or- july 2019 jim’s issue no · 2019. 7. 2. · diary dates – july 14th romsey crosfield hall...
TRANSCRIPT
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Diary Dates –
July 14th
Romsey Crosfield hall
August 4th
Avon Thornbury
August 11th
Boscombe Down Aviation
Collection Old Sarum
Jim -
July 2019 – Jim’s Issue No.91
. Modeling in June
As our meeting was on the eve of D day 75 we held a one minute silence to remember the
sacrifice all those years ago. Following on from this it was confirmed we would
contribute to the Normandy Memorial Trust fund from our show profit, maybe £250 -
£300 depending on the treasurer’s thoughts, and if there is an amount that would get a
mention that we had contributed. It was also suggested that we might have a collecting
tin for this fund on our stand at any future shows we attend, more thought must be put in
to how we implement this.
Model of the Month, A large selection of extremely good models again, which included
a couple that were date and locality relevant. It was one of these, a diorama by Henry of
an Airspeed Horsa Mk1 being loaded that won. Congratulations to him and thanks to all
the other exhibitors among them was a new member Ian Thorn who brought along some
of his amazing card models including a huge Saturn V rocket with all its stages and lunar
module. Following on from this and as mentioned last month our members have been
taking their excellent modelling skills around the shows. Salisbury saw Paul gaining gold,
a silver and a highly commended, Greig won two silver and Malcolm a bronze. And just
prior to that Paul won bronze at the Euro Miniature Expo at Folkestone. Just proving
what superb modelers we have in our club. We have now had official confirmation that
Ken Bugler is organising a show in Yeovil on October 26th
and as some of you have
expressed an interest we are booking a 12ft stand. Probably you all know this, but our
old friends and founder members of this club Ray and Judy are retiring and therefore
closing their Plastic Pastimes shop at Ashley Cross in September, however Ray will
continue with the mail order business. We wish them well for the future.
cont
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I must admit I don’t remember ( it’s an age thing) if anyone volunteered to coordinate our
Telford ‘theme’ display this year but I can still remind you all to carry on making your
Vikings menagerie models ready for November. Luckily these Animal theme models will
often fit in with our own preferred subjects so are not just being made for Telford.
Jim
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Loading the Horsa –“Left hand down a bit – then, hard right!”
My thanks go to all those who voted for this diorama for the June 2019 Model of the
Month. This 1.72 scale glider diorama, inspired by contemporary photograph, captures a
common sight on local Allied airfields, in Spring 1944. It depicts British Paratroopers
struggling to manhandle an Airborne Jeep into a Mk.I Horsa glider, in preparation for the
Allies’ assault on D-Day, 6th
June 1944.
The Italeri 1970s Airspeed Horsa moulding is widely available via the Internet and
retailers, having not yet been superseded by another kit in the forty years since. The
model is tail heavy, so a steel pin was required to fix the nose, through the nose wheel
into the acrylic base (DisplaysUK), which was covered with railway accessory grass
(Gaugemaster). Cockpit binnacle is slightly inaccurate but adding seatbelts cut from wine
bottle lead foil, and wire levers, improves the appearance.
The Airfix Paratroopers (1960s moulding), were cut and spliced to create the correct
positions required, plus cyanoacrylate glue to fill holes. The Airfix Jeep and trailer (2004
moulding) were stocked with Italeri & Fujimi fuel cans, Czech Master medical pack and
bedrolls, scratch built radio, battery, ammunition boxes, tarpaulin and stores. Scratch
built ammunition boxes, radio and battery were plastic; rack retaining straps were lead
foil.
I decided to show the huge flaps in the ‘down’ position. No 1.72 scale Horsa flaps are
commercially available. Lancaster flaps are the best substitute, and the front parts of the
flap bay were used to create Jeep loading gutters. The tarpaulin was sheet lead and thin
wire ‘ropes’. The glider, jeep and trailer were airbrushed with Humbrol matt enamels;
RAF ‘night black’ made by adding some white to matt black, internal green by adding
light grey to their ‘Cockpit Green’. Figures were painted with Lifecolor acrylics. D-Day
stripes were painted on, slightly imperfectly, as in 1944. As Jez kindly pointed out, many
Airborne Jeeps had their windscreen removed, to save weight. It was a very satisfying
build, in time for D-Day 75, and will go into the Friends of the New Forest Airfields
Museum.
Henry
Photos by Henry follow
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A weekend by the sea
Quickly following on from the recent BMSS show was the re-ignited ‘Euro’. Once the
premier figure show of the year, it had gradually been overtaken by others on the
continent and although it struggled to keep going the main organisers kept squeezing
more money from the traders until a lot just gave up and moved elsewhere and Euro was
no more. Rather than let the show die out completely three modellers stepped in a couple
of years ago to organise a ‘new Euro’
Both old and new are held in the quirky Lees Cliff Hall in Folkestone which looks like a
converted bandstand on the promenade. Step inside to the coffee bar and you find a
central set of steps which lead into an underground world consisting of what looks like an
old time music hall and various galleries and rooms which are all built into the cliff
below the prom.
The main hall was filled with traders and club stands around a central hub of
demonstrators beavering away on tables happy to discuss techniques, ideas or just chat
modelling stuff. The competition hall, a couple of floors below is a long room one side of
which is floor to ceiling windows facing the sea so the light is excellent (unlike the recent
Bovington event)
Alongside the expected figures competition classes included sci-fi and fantasy as well as
armour, dioramas, ships and aircraft. Entries came from America and all over the
continent and, as expected, the quality was stunning in all cases. The few competition
classes are very broad and the one for historical figures was open to any scale of figure or
bust and is judged solely on painting so no points for bases, modifications or conversion
work done. (A rather odd decision was to split this class in two and have each half
judged by a different set of judges!)
Mike Blank (who also won best of show) gave a presentation in one of the rooms about
creating dynamism in figures and although attended by only a few keen types (your
scribe included) was not to be missed. Using a simple wire stick figure Mike talked,
posed himself and then altered the armature to show how even a faceless wire ‘stick man’
could evoke arrogance, contrition and pride for example by making tiny adjustments to
head angles and limb positions – brilliant and well worth the trip in itself. One advantage
of a presentation like this is the opportunity to ask questions about not only the subject in
hand, but painting, sculpting tools, ideas and anything else that you’ve ever wondered
about. (Mike has long been a hero of mine so you can imagine my delight when he came
up to me the next day and shook my hand)
Competition entries needed to be on display for both days of the show which did make it
rather an expensive outing. Folkestone is not the most salubrious of towns, but not
withstanding this hotel room prices ranged from blimey that’s quite a lot to the **@>
Two nights in a tiny room of a rather run down establishment (chosen since it was only
about 100 yards from the venue) made for a fair dent on the budget, but I compensated by
acquiring several lovely kits at rock bottom prices (the most expensive model I bought
was the new £15 figure from Troop 54) so together with my bronze medal I came home
tired, but happy. Now where are my brushes. . . . .
Paul Seeley
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This year’s forthcoming shows
July 14
th – Romsey. Crosfield Hall Romsey Sunday *
July 14th
– North Somerset Helicopter Museum Weston-Super-Mare
August 4th
– Avon Thornbury Sunday *
August 11th
– Boscombe Down Aviation Collection. Old Sarum *
September 14th
– Farnborough Modelfest. Camberley *
September 28th
/29th
- South West Model Show Autumn, Bovington *
October 20th
– Ferndown RBL club RBL hall Sunday *
October 26th
– Yeovil Bucklers Mead Academy *
November 9th
/10th
– Scale Model World. Telford *
November 17th
- Army Flying Museum Middle Wallop Sunday *
November 24th
– Bugle Call . Nailsea *
*= we have a table
Photos from Cristchurch’s D Day exhibition John Levesley
Some of the models on show. Brian Bisp and John Levesley contributed these examples. See our web site for more cont
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Just in time On a hot sunny Friday two intrepid time travellers , Andy Sweet and Ian Groves , boarded their Tardis (Audi) and made their way to the depths of deepest Wiltshire - Broad Chalke to be precise- to sample the ways our forefathers lived before us. The Chalke Valley History Festival has been going some years now and improves in layout and attractions each year. Their main goal is to inspire schoolchildren about history and they have activities from most periods of British History. The show is also open to the public and there are a lot of lectures, presented by some of the top historians in the country, covering all sorts of topics going on in different marquees. Andy and I really enjoyed a short half hour lecture presented by Paul Beaver on Air Chief Marshall Tedder which could easily have been twice as long and you would have still wanted more. There were a lot of re-enactment groups covering the Saxon/Viking, Medieval , English Civil War, Napoleonic and WWll periods, There was an impressive display of WWll equipment including a Self Propelled 17pdr Achilles, a Panzer lV, two Shermans - one complete with Cullin style hedge cutter and an American 90mm AA gun and M4 towing Tractor plus numerous jeeps and bikes There were a number of pop up talks around the site including one by Dave Berryman ( a regular visitor to our show) on USAAF groups in England. Billed as the star of the show was a supposedly 4 times scale replica of a Tiffy - I believe that is a Hawker Typhoon for you plane... sorry aircraft enthusiasts which didnt look 4 times larger than life despite the Events Programme's claim. Closer inspection of a board displaying details showed it to be about 1.5 times larger than the original. Perhaps they should ask some model clubs for advice on scale modelling !. Overall I thought it was well worth the visit and is usually held around the last week of June each year although the weekend part unfortunately does clash with Tankfest. Ian Groves
Club contact details –
** Club official site – https://poolevikingsblog.wordpress.com
** Facebook is www.facebook.com/Poole-Vikings-Model-Club-242610765772125/
Newsletter production by – Jim Smith © July 2019
https://poolevikingsblog.wordpress.com/http://www.facebook.com/Poole-Vikings-Model-Club-242610765772125/