Our November meeting had 9 members in attendance. Everything is on track for our May contest. We have renewed our IPMS/USA chapter charter.  Our joint display case with Sumter Continues to offer us a way to showcase our work and we are grateful to Hobbytown for supplying the space.

I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving and that they are getting ready for the Christmas season. On that note; Our Christmas party will be held at the next meeting. We will have some snacks and a present  exchange. The way this works is that anyone who wishes to participate must bring a wrapped, unstarted, complete kit or hobby related items. Each participant’s name will be placed in a bowl and when drawn will have the option of taking a wrapped gift from anyone. The next person drawn can then take any unselected gift or a gift that has already been selected by a previously drawn person. A gift can change hands only once per round and anyone whose gift is selected will then draw again.

On a sad note, we must say goodbye to Chris Lamey. Chris was transferred to Portland, ME. By his work and left 12/6. Chris will be missed. He does plan to stay an active Internet member of the club and does hope to one day get transferred back this way. Good luck in Portland and try not to freeze!

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. Now posted on the website is coverage from the IPMS/USA Nationals. We have a lot of great pictures from Fred Stalbaum and a few from me that will showcase the models and the tours to NAS Oceana, Fighter Factory, MacArthur Memorial, Norfolk Naval Museum and the USS Wisconsin. There are a lot of quality photos here and it should be great for all to view. Fred also offers a CD Rom of the photos for $5.00 plus postage.  In addition Randy will have all the contest info and downloadable forms put on the website.

The contest flyer and entry forms are available for download directly from our website. So please pass that info on.

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.

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.

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

• 1/350 Comet Miniatures Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea

• 1/48 Collect-aire AT-9 “Jeep”

• Detail & Scale Pearl harbor book from Monogram Special kit

• Custom Dioramics Ruined Berlin Street Corner diorama base

• Detail and Scale Doolittle Raiders book from Monogram special kit.

On a side note the two Detail and Scale books were only available with the special boxing of the Monogram collector sets. The celebrate freedom Foundation has a limited number of these available from their website and will allow you to add these to your reference library with out the need to purchase the kits.

Completed kits and in progress items were:

• 1/48 Tamiya F4U-1A in Boyington’s marking by Hub Plott

• 1/35 M3 Grant by Chris Lamey

Here’s a list of the upcoming contests:

• Jan. 31^st –Feb. 1 Atlanta Model expo*

• May 17^th Our joint show, Lexington, SC*

• Feb. 8, Richmond, VA

• Mar.15, SCMA Greenville, SC*

• Mar. 29, Fairfax, VA*

• Apr. 12, Knoxville,TN*

• Apr.12 Weirton,WV

• May 3, SCMA Columbia,SC *

• May 17^th Our joint show, Lexington, SC*

• May 31, IPMS/Eastern Carolina

• June 6-7 Region 3 Regional, Spartanburg,SC*

• July 2-5,IPMS/USA Nationals Oklahoma City,OK*

• August 2, Charlotte,NC*

• Oct. 3-4 Region 2 Regional Reston, VA

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

Next meeting:
December 19th will be our next meeting at 7:00PM at Hobbytown. We will have a great Christmas party and show off our new purchases and built-ups too. So come on down and voice your opinion and participate. After all it is YOUR club.

Till next time

Hub