December 2019 NEWSLETTER VOLUME 47, NO. XII GUILD OFFICERS HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Guild Master James Pitt Following is a selection from the Navy rendition of “Merry guildmaster@ Christmas, My Friend” penned by Former Corporal James sdshipmodelersguild.org M. Schmidt, USMC . First Mate “I didn't want to leave on that cold dark night, Ed Torrence This guardian of honor so willing to fight. firstmate@ The Sailor rolled over and with a voice strong and sure, sdshipmodelersguild.org Commanded, "Carry on Santa, It's Christmas, and All is Purser Secure!" Jon Sanford Isaac Wills sends his holiday greetings from the SUNY Maritime College and this image of purser@ Show and Tell sdshipmodelersguild.org USS St Mary’s (1844) that he has helped clean, repair, and decorate. See for more on this model. Newsletter Editor Guy Lawrie MINUTES OF 12 NOVEMBER 2019 GUILD MEETING newsletter@ sdshipmodelersguild.org Guild Master James Pitt brought the meeting to order at the San Diego Log Keeper Maritime Museum aboard the Steam Ferry BERKELEY. James led a recitation Tom Hairston logkeeper@ of The Pledge of Allegiance before greeting fourteen (14) members and two (2) sdshipmodelersguild.org visitors, Chad Posey and Fred Peace. The meeting was COMMITTEE CHAIRS also attended by Laura Potts and Sandy Lonnecker who attended with their spouses. Fred Peace, seen here holding Web Master Alex Roel the pole next to Ed Torrence, has become the Guild’s webmaster@ newest member and brings his nautical background to sdshipmodelersguild.org enliven future meetings. Welcome aboard, Fred! Presentation Coordinators Guild Master James Pitt began the business portion of Ed Torrence the meeting by reporting the Guild made a gift to the Frank Dengler Maritime Museum of San Diego of $1,500.00 in the name presentations@ sdshipmodelersguild.org of Dr. John McShefferty for the purpose of supporting the Museum’s many projects. Established in 1971 by Bob Wright and Russ Guild Master James Pitt, left, presenting the gift to Museum Manager of Collections / Librarian Kevin Sheehan, Ph.D. as Merrill Guy Lawrie and Tom Hairston standby San Diego Ship Modelers’ Guild is affiliated with and supports the Maritime Museum of San Diego http://sdshipmodelersguild.org/ December 2019 NEWSLETTER Page 2 Meeting Minutes continued with the Guild Master Report: Guild Master James Pitt further reported that the Guild is in the process of becoming a Charter Club with the Nautical Research Guild, Inc. The NRG whose motto is “Advancing Ship Modeling Through Research” can be found at www.thenautical researchguild.org and is a widely acclaimed Guild with an international presence. As James gave a report. members from left to right standby, Royce Privett, James and Laura Potts, Bob Costa, David Yotter, and Don Dressel Lastly, James reported the increased activity on the Guild Master email from folks looking for help restoring models continues. Guild Members interested in taking on a commission to restore a model are urged to contact James Pitt who is maintaining a sign up sheet. First Mate’s Report: First Mate Ed Torrence reported on a product that may be found useful for rigging or other purposes. EZ Line is a product used in railroad modeling and is found useful for its rebounding property when stretched. As rigging, it would stretch when disturbed then resume its original length avoiding re- rigging or perhaps even breaking other model elements. EZ Line can be found on Amazon or other on-line sources and advertises as having an “Authentic look that goes great with any project; Diameter Fine - .010, Heavy - .020; is available in multiple colors including natural white, charcoal / black, and green; simulates Telephone and Electric lines, all Suspended Wires, Ropes, Fences, etc.; and is an elastic Polymer will stretch when bumped and instantly go back to its original shape.” Ed reported that during the last couple of months, Guild Members were encouraged to offer topics or presentations that they would enjoy and from this a “Top 5” list was compiled. Planning is now underway for Mike Lonnecker to give a presentation at the January Guild Meeting on a topic taken from that “Top 5” list. Mike’s presentations are always of interest for ship modelers, plan on being there! Purser’s Report: Purser Jon Sanford reported the guild balance as of 10 October 2019 was $<redacted> with the following deposits since the last report: McShefferty Donation $<redacted> and Account Interest $<redacted> with the following debit: Guild Anniversary Cake and Treats $<redacted>. 10 December is December 2019 Annual Holiday S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dinner! 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Celebrating this year 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 at Filippi’s 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 6:00 Social followed by Dinner December 2019 NEWSLETTER Page 3 Meeting Minutes continued with the Purser’s Report: Purser Jon Sanford reports that an exhibit table will be purchased for Maritime Museum Model of the Month program. Update: See Maritime Museum of San Diego Model of the Month for a picture of the Guild’s new exhibit table with the model of the month displayed on it! Jon also included a message to the Guild about staffing of the Museum Model Shop and to members who would enjoy displaying a model in the museum. Volunteers are always welcome, contact Jon for details! Additionally, Guild Members are urged to consider becoming a member of the Maritime Museum of San Diego! This is a wonderful way of showing the Guild’s support for the Museum! Log Keeper’s Report: Log Keeper Tom Hairston had nothing new to report with the log keeper function. Editor’s Report: Editor Guy Lawrie had nothing new to report with the L to R: James Pitt, Glenna newsletter function. Guy reported he and James Pitt delivered a thank-you McShefferty, and Guy Lawrie note to Mrs. Glenna McShefferty for her generous gift to the Guild. enjoy a lunch together Glenna was told how her gift would be used to support Guild initiatives to encourage interest in the ship modeling craft and the San Diego Ship Modelers Guild. Those initiatives include the County Fair’s Mini-Star (of India) and other projects. She was also told about the display of the model “Nave Egizia, an Egyptian Boat”, built by her late husband John McShefferty in the Maritime Museum’s Research Library. Nave Egizia model on display in Maritime Museum of SD Research Library, see November 2019 SD Ship Modelers Guild newsletter for additional detail Web Master’s Report: Web Master Alex Roel reported the following activity on the web page. Website Traffic Completed Activities: MONTH DAILY 1. Updated following pages: VISITS Oct. 2019 47 a. “Home Port” (home page) content refreshed on the 1st of the month in Sept. 2019 53 conjunction with release of Newsletter August 2019 62 b. Recent Recent updates to “Voyages > Mini-Star Project” - page added, July 2019 58 thanks to Jon Sanford for assistance in creating this page June 2019 60 May 2019 55 c. Recent updates to “Voyages > Build Gallery” April 2019 53 i. “2017”: Added Don Dressel’s NINA March 2019 20 ii. “Pre-2009”: Added Dave Yotter’s CAROLINE d. Recent updates to “Scuttlebutt > Documents” - Added Frank Dengler’s “Decals & Computer Printing” presentation (both PowerPoint and PDF versions) e. Recent updates to “Scuttlebutt > Build Methods” - Added new page outlining full hull, plank-on- bulkhead, plank-on-frame build December 2019 NEWSLETTER Page 4 Meeting Minutes continued with the Web Master’s Report: In Progress Activities: 1. “Model Sales” page: Tom Hairston has a model for sale. Mock-up created for Officers’ consideration. 2. “Model Restorations” page: Howard Griffus finished a restoration. Mock-up created for Officers’ consideration. 3. The Web Master is researching various historical Guild projects for eventual inclusion on Website (these will go on the “Voyages” menu along with the new “Trafalgar Project” and Mini-Star page). a. USS San Diego Project – Web Master will contact Howard Griffus and Bob Crawford for project history b. San Salvador Project – three models were made as gifts to donors to Maritime Museum. need assistance, if any Member has knowledge of this project, please contact the Web Master c. Maritime Museum Fleet Model Project – see January 2011 Newsletter on the Guild Website for a picture of the Project. need assistance, if any Member has knowledge of this project, please contact the Web Master ALERT! Alex Roel took the lead for the next Community Build! The initial sign-up for the Community Build is completed and the kits have been delivered. Alex has organized the build as explained in the following message he sent to the build group. Members of any expertise level are still invited to join the build and they can contact Alex at [email protected]. Community Build participants will each build a plank-on-frame half hull model from the kit designed by the Nautical Research Guild’s (NRG) Toni Levine. We’ll meet at the regular Guild Meeting locale: second deck aft, BERKELEY. In the event of a conflict for this space, Kevin Sheehan (Maritime Museum of San Diego) has also offered us the use of the MMSD Library on the first deck. We’ll meet monthly on the 2nd Saturday of each month at 1pm. Late-comers to the Build will need to order their own kits via the NRG (call Mary at 585-968-8111) at a cost of $52 (NRG Members only) or $65 (non-NRG Members) plus applicable shipping costs. Kit includes: all parts, plans, instruction manual, and build log Kit does not include: backboard, glue, tools Instruction manual “Introduction to Planking” by Toni Levine (72 pages, illustrated, email attachment) Build log “Half Hull Planking Project” by Toni Levine (illustrated, annotated, online): https://modelshipworld.com/topic/21980-half-hull-planking-project/ Next Up Alex will bring the kits to the Guild’s Holiday Dinner on December 10th and also to the first Community Build meeting on December 14th.