AMMS Brisbane News1 Editorial (aka Rob’s Rantings) AMMS Brisbane News down Racecourse by at least one and sometimes many more small sons, particularly on Monday morning for the buy,

1

Editorial (aka Rob’s Rantings)

AMMS Brisbane News

down Racecourse by at

least one and sometimes

many more small sons,

particularly on Monday

morning for the buy, swap

and sell, when the queue

to get in the door

stretched for well over

100 metres!

Long may we continue to

be creative—see you on

Saturday.

Well, June was a busy

modelling month, at least

for me.

First we had the AMMS

10th anniversary party,

and I saw some faces we

had not seen for some

time and others I don’t

think I have seen before.

Thanks to the organis-

ers—it was a great after-

noon and I’m sure every-

body had a good time.

The weekend following

our party, I attended AME

in Melbourne, and as you

will read further on in this

newsletter, Melbourne

weather was up to its usual

tricks.

Anybody who ever thought

that building models was a

dying art would only have to

have attended either of

these two events, especially

the Melbourne one, to have

their opinion changed very

quickly.

I lost track of the number of

fathers being practically

dragged in the door of San-

Inside this issue:

David’s drivel 2

Bovington 2011 3

Modeller’s profiles 4-5

AME 2012 6-7

Pics from last month 8

Special points of interest:

Bovington 2011

Two modeler’s profiles

AME 2012

07 July 2012

Volume 8, Issue 7

QMHE is coming—

only 63 more sleeps!

Below—no, not the Magnificent Seven—the seven founding members of AMMS Bris-

bane. Back row L-R John King, Dave Scorer, Craig Stratton, Brad Littleboy, Shane

Black. Front row Michael Walsh (L) and Ross Allen.

2

David’s Drivel

Page 2 Volume 8, Issue 7

What can you say about the June 10th birthday meeting? It was a great success, plenty of good food, (ok, I didn't

say healthy, I just said good !) plenty of people to share it with, and plenty of modelling eye candy on the tables.

Even the weather stayed sociable till after we'd finished. What a great way to celebrate our birthday. Thank you to

everyone who came along & made it such a great day, I hope you enjoyed yourselves, I had a ball.

Congratulations to the entrants in the two peoples choice comps, I could be wrong, but that just might have been the

most popular comp we've had so far... The number of entries was quite pleasing to see, as was the quality. And,

lastly, a huge thank you to those who helped provide manpower to set it up & make it all happen. Like our Christmas

meeting, QMHE etc it's a handful of people who are always there, behind the scenes plodding away, quietly taking

care of business so that each & every event-meeting-show is as good as it can possibly be.

Thank you to each & every one of you (you know who you are- I won't name names!) Now, onto the good stuff...

Till next month, be safe,

Enjoy your modelling.

Regards, David Scorer AMMS Brisbane Coordinator 2012

Left and above—a few pics

provided by Dave taken dur-

ing his wanderings. Some-

times I wonder if he ever

does any work . . . .

3

Bovington 2011 (thanks Kerry Ponting)


Last year, during November, I was fortunate to travel to England. One of the most desirable destinations that any armour modeller could have would have to be Bovington Tank Museum. This museum is situated in the south west of England near the town of Wool. It is still the home of the Royal Armoured Corps and is a training school for Tank crews. The setting is in a forest with a large dirt track complete with large mounds to get those Challenger Tanks air-borne. Naturally the weather was rain with an occasional peep of sun, and the sign on the side of the road was cor-

rect in calling the place Cloud Hill.

The cost of entry was 12 pounds and there are over 300 tanks on display. I was allowed 4hrs 30 mins to see what I could and I wore out my Cannon camera and had to finish the visit with the Olympus. Always take two cameras if you can, you may only get one chance. I had two club members on my shoulders in the shape of Dave Scorer and Andy Reed for my visit . David’s motto is do as much as you can , you can always sleep on the plane going home. Andy’s

is just bloody do it. Would dearly loved to have had their company for real.

I have over 1000 pictures from my trip. Aircraft, Tanks, Ships both modern and historic, U boat and HMS Belfast. I brought my computer down last meeting and some of you were able to see some of the pictures. I received a request

to share with you and I hope that they will turn out. Note the added protection now required on some of the displays.

4

Modeller’s Profile 1


Ah, the joys of raffle victory so bitterly extinguished by the Modellers Profile, the scourge of the shy & insecure. Well

here goes, folks.

Although my grandfather saw action in the Middle East during WWII, he never spoke of his service before passing

away in 1974. So my interest in all things military, would have began with all those terrific war films & TV pro-

grammes, from the 40s, 50s, 60s & into the 70s that I grew up with. Despite all the inaccuracies, thanks goes to Telly

Savalas for my fondness for the M24 Chaffee.

My modelling began early with 1:76 two-tone Matchbox and 1:72 Airfix figures, armour & aircraft, bought from the

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After a couple of years, I graduated to 1:35 kits. At the time, the choices were Tamiya or Airfix. A chance trip, with my

mother, to the Electrolux parts dept; strangely enough unearthed the Italeri Willys Jeep and the BMW & Zundapp. I

had to have them, so after school the following day, I made the 10km journey, with the pocket money in hand. They

were so different; the level of detail in the vehicles & particularly the figures just blew me away.

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enamels & Tamiya acrylics. The weathering process meant a light brush of brown or buff, and the highlight of my

figure painting were eyeballs applied by toothpick.

I was always inspired by the dioramas in the annual Tamiya catalogue or; displayed at Hobbyco, in George St, Syd-

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High school study & the pursuit of girls brought an abrupt end to all that.

The release of Top Gun led into a brief foray into mid-scale wingy things, resulted in a 1/35 Huey & Blackhawk,

which like those in the Eric Bana classic, went down and have not survived. I left my earlier armour work, in the fam-

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ended the same way as the choppers.

A few partners, a reduction of parents; change of state & career; then a lower back injury later leads us into mid

2003, when a casual conversation at work, with Craig Stratton, about his plans for the coming weekend, unveiled his

interest in modelling & that something called the QMHE was taking place.

It seemed like a good excuse to get the kids out of the house, to take a look. I was astounded by the level of realism

achieved by some of the competitors, and also by the quantity of accessories, update sets & modelling equipment

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were lucky, a little Verlinden.

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other.

My modelling (and historical) interests comprise the obscure, include soft-skins, lean toward Allied (but not U.S.!!!)

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kits, 92 figure sets and heaps of the associated accessories; resin figures, conversions, updates & photo-etch.

Coming along to each AMMS meeting is still a highlight of my month.

See you next time.

Murray Smith

Removed for privacy reasons

5

Modeller’s Profile 2


I started building models way back in primary school where the local newsagent sold World War 1 aeroplanes in a plastic bag with cardboard for 99 cents. After that I moved onto Matchbox kits of World War 2 building armour and soft skins. I then found Esci that had a greater range than Matchbox and built and brush painted nearly every one of their range. I stayed with Braille Scale for a long time and my friend who was in the same scale moved to 1/35 and I �W�K�R�X�J�K�W��W�K�D�W��W�K�H��E�L�J�J�H�U��V�F�D�O�H��Z�D�V�Q�¶�W��I�R�U��P�H��,��W�K�H�Q��I�R�X�Q�G��R�X�W��K�R�Z�� P�X�F�K��I�X�Q��J�L�U�O�V��Z�H�U�H��D�Q�G��P�\��K�R�E�E�\��Z�D�V��S�X�W��R�Q��W�K�H��back burner and I restarted it after I started working for Queensland Rail devoting my time to modelling and girls, who when out and about would go into a cosmetic or make up place and while they were trying on make up I was looking at items that would suffice for model tools, which is where I got the best set of tweezers I have. When I started shift work in QR that was around the clock and weekends and public holidays I started to have less time for modelling and my progress in building slowed down considerably. I switched to 1/35 scale just as Dragon started up and my first 1/35 product was their first kit of their panzer crew and my first tank was the Tamiya King Tiger, one of my favourite

tanks.

I started buying modelling magazines and found more and more different companies and when I had the Internet I �Z�D�V��D�E�O�H��W�R��K�D�Y�H��D�F�F�H�V�V��W�R��W�K�H�V�H��F�R�P�S�D�Q�L�H�V�¶��S�U�R�G�X�F�W�V��,��D�O�Z�D�\�V��W�K�R�X�J�K�W��L�W��Z�D�V��X �Q�X�V�X�D�O��W�R��K�D�Y�H��D��V�W�D�V�K��R�I��P�R�G�H�O�V��W�R��be built and even have half finished models, but I found through AMMS that everyone has a stash and half finished models sitting on their shelf. I now have kits by Tamiya, Dragon, AFV Club and Bronco (Bronco is a pseudonym for over engineered). I do my modelling in the garage on an old kitchen table which functions as my work bench and my stash is under the table, next to the table, in an old cupboard near the table, under the coffee table inside and in an-

other cupboard inside.

I had always wanted to join or belong to a modelling club where people shared the same interests because I rarely found anyone interested in the same area with the exception of two people, a driver I met in Queensland Rail and another driver when I went to Emerald who only built those things with wings. I found AMMS when I visited the Train Show the first year that AMMS was invited and took a flyer and attended the next meeting. Here is where I found

people who had the same interests as me and I could ask questions on anything modelling related.

When I upscaled to 1/35 I bought an airbrush, which was a very basic airbrush by Aztec, my next airbrush was an-other Aztec and my current airbrush is an Aztec A570 and I am thinking about buying a Tamiya super fine airbrush to

complement the Aztec, with which I have no problems.

I prefer building the kit and lose interest after the first primary colour is applied, the same with figures I build but lose

interest when painting because I need to learn more on figure painting, practical rather than theory.

To sum up I only build World War 2 armour, be it German, American or British and devote as much time as I can to

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I enjoy the building and especially like looking at a build that has plastic, resin, photoetch and other kit parts on it

showing different mediums, which ends up covered with paint.

Removed for privacy reasons

6

Australian Model Expo


OK, where was everybody ? There was a time when this auspicious event would have been attended by at least half

a dozen AMMS members—this time there was me and Bob Waters all on our lonesomes.

The show was held, as usual, over the Queen’s Birthday weekend at Sandown Park Racecourse, Melbourne. Just as

well it was indoors as the weather (well, it WAS in Melbourne) varied from bleak to bleak, wet, cold and bloody awful!

I am told that the number of entries and attendees was a new record, and it was certainly obvious to me that the size of the show had expanded considerably since I was last there in, I think, 2010. The quality of entries was high, and retailers were very well represented, including some who I had not seen before and the usual regulars such as Wil-

liam Wong and Firestorm.

On Saturday night I drove it seemed right across Melbourne to visit William at his Reservoir store and enjoy the piz-zas from his mate up the road. He has an amazing level of stock, including heaps of stuff very rarely seen anywhere

else, particularly a very good range of turned brass ammunition in a bewildering range of calibres and scales.

Monday I attended the “Buy, Swap and Sell” along with a horde of others, and I was impressed with the amount of stuff on sale and also the very reasonable prices—I picked up a number of Squadron/Signal publications for $5.00

each.

Below are a sample of some of the entries (continued on Page 7)

7

Australian Model Expo


8


Some photos from last month (thanks Peter Battle)

Above (L-R) Graham McNamara’s Roman cavalry general 180 AD- Latorre models 54 mm white metal, Rob Welling-

ton’s Kikada, Zulu Queen—Latorre Models 54mm white metal, Rob Wellington’s German Cavalry Officer WW1—

Kirin 120mm. Below—Ian Cousens’ Bronco Comet

Documents

AMMS Brisbane News1 Editorial (aka Rob’s Rantings) AMMS Brisbane News down Racecourse by at least one and sometimes many more small sons, particularly on Monday morning for the buy,