Today is the day to pay tribute and salute our veterans. As modelers, we spend many hours reproducing the machines of war in our aircraft, armor, and ship models. Less often do we stop to salute the men and women of the armed forces for their dedication and sacrifice to defend our country. As parents and grandparents we hold our breath and hope that we see our children return from carrying out their duty. Sometimes we join arms with one another when there is a loss of someone precious to us. We salute those veterans and current active service soldiers who are members of our club. We stand in silent prayer to our members who have lost loved ones in our current battle against terrorism. We pray for a protective hedge of thorns to protect our club members in current active duty. Thank-you veterans for putting your lives on the line and serving our country so we can have the freedom to enjoy our families and sit around a table together to talk about models, techniques, and enjoy friendships. Too often do we lose sight of your sacrifices while we enjoy our time together. We salute you.
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I ran across a set of tutorials for painting and sculpting figures that I wanted to pass on to everyone. I have purchased three of the tutorials and found them to be well worth the cost. Each tutorial shows a master level artist doing their work. They explain what they are doing and the picture is in HD quality. The tutorials can be purchased in CD format or downloaded from the web. I downloaded mine. A word of caution if you download: they give you three days to complete the download that comes in multiple chapters since each tutorial lasts around four-to-five hours. I would suggest purchasing them one at a time if you plan to download. The tutorials are produced and filmed by Miniature Mentor. No, I don't receive any cash back for a referral. I just wanted to pass on to you a resource that I have found to be very beneficial. Just click on the link to head to their catalogue. I dropped in to my local hobby shop a while back (“just looking thank you”) and struck up a conversation with the owner. One thing led to another and he told me about a Class that was ongoing and thought I might be interested. I had built model cars 40 years ago but that got swept aside with career, family and so many other things that had come along. Now at nearly 60 years old, I thought I might want to recapture some of the fun of building model cars again so I thought to myself, sure, why not check one of these classes out. As far as model building goes it was the best thing I have ever done!
It’s been about a year and a half since I began my association with this class and now I own an air-brush and spray chrome and candy colors; I cut up and re-piece body sections to modify them to my liking; I literally fabricate items from evergreen styrene, solder and other commonly found materials, and the list of modeling skills continues to grow! The beauty of it all is that nobody “tells” you how to do anything, they show you what they do and you are free to take that idea or technique and explore it for your own purposes. Almost all of the learning is based on real projects, many of which you get to do some “hands-on” experimenting. I have found so many techniques from members who primarily do armor or planes or figures or whatever, that have terrific applications to what I want to do with some of my car models. Another key to this class is that three important foundational things are all commonly shared; Camaraderie, Encouragement, and Skill. The attendees have diverse backgrounds and they are all a lot of fun to be around. I am not the greatest model builder in the world but I am always encouraged by the group as they “kick the tires” on one of my “Show ‘N Tell” builds I have brought in. And finally, nobody in the group attempts to corner the market on some magic secret. If they try something we all benefit in the experience. If you don’t think you’re a good enough builder to come join us, that’s exactly why you should come! You will learn things that are super easy and that will make you look like a much better modeler than you might be. (I know that’s the case with me!) On the other hand if you think you already know it all then that’s exactly why you should come because the rest of us could sure learn from your experience! I used to struggle to “assemble” model cars; now I fearlessly “build” them! They don’t always end up quite where I want them but I am enjoying the heck out of this hobby again, even more so than before. Like I said at the outset about this class. . . “best thing I have ever done.” It is time for membership renewal. Participation in club activities can occur on many different levels depending on how much you desire to be involved. You can participate electronically by following club activities via our live feeds of club meetings on the internet, lurking on the club Forum, following us on Facebook, and reading the Scratching Post. You can become more active by attending club meetings, posting or remarking on the club Forum, sharing your work or comments on Facebook, attending our yearly contest/show, or writing an article for the Scratching Post. All levels of participation are welcome and we desire you to become a member of our modeling community. CASM is about the fellowship of modelers, in person or electronically, where we can swap stories, share our latest works, learn new techniques, ask questions, and grow in our modeling hobby. We want this to be your club: for modelers and driven by modelers. The first step of making the club yours is by joining.
Joining is easy and inexpensive. Go to this link: http://casmodels.weebly.com/join-the-club.html, fill out the pertinent information, and click “Buy Now” for payment through PayPal. Cost is $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for juniors. By becoming a member, you will be contributing to the operation of the club and, primarily, assisting in putting on our next contest. More importantly, you will be making an investment in the modeling community. There is pride in ownership! We welcome your support and encourage you to join our fellowship of modelers. CASM is proud to present Brianna Childres as the recipient of the Member of the Year award. The award is presented to a member of CASM who has distinguished themselves in their service to the club and community and has promoted the hobby of modeling. Brianna has exceeded this lofty standard by the behind-the-scenes work she does in support of the club. As Chairmen of the Show committee, she has guided and ushered the committee through all of the steps necessary to put on the club contest. The contests have been very well thought out and organized under her guidance and she has worked hard at making the contests a club member driven affair. She has re-designed and administered the club website into a beautiful site that is multi-faceted and easy to navigate. During club meetings, she manages the live stream over the internet and maintains contact with all of the viewers of the meeting, often relaying comments during the body of the meeting. She is active on the club Facebook page by maintaining regular contact with contributors. As a member of the Executive Board she has offered insight and suggestions that have added to the growth of CASM as a club. Even though Brianna does not build models herself, she actively contributes to club actions and functions. The driving motivation behind her commitment is her love for the club, its members, and her husband Ken who is the club President. I am sure he values her support in all of these activities and together they make a strong team for the growth of CASM. Please join me in congratulating Brianna in recognition of her hard work and receiving the Member of the Year award! |
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