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International Rev Hauler Bell P-39 AiraCobra Ferrari F430

Camionetta AS 42 “Alvin” Deep Submersible JU-52/3M

German S.W.S. Armored Tractor Arado AR234B-2 Bomber Star Wars Imperial Tie Fighter

Gundam RX-79 (G) Ez8 Steyr RSO/01 Tractor BMW R/75 Motorcycle

News and Newsletters

Baltimore, MD July 25, 2008 – On Saturday, July 26 2008, the Firehouse Expo Model Muster was held at the Baltimore Convention Center. This year marked the 25th Anniversary of the Expo. The Firehouse Expo is the biggest Convention on the East Coast for members of the Fire & Rescue community. Anything relating to the Fire, Rescue & EMS service could be found on the convention floor. The Firehouse Expo is the only convention that boasts having a model display. It is called the Model Muster and it is put on by the members of the Chesapeake Model Fire Engineers (CMFE). There were many fantastic models on display by members of various model clubs that included CMFE, Metropolitan Miniature Fire Apparatus Association (MMFAA) out of New Jersey, Maryland Automotive Modelers Association (MAMA), and Tri-State IPMS just to name a few. Some of the guys at the show were also members of The Scale Firehouse Internet Club. It was great to be able to put names and faces together. There were also many others from all around the Mid-Atlantic region who were displaying their models at the show.(by Mark Wheeler)

Giant Model Displays I-95 Diorama Large Vendor Turnout

Virginia Beach, VA, August 10, 2008 – A large contingent from the IPMS Tri-State Scale Modelers attended the 2008 IPMS/USA National Convention in Virginia Beach, VA. Reports from our group indicated that the number and quality of vendors, models and all other exhibits you would expect to see at the National convention were the best in recent memory. In the national contest, IPMS Tristate’s own Cameron MacKenzie placed first in category 875, Out-of-Box (OOB) Miscellaneous category with an excellent build of a Horse Drawn Hearse. Cameron has won previous national awards at IPMS shows and is one of the Club’s Master Modelers. IPMS Tristate Scale Modelers sponsored the trophy package for category 188 OOB Small Jet 1/72. David Pratt took 1st Place in this category with a Horton GO-229.

FA-18 on the Flight Line Doc’s Haul TSSM from the Floor

Frederick, MD, August 9, 2008 – The IPMS Tri-State Scale Modelers club joined several other central Maryland hobby clubs in Frederick for Hobbytown Frederick’s 10^th Anniversary Hobby Show and Sale. In addition to IPMS TSSM, other attending hobby clubs included Mavericks’ R/C Flying Club, the Western Maryland Railroad Historical Society HO Scale Modular Group, Pegasus R/C club, Frederick Flying Club and Ztrack magazine. There were multiple static displays, and operating train layouts for the public to enjoy. We even had someone drop by from Hudson Valley Historical Miniatures Guild, the Mid-Hudson IPMS Chapter. There was lots of sharing of tips and stories, and for the plastic modelers, there was even a well attended make-and-take event for the kids.

IPMS TSSM Display Frederick Flyer Z-Scale Layout

HO Scale Modular Layout The Show Floor

Hagerstown, MD, July 8, 2008 – The feature event at this month’s IPMS Tri-State Scale Modelers club meeting was the infamous Carrier Landing Event. The event was conducted like a more traditional air show, where members were given the chance to review the flying machines at rest, converse with the pilots and collect autographs if desired (no autographs were requested for some reason). Nevertheless, the pilots were unaffected and when given the word, took their strange birds to the sky. Once our pilots got airborne, they fearlessly lined up their aircraft with the carrier deck and brought them in hard, much to the delight of the on-looking crowd. Overall, the event was completely successful, the results impressive and all pilots earned their TSSM wings. Below is a sampling of our high-tech wonders:

Blacklight Special Voodoo-belwagen Vomit Comet Deck Dart

The results of the Carrier Landing event are as follows:

Entry Pilot Result

Blacklight Special Kirk Warner Crashed (lots of times)
Voodoo-belwagen Ben Gray Crashed (lots of times)
Vomit Comet Andy Stanicek Crashed (lots of times)
Deck Dart Zach Jones Crashed (lots of times)

You can see some of our pilot’s more serious work in our Model Gallery.

Hagerstown, MD, June 21, 2008 – IPMS Tristate took a road trip this week to Hagerstown Speedway. Nearly 20 members and guests turned out for the event and were treated to spectacular racing, all from the best seats in the house. The speedway gave club members access to the climate controlled press box overlooking the start/finish line as well as the viewing deck adjacent to the press box. Club members were introduced to the raceway staff and were given the royal treatment. Even the play-by-play announcer dropped by and paid us a visit. It turns out, he is a modeler as well (racing subjects, of course). A great time was had by all and this event is a strong candidate for annual status.

The IPMS Tristate Crew

View from the Deck Feature Winner #9’s Bad Day

Jan and Son Pit Area

Hagerstown, MD, May 15, 2008 – What does an airbrush, splatter nozzle, a popsicle stick, and acrylic paint have in common? All are used to make realistic, textured weathering in scale. Surprised? Dave Monet was the feature speaker at this month’s club meeting and completed his series on new weathering techniques. Concurrent with Dave’s airbrush demonstration, Mike Arnold also demonstrated several shading and painting techniques using an airbrush. The presentations were perfectly executed in three ring circus style and all of the members had plenty to look at and learn from in real time.

Dave’s Muddies Up the DUKW Mike Arnold Mike’s Pre-shaded Wolverine

In addition to the regular meeting activities, the club also welcomed several new members and prospective members. Greg Perry was also recognized for a first place finish at the Box Stock Rock ’08 show and contest in Lynchburg, Virginia on April 19. Greg entered several of his paper (that’s right, paper) models in the contest and brought home the first place finish. You can see some of Greg’s and Mike’s work in our Model Gallery.

Hagerstown, MD, April 8, 2008 – Dave Monet was the feature speaker at this month’s club meeting. Dave is a long time member our club but is also an accomplished artist and art instructor. Dave demonstrated several new weathering techniques and weathering products applicable to all genres of model building. This presentation was part one of a two part presentation that concentrated on easily and perfectly weathering panel lines in scale. He also covered model and brush preparation and how to avoid the unrecoverable, catastrophic mistakes with weathering. In the second part series at the next meeting, he will incorporate airbrush and other techniques to complete the job.

Dave’s Super Fine Panel Lines Dave’s Weathering Pallet

Hagerstown, MD, March 11, 2008 – As previously announced, Mr. Larry Selman of Larry Selman Illustration was the feature speaker at this month’s club meeting. Mr. Selman went through the detailed process of creating his art work, including researching and building models to support the process. He also presented a slide show of his art work, which included a subset of 125 different box fronts he developed for the GI Joe figure series. Some examples of Mr. Selman’s work:

5 Pictures above © Larry Selman Illustration, used with permission.

In addition to our guest speaker and our normal agenda, Rob Hade also brought a large collection of truck, car and bus resin kits and accessories. The chapter also held our spring chapter model contest. The club displayed a wide variety models and clearly the members have been working hard. The “Best of Show” was awarded to Mike Arnold for a well executed build of a 1/72 Starfire Starship by Monogram.

Jan with Larry Selman Rob’s Display Riggin and Andy Review Mike Tallies the Results

Starfire Starship

Scale: 1/72

Built by: Mike Arnold

Kit: Monogram

PE: None

Other: Decals added from Starship Modeler Decals

Mike Arnold’s Starfire Starship

Other results are as follows:

Senior Master Rick Nocar King Tiger
Senior AFV 1/48 Ben Gray Late Jagdpanther
Senior Miscellaneous Bruce Neumann Swift Boat
Senior Diorama Cameron MacKenzie Gato Submarine Drydock and Pen
Streetcar Greg Perry Polonez Pol Truck, Fire Version

Hagerstown, MD, February 28, 2007– As previously announced, Mr. Mike Baughman of Michael Baughman Racing was the feature speaker at this month’s club meeting. Mr. Baughman provided the club with an extensive overview of his racing team, the Grand AM Rolex Series, and other racing related material. His also went into modeler-level details of his vehicles, the safety equipment and other information interesting to all modelers in the club. Mr. Baughman also endured a long question and answer period (first, the 24 Hours at Daytona, now the 24 Minutes at Hagerstown) in which he also showed his actual racing footage from one of the events in Watkins Glen race track in New York.

MBR in Action Diorama Candidate? Just a Cool Picture

3 Pictures above © Michael Baughman Racing, used with permission.

Hagerstown, MD, February 19, 2007– The contest committee of IPMS Tri-State Scale Modelers is pleased to report another successful chapter Best-of-the-Best model contest. The club displayed a wide variety model with several “for display only” kits. The “Best of the Best” was awarded to Joe Schaffer for a well executed build of a SB2U Vindicator, originally flown by one of the Medal of Honor recipients from the Battle of Midway in World War II.

SB2U Vindicator

Scale: 1/48

Built by: Joe Schaeffer

Kit: Accurate Miniatures

PE: Seat Belts

Other: Flown by Metal of Honor Winner at Battle of Midway.

Joe Schaeffer’s Best of Best Winner

The next club contest will be held during the general chapter meeting on March 11, 2008 and will be the first in the 2008 contest series.

Hagerstown, MD, February 4, 2007 – The Tri-State Scale Modelers IPMS chapter is pleased to announce our exciting line up of winter/spring events and speakers. In addition to our Best of the Best Model contest in February, we are also looking forward to speaker Mike Baughman of Michael Baughman Racing. Mr. Baughman has been a long time driver/owner and has raced in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona and other marquis racing events. Mr. Baughman currently competes in the Grand Am Rolex Series. For our March meeting, we welcome Mr. Larry Selman. Mr. Selman is an illustrator and artist/owner of Larry Selman Illustration. His illustrations cover a wide range of subjects including military events (Indian wars through modern military), famous personalities (fiction and non-fiction) and public servants in action. In April and May, the club welcomes back past (and always interesting) speakers Mike Coraggio and Dave Monet. Mike is long time member and brings back pictures of airplanes, hot rods and other interesting modeling subjects from his coast to coast travels. Dave is a long time member, past president and the current chapter newsletter editor. He also conducts art and airbrush clinics for artists and modelers at hobby shops and other local venues throughout central and western Maryland.

Hagerstown, MD, January 8, 2007 – The contest committee of IPMS Tri-State Scale Modelers is pleased to report another successful chapter model contest. The club displayed a wide variety model with several “for display only” kits. The “Best of Show” was awarded to Andy Stanicek for a well executed build of a Star Wars Imperial AT-ST Walker. Other entries include: