October and it's time for thinking "Winter Projects"

Well, we had a great meeting in October, good weather, good turnout, and some great topics. Dirk has obviously been working hard on his "Kyle Rea", the detail is really beginning to shine and we're fully expecting to see daily polishing of the ship's bell. The wheelhouse already has charts on display. What a model! But ........... Dirk thinks it's going to need close to 30 lbs of ballast to bring it to the correct waterline. Any volunteers to help launch and recover it?

It's sometimes difficult to grab attention at club meetings, so many interesting things to talk about but our resident "diorama expert" had no trouble gaining full attention, Don, you made a really great presentation and, yes, you really did get full attention.

It was really good to see the various stages in developing a seascape. First marking a foam board with the model's waterline outline. Then, after thinking carefully about wave height and length relative to the vessel size, sculpting the surface and preparing its texture to simulate a wave field. Don discussed his techniques for developing both smooth and rough surfaces for different wave types and the use of water soluble paints.

Mark an outline on

the foam

Cut and remove the

model shape

Sculpture the wave field

and add surface texture

Paint and mount the

model sea surface

And finish it all up with a nice little boat! Don, that was great and thanks for providing your detailed instructions to the club members; I think we will be seeing more dioramas, they're really "neat" (and not so demanding for launch and recovery).