Our last meeting of the year will be on Saturday 10th so come along to catch up on the latest. This will also be the unveiling of the Gunna Build entries so should be a lot of fun and maybe some cursing.
There will be lots to talk about xmas, with santa not far away and counting his kits for us sad old modellers!
See you all there………….
On October 27th I took my son and nephew along to the PAX 2018 event at the Convention Centre in Melbourne. This event is basically a haven for all things computer gaming which includes exhibitors, developers, cos play, displays, war gaming and table top board games. It was a huge mix of everything but what really caught my eye was the technology being engaged in table top war games to produce buildings and scenery using 3D printing. I also found a stand by House of War who have a store in Ringwood which had some really cool figures and related products.
Being a modeller, and as you can well understand, I seem to sniff out things that fit into our hobby and came across a Citadel tool that enables you to scrap seam lines off figures. I had to have it, bang there you go and off I went. Today I visited the House of War store which was well above my expectations and is a must visit if you happen to be in the area.
House of War is mostly a table top war gamers store similar I guess to Games Workshop. But on walking in I found its much more than that, with so many books and paint ranges to suit our hobby that it quickly became a go to store for some of the more difficult things to find locally. For example, they have the complete range of AK Real Colors, most of the AK FAQ books, Vallejo paints, several ranges of fantasy figure paints, terrain and textures supplies, brushes, Scale75 figures and busts and the list goes on. This would have to be the best stocked store for modelling books and paints that I know of. They dont sell model kits but I have been told that this is coming so stay tuned.
I will also say that us modellers have been well catered for by the likes of BNA and Metro Hobbies who are great retailers, but I think this store has been hidden away and kind of undiscovered by us more mainstream modellers – so drop in and have a look around.
Our October meeting went well and included the judging for our famous ‘Build A Bitch’ (BAB) for 2018. All the kits were on the table showing various finishes, and keeping in mind these kits were the worst of the worst considering their vintage and horrible fit etc. Below are images of what the members had to contend with and the results were really quite impressive.
Mark Bujega from ‘Sprue Finders’ also kindly donated prizes for the placings, which was hugely appreciated.
1st Martin – Fokker Souther Cross
2nd Michael Turner – PZL37
3rd Tony Mollica – P-39 Aircobra
We are back again on 7th October so hope to see you all there.
There has been much hype over the recent announcement by Wingnut Wings of their soon to be released 1/32 Dambuster Avro Lancaster – a topic of hot discussion I’m sure. This will be our 2nd last meeting of the year so come along with all your goodies to make this a great meeting.
Anyway hope to see you all there for our usual catch ups and general fun!
We all listen to our favorite music when where building a kit – right! Well today I wasn’t really building but was cleaning out the working bench and doing a little rearranging. I generally put on Spotify and today I was listening to a little alternative Aussie music mostly from the 1990s – very cool music at the time and still is by the way……
I picked up an older book that made way for another and was flicking through the pages when a song came on by Something for Kate – Captain (Million Miles and Hour). Click on the Youtube link above and pay attention to a spot at the beginning and towards the end – it will make you smile as it did me…………………
I’m sure there are other songs that may have a modelling reference, so listen a little closer next time you play a few tunes.
Our next meeting will be this coming Sunday so make sure you come along for a bit of modelling fun.
We will be reviewing our Warbirds Build Weekend at the end of August where we get to rehash the festivities and what all the fuss was actually about!
We generally have several discussions, but at this meeting we will be doing something a little different. Its actually a three part presentation/discussion where the members will bring along:
This will open the floor to some interesting conversations and even a mini show and tell.
Cheers and see you all there!
Over the weekend of 25th and 26th August the club enjoyed a weekend away for a modelling retreat at San Remo, located just before Phillip Island. This was to be the first of many trips where we get to forget about the rat race and to focus purely on building models. The only real rules was to bring enough kits to work through plus all the necessary tools and paints. Also a mandatory item was a sense of humor, basic cooking skills and an ability to enjoy yourself and have very little sleep!
The venue itself was a beach house that I was lucky enough to score a few months before for a family weekend away. Now, you may do this yourself and especially when going shopping with the wife, but I tend to look for modelling opportunities and this house made a perfect boys get away. At this point I would like to thank Carol for allowing our group to take advantage of her beach house located in these beautiful surroundings.
I came with a small stash of kits (9 in all) to ensure I didn’t get bogged down on one kit, and to provide a selection to flip between as the mood decided. My productivity was unheard of for myself and I managed to put away at least a month of building over the few days. Most of us did the same or at leased covered off those kits that had been long term shelf queens or in much needed attention. Its often a great environment to knock over the more tedious tasks like tank wheels and tracks or complex and time consuming scribing and filling etc.
We all had a great time and really got to know each other very well, as you do in a group situation. I will say that its a great way to see how others tackle their builds and what tools they use to do certain tasks. Its all running live before our eyes and takes us away from the solitary existence that we are all used to. Food and supplies was no issue as the shops were a short walk down the road, as was the local pub for dinner on the Saturday night.
On the Sunday we packed up our kits, cleaned up and headed down to the Vietnam Veterans Museum on the Island. This is a must and contains a great selection of Vietnam related collections and displays. This outing brought our weekend to a close and was kind of sad to end such a great time. Anyway there will be more trips to come, so cant wait for the next one.
warbirdsamg.com 