Feburary 2009 Ping!

[lastvautour]

Ping

[Oceaneer99]

Oops, hadn't flipped over my calendar!  I'll update later today.

[Oceaneer99]

PING!


STATUS REPORTS! ALL HANDS REPORT!

Gallery Stats for Feb 1, 2009:

2159 files in 165 albums and 13 categories with 208 comments viewed 86197 times

Board Stats:

Total Members:     73
Total Posts:    1638
Total Topics:    252
Total Categories:    8
Most Online:    68 - August 07, 2008, 05:36:35 PM
Total page views:    215951

[lastvautour]

Quiet on the eastern front so to speak.

1/144 HMCS Bonaventure - second deck attached and rough carved
1/144 Banshees - awaiting decals
1/144 Tracker - 1 in paint shop, 3 others no progress

1/350 Wickes Class Destroyer - hull and stacks block carved

1/48 Canadair Argus - fuselage, vertical fin block carved, main and tail plane wings marked awaiting block cutting

1/32 Hudson - awaiting slate grey paint
1/32 F-102 - no progress
1/32 CF-100 - no progress
1/32 C-45 - no progress

1/72 Ascender III - in paint shop having gloss white applied
1/72 hangar almost complete except for electrical conduits

Toying with the idea of making new shelves in workshop area.

[lastvautour]

I saved an old book case that was destined for landfill. It works quite well in my basement. Even when you enlarge the picture, it is hard to distinguish wood from plastic.

http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-2452

[JeffH]

The photo shows the seven projects I currently have under way.  All except the Lockheed 12 have been posted before. The Lockheed and Grumman Goose are still just held together with metal pins and wooden pegs.  I sanded through the fiberglass resin sealer on the DH88 in a couple of places, so more coats are needed.  The other models are sealed and primed and are nearing the painting stage.  Still have to make landing gear, propellers and other detail parts too.

[lastvautour]

Outstanding work Jeff. I love the ribbing on the Bobcat and your Beech 18 looks way better and more accurate than mine.

Lou

[cliff strachan]

Neat work, Jeff. But just how did you do the ribbing on the Bobcat?

Cliff.

[JeffH]

Thanks for your comments.

For more detail on the technique I use for simulating ribs and stringers on solid models, please see my project board where additional photos are posted.

Jeff

[Oceaneer99]

Still not my finest month, but I did make some model progress this time.

Scale Models:
Bristol LRQ-1 1/72 remains rough-cut [no progress]
Speed Spitfire 1/48 is fuselage only (shaped, though) [no progress]
Bristol Spaceplanes Ascender 1/72 has most of its parts shaped, needs to be assembled [no progress]
PT-9 (large) still in the ways [no progress]
PT-10 1/350 recutting some parts to make another [no progress]
USS Wickes Class Destroyer (1/500 scale): made guns and torpedo tubes for 5 models, rough cut wedges for four hulls, cut one hull to shape and drilled holes for stacks

"Fun" Models:
Two egg-shaped "rocketships" assembled and primed, need some more putty work before painting [no progress]
Miniature Star Wars R2D2 model (in wood): COMPLETED

Plans:
Continued searching Google's new collection of Popular Science for plans. 
Researching sounding rockets for a scale model project with my brother, decided on the Nike-Smoke.

Tools:
Collected some apple wood cuttings for tool handles

Workshop:
Fixed up an small, old motor-powered grinder and resurfaced the grinding wheel.  Used it to shape the Wickes class torpedo tube wires

Garet

[R.F.Bennett]

Just a quick note to those members who live in the land down under. Some firefighters are on their way from my area to help out. So I will assume things are going poorly for guys. And we've seen plenty of news about Sam the Koala and her poor little paws...   Ok, Ok, Just put an Amen to it Reverend!
Let us know how your doing. 

[spider web]

Selling my models !

Sorry not to have posted something for a couple of weeks but have been tied up filly a display case at a local antiques mall.

Stopping doing the art and craft shows I decided to get a show case in one place and go on from there.

I was amazed and surprised to have sold all six of the WWII  ship recognition models made to the prints supplied by the Department of the Navy.
I've also sold a few wooden repro-toys of the 1920 period.
The only problem in protecting myself from any law suit is that I have to tag it as for decorative purposes only!

A sad statement getting even worse with the government making it more difficult for the cottage toy industry !   I'm furious with an ever growing nanny government!

So far I've managed to earn enough to pay next month's rent for the case. The advantage of going this route is that they're full time employees on duty that control the keys to the cases and handle all sales.  My only cost is a small percentage in covering the credit card processing.

I have a number blanks already cut for more ship models and aircraft.  I have sets of card stock templates of a number of the three view prints.

In such a tight market I'm happy to earn enough to cover the cost of material and overhead.   

I'm happy in hearing the response from the public about seeing items they have never seen before.

If anyone is interested in hearing more about my marketing I'll be glad to share the info freely...........

The Spider

[lastvautour]

save a few dollars and buy a camera to show us your modelling skills. Must be pretty good to be so successful.  Congratulation.

Lou

[dave_t]

Hi Jim,
      1) How much do your ships sell for?
      2) What is the cost of the display rental?
      3) What type of customers buy ID models and what do they do with them?

  Sounds interesting, hope you don't mind the questions . I agree with Lou, it would be great to see visuals.

Dave