Before we get into the boss' spiel, Larry the Elder and Sparky Joe wanted to pass on that everyone's invited to join in the 1st Annual Great Greeblie Roundup at the next meeting.  Bring in your favorite detail piece.  Joe will cast them all up and provide to members for a nominal fee (to recoup his production costs).  Small details, please!

And now for a word from our sponsor:

Hey, everyone.

     May brought us another great turnout for the Techmages meeting.  So many, in fact, that we've officially outgrown Venture as a venue.  There simply is not enough space for everyone to see the show-and-tell, not to mention demonstrations.  John M. related Art's investigation of Hoffman Estates' Blackhawk Center and has tentatively reserved a 5:30-7:30 time slot.  The Blackhawk Center is on Higgins (IL-72) road less than a mile east of Barrington Avenue.

http://www.heparks.org/

     The room is plenty large enough for our needs, has tables and chairs to make it a more comfortable meeting.  The drawback - if it is one - is the room will cost $40 per meeting.  We have 10 meetings a year, as the Christmas Potluck is held at a member's house and the November meeting is held the same weekend as the Butch O'Hare contest.  This will require a dues collection.  We have plenty of members now, and I think it's about time we start doing a little more, including moving to a more formal venue.

     I'd like to call a vote - I know the group at May's meeting was quite favorable to the suggestion.  Please reply to or Minister of Propaganda whether you are amenable to the move and the proposed dues collection.

ZERO's NOTE:  Send your votes to onezero@aol.com.  I'll do the tallying and let everyone know results at the next meeting.

May's meeting.

     We had quite a turnout again this month.  Bob, John M., Joyce M., Neil B., Neil P., Alex, Roger, Larry S., Larry J., Tony, John L., Joe, James, Mike, Jon, and yours truly all showed up!  Did I miss anyone?

News:

     Larry J. collected again for the IPMS Nationals Make-and-Take.  We collected $125, $50 more than last year, and IPMS/USA sent along a nice thank you note for our efforts.  This is an important function at many shows, not only does it keep the kids occupied for a while, but also sows the seeds of our hobby in the youngsters.

     Al's Hobby Shop in Elmhurst has instituted a rebate program.  This won't be like Venture's (which is for individuals) but instead club-based. When you buy items there, show them your club ID and they'll keep track.  At the end of the year they'll kick back some money to the club.  We can use this for anything we want - a pizza party, a raffle, a grab-bag etc.  Al's has also instituted a weekend club introduction.  We can have three members at a recruiting table.  I think that might be a good thing, perhaps bring more members to the fold.

     Neil Butler brought pictures from the Quad Cities and Madison shows. A number of Techmages attended these good spring shows, and likely will next year.

     The Firefly movie, Serenity, will open September 30.  It's trailer is available online. There is also a piece of a convention event with cast members and Joss Wheadon.

www.serenitymovie.com

Now, on to the meat of our meeting stew:

Show-and-tell

     We'll start with Neil Prentice. He has begun the 1/350 scale Polar Lights 1701-A kit. His aim is to finish this in time for John to display at the Starship Modeler vendor's table at Wonderfest. He's also found some of the little difficulties in the kit, and I'm sure will relate his solutions later. John supplied him with the vinyl masks for the Big E, making the Aztek pattern much easier to do. These will cost about $40, and will be worth every penny when you add up how much time it would take to cut frisket or masking tape. The masks will be available at the Starship Modeler store, as are the Star Trek kits.

     Neil also showed off his nearly finished display model of the 2001: A Space Odessey Orion space plane. Neil is painting this in Aer Lingus livery, and why not?

     Larry Johnson is working on a scrapyard Snowspeeder from Star Wars. He's opening it up, and will present it as one of the "boneyard" items left behind on Hoth. It's going to be a salvage queen, with open panels showing where it was cannibalized for parts.

     Jon brought Starcraft's Akira, in progress - or in need of extra work. Gunze-Sangyo's Mr. Surfacer 500 is just the ticket for that bridge gap, Jon. He's also building a Chinese rocket launcher kit, essentially similar to the Stalin Organ or our Calliope, but mounted on an odd little Chinese vehicle. He's painting figures again, a Klingon warrior and a set of Korean War era US Marine infantrymen. Once we start meeting in the new room, perhaps a demonstration of painting faces with oil paints is a good idea.

     Larry S. brought a vacuformed canopy and its blank. This is for his Big Mutha Mecha project, and Tony's vacuforming rig was used to produce this. It looked quite nice indeed, Brother Larry. He's decided to build up a hovertank, and is fleshing that out well. Also, he's re-working an old mech miniature, this will stand about 6 inches tall when finished. He's reworked the shapes a bit, and the mechanics a lot. He's also added a staggering amount of photoetch and resin detail.

     Joe showed us lots of bits for the mech project. He's rebuilding his mech's leg, to add some mechanical bits and make it less plain. He's also been casting like a maniac, including the Death Star tiles Tony produced for his diorama - and these will be available through Starship Modeler. These really are very nice detail bits, and will make a great addition to various dioramas. He's also taken our suggestions and made molds for the Starfury thrusters and some (I think) Apollo rocket bells. I've got dozens of uses for these thrusters.

     Tony brought his Captain Cardboard studio-scale X-wing. He's lighting this kit after construction - so digging in resin to fit all the bits. The cockpit will be lit, and the engines will pulse. He's re-worked the Luke Skywalker figure, in a dramatic pose. It's gonna be really big and really cool.

     John McDannell brought along his Polar Lights Mach 5, and assured us it was completely accurate, including Spriedel and Chim-Chim in the engine compartment. I can't wait to see the Mach 4, John.

     John Lester talked about the upcoming Studio Scale BSG Galactica (original) Viper model. Look for it in the Starship Modeler Store - if you've got the bones to buy one. Also in the Starship Modeler store are the Star Wars Episode 3 kits from Revell Germany. You will not likely find these at the mass market outlets or hobby shops in any quantity.

     John also brought one very nice Italian 3-engined bomber kit. The Cant Z.1007 was not as well known as the Savoi-Marchetti SM 79 and 81s, but they were well used. This is an exquisite piece of casting, and exceptional sculpting. It will build well, I'm sure, and the paint scheme will be quite a challenge. Time to buy the Sotar, John. I'll help you paint!

http://pacmodelscatalog.com/

     Roger told of his recent conversion. An electric toothbrush makes a good hand-sander, once you remove the bristles and rubber glue some sandpaper in place. I'd heard this tip recently, but Roger hit upon it separately. I'd like to see it in action.

     I brought along my two finished Beechcraft 18 models. If you'll remember, these are the Battleaxe kits with a lot of extra work. The morning of the meeting, I was painting the navigation lights, and the orange plane slipped from my hands, shearing off a main landing gear. I had to use a brass pin and it's not quite straight but hell with it, it's finished.

     I also brought along a nearly finished vignette. As some of you know, I have a minotaur fixation due to the game Warlords:Battlecry, and keep painting miniatures of my minotaur hero, Spongiform. The new one has a buddy to play with, a warthog hero. These 28mm figures are from Reaper Miniatures, and the groundwork makes generous use of Durham's Water Putty, sand, leaf litter, corn broom bristles etc.

www.reapermini.com

     I brought something new to show off. While buying the new series of Cold Navy miniatures I found something else on Extreme Hobby's site. The Pig Iron line is now available in the US through Xtreme Hobby. These are 28mm science fiction figures and vehicles. The figures are outstanding, they look like the soldiers from Halo, or some other games and movies. There are 5 different poses, which is highly unusual. They are very cleanly cast. The fighting vehicles are based on the same platform, and you get three choices. Very nice indeed. I'll write a preview for Starshipmodeler.

http://xtreme-hobby.com/

http://pig-iron-productions.com/

     By the way, if you didn't buy the first set of Cold Navy miniatures because they were rather poorly cast, the wave 1.5 is MUCH better. The third civilization is now available, too.

See you June 11, at 5:00 at Venture.

-- Terry
ter

Concerning the 1st Annual Great Greeblie Roundup:

     If you have more than one of a favorite part bring the extra pieces so we can double up the part and get more per cast.  Also if you master a part, say adding photo etch, be sure and glue the details down well, sealing them so the molding process goes well.  (I believe Blappy has a handout from Wonderfest on mastering for molding.)

-- Sparky

Image: Aer Lingus

Image: Belly

Image: Roof Detail

Image: Spongeform

Image: One of the completed Beechcraft

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Image: 28 mm Sci-Fi Tank (Made of Dental Resin)

Image: Accessaries Pack

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Image: Theres also some Haloish Support Infantry

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Image: KBOP

Image: Bird of Pray & Kbop

Image: This Bird is Deceased

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Image: Shuttle n Inpsection Pod

Image: Cockpit Seats

Image: Solder

Image: Xwing ¹/₄ Wing Section

Image: Cockpit and Fuselage

Image: The dash and control panels

Image: The LED bundle for the Cockpit controls

Image: The cockpit's a drop in insert

Image: Closer Look at Luke

Image: The Main display will get a decal

Image: Cockpit Side panels

Image: An engine's intake

Image: Winglet's mounting pins

Image: Blown R2 and electronic's bay top

Image: Engine Belly Details

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