Modesto Hobby Crafts on the 4th Friday night of the month is gracious host to San Joaquin Valley Scale Modelers meeting. They always have a great fun atmosphere and lots of models on the table too! Not to miss mentioning that hmmmm, it's in a REAL, Fully Stocked Hobby Shop, and been known to during the breaks, provide EXCEPTIONAL service to those who attend. Check out my slim set of pictures for an idea what you miss if you don't go. http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad35/smilodon49/Hornets%20Visit%20Tomcats%20Feb%202012/

This just past weekend (Feb 18/19) The Seattle Museum Of Flight held what has to be one of the BIGGEST BADDEST BEST Model Exhibits we in the scale community have ever seen! Put on annually by those rabid enthusiasts The NorthWest Scale Modelers, this years show had over 3000 models BUILT on display. They had to lift the M-12/D-21 up off floor to get room (just kidding on that part). If you check thru Hyperscale here and there links are available, but here is one that I think needs more visibility so here goes https://picasaweb.google.com/116781112034155653439/2012AirMuseumModelShow#         PLUS the Internet Modeler report direct from one of the Nor'Westers, with Hornet Prez Chris Bucholtz featured among show items! http://www.internetmodeler.com/artman/publish/spec_report/Northwest_Scale_Modelers.php

18 members attending by close of meeting (14 at opening). Chris Bucholtz called meeting to order around 845pm. Photo site link here: http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad35/smilodon49/Hornets%20Meeting%20February%202012%20by%20Mick%20Burton/

After vigorous discussion of upcoming events (including the imminent Hobby Expo 2012) and some side comments on the “Red Tails” movie (theme called for meeting by Treasurer two weeks beforehand, coincidentally) we got model talk underway. Best recollection given here now for posterity. Due to Treasurer taking pictures, collecting nightly dues and also getting “freebies” ready for attendees, not within his ability to keep complete track of models on table/builder/data

Ray Lloyd has an old Airfix FAW 1 Javelin in 1/72 which he’d originally hoped to have ready in time for the Hobby Expo “Retroward” category. Not to be, but a nice effort underway. A 1/72 scale “Sam” A7M Reppu from the Fine Molds kit was next to it, well started too. Frank Babbitt had a similar effort underway, with an old A-10A nearly done in “JAWS” camo scheme in 1/72 next to a C-10A HP Jetstream by Airfix. Chris Bucholtz managed to find time in between being RC for R-9, Adviser to Red Tails Movie team, SVSM Sec’y and Hornets Prez, not to mention his real day job and oh yeah, husband to wife Elizabeth, to keep building on his 1/72 fleet. This night that included a Vietnam era USN Skyraider “toilet bomber” from the Hasegawa kit, an “improved John” is on the way for this altho no clues given if this will become another Obscureco catalog item (something else Chris does, this “hobby” aftermarket firm) His Fairey Firefly from “Special Hobby” is just that, it will eventually end up finished in Korean War markings. A lovely Tamiya P-47D was next to it, also appearing from Chris was the new Obscure “F2G-1 Racer Corsair Cowl and Spinner” for the 1/48 Acc Mini and Special Hobby kits. Not to be outdone, a new Revell 1/48 PV-1 Ventura “corrected cowling” master, it soon too an Obscureco product, was also on table thanks to Chris. Ken Miller has progressed on his WIP 747 and Airbus? Twin jets. Someone had a Karmann Ghia in progress, sorry I missed who, same for the 1/72 Vultee Vengeance nearby in progress. Eric McClure and Randy Ray both shared looks at the new Bronco M24 Chaffee “early production ’44-45” from kits they had on table, not yet started. Randy had a splendid laser cut model ship aftermarket set also to instill awe in us, that he’d recently purchased. Randy has an AFV Club small artillery piece underway, all I can record now is that it was American but not the M102 kit. Nice! Bill Abbott arrived in time to give us an exquisite seminar on things he’s learned on his way to complete a Minicraft 1/144 Lockheed 1049G Constellation. Among them, how to NOT sand extremely thin styrene laminations to correct a “stepped” fuselage dorsal seam (don’t use “soft sanding sticks they are not your friends”) and how to best correct for proper fit of aftermarket engine/cowling on this (use curved styrene rod stock, as takeup and spacer) Bonus time, Bill brought along the new Apollo LM and Command Module from Dragon. His detailed review of kit and accompanying aftermarket booklet he got for it, too much to recount here. We’ll have to work on him to write ! Kent McClure had his incredible team of miniature figures nearly done, they include a Rockin’ Robby the Robot and a group of  “meddlesome kids with dog” (seriously, that’s the real description relayed to us all for what kits sold as) My personal favorite was “the Brain Tank” , literally a large brain in a tank atop a tankette, weirdly brilliant, truly. Cliff Kranz has completed his two E100 Maus projects in 1/35, too much to recount here but very interesting history. His Helldiver SB2C by Monogram in 1/48 is created from the OLD molding, and he’d drilled out all the dive brake holes to assist improving this one, lived to tell about it. Lastly, Mick Burton had nothing new on table so brought along nearly all his completed Tuskeegee Airmen aircraft, forgetting his P-47D unfortunately. P-51B Ina the Macon Belle in 1/48 from Monogram kit, then 5 kits in 1/72 scale. “Quanto Costa” P-39 (Heller), “Alice Jo” P-51B (Monogram), “Duchess Arlene” P-51D, “Creamer’s Dream” P-51D (both Hasegawa) lastly a T-6 stateside trainer (Heller). Thus the “Red Tails” theme he called for was satisfied as having some representation. Bill Abbott covered for our lack of a raffle with several “freebie” paint sets, and Mick Burton had very good response eventually to his own “Santa’s Bag” with nearly 18 1/72 scale “oldies” of various types given away to those who truly wanted them. A generous gift made possible by another new member who donated them for that very purpose, thanks Sir Bob of the Hornets, Our Benefactor Extraordinaire. Cliff Kranz got a Hasegawa 1/32 Me-163 Komet in the shrink wrap from the same source, a gift for all his perennial efforts on behalf of the Fremont Hornets of whom he’s a founder. See you all next month’s meeting. – mickb smilodon49

Saturday night was alright for bidding up Guerneville Road for those who showed. The mighty organized crew of John Admire, Jack Riggar and friends at the helm with patient Greg Reynolds at the comm (yes, they manage to compute the whole auction live, very handy!) made hard work seem easy. Thanks to the Fremont Hornets "dirty dozen" donation, there was 72 more dollars generated atop the C note this member bid out hisself. Even with criminally good bargains such as two separate AMT P-70 (1/48) going for 5 and 6 dollars, Tamiya Sdkfz 7 for 9 dollars, 1/350 Tamiya Hiryu for 5, Tamiya Porsche 962C with all the paint, window masks and the clear body already polished out going for less than 20 as one of the highest single bid items, a good return was taken in. Major and profuse thanks for our donations, our bids plus our showing up (Brian Sakai made sure I ate all too well while Greg Reynolds saw to it beer and I were good pals)

If you missed going to this one, well, my condolences, truly a Regional fun event. Thanks to our friends up North !! Hats off to Dai Nakabayashi for his extremely generous "personal service" item which bid winner Jack Riggar will truly get far more than his money's worth. It was a professional photography session with all the trimmings (lights, camera, action) provided by Dai and the subject models provided by Jack. Cool. A few pictures to illustrate, beginning to end

http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad35/smilodon49/Santa%20Rosa%20Auction%202012/

Meeting called to order at 835 with 18 present (20 eventual count) by VP Mick Burton. After initial remarks, having the needed quorum we called for discussion, nominations for Tri City Eight Contest Director. End result was Mick Burton the sole remaining candidate for this go around and resultant vote recorded as unanimous, with condolences from all. A short dialogue followed from Burton as to the "double feature" theme planned for the 2012 TC-8, in keeping with our tradition of "movie/geography" of recent shows, of course with a twist. The main thrust is that we're going to have an "All American" theme emphasis, "Double feature bill movies" being "Midway" and "The Missiles of October" which tie into the USA geography. Both link to two significant pivotal events in American as well as world history with the 70th and 50th anniversary of Battle of Midway, Cuban Missile Crisis falling in 2012 calendar. There will be expansion on this all on the Hornet website for future reference, the new TC-8 Director promised. After a vigorous review of all upcoming R-9 club events currently on calendar and no news on the state of the SJVSM Tomcats contest possibly in April, we got to the important part of the meeting, namely model talk followed by our raffle featuring what else, the NEW PV-1 Ventura in 1/48 from Revell and 1/72, 1/48 "Red Tails" editions of the Tamiya P-51D. http://s919.photobucket.com/albums/ad35/smilodon49/Hornets%20January%202012/  Lou Orselli had us start off with his 1/48 BA-65 WIP, the intricate metal framing alone in the cockpit seems worthy of an award. Ray Lloyd made it to the Sacramento Silvercon 2011, where he came back with an award to go with his lovely 1/48 Global Hawk, which as he said, many are bought but ever so few are seen on tables built. Next to it was great progress on Ray's M24 Chaffee in 1/35. Mark Schynert celebrated his decision not to burden himself running for TC-8 Contest Director with his completed 1/72 Spitfire Mk 12, which was a lovely example of his and Supermarine's work. Ben Pada celebrated twice with us, showing up with two recent completions in 1/48, one of them a long time (for Ben) coming. That being his camouflaged late F-104J JASDF which he began for the Hornets "New Starfighter" gruppe build of a few years back, of course using the Hasegawa kit. Beautiful rendering overall all, Ben. Next to it was his Ki-44 Shoki from the Hasegawa kit, a trademark "Pada rescue" in that Ben had done the entire craft in a very nice overall olive green only to find out after decals/finish, photos of this aircraft had it much more worn looking. Ben craftily applied a metalizer finish "weathering" so skillfully that one could not (to my eye and several others) tell he had not meant it to look that way from beginning. He makes it sound so easy when he explains it, almost is painful to grasp how it isn't. Eric McClure had a 1/72 "Dragon Wagon" underway which some of us teased must have been "the Oakland edition" as it was missing all the wheels. From the Academy kit, Eric is turning out another miniature masterpiece for sure. He also had a sweet new book from a Polish author on the Bell P-39 put out by MMP. Brian Sakai had himself a productive Xmas, with the USS Albany in 1/350, YB-49 Flying Wing and Vulcan B.2 both in 1/200, lastly a 1/144 Bell X-1 which seemed to have nearly as many bits as the ship kit! He was his own Santa Claus, I look forward to seeing some done. Gabriel Lee had his Viper Mk 1 done as well as his masterful "Space Cruiser Titanic" reimagined from the Revell 1/570 kit. One other work still in progress was captured in my photos but not in my recall, sorry Gabe. Kent McClure had his latest gang of gorgeous miniatures on the way, among them a very "rock star" posed Robby the Robot. Behind them was a sedate and seductive sailing ship underway, sorry no details here. Cliff Kranz had a trio of German Armor '46 done, apparently based on "Maus/E100" but again my notes are lacking here, but Cliff's work was clearly not lacking. Last speaker was Mick Burton, who displayed his recently finished "Uncle Martin's Space Ship" minus Uncle Martin from "My Favorite Martian", all out of the box from Pegasus kit. Right behind, four editions of the Italeri 1//35 Sdfkz 234 eight wheeled armored cars, originally intended to be done for the June 2011 "Here Comes the Sun" SVSM club contest (for primarily yellow subjects). All done in overall 1943 Dunkelgelb, the /1, /2 "Puma", /3 and "big gun" /4 versions of this iconic vehicle satisfied Burton that he's in for some serious effort when attempting FIVE of the later DML kits for a collection entry. He's determined not to forecast which year that entry will be made ... To relax, Mick has started 3 aircraft in 1/72 scale that were "cheap bids" from forgotten past auctions, only recalled that each was a buck or less (as in the F-100 had a bonus F-104 inside box). Esci's Super Sabre in tan styrene will likely end up in Danish AF green or Armee De L'air tactical camo, versus the original plan to use NMF for some "one dollar decals" on hand, since Burton knows that NMF is not his friend. The Ertl F-104C and Airfix F-84F will have NMF no matter what it seems. The Pegasus snap tite 1/48 V-2 has only taken Mick an hour to get nearly ready to choose whether it will be "Sandy" or the "test frame" scheme, using the IPMS nationals decal set. Finally, he explained the odd "armor box" as the Renault WF "Chenillete" in 1/35, again from an auction purchase and another German fascination, namely those "rockets in crates"

After a short break so that all could recover from his talking, VP Burton called meeting back to order so raffle could proceed and then we closed until next month. -notes by mickb