January 2008

Meeting Minutes:

Firstly, I'd like to wish everyone a happy, prosperous and sprue-filled New Years. It was great to see so many people out at the meeting, and to see that despite all our other obligations, we continue to delude ourselves into thinking we're going to get some kits done this year!

•  The first order of business was just to welcome everyone to the new meeting facility. It seems that most of the regulars, as well as a few new or haven't-been-seen-lately faces came out. The new room is much smaller than the cavernous auditorium we're used to, so please make sure that you're friendly with your fellows!

Despite the reduced size of the room, we all fit in there, and the room was well-lit and I didn't hear any major complaints. We will be paying for the whole year there in advance, to prevent a Kiwanis Center-like takeover by hostile external parties.

For presentations using our new projector, the room is equipped with a screen, so make sure to consider that.

The staff at the new facility was very friendly and accommodating, and it seems they were happy to see us, which is a nice improvement from other venues used in the past.

•  The HeritageCon 2 show in Hamilton was discussed. Details about the show can be found here:

http://www.warplane.com/Planetalk/Model_Event_2008.html

The cockpit tour from the previous year is still on. Since IPMS London is a sponsor, there are up to six (6) participants allowed to go to the cockpit night. Apparently it was good last year, and this year, Tony promises it will be better, as he has the museum to himself. There are refreshments as well.

Adam and Lee Rehorn, Neil Harvey and Aaron Propper are confirmed as going. That leaves at least two spots for other members. If anyone else wants to go, they should either email Tony himself (link on HeritageCon 2 website) or me, and I'll let him know. It's a great opportunity, though, so if you think you want to go, get in on it soon!

There's also a hockey tournament in town that week, so hotel rooms may be hard to come by. Please book now if you're intending to say overnight. I think there might be a few rooms left back at the Super 8 on Upper James.

HeritageCon and IPMS London have had, in the one year it has existed, a special relationship. Due to their relative inexperience with running a show, the guys at HeritageCon really counted on IPMS London's support for helping with judging and awards announcing last year. This year is no different, and Tony has asked if any IPMS London members going to the show would be willing to help out.

All IPMS London members are encouraged to go to the show and to help out. Not only is the show excellent, and you get admission to the museum thrown in, it is a great opportunity to support local shows/modelling groups. In addition, it's great practice for our own show coming up in the fall!

A show of hands indicated that the vast majority of those in attendance at this month's meeting will be going to Hamilton . Hopefully nearly all of them will be willing to help out.

Thanks, in advance, to those who will!

•  The new projector was briefly introduced. It will go into combat next month when Lee Rehorn does his presentation on using Die Cast vehicles as a basis for modelling. The projector was procured by Stuart Clark for the club. Stuart found it on sale at Best Buy after Christmas.

Many thanks to Stuart for not only taking his time and money to get the unit, but for saving the club a goodly amount of money in the process!

Dues were collected, and the IPMS London Ninja Brigade was waiting in the shadows to extract suitable recompense from those who forgot to bring their money. If you didn't make it out, or you forgot your cash and survived the Ninja assault, you can bring it next time. Dues are $35 for the year, and you get a cool laminated and numbered membership card.

Join up now! IPMS London wants YOU!

A specialization field was added to the membership list (Good idea, Don!) as well, so that newer members can know who to go to for advice on whatever kind of kit they're building.

•  The main item on the menu was the 9-month build. Nearly everyone (21 people) brought out 5 kits each, and the membership spent some time going around to each stack and voting for which model they thought would be the most fun to see built. The process went quite smoothly, and there were no recounts or dangly bits to deal with!

There were a few surprises, including Cam Hastings bringing out an HGUC Gundam kit to go with his 4 Fords. Needless to say, this was a huge hit, and Cam will now be joining the dark side of sci-fi modelling!

The following list shows the kits that people will be building for the 9-Month build:

•  There was a huge amount of material on the show and tell table, including some unbuilt resin plastic kits, as well as a half-completed Panther-Blitz (great idea!) and a number of completed kits of tanks, planes, trucks and ships.

Doug Booth gave us a very spirited rundown of his recent internet acquisitions. It was great to see all the stuff he bought over Christmas, and the more miserly of the club members (namely me) found the savings realized by internet shopping to be simply awesome.

Overall, this was probably the best show-and-tell I can remember for a long time. A lot of people brought in a lot of stuff, and were excited it seemed to talk about it.

This brings me to my final point:
•  This year we need to make sure that the club gets back to its roots and focuses on what we're all here for: MODELLING! I hope that every show and tell table is chock full of kits, built, half-built and unbuilt – everything goes! Bring your newest kits, interesting books and photos, or anything else that your fellow modelers will find interesting.

It really felt good to see models on the tables; that's what it's all about! Good work, everyone!

Next time: Lee Rehorn will discuss tips for modelling die cast vehicles, and we'll get back into doing 50/50 draws as well!

See you then!

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