IPMS Gateway Meeting: Contest and a Demo

Last Tuesday night (18 February), I arrived after work at Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) meeting. I brought in the two models I had just finished the night before--a 1:72 scale F6F-5 Hellcat and a 1:76 scale T-34/85 tank--to enter in the Out of the Box Contest. This was the first contest for Modeler of the Year, and all entries were out of the box.

Both models were up against some stiff competition and neither placed in its respective categories. However, I did earn two points for each model--one for entering in the category, and the other for being in the Special Category this month--Out of the Box.

At the meeting, it was announced that IPMS/Gateway will move their meetings from Calvary to Affton Elks Lodge 2635 (https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=2635), starting this April. This move was made necessary by Calvary's announcement last month that they will close this July, due to a declining congregation. I was told that this Elks lodge is a great fit for us--location, size, facilities, and cost.

Also at this meeting, yours truly gave a demo on painting and weathering aircraft landing gears. I used a 1:48 scale P-38J Lightning kit's landing gear parts to demonstrate how to paint then for authenticity. This included using chrome silver paint for the gear struts' oleos, using porter tack putty to mask off wheels while painting tires, and a paint wash for weathering landing gears and gear bays. I also asked the attendees for any thoughts on materials and techniques. This demo went off very well, considering I only firmed up the details the night before.

Later.