Our July meeting had 7 members and one guest in attendance! Dan waters who transferred from the Asheville area was finally able to attend a meeting and we were glad that he could join us. Also Jason Crews came to our meeting. Jason is 12 years old and is working on an F-15E. He joined the club and became our second junior member. Welcome Jason! Our joint display case with Sumter is offering us a way to showcase our work and we are grateful to Hobbytown for supplying the space.

We also have gotten good news about Alex Smith’s dad as he has improved a great deal and is getting back to normal after the ultralight crash. 

Our website continues to grow and improve. The site address is  www.oocities.org/swamp001. Everyone will need to be featured to keep this site fresh. I have spoken to Randy and we will be updating the site soon.

People have been asking for the following demos: Weathering of vehicles and aircraft, plastic polishing, Airbrush tips, natural metal finishes, airbrushing. So volunteers are needed.

On the demo note; I did an aircraft panel line wash demo. I use Windsor-Newton’s burnt umber artist oil tube paint and thin with mineral spirits to wash in the panel lines on most all but dark blue and black aircraft. For those I use a light gray. When this is applied over a Future floor wax gloss coat and allowed to dry the excess just wipes off and the color stays inside the panel lines.

We want to make sure that our flyers and Sumter’s are up in the local hobby shops. If you notice either club’s missing when you next visit a shop please let me know so they can be replaced. It is very important to let potential members know both clubs are out there.

Fred, Paul, Tony and I went to Virginia Beach for the IPMS nationals at the end of July. This was a great time. With almost 700 entrants and over 1700 models entered it was a great success. Fred, Tony and I each entered some models but unfortunately did not come away with any awards. The vendor room was spectacular and many great deals were to be found. I was fortunate enough to be able to fill most of those members who could not attend want lists. We got to tour the Battleship USS Wisconsin, Fighter Factory Warbird restoration and museum facility as well as other sites. A full report will be given at the meeting and a feature on our website will also be put up once we assemble the pictures from Paul and Fred.

New items on display for us to drool over were:

•  Finescale Modeler new issue

• Flypast Magazine new issue

• New issue of SAMI

• Aeroplane Monthly new issue

• New issue of Air Classics

• 1/48 YF-23 by Collect-aire

• 1/48 Bv-138 By HML

• 1/1400 USS Excelsior by Starcrafts

Completed kits and in progress items were:

• 1/48 Tamiya Me-262by Alex Smith

• 1/48 Collect-aire FH-1 “Phantom” by Hub Plott

• 1/35 Tamiya Panzer Kamfwagon VG by Chris Lamey

• 1/48 Hasegawa Ki-84 by Paul Lovell

• Artist Doug Alexander Gregory’s “Anoko” Bust Sculpted by Mike Petryszak.

Here’s a list of the upcoming contests:

• Sept. 4, Sumter Intra-club contest

• Sept. 7, Anniston, AL

• Sept.21, Huntsville, AL

• Sept. 28, Pensacola, Fl.

• Sept.28, Spartanburg,SC*

• Oct. 12-13 Jacksonville, Fl

• Oct. 19, Shawfest Airshow, Sumter,SC
  
  Those with an * are the ones members of our club are planning to attend.

Next meeting:
August 22nd will be our next meeting at 7:00PM at Hobbytown. No demo is scheduled for this meeting, but if I have it ready I will try to do my panel line wash demo. So come on down and voice your opinion and participate. After all it is YOUR club.

Till next time

Hub