[IPMS/Techmages - Adventures in Imaginative Scale Modeling]

Models By IPMS/Techmages Members

September, 2007 Meeting
Chad's HO scale diesel with high nose addition.
^ Chad's HO scale diesel with high nose addition.
Sparky's cake.
^ Sparky's Cake.
.
^ Ter_or's Parafilm demo
LED strips.
^ 19 inch strip on left from fiberopticproducts, trimmed piece off a 200 inch reel from China
4:30-5:05PM
Pre-Dinner Meet-n-Greet
~5:30-7:30PM
Hoffman Estates' Blackhawk Recreation Center
Techmage monthly meeting:
Attendees:
Ken 'Valkyrie,'
Chad 'ChadR',
Bob 'bobber',
James 'ambassador_londo,'
Larry J. 'scifi58' & Cynthia 'Plant Sex',
Jon 'Vir' Kunatz,
John 'Onezero,'
Terry 'Ter_or,'
Neil 'Mechmoneky,'
Bob 'bobber,'
Joe 'Sparky,' and
Larry 'lds20'

Clyde 'Zog' --- in spirit
Club Business:
Ongoing:
We are still in the design stage for a new T-shirt for the group.  John is still waiting for design ideas for "Techmages- Heavy Industries".  Please E-mail John with ideas.
Road Trips:
The next Techmage Road trip is the Star Wars Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry; Chicago, IL.
Dues/ Collections:
Joe Suttie (Treasurer) did not report anything new.
We are looking good for this year, we have cancelled 2 club meetings this leaves us some savings, maybe we can payback the folks that helped out last year?
Group projects/ Build days:
The Mech Bay Project discussed having another meet day to talk about the project and/or get a little work done.  No Date or location has been confirmed.
Greeblie roundup:
Please be sure to contact Joe if interested in purchasing from the Great Greeblie Hoarder.  Mike a modeler we met at Wonderfest, is interested in getting a lot of Greeblies, more than I can cast unless I dedicate all my free time to it, so he's going to buy some molds from me, this is an option for those out there that can [pressure] cast.
Upcoming shows/ Events:
10/13/2007 Oktoberfest (Lester Fest) -- October 12-14
Details http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewforum.php?f=71

Our next meeting will be at the Museum of Science & Industry at 1100 on 13 October for the Star Wars exhibit.  Tickets must be paid for by September 30 to reserve a seat; $18/adult, $12/child.  Spouses & families welcome.
10/20-21/2007 iHobby Expo at the Rosemont Convention Center, October 20-21.
We will be helping put on a make-n-take in conjunction with Iawta and Testors.  Volunteers are needed for both days; parking and admittance will be paid for you.  Please talk to Terry if interested.
Techamges @ iHobby 2006
The address of the convention center is:
Rosemont Convention Center
5555 N. River Road
Rosemont, IL 60018
11/10/07 Butch O'Hare Contest, Darien IL, November 10
We will once again meet during the contest, which is in the same place as always (Lakeview Jr. High School,  701 Plainfield Road).  The contest runs from 9am - 5pm; we usually head over to the Homerun Inn for lunch around noon.
Techmages @ BOH 2006
If you are mapping the show location it is
Lake View Jr. Highschool:
701 Plainfield Rd
Downers Grove, IL 60516-4940
12/8/07 December Holiday gathering/pot luck.
This year's event is tentatively scheduled for either Larry Strickland's place (Northbrook), or Joe Suttie's (South Elgin).
There will be a raffle of kits donated by Bill Gudmunson at the party, with proceeds going toward the Hoffman Estates meeting room.
12/31/07 Design a kit contest
Fantastic Plastic - www.FantasticPlastic.com -- is having a contest to design a new spacefighter.  Details are here:

Starship Design Contest
3/23/208 BIG NEWS
'Sparky' Joe & Karen Suttie are expecting!  The baby is due in March.
Editor's Note: Events marked in Bold are 'traditionally' attended by Techmages, contact the officer's about carpooling if you'd like too
Introduction of new members:
No new members at the September meeting.
Awards:
None.
Kit Reviews:
None.
Announcements for Next Meeting:
Location:
Next meeting will not be held, as mentioned above, we will be heading down to the Museum of Science & Industry getting there by 1100 for our group reservation with the Star Wars exhibit.

Festivities actually run all weekend, as serval folks are coming from out of town.  See the thread or contact the officers for my info.
Remember we won't be back at the Hoffman Estates room till next year; Butch O'hare is November, and December is the potluck.
Demo:
No Demos 'till next year.  For the next demo Ter_or has lined up Steve "Mad Dog" Day to cover:
Groundwork, especially the plaster and plaster cloth, lots of railroad techniques.  It's pretty cool, and surprisingly easy. . .
Special Guests:
None

Onto the meeting:
Demo / Speaker:
Terry 'ter_or' gave a demo on using Parafilm-M for masking.  It's especially useful for covering complicated detail.  Video from the demo is available via StarshipModeler.com

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/basics/tm_parafilm.htm

Terry had a number of interesting tools, including Silicone Clay Shapering tools that also work great with epoxy putty work.  The black ones are most useful for the Parafilm tricks.  Gray and white are useful for epoxy putty work.  He got these from The Compleat Sculptor - www.sculpt.com

see:
http://www.sculpt.com/catalog_98/CLAYTOOLS/clayshapers.htm
Terry's demo sparked discussion on other masking techniques that won't pull up paint.  Artists kneadable (gum) erasers, silly putty and blu-tack (poster putty) were mentioned as alternatives.
Show and Tell 9-8-2007:
Terry 'Ter-or':
Terry brought some Cobra Company conversion sets for the 1/48 Italieri SH-60B helicopter kit.  Ter now has decals and aftermarket detailing sets to build a USCG 'Jayhawk' HH-60.
Terry also showed off his progress on a scratchbuild 1/100 scale catapult for Starblazers/Space Battleship Yamato fighters (it's intended for the recent Bandai EX- releases).  Ter is building this primarily from Renshape.
1) 1/48 Italieri SH-60B conversion sets from Cobra company.
2) 1/100 scale catapult for Starblazers/Space Battleship Yamato fighters
3) 1/25 "SA-6" from Trumpeter
James 'ambassador mollari':
James is superdetailing the old MPC Stardestroyer.  So far he has re-worked the bridge/superstructure with lots of small details added, and added extra landing bays into the main hull.  There are sill many, may details to add. James plans to light this with fiber optics.
1) MPC Stardestroyer in progress.
2) Star Wars reference book, damaged in shipping.
Neil 'mechmonkey':
Neil brought his 1/24 Scopdog, a work in progress.  He's got the basic skeleton together.

He also showed off a book of Valkyrie (Macross) art, much of which has been used on boxtops for the various Hasegawa kits.
1) 1/24 Scopdog (VTOM)
2) A book of Valkyrie (Macross) art
Ken 'Valkyrie':
Ken found one his 'Grail' kits on an eBay Japan auction.  He showed off the all-resin, 1/250 Yukikaze from Space Battleship Yamato.  He's also been casting up some complicated pieces, including some fan/compressor blades.

Finally, he passed around some insanely small machined metal details from Adler's Nest, including rivets that are 0.4 mm in diameter!
1) 1/250 Resin Yukikaze from SpaceBattleship Yamato.
2) Gribblies from spare space in various molds.
3) Self imposed casting challenge, the fan blades from an old hover bike.
4) Awesome machines parts from Adler's Nest Rivits, and thrusters with through hole openings.
Chad Ryan:
Chad has been working on a series of three diesel locomotives in HO scale.  He brought one, which he is converting to a "high nose" configuration (from a "low nose" stock kit).  So far he's added snowplows, lift rings, and ladders from various aftermarket and scratchbuilt details.
1) HO scale Diesel conversion in progress.
Larry 'scifi-58':
Larry is building a 1/24 scale Ferrari Enzo by Tamiya for IPMS/Lakes' "Build Something You Normally Wouldn't" theme.  So far, he has the engine completed.

He also showed off his scratchbuilt 1/35 scale Bushmaster (mech) cockpit, which is completed wired for lights.

Finally, he brought along his assembled Fine Molds Y-Wing, which he reports was a dream to build.
1) 1/35 scale Paper 2 Styrene scratchbuilt Mech (Bushwacker).
2) 1/24 scale Tamiya Ferrari Enzo.
3) Assembled Fine Molds Y-Wing
Jon 'Vir':
Jon showed some of the booty he acquired at Nationals last month.  He woke Ken up from a sound sleep with his Special Hobby 1/32 X-15 kit, which looks really impressive in the box.  He also dug up a Warbird Tech special on the F-86, in anticipation of the forthcoming Chinese kit in 1/32.
Jon had a built and (mostly) painted Fine Molds Y-Wing and (continuing the Starfighter theme) a partially-assembled Hasegawa 1/48 F-104.  The Y-Wing was placed on a couple of the new Kotobyuka Mech Factory bases, which are generic 1/100 floor and wall sets meant to resemble interior hangar bay details.  Each of three types come with the same interlocking floor and wall pieces, with different detail parts (bomb cart, cherry picker, etc).
1) 1/32 X-15 kit.
2) Fine Molds Y-Wing partially painted and sitting on the new Kotobyuka Mech Factory bases.
John 'OneZero':
John brought his nearly completed 1/72 scale F-302 (Stargate), the first cast of Black Sun's upcoming 1/48 Colonial Viper Mk2 (mastered by Alfred Wong), Model Addix' new 1/72 E-Wing kit, and VA Miniatures' 1/537 shuttlebay conversion for the old ERTL enterprise-A kit.
1) 1/72 scale inprogress F-302 buildup for boxart
2) 1/48 scale Colonial Viper Mk2 (first casting).
3) 1/72 E-Wing.
4) 1/537 shuttlebay conversion.
Joe 'Sparky':
Joe brought cake to celebrate his big new project.  It was yummy.

He also brought a bunch of different LEDs and mounts he's been experimenting with.  The ones from China are stupid cheap, but easy to use and produce some great effects.  He made a test order to see how things worked out.  From paypal to receiving it took 8 days.  He picked 2 sample LEDs sets out of their vast inventory to see how the color looked between them (consistency).  One was the typical directional white LED and the other was a stubby lensed LED with 170 degree viewing angle.  Both cost $0.1095 each.  He also had a roll of LED strip that cost $1.0951 per 2 inch link.  The strip runs off 12 volts and can be trimmed at the marked points, maintaining the 12 volt requirements.  He had 2 similar strips 1 each from fiberopticproducts.com and Oznium.com.  The fiberopticproducts and Oznium strips look to be identical product, at different prices.  Color looks similar between all three strips.  The strip the LEDs attach is wider on the product from China.  Maximum length is 200 inches from the product from China.  Minimum order with them is a bit high though: $99.

http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/

He also had a sampling of tiny Surface mount LEDs direct ordered from knightbrite (California).
https://www.us.kingbright.com/default.asp
This was because digikey showed non-stock on most their products.  There's a $5 dollar fee for orders less than $25 similar to digikey's.  He plans to use some to light the common mech cockpit console used in the team Euro's traveling model, others went to Chad for his HO diesel locomotives.  But the smallest of them are for an attempt at lighting a lamp for a metal mini Terry is working.
1) [Announcement] Cake
2) Reel of LED ribbon lights from China
3) 2 similar Sample LED-ribbon lights from fiberopticproducts.com and oznium.com
4) 2 types of white LEDs: 23o 12000 mCd (directional) and 90o 1500 mCd (omini directional) from China
5) Several SMT LEDs direct ordered from knightbright
Bob 'bobber' and Larry 'LDS40':
Larry and Bob brought their own inestimable je ne sais quois, but no models

Techmages September Meeting:

Image: Pre meeting chat-a-thon

Image: Everyone's setting up their show-n-tell

Image: Milling about


Jon's FM Y-Wing:

Image: Y-wing in a bay

Image: Started Painting


Larry's FM Y-wing in a bay:

Image:


James' MPC Star Destroyer:

Image: StarDestroyer

Image: Trench details

Image: Command Tower

James' Damaged Book:

Image: sheet of paper as a cushion?

Image: paper won't fill the gap

Image: Split binding

Image: all the pages popped from the spine

Image:


Chad's HO Diesel:

Image: Tail with new grab handles

Image: High Nose addition

Image: Lift rings added

Chad's Milling homework:

Image:


Ken's 1/250 Resin Yukikaze:

Image:

Casting challenge:

Image:

Image: Scrap parts


John's F302 BoxArt build:

Image:

And Scrap Castings:

Image: Scarp castings


Ter_or's Catapult in a tool box:

Image:


Sparky's Lights:

Image: 2 types of LED ribbon strips

Image: the reel from China and the strip from oznium

Image: 2 23o 12000 mCd LEDs prt# 520MW7C

Image: Good color consistency

Image: They are directional

Image: 2 90o 1500 mCd straw hat LEDs prt# 470MW7C

Image: Very broad beams

Image: China LED strip and fiberopticproducts strip

Piece of Cake:

Image:

Image:


Parafilm Demo:

Image: Cutting some strips

Image: Riding dragon mini

Image: Base Star masked a year ago,

Image: Parafilm mask removes safely

Movie: Good for Softmasking ~5 megs

Movie: Masking a gap like on a mini's armor ~25 megs

Movie: Fold the film over on itself to work it into a gap ~32 megs

Movie: Camo style scheme ~3 megs

Movie: Full demo Part 1 on youtube

Movie: Full demo Part 2 on youtube

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Last updated 24 September 2007.



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