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20 Responses to Feedback

  1. James Cullen says:

    Hi, this might be a strange request, but I’m trying to find someone who can help me repair a family heirloom. when I join the Coast Guard in 1997, my father made mea half model of the Coast Guard Cutter EAGLE (Basque rigged tall ship). It has been hanging on my wall for years. it appears that recently, house cleaners broke the bowsprit and eagle forepiece off of the model. I personally do not have the skill to repair this, so I’m trying to find someone in the area who I can hire to try to fix it. If anyone has ideas or suggestions, please email me at jkc96@aol.com with EAGLE in the subject line. Thank you!

  2. RBeach says:

    Some club activity ideas that John Muldoon voiced at the recent (2013) TAMS show. One was to have a little ‘most popular Show & Tell’ vote at every meeting. Then at the end of the year, the front-runner could get an award or better yet some modeling goodies (such as a store gift card.) I’ve seen similar schemes at other clubs using a point system. Another idea was to have a periodic ‘in house’ theme contest. Doing a couple of these every year would be a good way to motivate some building (?) Our club did this at one time but hasn’t for quite a while. We could resume by having (for example) a “Out of the Comfort Zone” theme – where everyone builds something they usually would *not* find on their modeling bench.
    Something to think about.

  3. Michael Nerino says:

    I’m building a series of WW2 Japanese 1/72 aircraft. I like using the Model Masters enamel paints. The Japanese color series in this brand have the correct color tones, but are way too glossy for the look I want. What’s a good method for dulling these finishes? I thought of mixing some dull coat in with the glossy.

  4. Mike Nerino says:

    Hello club. Sorry I was unable to attend our last meeting. I was on the west coast supporting one of our nation’s great Navy ships.
    If all goes well, next month I will perform a demo on soldering for scale models. I would also like to see what interest there would be in another HobbyTown build day on some Saturday. If interested, please respond to this feedback and we’ll try to set it up .

  5. Steve Davis says:

    I went through your entire website (each tab) looking for information about joining the IPMS HRSM chapter but couldn’t find anything anywhere (i.e. How much to join?; What are the benefits of membership?; Are there any tiers or levels of membership? etc etc) Did I miss something?

    • RBeach says:

      Steve, annual club dues are $20 (to cover cost of meeting hall and to support shows club members attend through trophy sponsorships.) You do not have to be a member of IPMS/USA to participate in the club, unless you become a club officer – chapter charter rules say all officers must be members and to be a chapter, we have to keep at least five *total* IPMS/USA members on the rolls. Since we have 5 officers, that pretty much covers it. Looking at the club description, I see it does not cover any specifics so thanks for bringing that deficiency to my attention. We are pretty informal but do follow a regular schedule and have some organized events throughout the year. Main thing is to come by and check out the club. I think you’d have an enjoyable evening if you’re into modeling. Regards, Robert

  6. Michael Hilliker says:

    weathering is a complex subject due to the fact armour weathers differently than aircraft, and aircraft weathers differently than sci fi subjects. what do you want to see weathering done on? kevin may be the best bet for aircraft. with christmas and artshows i can’t have anything armour wise till february.

  7. Michael Nerino says:

    The last demo on masking by Michael Hilliker I thought was very successful and informative. I’d like to solicit to the club for someone to do a demo on weathering, particularly on aircraft and armor. Another demo I’d like to see is one on applying decals.
    If anyone thinks they want to take this on, please respond and let Robert Beach or I know. I also check our Facebook site too. We’ll support you in however we can.

    Thanks.

  8. RBeach says:

    Hi Danny, good to hear from you! Please, don’t misunderstand my point RE: Facebook – I am fine with using Facebook as a promotional tool (sort of a ‘billboard’) but I see no need to become a Facebook ‘drone’ by back-linking to it or serving as a recruiting portal for Facebook like CAS does with their ‘signup’ link. Folks who want to be ‘plugged in’ all the time only have to go for the RSS Feed to get update notifications. So, to be absolutely clear and because I have thoroughly considered the implications of opening up to Facebook & its commercially exploitative agenda, I advise only one-way linkage, namely from the HRSM Facebook group *to* the club website, not the other way around – and our content stays here. Facebook can serve to ‘talk’ about the club, and direct folks to resources *such as our website* to garner them access to the club, but the club does not exist in Facebook, it happens in the real world. There is after all a difference between ‘growth’ and ‘inflammation’. Just to put a personal shine on this, I established a Facebook account to initially monitor what my kids had going on there (a condition of allowing them to use Facebook.) Well, within a day of establishing my account, one of our local modeling brethren was already sniping at me. Wonderful tool, Facebook, it provides someone a convenient venue for being a pain in my a**!

    As I said, all tech is not equivalent, and Facebook is *not* the second coming. It is for chatter and nothing else (except for the data mining that Facebook is doing to it’s “clients”.) I wish for the constant, uh, ‘discourse’ to remain away from here – sort of the difference between a coffee shop cafe and a proper library. One for discordant chatter, the other for quiet contemplation. (Just because both have reading material doesn’t make them the same thing.) For discussions, or ‘chat’, amongst folks of common interest, there are forums (which are moderated) and for dissertation, there are blog sites like this one. For organizational broadcast communication within a group or between individuals, I recommend email. For folks that like ‘raves’ and rock concerts, full of real risk and false intimacy – there is Facebook.

  9. Danny Prejoles says:

    Hi guys. Glad to see the club has an interactive website! Referring to Mike’s question above, it is VERY possible and easy, depending on the web building tool that is being used for this site. On top of that, I would say that a social media link up is ABSOLUTELY necessary if the club wants to grow, as has been the ongoing discussion and bane since before I first joined in 2005. As desperate as HRSM has been to attract new members and remain viable as a club and a bonafide IPMS chapter, whether or not Facebook has been highjacked or more conversational or not archival is irrelevant when paired with the fact that it actually draws attention and potential new members to the club. If there is a member who is devoted to keeping it updated, that’s even better and is about 75% of the battle. Whether or not Facebook and social media is here to stay is anyone’s guess, but the fact that it reaches out to those you might want to attract cannot be discounted and cast aside. Below is a website address to a model club in Little Rock, AR. That club is run by great, passionate people who have risen above club crises and differences and actually won the IPMS chapter of the year award this year. They’ve become good friends of mine, even though they are 4 hours away. If growth for HRSM is still a priority, I suggest taking a look at their site and contacting them for advice. Let them know Danny Prejoles sent you in their direction if you do. Good luck!

    http://www.casmodels.org/

  10. Clinton Mills says:

    Mike, the club is on Facebook. Ed Hubbert set up FB a few years back.
    We shouldn’t have an issue on “melding” the two. You will have to get with Ken Stewart
    And Robert Beach on that. If you want to go to our FB page it is IPMS Hampton Roads
    Scale Moders. Enjoy.

    Clint

    • RBeach says:

      Guys, Ed’s HRSM Facebook account can be used as a ‘portal’ to our site here (I believe), but the reverse it not true (since a Facebook account is required to access the Facebook account.) In short, the two cannot be ‘melded’ together nor *should they be*. Facebook is ‘social media’ meaning it serves to support linkages & conversations between individual people. It has been somewhat ‘highjacked’ of late to act like proper websites because folks are familiar with its functionality and so create a ‘non-person’ account. Our Blogsite here is more static and archival in nature and is aimed at ‘presentation’ of club information & modeling interest content over time. We’ve stretched it a bit by using the Comments feature to support ‘conversations’ of a sort – like what we’re doing now – but in truth, conversations are the purview of email, Twitter, Chat, Forums and Facebook, not Blog sites like this. I suppose my point is that not all web based ‘tech’ is equivalent. I don’t “do” Facebook as I find it too cluttered and ‘noisy’ not to mention the security and privacy problems it promotes. I guess I prefer conversations with individuals not ‘mobs’. At best, the Facebook account can serve as a ‘billboard’ for our club website within the Facebook domain. By its very nature, Facebook is exclusionary because you must sign up to access it’s content – which is counter to a ‘public’ outreach initiative. If you are looking for ‘alerts’ when new content comes up, that is what the RSS feed does for you. Regards, Robert

  11. Mike Nerino says:

    One more item. How hard would it be to “meld” this site with Facebook. My bicycle clubs seem to offer both. Some of us with the smart phones receive Facebook messages immediately, and it doesn’t fill up our E-mail. Almost like this blight, but you get an alert when receiving messages.
    comment your thoughts on this too.
    webmaster, what do you think?

    • Ken Patrick says:

      Mike, We can do whatever the club wants to do. The technology exists to integrate our Facebook site into this website. And/Or simply have “Like Us on Facebook” buttons on each of the posts. Yes there are privacy implications…EX. If I “like” this site it will most likely change the ads served up to me on Facebook. I don’t mind that because, I’d rather see an add for a scale model or paints than what I’m being served now which are ads for “Single Girls in your Area”, “Low on Testosterone?”, and of course the obligatory “ED treatment” ads.
      I personally like (pardon the pun) the “Like us on Facebook” buttons. That way my friends see a site that I “like” and quite possibly might have a latent interest in modeling that could bring them back into the fold. I.E. more members.
      As an aside story; every time I’m at Hobbytown and see people at our display I try to get them to come to a meeting and check us out. The most popular reason given to me for not wanting to attend one of our meetings is that they say “My ability / skill / techniques aren’t up to par with what you guys are doing”. I then explain to them that we have a range of abilities and the best thing is that we have demo’s so that everyone can get up to speed on a specific technique, method, Etc…

      • RBeach says:

        Points in reverse – although the first page of the website indicates everyone “of all skill levels” is welcome, the display case might be missing something to properly emphasize our ‘welcome mat’. Mostly, however, I think folks just tend to not read written information! (That is why I have attempted to put *anyone’s* work in the case. If someone is willing to put their stuff out there, I have no objection because it shows that not just ‘master class’ modelers need apply.) More participation in our Saturday build days would help getting folks interested – a crowd of guys obviously having a good time would attract anyone to see what’s up…

        RE: Facebook, I think I have stated my objections to it pretty well, but then I perhaps I don’t know the technical aspects well enough to make a truly informed analysis of its impact. Mostly what I’ve seen of Facebook is by observation of my family members’ activity – truly an unfocused mess if I ever saw one! Ken’s idea of a ‘Like’ button on posts makes me wonder what that means functionally. Does that make the article appear directly on Facebook if it is ‘liked’? If so, then how does such content stay properly credited? Is it possible to take content from our site through Facebook and utilize it elsewhere, with essentially no ‘audit trail’? Also, it seems Facebook has some really weird ‘terms of use’ regarding content – I just want assurance that our club website’s content does not somehow become ‘owned’ by Facebook, simply because we have ‘Like’ buttons (something to look at in their terms of use…) I know I sound kinda paranoid, but I’ve experienced and seen the kind of folks (aka ‘pirates’) who take advantage of web content for commercial profit without even proper credit to the original authors. Plus, is Facebook even smart enough to know the different between a ‘scale model’ and a ‘runway model’?

        Maintaining some control of our content is my concern. Even though we have have no commercial aspirations directly, some of our contributing authors *may* or *do* (like David Merriman, for example) and should therefore have a say in how their work is used. Having it ‘spewing’ all over Facebook (because, lets “face it”, the user controls – so called privacy settings – are rarely properly attended to by most Facebookers) would preclude any control.

        So, I’d expect to see a thorough and complete analysis of the ramifications of any Facebook “melds” prior to going ahead. Sometimes I feel like the voice in the wilderness with my stance on Facebook, but then I’ve read ‘1984’ & ‘Animal Farm’ as well as enjoying the fantasy of Star Trek…and Ken, the fact that Facebook is targeting you for ‘ED treatments’ & ‘low T’ simply highlights just how much they *think* they know about you. Too bad ‘free market economy’ now means ‘free market LIFE’. The marketplace used to be a place, after all, and not our entire waking life of being targeted as ‘consumer sheep’. We’re not being led to it, we’re willingly running up the ramp into the slaughter house (“We” meaning our society.) Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised (for example) to learn that the pervasive use of MSG-based additives in commercially produced food is deliberate (to get us to eat more…with all the subsequent ‘benefits’ to the food AND medical/pharm industries.) Faulty logic in one way – sick folks aren’t as productive as healthy one, so they have less money to spend – but perhaps it is the Chinese who are engineering a ‘social Armageddon’ [downfall] for us – could our huge deficient be their end-game? Who really owns snack companies anyway? Soda makers? Who discovered MSG anyway? Whoa, getting off topic…again.

        Want actual friends? Speak to them! (BTW, I cannot text from my phone – haven’t bothered to get that problem corrected – so just call me. I may even answer, assuming my cell phone isn’t in a ‘dead’ zone.)

    • RBeach says:

      Turns out this is a moot point as the HRSM Facebook Group is not to be found within Facebook. Perhaps it is not a proper ‘group’?

      • Ken Patrick says:

        Robert, I was confused too…Try https://www.facebook.com/groups/ipmshrsm/

        The group is for both North and Southsides.

        Ken

        • RBeach says:

          Yeah, being it is in Groups, it is harder to locate. From a personal standpoint, logged into my dormant FB account last night and was mortified by the lack of access control the user has over their account (it is even less than it was before, AFAICT.) I also wondered how it is I have so many friends when I don’t recall granting anyone friend status? No doubt, FB got tired of me never responding to requests and decided I needed some friends anyway! Guess there is no way either to filter stuff that has the “F**K” word in it, eh? It is all over my ‘News’ which I cannot “turn off” because I MUST be force fed everything all my ‘friends’ are chattering about – unless I want to spend my entire life clicking on “hide” or just unfriending my saltier buds. I am truly surprised how many otherwise intelligent folks have been taken in by the FB overlords and their line of BS. Plus, I noticed that even though I don’t want my DOB displayed on my timeline (setting says don’t show it) it is there anyway. Talk about a ID Thief’s wet-dream! It shows my DOB, my location, my name and since apparently my security & privacy selections don’t necessarily work properly, who knows what else, all for the taking. Pot-o-Gold at the end of the rainbow (or “Timeline” in this case) for any smuck who is data mining identities to steal. Boy, my whole family is on this POS, exposed to the frakkin’ world. I wonder if I posted this commentary to FB if it would be *allowed* to circulate to everyone?
          “Just drink the Kool-Aide, you’ll feel better if you do!”

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