NORTH ESSEX MODELLERS NEWSJuly 2021 Intro The good news is that our return to club meetings this month is ON! Yes, finally something approaching normality returns to our club, with our July meeting happening on July 15, subject to certain conditions which you should see attached to the email accompanying this newsletter. Chiefly this will mean that facemasks are “encouraged”, as per our meetings last summer, whilst we will need to forego our usual arrangement of tables at Stanway Village Hall since under the Hall’s Covid rules it would have put a tight restriction on the number of attendees we were allowed! However, we do not anticipate that our plans for the meeting need to be unduly disrupted, and these comprise another Bring & Buy sale of kits, books and other modelling paraphernalia. Do come along and buy, sell, exchange or otherwise just chat like we all used to do….! For the benefit of those whose familiarity with the club has so far not included meetings (and those who might have forgotten…?) we have Stanway Village Hall booked from 7pm onwards, although the first hour is generally very informal as not everyone is able to arrive at this time. Two tables will be set aside for models that people have brought in: one is for finished models and the other for “work in progress”. At around 8pm we give everyone a chance to say a few words about any models they have brought in, after which we cover any important announcements and move on to whatever special theme we have arranged for the meeting……..which is rather informal in the case of the July meeting, as you will appreciate! Towards the end of the evening, one of the club committee will be handing out slips of paper for everyone to vote for their first, second and third choice from the finished models, with the winner announced once all of the votes have been totted up. If you are attending your first meeting, there is no charge, but for everyone else (youngsters apart) a £3 charge is made to enable us to cover the cost of the room hire. Hope to see you all in a few days…. Show biz….NOT! In spite of the optimism relayed above, normality isn’t quite with us with regard to model shows: a casualty of the government’s delayed lifting of all restrictions has resulted in the cancelation of the Essex Model Show in Billericay which had been scheduled for July 25. We do not now expect to attend another show until IPMS Brampton’s show at St. Ives on September 26, over 18 months on from our last show! Mike has however booked us in for the rescheduled Elstree show on October 10th. Fingers crossed…. Themes for Future Meetings For the August meeting, Mike will be giving a talk on the collection of models he is accumulating that have been inspired by books written by various pilots (further details of which follow in this newsletter!). In September, we will have an airbrushing forum, so please come along armed with your own airbrush (if you use one) along with any problems, questions, and experiences (good or bad!) that you will be happy to relate, and a fruitful discussion will no doubt follow! The theme for the October meeting will of course be our special competition for which the theme is “Simply Red”. Another one bites the dust…. Or two in this case. Thanks to Colin for noticing news on Hannants’ web site that Chinese manufacturers Kittyhawk and Panda are no more. Kittyhawk were best noted for their 1/48 aircraft releases, whilst Panda offered a range of armour in 1/35. Whilst it is not impossible that their moulds could get acquired by another manufacturer, this is by no means certain, so if you have an interest in either company’s products, it might make sense to buy now…. In the Workshop Thanks to everyone who responded to my late plea for news of current builds, since we now have a very healthy feature to follow. Assuming that the club’s return to normal meetings becomes permanent, I expect future newsletters to also return to a normal format, whereby I will issue them on a bimonthly schedule. However, I will still be happy to include any items that members want to contribute, especially from those who are unable to attend the club meetings on a regular basis. Tony For the last newsletter, we included photos of Tony’s Desert Storm M911C + Trailer + M1A1 Abrams tank as the project neared completion. This month we see the 1/35th scale model fully finished (below left) against a backdrop of assorted model products! Tony also encloses a shot of his next project: a 1/32nd scale ‘A-1H Skyraider’ from Trumpeter. JohnMcD In the April issue, we pictured John’s Trumpeter 1/35 Vickers Medium Tank Mk1 as it neared completion and awaited weathering, but things did not go entirely to plan: “It was more or less finished last time and has just had the machine guns glued in now. I did attempt to weather it a bit but it's so fragile it kept breaking every time I picked it up so it's more or less "dusty museum" condition and it's staying like that. I should have dusted it before taking the photos but ho hum….”. The finished article is shown below (left). John now has several projects on the go, starting with an ARL 44 by Amusing Hobby (above right): “This is a 1950s French tank which is basically a Char B updated a bit. As you can see the 90mm gun is huge. I still need to do detail painting of all the tools and the massive exhaust and then weather it all. I was trying to do a bit of modulation of the panels on this one but it's way too subtle, surprisingly. Next up (below left) is another French tank - a Char 2C from 1920. This was one was 33ft long and weighed 69 tonnes so was massive. Mostly complete except for a pipe I have to replace and then the usual weathering. This is a Meng kit”. Above (right) is another Amusing Hobby kit build, British prototype FV4005. John adds “This has the distinction of having the largest calibre gun ever put on a tank. This was a daft idea and never went into production. As usual this needs a lot of detail painting and some construction but it's getting there”. John has also just started on an ICM kit of the Rheinmetall Leichttraktor, “a secret prototype German tank from 1930 that was sent to Russia for testing as they weren't allowed to develop tanks in Germany”. Mike Mike has sent in four photos of his current and recent projects, starting (above left) with his recently-finished model of the P38 flown by Robin Olds. Mike continues “I am also in the process of completing his F4C Phantom and P51D (centre). The P51 is the Airfix 1/72 offering. I sprayed it with Humbrol Aluminium which is too dark so I am giving it a couple of coats of Lifecolor silver. The F4 is being painted using Lifecolor paints as donated by Jon Plumb. The other aircraft is the Vought F7U-3Cutlass by Hobbycraft. Looks great on the sprue but the fit of some parts ls poor. You can see the U/C doors don't fit. The rear end was the wrong shape and needed rubbing down as did the front end. The tail booms didn't fit well so I had to manipulate them and rub them down to conform. The bulkhead behind the seat is too big for the canopy so I will have to rub it down. There are no locating holes for the under wing pylons so I've got them marked for drilling out. The fins on the Sparrow missiles are very thick so I've filed the front and leading edges. All in all a typical Hobbycraft kit. I have painted the upper surface using Lifecolor Light Gull Grey and will spray the under surfaces Humbrol Gloss White. I put the P51 on piggy back to give an idea of size. The tank (below left) is the Tamiya 1970s Walker Bulldog painted using Humbrol 155 Olive Drab rattle can. Daniel “I have repainted my T28 Trojan (above right) from a French air force Fennec into a refreshing metallic silver USAF scheme using spray paint and drawing my own decals. It's not a cardboard made model it's a Revell made one which I got many Xmas' ago! I just wanted to smarten it up as the paint was peeling off and the cockpit canopy was in a mess”. Jon S Jon has sent in photos this month showing work in progress on his large 1/20 scale Tyne class lifeboat, which is a whole 30” long! (look at the spray can and scissors to get an idea of the scale). As Jon relates “The hull was vac formed and purchased along with a set of plans, everything else is either scratch built, modified commercial parts and few 3D printed items. She is nearly finished apart from a few small details and the application of the vinyl decals”. Colin F “The navy Lynx is finally finished and it was more of a slog then expected due to its modular design and a lot of ill-fitting parts - more like Airfix of old than their new kits. Finished with Lifecolor paints, Eduard interior detail set, and home-made covers for the exhausts, intakes and sensors by using tissue paper and PVA glue, then remove before flight tags added.