I still need to get the name and address of the trophy shop that Keith Frappe had the Best of Show trophy made at that he so generously donated so that we can have the winner engraved on the first plaque.

Big changes have occurred on our website. First off I would like to thank Phil Campbell for his efforts on our old site, which was part of Phil’s AOL site. He worked hard and did a good job for us. The changes are that we now have a new, professional website designed and maintained by Joye Poole and Randy King. This site allows for much more information and graphics to be displayed. The site address is www.oocities.org/swamp001. This site will now be our permanent web home. It has such features as; Archives, Club History (still under Construction), Club news, Member showcase, Members info, Model gallery, Monty Tuck award page, Meeting info, Upcoming events, past events, reference gallery, modeler’s resources and links to over 150 model related sites. As of 8/15/01 it had 1276 hits in just over one month of operation.

To keep the website fresh we need members to bring models to the meetings for photographing. Submit to Randy at rking@sc.rr.com your areas of modeling interest and also to write some how-to articles on any building or modeling techniques that you use, to do your own review of a recently built kit or an inbox review of recently purchased kits. Also each month one of our members and that member’s models will be featured. We will vote on who will be featured each month. This month’s featured member is John Sherrer. John is an accomplished armor modeler and published author in FSM magazine.

Speaking of John, he did the second half of his diorama demo at the meeting where he covered (no pun intended) the various media for doing groundwork and covering your diorama base. Also covered were the various types of material you could use such as resin, celluclay, sandpaper and so on. This included a new material called Lattecrete, which he found out about from Keith Frappe. This material does not shrink when dry and provides good adhesion to the base surface. John used this on one base for a current project and will keep us updated on its progress.

People have been asking for the following demos: 

• Weathering of vehicles and aircraft
• plastic polishing, 
• airbrush tips, 
• natural metal finishes, 
• airbrushing. 

Volunteers are needed.

New items on display for us to drool over were:

1. Finescale Modeler new issue

2. Flypast Magazine new issue

3. New issue of SAMI

4. Aeroplane Monthly new issue

5. 1/350 Banner USS Arizona

6. New issue of Air Classics

7. 1/72 Fine molds R2Y1 "Keiun"

8. 1/1400 Starcrafts Saber Class Starship from Star Trek

9. Classic Airframes Grumman J2S-5, 6 "Duck"

10. Classic Airframes Lockheed Hudson

11. Ali D’Italia book on the Re-2005 and the SM. 82

12. Warp Models Nebula class starship conversion for the Enterprise "D"

Completed kits and in progress items were:

1. Medusa built from Geometrics kit by Phil Campbell
2. 1/72 F8F Bearcat by Paul Lovell

A full report on the IPMS/USA Nationals was given at the meeting. As was the location for the next two conventions. Next year's Nationals are at Virginia Beach, VA. With the 2003 show awarded to Oklahoma City.

Here’s a list of the upcoming contests:

• September 15 - Asheboro, North Carolina*

• September 29 - Spartanburg, South Carolina*

• September 29 - Charleston, South Carolina (SCMA show)*

• September 29 – Fremont, Ohio

• October 6 - Dayton, Ohio

• October 12 - 13 – Region 2 Regional in Roanoke, Virginia*

• October 20 - SCMA Charleston*

• November 3 - Salisbury, North Carolina *

• February 1 - 2, 2002 Region 3 regional in Atlanta, Georgia*

• March 9, 2002 - Belmont, North Carolina*

The ones marked with an * are the ones members of our club and Sumter are planning to attend. If interested in joining us talk to Hub.

We are working on doing a display at the Forest Acres City Festival and it is possible that Sumter will join us in this display. I am waiting for more information from the festival’s director. We will discuss this more at the meeting.

There are still a few magazines left from Dr. Morin’s estate. If anyone wants to look through them give me a call.

This month we will start a new feature, which is a kit review. This months subject will be a short in box review of the Classic Airframes Lockheed Hudson Mk.I. This kit retails for $59.95 and is the first injection-molded kit of the Hudson in 1/48 scale. It consists of 66 gray plastic parts, 28 clear plastic parts, 36 resin parts and 4 vacuform parts with decals for a standard Mk.I and the civilian version that brought Neville Chamberlain home from Berlin.

This kit like each preceding one from Classic has improved upon its predecessor. In fact this one sets a new standard for CA. Small sprue attachment points, finely engraved lines, satin plastic, crystal clear clear parts with the joining points falling on panel lines. Improved stout attachment points for cockpit, landing gear and stabilizer parts. But the wings still have only a simple butt joint, so a spar or pinning will help strengthen this. Dry fitting of some of the major components shows an excellent fit.

Over all I can safely state that this is the best effort yet from CA and can recommend it to anyone with some limited-run kit experience. This kit bodes well for the forthcoming Re2000, 2001, Supermarine Walrus and SM. 79. Thanks to Classic Airframes for continuing to do interesting subjects that fill many important gaps in 1/48 WWII aircraft.

Next meeting:
AUGUST 23^rd -  7:00PM at Hobbytown. 
Hub Plott will be doing demo on working with resin parts and kits. So come on down and voice your opinion and participate. After all it is YOUR club

Till next time

Hub