Two Contest Entries in This Month's IPMS/Gateway Meeting Contest

After work Tuesday night (16 June), I drove to Affton Elks Lodge 6235 (https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=2635) for this month's IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) meeting. I received a text from club president Rick Keasey while on the road, telling me he could not make this meeting and asking me as vice president to run the meeting. I immediately replied that I would.

Arriving at the Elks Lodge, I waited with a few others from the club for someone from the lodge to open the building. Once that happened, I moved my stuff into the meeting hall and got ready for the meeting. After waiting for a few others to arrive and for the hall's audio-visual system to be readied, I called the meeting to order.

I made a few announcements, and opened the floor to Show & Tell, for members to tell of their in-progress modeling projects and other news of note. I brought in a 1:32 scale MiG-21PF kit I am working on.

This month's meeting had the club's second Modeler of the Year contest, delayed by one month. I entered two models that I built in recent weeks in this contest. A 1:48 scale Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis was entered in this month's Special Category, "Roaring Twenties," for 1920s subjects. I also entered a 1:306 scale destroyer USS Fletcher in the Ships Category. Both entries finished second in their respective categories (my Spirit of St. Louis lost to another Spirit of St. Louis model!), but I have no quibbles about my contest showing.

In addition to the contest, Marion Morris presented a demo on paint shading. He used the audio-visual system to project images and videos he took of an aircraft model he used to demonstrate how to vary the shades of paint to produce realistic weathering and wear effects. Marion also showed off the materials and tools he used to create the effects. I thought it was a very nice presentation, and apparently the other attendees agreed.

IPMS/Gateway's next meeting is on Tuesday, 21 July, and will feature our annual SLAM FEST. It's a quick model build and contest, with the building and finishing in two hours, followed by a People's Choice contest. This is usually fun.

Later.

The First Post-Quarantine IPMS/Gateway Meeting

Last night (19 May), the Gateway Chapter of the International Plastic Modelers' Society (IPMS) (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) met for the first time in two months; the April meeting having been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic-related closings of public facilities. This meeting was the first at the club's new meeting venue, Affton Elks Lodge 6235 (https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=2635).

There were 14 members in attendance at the meeting, and with the large meeting hall, there was no problem maintaining social distancing. The facility got raves from all of us there.

This meeting had a People's Choice Contest for models members built during the quarantine. I had completed two models in that time--a 1:48 scale Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, and a 1:306 USS Fletcher. They were among six entries in this contest, in which attendees voted for the three best models in the contest. My Fletcher got the third-most votes, and my prize was a roll of toilet paper and a cloth mask.

Besides the contest and the show and tell--which included my 1:32 MiG-21PF, a work in progress--I mentioned the Missouri Professional Communicators (https://www.facebook.com/MissouriProfessionalCommunicators) awards for the club's newsletter and press releases that I had received the day before. We also had a demonstration of Tru-Color Paint (http://trucolorpaint.com/), with samples of the paint and literature about the paint line.

I know that several club members stayed away because of lingering coronavirus concerns, which I understand. Attendance should improve as conditions improve for all of us.

Later