Greetings, Comrades! The glorious Oktobr meeting of the renowned IPMS Techmages modeling club was on the 8th, and if you missed it you cannot blame leadership, only yourself! Your modelers-in-arms arrived in force to display their wondrous skills and workmanship!

Before I describe these works in detail, there is business to attend to.

Events News:

In a scant month's time the Butch O'Hare model contest in scenic editDowner's Grove there's a 701 Plainfeild in Darien, but its not Lakeview Jr. High!edit, IL will be upon us. Prepare yourselves, this is the big show at the end of our local season. If you haven't been to BOH for a while, you should think about stopping by. The vendors area is very good, and it's a well-attended show. We will hold our November meeting that day as well, at the usual Home Run Inn Pizza venue. See you there.

IPMS has sent the re-charter request. If you have an IPMS membership, and John doesn't know about it, please send that information to Zero. As always, the Techmages doesn't require IPMS membership but we do need at least five members to be an IPMS chapter. Yes, we want it both ways (or at least Chad does).

Demo:

Sparky Joe gave a demonstration of some soldering techniques. He had the little electronic circuit kits as well, and some will be very useful for novices. I hadn't used the "Cold Heat" soldering irons before, and found them very easy to use. I'll definitely buy one. They're not quite as versatile as a traditional iron, but they're easy to use for simple soldering jobs. Joe stressed the need for clean, well-tinned soldering tips (not a concern for the graphite electrodes of the Cold Heat unit), and showed us the proper technique for good soldering. Thanks, Joe. I think this is a demonstration well-worth repeating when some of us have some kits ready for lighting.

Now, announcements:

There are a bunch of new items at Starship Modeler, they're adding more garage industry lines. Check the store if you haven't for a while.

We welcome a new member this month.
Bert Patania is recently back from service in the Army. He spent time recovering in Germany (no noticeably missing bits) where he picked up a hobby. Model manufacturers donated kits for the men. Yeah, it's mandatory and a good idea. Hobbies are safer obsessions than many others you can pick up. . . John and I met Bert at Venture last month, and he already knew of Starshipmodeler and had picked up the SF3D bug. Since then he finished a Fleidermaus, and has been acquiring 1/6 scale figures like Captain America and the Red Skull Gestapo. Welcome back and welcome to the club, Bert!

Oktobr:  Bert, John L, Larry J, Larry S, Tony, Terry, Neil P, Neil Sr, Kevin, Baltazar, James, and Joe. . .

Now, the beets in this Borscht: The Show-and-Tell.

Larry JohnsonJoe
Brought back his salt-weathered Gustav by special request. It’s nice to see how subtle this technique can be. He's also adding more effort to his Tiger I painted in the audacious winter All-Black scheme. This model took second in its category at the Will-Cook show but Larry knows he can make it better. The Virago kit is well known to all SF modelers, yet no one has ever built it as a Virago. Larry will turn it into a Kilrathi fighter I'm sure will be Grrrrrreat!

John L.
Brought along the mucho delicioso 1/24 Viper Mk. II kit. He's already starting work on this beauty. It will take some putty, but from what I could see the alignment is good and it’s gonna look great once done. He brought the new Ferengi Shuttlepod from the SM store -- and it's one big hunk-o-resin. Looks pretty good, though.

Art
Speaking of the SM store, Art brought his Tritium-class ship in-progress. He's found a few symmetry issues, and has addressed them. We expect to see this one finished by BOH, Art!

Now we visit Mr. Shickland's Junkpile.
Larry always brings what looks like an incongruous pile of stuff but then suddenly it turns into a very well-balanced model at the end of the project. This will be the Vulture mech for the 1/35 "Stealth Dio" project. He's also stripped. His hovertank, that is. He built it for Wonderfest this year, and wasn’t quit happy with the last-minute effort. A bit of Easy-Off removed all the enamel paint, and he'll do it right the next time I'm sure.

James
Has been thinking of an Orion III launcher. And despite talks of mountain-side rails and such, I’m sure he'll do good work on this.

Ken
Showed up late, toting a box full of goodies and greeblies. The Wave details are available at the SM store now, and are a must for anyone scratchbuilding a ship which needs many vents, sensors etc. Ken's working on a Macross VF-0 as well.

Balta
Brought the little 1/72 Viper MkII kit and the 1/48 Aliens dropship from SMT. This is one of the last produced, and can be built into a very cool model. Ya shur gots lotsa goodies in the closet, Balta.

Kevin showed up, too!
He brought a pressure pot he's convinced will blow up, but Sparky has the straight poop on this paint pot from Harbor Freight. You may need to replace some fittings, but it should be good.

Tony's been digging
In his childhood memory box again, and is re-working a Star Destroyer he originally built years ago. He also brought two Horizon Robocop figures he painted long ago - which look pretty good even now. His real show-off is the Viper diorama in-progress. Even closer to completion, it's looking like another Gold for Tony - and deservedly so.

Neil P.
Brought a sample of the stereolitheography the new machine can do. It's a centrifugal pump printed in one shot. It's stunning, and rest assured we'll make sure Neil has plenty of shiny spaceship files to keep this machine busy.

Neil B. and I didn't have anything to show except our delightful countenances.

--- Ter_or

GGRU update:

--- Sparky

Satellite Techamge, In high Orbit, Reporting:

I was just at our annual Glue Crew Model Contest & Swap meet.

I'm the Sci-Fi guy in our club.

I just took First Place in Dioramas.

With a car.

I built a shed from real wood, just big enough to fit a car.  Built a car.  Put it inside the shed.  Put a sign on the outside "4 Sale - Old Car - $200 OBO - needs work".  Inside, under tarps with just enough of one tarp pulled back to show what it was, was the "01" and flag of the General Lee.  People seemed to like it.  And it's one car that I actually finished to be shiny & 'conventionally finished' rather than one of my standard rusty trucks.

Oh, and a Second in Sci-Fi for my Klingon Bloodwing.  There were only THREE entries in SF.  Ecto-1 & an X-wing painted up like a WW II American fighter.

Sadly, there weren't a lot of models in any category but armor.  The whole thing was 'down' by 50 % from last year.

But we had more kids in the "Make 'N Take" building corvette kits than in the last two years combined.  Hey, we takes the victories we gets.

^**sigh**

--- Zog

Image: Entrance South Bound on 72

Image: Walking up the drive way

Image: Enter through the main doors (back entrance)

Image: Head down stairs

Image: Stop off for snacky-cakes as needed

Image: We're in the second door

Image: Tony, Balta, Bert, Larry, Jonh, n Art

Image: Balta, Bert, Tony, n Larry

Image: Tony setups his viper demo

Image: The table's covered

Image: Fleidermaus, its a bug

Image: Captin America

Image: ¹/₆th Captin America

Image: ¹/₆th Red Skull Gastapo

Image: He uses Crest-Whitening-Strips I'm sure

Image: Overhead view

Image: Hollow and multi color

Image: The Vanes are hollow too

Image: Classic shot

Image: Nose on

Image: This ship needs a belly rub too

Image: ¹/₂₄th Viper MK.II

Image: The cockpit area

Image: Aft Mechanics

Image: Nose Thrusters

Image: Top

Image: Belly Rub

Image: Rear hatch

Image: Tiger I

Image: Nice Snow effect

Image: Engine grills

Image: Wings & engines

Image: Double sided grills

Image: Engines will be 'open'

Image: Base is 'Shiny'

Image: Starbuck's fighter tail

Image: Starbuck's cockpit

Image: Apollo's cockpit

Image: Apollo's fighter tail

Image: There are clear gribbly bits on the leading wign edges

Image: Two Vipers, belly shot

Image: Apollo's BD engines

Image: Intakes, formed hollow

Image: Horison Vinyl Robocop

Image: Arm controls for jet pack

Image: Man or machine?

Image: Legs coloring look great

Image: the jet pack came with the kit

Image: Lots oh work

Image: Upper Hull

Image: Tower's Stripped

Image: Conrol Decks

Image: A side trench

Image: Lots of work in there

Image: Belly Rub

Image: Belly Dome, what comes out here?

Image: Engine area

Image: Engine area

Image: Rear of the tower

Image: Vulture parts

Image: Big box-o-resin

Image: The Cargo Area

Image: Making it amphibious

Image: Solder Demo

Image: Cold Heat Iron

Image: Don't Burn the Joe

Image: Demo and meeting wrap-up

Image: 01

Image: "4 SALE OLD CAR $200 OBO NEEDS WORK"