High Plains Modelers High Plains Gazette

Region X Newsletter of the Year 2011

Volume 2, Issue 6 February 2013

January Meeting Notes By Chris Nugent track colors for armor, in aircraft being worked on March. Last year a decal outside the hangar in a th CoMMiESFest is Feb 16 . clinic on complex and field, and occupied han- Jeff asked about carpool- large decals was re- gars with US equipment. ing. quested. Jeff asked about Took a vote and the dio 72 nd scale antenna installs build for Nats has been CommiesFest Diorama Re: the theme build for on aircraft. Dave Dardine approved. July, ideas floated were offered to do this one. Jeff something Polish, Yellow, also floated the idea of Jeff discussed bringing in a Colorado theme. Looks glosscoats, esp. using Fu- WIPs to the monthly like Colorado wins it. Inside this issue: ture. Chip wants to see a meetings for the rest of the club to critique before Theme for October show: clinic on masking clean January Meeting Notes 1 these are ready for Nats. Korean war theme, a 1953 lines. Jeff is doing an A/V Took a vote and this was Valentines Day Rant theme, Lucky 13 theme, presentation in February 1 approved as well. decision tabled until next regarding winter weather- The Carpet Monster 2 ing for armor. month. Carpool to CoMMiES- Fest? To be discussed at Book Review by Pablo Financial report was a Dave D. discussed the 3 January B&B CoMMiES- general $3500 for now, group build for the Na- Fest sponsorships? Voted National Contest Update 4 written report to be sub- tionals show. Diorama of on a $50 sponsorship for mitted later. German airfield, captured March Calendar 8 and now used by the the CoMMiES and was Flyers: postponed for now Americans. Everyone approved. IPMS Membership App 12 pending Larry’s return. would contribute a por- Randy stated dues are tion. Hangar would oc- Regarding clinics- Tomas due next month’s meeting cupy corner of the dio, offered to do a clinic on (February). ◊ with a captured German What’s New This Month: Did you get a Model for Valentines Day? • IPMS National Update • Pictures of Models By Jeff Brown As it was pointed out to know aren’t out carous- • The Italian Campaign me, buying you a model ing, so I don’t understand • Neither did I. Apparently so you can lock yourself in why significant others CommiesFest Recap this is a one-way holiday your room alone is not don’t really appreciate • Clinics on Page 13 where men shower what Valentine’s Day is our hobby. women with chocolates about. It’s not like I was and flowers and a nice going to work on the Oh well, maybe for my dinner and in return we model on Valentine’s day. birthday… then again. don’t get a gift. Most model builders I

Volume 2, Issue 6 The Carpet Monster: Editor’s Opinion By Jeff Brown them they are yards away piece of carpet for a miss- (Editor) from where they first hit ing part. Sometimes we the ground. How does a find other parts, ones that Physics cease to exist small part that weighs so have been missing for when building a model. little fly so far bouncing years, despite having vac- In fact a lot of things on a soft carpet when it uumed the floor a hun- cease to exist when build- was dropped from only 1- dred times. Where do ing a model, including 2 feet? Mind boggling. they go? The same void as patience, anger manage- socks? Probed by aliens ment and sanity. Anyway, some missing like Larry Hersh? How do parts you can scratch they find their way back? I can’t find the part for my I am sure we have all Focke Wulf. build, some missing dropped a part on the parts you can cover with I don’t know the answers floor, never to find it. De- mud, so it isn’t a total that’s why I’m asking… all spite hours upon hours of loss, yet we all crawl I know is when I drop searching for some parts around the floor looking something I get as angry where they should have like an idiot with our vi- as the Fuhrer. landed, and if we do find sor on scanning every

“Despite hours upon hours of REVIEW: Miniart Park Wall Diorama searching for some parts…” By Jeff Brown slip from the blade can other dioramas. The park ruin a piece, or cut off bench is really neat, as This review is of the some detail. Building the are the manhole covers MiniArt Diorama with wall was a challenge in and drains. While I did Park Wall; that is part of that the pieces have noth- not use them for this their Diorama series of ing to grab onto when you base, I am going to use bases for armor models. glue them. I ended up them in another MiniArt It was a pretty easy build, using some styrene strips build that I should finish and it looks nice when to help hold the walls reviewing soon. The plas- finished, but it did take together. Once they were tic for the extras seems to some work and some set, I used some white me to be of a little better modifications to make it putty to cover the seams, quality than the walls and look good. and a small stiff brush to base, but in the end eve- add some texture. Once rything worked, and that First of you get a sheet of Page 2 this dried I glued the very soft plastic to use as is the main point. walls to the base. While it the base. This has some took some work, in the I finished it in a winter very nicely done details end they look very nice, theme, adding a little with the pathway and snow and a Wespe. All in Miniarts Park Wall Dio- and when painted they some small rocks in the rama Base are well detailed. all it was a nice little pro- road. The base is marked ject that is not too time off for where you will put The next step is assem- consuming, and provides the wall. bling the extras that come a nice background for with the kit. In my opin- First you have to cut the your vehicle. ion these are more than wall pieces out of this worth it, since you get I would like to thank single sheet of soft plas- items that you might not MiniArt and IPMS/USA tic. You have to be very use here but can use on for the review sample. careful doing his as one

Review: Romanian Fighter Colours (Yellow Series #6123) High Plains Gazette

By Pablo Bauleo the , Bf Finally the book has a few 109E and 109G, He 112, Bf appendixes covering details The in 110G, PZL 11 and PZL 24, on Romanian Air Force World War II saw extensive IAR 80/81, plus captured ranks, paints and colors combat in the Eastern Front Mig-3, I-16 and Fw-190A/F. used in the aircrafts against the Soviet Air Force (including color code and FS and against the USAAF and The book has chapters for equivalent) and a very de- RAF in home defense roles. each aircraft type in detail, tailed section on the evolu- Later, in late 1944 including a brief history of tion of the Romanian Air changed sides and saw com- the aircraft service in the Force markings, including bat against the . Romanian Air Force before both Axis and Allied mark- moving into a section on ings. This book covers all the camouflage and markings in the Roma- for the given aircraft being nian Air Force during World depicted in the chapter. This War II. The fighter aircraft section also includes infor- inventory included British, Romanian Fighter Colours German, Polish, and locally

“fighter aircraft inventory included British, German, Romanian Hurricane Polish...”

I’ve truly enjoyed reading This book cov- this book. The information ers all the mation on lettering, num- provided on it makes it very fighter aircraft bers and factory logos ap- valuable to the modeler and plied to each aircraft. several of the pictures have in the Roma- not been published before. nian Air Force After the section on camou- during World flage styles and markings, I know that I will add more War II. the main feature of each Romanian models to my chapter follows: numerous collection now that I have Romanian Bf 109Gs. and gorgeous color profiles what could be the definite (sometime even 3-view or 4- reference on the Romanian views) of different aircrafts, Fighters in World War II. next to a historical picture of the airplane, which in some I would like to thank Mush- designed airplanes, plus cases is in color, but in most room Model Publications for captured soviet airplanes, cases is in black and white. the review sample. ◊ yielding to a rather varied set of camouflage styles. Specifically, the book covers

Romanian Numbering Romanian Messerschmitt Another Romanian Messer- Romanian IAR 80C for Aircraft schmitt

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Volume 2, Issue 6 IPMS National Report By Mark Persechetti

Mark brought sign up memberships are bought. considered a regular sheets for volunteers. judge. After 3 yrs, they get Need people good with Mark discussed tours: the a certificate. keyboard, runners to act Buckley tour is very lim- as guides for contestants, ited, (38 people), as are Mark asks that all Colo- security, raffle. Discussed one or two more. The rado participants get reg- volunteer info needed and Buckley tour involves an istered by Tuesday the club association so as to emailed USAF form to fill week of Nats in order to divide up the profits, if out. Tour includes the give the registration staff August 14-17, 2013 at the Em- 120 th and possibly the a “practice run” in prepa- bassy Suites in Loveland, Colo- any. 4hr shifts were dis- rado. cussed. 3 shifts 9-1, 1-5, helicopter squadron. Bus ration for the rest of the and 5-9o’clock. If volun- size dictates tour size. week. teering, plan on doing Mark discussed spon- Tomas asked Mark re- more than one shift and shorships for award pack- garding name spelling for more than one job due to ages. An email from that contestants and ensuring small size of NoCo clubs coordinator is pending. that those names, espe- and limited pool of volun- Sponsorships are $85 and cially foreign ones, are teers. $100. We can purchase spelled correctly. Mark also discussed fund- these online as well. Jeff Tony asked regarding the raising. Asked all NoCo stated the last notes he overall health of the Nats. clubs to chip in on pur- got were that depending Mark stated that, given chasing a vendor table on what award we spon- the turning of the year, from Hobbytown $100. sor, members from this CommiesFest Focke Wulf things are starting to Therefore we would chip club get to pick the win- move faster and the com- in 1/3. Randy cut a check ner for that category. Nats mittee is beginning to for $33.34. chairperson prefers that judges are more scattered take more action and take Mark discussed com- from different clubs in it seriously. Pablo also puters networked to- order to preserve the ob- added that he did not vol- gether to handle registra- jectivity of the judging. unteer due to lack of con- tion. There is software fidence in the convention designed for IPMS con- Mark discussed judging at as it’s being run so far. ventions. The software is Nats and the guidelines to Also one of our members updated for every year. be followed. He talked stated was that this show Mark asked for volunteers about judges who find is happening in our back- knowledgeable in com- one model with flawed yard, and proper respect puter networking and paint, one with flawed has not been rendered building the network for construction, and one CommiesFest Dale Jr. considering that. Mark this convention. Tony and with mediocre detail, re- P’s answer to that was possibly Paul may assist sulting in an apples-to- that most modelers are with this. apples problem. It’s a function of negotiation introverts and thus do not Mark’s update as to between judges basically. possess the “soft skills” what’s going on so far: often required when in- IPMS registration is Also Mark mentioned teracting on a diplomatic online and live for the judging training for level. Thus the snub was con. Online store is live. noobs. They go through a accidental and unin- This is very similar to the judging “OJT” for one tended. same way IPMS online year’s contest, then the following year they are Mark went over some

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IPMS National Report By Mark Persechetti (Cont.) High Plains Gazette issues at previous shows that Jeff discussed issues regard- posed to an electronic ver- caused those shows to be ing the publication of the sion. ◊ less than spectacular in an- newsletter and whether it swer to Pablo and Tony’s should be paper or elec- concerns (as well as the rest tronic (DVD/ROM). Jeff of our concerns) conducted an informal poll in which most participants want a paper issue as op- August 14-17, 2013 at the Em- bassy Suites in Loveland, Colo- rado. IPMS 2013 National Contest Update This Update is pulled tion, go to our Registration from the contest web- page, the IPMS/USA online site. store, or download our mail- in registration form. ◊ Registration is now open! For more informa-

“ I think we did rather CommiesFest Recap well in the By Jeff Brown around for a few hours as second for Tony in a cate- contest hav- well. gory where he had the only ing won sev- On Saturday February 16th, model! 2013, at the Jefferson eral firsts, County Fairgrounds in “... a surprise Actually the biggest surprise seconds and Golden the IPMS Commies second for Tony in for me was that I actually thirds.” held their annual Commies- a category where swept a category. I took Fest contest. he had the only home first, second and third model!” in Star Wars. Pablo, Randy, Gary, Chip, Tony and yours truly en- Pablo picked up three firsts, tered the contest. Word has I think we did rather well in a second and a third. Gary it that Da Prez, Michael Ad- the contest having won sev- got a first and a third, and ams, went down and took eral firsts, seconds and Chip took home a third. ◊ some photos and hung thirds, and even a surprise

CommiesFest Ferrari

CommiesFest Second Place CommiesFest Stug III G CommiesFest Star Towing! Destroyer

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Volume 2, Issue 6 Some Judging Humor

By Kevin Cummins, IPMS #35536

10. "We felt that the cross-eyed effect on your figure was too exaggerated."

9. "What toy store did you buy this from?" CommiesFest B-25 8. "We needed some comic relief, so we counted up the flaws on your aircraft. You should be able to view it in the Journal in several months. Should be about 3 pages."

7. "We really admired the finish. What is that, Sherwin-Williams industrial semi -gloss latex?" “You are NOT a 6. "Out of curiosity, was there any historical significance to the "one blade at a modeler, you different angle" propeller design?" are a butcher. Your work 5. "We really liked the effect that the 1:1 scale spider living in the cockpit had on should be the judges. That's a nice touch." crushed and melted as a 4. "You mean you actually entered this? We didn't judge it, we thought someone warning to oth- put it out here as a prank." ers." 3. "We thought it was really neat the way that you painted the rocks on the base so that it looks like nothing is holding that section of tank track off the ground. Oh wait! Nothing is supporting that track, is it?"

2. "Does the upside-down national insignia indicate that the pilot is in distress, or that the air force is surrendering?"

1. "We didn't know that this many flaws could exist on one model. We took about 40 digital pictures and slammed them out on rec.model.scale for com- ments. We used your name..."

And one I've been tempted to use, but had the courtesy not to:

"You are NOT a modeler, you are a butcher. Your work should be crushed and melted as a warning to others." ◊

CommiesFest Best Figure

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Italy: The Forgotten Campaign High Plains Gazette By Jeff Brown to research these schemes The Tigers were older mod- and searching for a decent els, the Panthers were older I was recently reading a his- picture of a Sherman with models, my guess is that the tory of the Battle of Anzio these colors when I came high command was saving from the British perspective. across some interesting the best stuff to defend the Of course the slant was pro- things about the Italian Fatherland. I have yet to British, just like I imagine Campaign. find a King Tiger in Italy, most history written by a which is interesting consid- country is pro-that country. Anzio is one of those major ering that the Germans in There are lan- Italy put guage differ- up a better ences, how- fight than ever, for ex- the ones in ample during France. In Two tone Sherman in Italy. one attack, the fact there British writer were more said, “….one Allied night we beat casualties off the Ger- during the mans…”. Yes Italian here in Amer- campaign ica we would than all of have used the the West- “...troops from phrases “beat ern Thea- just about back” or The Gustav Line - The often overlooked Italian Campaign ter com- every Allied “fought off” bined. nation includ- since in our ing Britain, country the The Italian France, Poland, British ver- Campaign Canada and sion has a very different campaigns that is much for- included black combat Italy ” meaning. gotten. Maybe forgotten is a troops (the Buffalo Sol- stretch, but it is safe to say diers), and Brazilian troops Anyway, back to Anzio. I Anzio is overlooked. In fact (the only South American have a few Shermans, and much of the Italian Cam- country to send troops to they call for a different paint paign is overlooked by not fight during the entire war). only historians but Holly- There were literally troops wood. Not to mention the from just about every Allied battle for Monte Cassino, or nation including Britain, the invasion of Sicily, or the France, Poland, Canada and northern mountain battles. Italy part II.

Reading as many of the his- I for one plan on learning tories I could get my hands more about these battles. I A Panther in Italy. on I became fascinated by find it fascinating . I also the theater, and the battles, found over 120 photos in and the equipment. In Italy Germany’s Bundesarchiv of scheme, yellow with olive An Elefant in Italy. the Germans used a lot of panzers in Italy, which gave drab. I was discussing alter- different types of armor, but me some great ideas for nate paint schemes a few the Wehrmacht did not get some of my unbuilt kits. months ago, and was trying the latest and greatest there. Viva Italia! ◊

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Volume 2, Issue 6 March 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Build N Bull 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 HPM Meeting 31

April 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Build N Bull 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 HPM Meeting

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High Plains Gazette

Photo of the Month for October

The usual suspects at CommiesFest on February 16th.

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Volume 2, Issue 6

Model of the Month for October

Best Diorama from CommiesFest

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High Plains Gazette

January Model Gallery

Photos by Jeff Brown

Pablo’s P-47 Chip’s Chinese Fighter Chris’s Mirage

Randy’s Van Gary’s Truck Dave’s GTO

Monthly Contest Entries:

Pablo - 1/48 P-47

Jeff - 1/48 Citroen civilian

Chris - 1/48 Mirage 2000C Cody’s Mustang Tomas’ Polish Panther Gary- 1/52 Honest John Missile & Transporter with Kenworth tractor

Chip - 1/144 Chinese J-8 Interceptor

Tomas – 1/35 Panther

Cody – 2011 Ford Mustang GT

Randy – Ford Van

Dave D. – GTO

Monthly winner: Tomas Jeff’s Citroen Page 11

Volume 2, Issue 6 About IPMS/USA

IPMS/USA is the United over 220 active US chap- shots elsewhere in this States Branch of the In- ters (including groups in handout. ternational Plastic Model- Canada and the Philip- ers' Society, whose roots pines as well as one In addition, IPMS/USA can be traced to the "cyber-chapter" existing maintains one of the larg- startup of the first IPMS entirely on the internet). est and most-visited pub- National Branch during These chapters are organ- lic websites in the model- the 1960's in Great Brit- ized into 13 geographi- ing community ain. In 1964 a US-based cally-determined Re- (www.ipmsusa.org). modeler applied for a gions, overseen by Re- Members and visitors can charter to start the US gional Coordinators. The view product reviews, Branch. In the ensuing 4 IPMS/USA Executive chapter and contest infor- decades, IPMS/USA has Board, made up of elected mation, see examples of become a 5,000 member, and appointed members, members' work, and view all-volunteer organization serves as the overall gov- images of contest, mu- dedicated to promoting erning body for IPMS/ seum walkarounds, and the modeling hobby while USA. the like. A members-only providing a venue for Forum allows discussion modelers to share their IPMS/USA produces the of specific topics of inter- skills in a social setting, Modelers' Journal, an all- est amongst our member- along with friendly but color magazine supplied ship. The remainder of spirited competition in to our members 6 times the website is open to the the form of local, re- each year. Sample copies modeling public and sees gional, and national con- of the Journal are avail- thousands of hits weekly. tests and conventions. As able upon request, and From: www.ipmsusa.org this is written, there are you'll find several cover

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High Plains Gazette

High Plains Modelers Meetings are the last Tuesday of the month at The Ranch in Loveland. They start at 7pm and end around 9pm. Editor: Jeffrey Brown [email protected]

President: Michael Adams Vice President: Jeffrey Brown Treasurer: Randy Robinson Secretary: Chris Nugent Our club has plastic modelers from Northern Colorado, mainly from the Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont area. We also have a few members from Wyoming.

Website Honestly, if you need an excuse to get away from home a few days a month, join our club. Your skills will improve and you will have a http://ipmshpm.blogspot.com/ few laughs.

Stop by a meeting, the first one is free! Next Meeting March 26, 2013. 7pm at The Ranch.

Clinics for this year are: January: None First Meeting of the Classifieds and other Happenings Year For Sale or Trade: . February: Chris-Polishing canopies *** Posting Ads are free March: Tomas, track colors for ar- for High Plains Modelers mor Members to post items for April: Dave Dardine- 72 nd scale air- sale or trade. If you are craft antenna installs not a member of the club May- club auction, no clinic it cost $2 to post an ad which goes towards our June- Pablo-NMF clinic annual club contest. July: Chris-masking clean lines

August: Randy R. – Decals

September: no clinic due to plan- ning meeting for High Plains Con

October: Larry H.- Airbrushing

November: Jeff – Winter Weather- ing

December: No Clinic Christmas Party ` Page 13