My Column
As many of you know I do not like meeting in the small room at the church. That is where we had to met for the June meeting and we managed to cram about 50 people in a room one third the size of our usual venue with little air conditioning for the most part. Yet we managed to hold a contest, enroll two new members into our group and have a successful door prize event. Plus, there were a number of very nice models on display and in the contest.
Congratulations to the winners of our second contest of the year. Only two contests sounds rather strange, when we used to have a contest every month divided into a theme or two and a regular contest with multiple entries in each . Then each of those events might have been divided into categories and then into scales.
Only six meetings left in this modeling year and that does not seem possible. Remember that we have a Bassett show coming up in August This month we have put out 18 issues of the GLUE at Hal's. It seems that more and more modelers are arriving in El Paso. If you run into any of these folks, invite them to our meetings.
The church has asked us to move the meeting to July 5 in order that we may use the usual room. I offered to help set up the room for their Vacation Bible School after our July meeting that was scheduled on the 12th but we will comply with their request for the 5th.
Bring a Model and Bring a Friend to the next meeting.
June Contest Winners
Aircraft
Mike Boudreaux took the First Place slot with a Seafire Mk 45.
Marco Gonzalez won Second Place with his CH-53E.
Jose Patino was the Third Place winner with a C-47.
Jens Ritter came in fourth with an F-4J.
Miscellaneous
Gary Boggs was the First Place winner with his Tiger I.
Dixi Fischer took SecondP place with a diorama Campus Friends
Mike Garcia came in Third with his Tamiya Yamato.
General category
Alexander Traver took second with a 1964 Impala SS.
Duane Velasquez took second with LAV-25 in 1/72nd scale.
Thanks to all who entered, those who judged and to Jim McDaniel and Mike Drapes for calculating the winners. Bill Coster , our usual contest director had a family event and was unable to attend.
Our two new members that joined the group were Marcos Gonzalez.and Reiner Boehme. Welcome to both and thanks to Michael Kennedy as he enlisted Reiner and paid his dues . Let it be noted that John Estes taught with the Senior Boehme at Bel Air High School for a number of years. Reiner’s father was an industrial arts teacher there. You have seen Marcos’ modeling efforts with his helicopter work. Reiner does pen and ink renderings of aircraft, armor, etc.
The Meeting
Jim McDaniel was back at this meeting and he had a great looking F6F-3 built from the Eduard kit. This build took Jim about 8 months to complete with his work and illness slowing him down considerably. He also brought a couple of the new Wingnut World War I 1/32 scale kits, the Bristol F2b and the a Hisso powered SE-5. The kits live up to all the hype that has been written about them. They are almost too good to take out of the boxes and to build. The instruction booklets are outstanding works in themselves
and should be offered as books on the kits.
Daniel Hunter had a 1/72 of a Flower Class Corvette, the “USS Saucy,“as a work in progress. He had it laid out on a table and it took up the entire sixteen square feet of space. There are lots and lots of parts. This should keep him busy for several weeks. He also brought a Monogram B-25J in 1/48th scale,
Jim Davis had a Black Bunny and a White Bunny from VX-5. Both models were Fujimi kits in 1/72nd scale. Nice work.
Mike Boudreaux had a Planet Models SeaFire 45 in 1/48th scale. He also has as a Work in Progress a Spitfire 21 also from Planet Models. On the Mark 21, the decals just fell apart so Mike is in the market for some new ones, so this model should be finished by the next meeting. Seems that Gator Masks may have the correct shape and sizes needed, so maybe instead of decals, the model will show up with painted codes. Several positive comments were made about the selection of colors used by Mike on both kits.
Marco Gonzalez had his CH-53E Super Stallion to show again. As a work in progress he had CH-46 “Bullfrog.” Toward the end of the meeting his brother Carlos and his sister Alicia came to see what goes on at our meetings. Welcome and return when you wish.
Dane Alley had a 1/540 Coral Sea CV-43(box scale) as a WIP. He also had a1/542 Lexington CV-16. Both were Revell kits and Dane had done some correcting to the basic shapes to get a more actual representation of that particular ship at the time frame selected.
Alexander Traver brought a Revell 1/24th scale 1964 Impale SS to show and he entered it in the contest
where it placed.
Reiner Boehme brought a pen and ink drawing of White 6, an Me 109 in the Desert Scheme. Nice work.
John Estes had four aircraft models finished in Alclad II. One sprayed over bare plastic, one over 16473 ADC gray, another over C and W Gloss Green from the Floquil RR Paint colors. His fifth model was finished in Floquil Platinum Mist. Someone had asked what you had to do to get the Alclad look of real metal. John hoped that the models provided an answer.
Don Fenton provided John Estes with some info on the Accurate Miniatures B-25C/D. Thanks, Don for your expert help.
