sponsoring a newMake ‘n’ Take event on Sunday, February17. We now have these extremely popularevents on both days of the show.

3. Jim Goodall of the Museum of FlightRestoration Center, and aviation/nauticalauthor, will be discussing MoF restorationprojects and the history of Lockheed’s“Blackbird” jets in the Allen Theater onSaturday, February 16.

4. The model display will again be mostly“by modeler”, but with a central island oftables devoted to “Model Madness”, i.e.,off-the-wall modeling projects such as(and especially) Modelfying, the DecemberSpitfire project, Jasta Schweinhimmel, ’49Schneider, etc. Plan to show off yourAntonov An-2 projects for the 2008 SpringShow.

OK, that was four (4) big things. Let’s seeif we can top last year’s model turnout ofover 2000 models. It goes without saying,although it will be repeatedly said, thatyou are to bring all your models.

As always, if you have questions aboutthis great event, don’t hesitate to ask.


Meeting Reminder October 1310 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

The Rod Shop, Antiques and MemorabiliaRodney and Charles Buckner, Owners776 Highway 321Newport, TN 37821(423) 623-2723(423) 623-0789 (eve)

CRM Hobbies5101 Eichelberger StreetSt. Louis, MO 63109(314) 832-4840http://crmhobbies.com/

Mike Driskill, IPMS [email protected]

To return to my remark at the beginning ofthis essay: that a kit could be too expen-sive, and I’d have to pass it by…it’sbecause of my recent experience of being‘poor’ again. We all know perfectly wellthat nearly all Americans spend prettymuch every last dime of their income onwhatever they please, exactly as I havesince I got back into plastic modeling a fewyears ago. That has a lot to do with whymy count for the Jim Schubert NorthWestScale Modelers and Seattle IPMS Kit StashSurvey was over 380! Then, just recently, Ilost my fairly-well-paying I.T. job, ran outof unemployment benefits, and had to fallback on my old college standby: work atthe bicycle shop. In ‘austerity mode’, I’vebeen spending my reduced income on themortgage, electricity, and groceries: nofrivolities like plastic model airplane kits!

I have to laugh at myself, because I’m notactually poor, and the situation is strictlytemporary. Nor can I plausibly say, even tomyself, that I need the Antonov. I onlywant it because our two local clubs areresurrecting an activity they last run

before I joined a few years ago. It’s called‘Model-fy’, and the idea is that everybodybuys the same kit, and makes from itanything except what it’s supposed to be!

I’m getting the kit anyway, without cuttinginto the temporarily-slender householdbudget. Terry Moore, the Seattle IPMS‘Prez-for-Life’, and Tim Nelson, ourspaceship-building ‘Rocket Man’, pro-vided the high finance. They let on theywere paying fairly for some scrap sheetstyrene I brought to the meetings tofacilitate Model-fy creativity, but I knowit’s really because they couldn’t bear notto have me able to play along. Thank you,guys. But this has been an interestingphilosophical experiment: briefly revertingback forty years, to recapture the thoughtsand feelings of a time when, with no realbills to pay, or responsibilities to carry, Istill couldn’t afford to buy all I wanted…

Then—as now—ways and means canalways be found to have the things wereally want, so we might follow Al’sexhortation:

Build what you want, the way you want to,and above all, have fun!

This Hobby Is Too Expensive from page 13

Hobby Shops Back East from page 11

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