Aha, Helen Mirren - never backward in coming forward when it comes to gratuitous nudity!
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Our public library has two rooms which can be used for meetings. And they happen to have lots of things with pages full of pitchers.
The Y also has a room, complete with a large screen, computer hook ups - everything an IT geek needs to make a presentation. Could be useful for club meetings. Use of the room if free for members.
The limiting factor for either venue is that time that folks can actually meet.
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When our MC temporary lost the use of our clubhouse. We met at the West Pueblo VFW. I have just confirmed that the local VFW would welcome such meetings. (Cheap beer too)
The one in Pueblo Weat even features some nice models in a glass case.
I suspect the American Legion would be equally amenable.
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We had a good few years at one. Built them some models. Even held two contests on site. Everyone was happy our club, AL, aux AL groups and then the AL had a post election change. Oh well, now we met at said draft house.
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…and with the simultaneous theme of clubhouse meetings, perhaps there’s some synergy – a whole new meaning to “group builds”.
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I suspect any Orgy I attended these days would end up a chariot crash.
The Romans actually used the term “shipwreck” to describe mass pile-ups, not uncommon in chariot racing…
This month’s copy of “Wargames Illustrated” actually comes with a frame of plastic figures for a 15mm(?) scale Celtic army, including a multi-part chariot with options; there’s a temptation…
Cheers,
M
Cheers
M
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Maybe I missed a 2nd caffeine hit, but I’m confused by the correlation of scratch-building with meetings. How did they get related? Several serial-s/builders in this thread including myself have never gone anywhere near a club – orgies is another matter for a separate thread, but pure s/building doesn’t depend on physical interaction….does it? 
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Topics/threads/discussions around here have a tendency to wander all over the place …
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Back to topic 
or at least something related:
Scratchbuilding is evolving, it used to be about manually cutting a shape out of pieces of plastic, or wood, now it is perhaps about modelling a correct shape and 3d printing it.
Maybe this site should pay better attention to scratchbuilding/3d printing/3d scanning???
In my LHC, there are already two people out of 30 that make parts with a 3D printer but they would not come to kitmaker to discuss this as there seems to be little attention for the subject here despite the new 3d printing forum.
And oh yes, there is another one who scratches models of cars using coca cola tin cans to a high quality that seems unreal.
So maybe kitmaker should think about a whole new section next to aeroscale, armorama, … that makes the link between plastic modelling and scratchbuilding/3D printing with attention for new printers perfect for modellers, the best modelling software, a library of models…
In my mind, I would combine this with old fashioned scratchbuilding as the two seem to complement each other, and why not, making decals, casting resin, PE…
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That was me. My hypothesis is that when contests become too onerous to enter and local hobby shops close, in the absence of a nearby club, a model builder who was previously engaged in a local network may grow to feel isolated and perceive the hobby as dying. It hinges on a few things that have changed over time including the transition from scratch building skills to after market part consumption.
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OK thanks Doug I kinda get it now, addressing the OP’s original premise. But maybe there’s another (opposite?) facet to it though – shoot me down in flames but I’d imagine most club members are not scratch-builders…because they are a comparatively rare breed, particularly now when there’s so much after-market stuff to help out. I’m talking about 100% s/building.
Perhaps for that very reason “true” s/builders find themselves out of step with the mainstream. I was never a club-joiner in the first place, very much of the Groucho persuasion (“I wouldn’t join anywhere that would have me as a member”), but not out of hubris or anti-socialness but because I had little in common…many years ago I did once attend a club and found they were mostly “anoraks” (an English slang).
This forum is far better than any club from my point of view, there may be a few anoraks but the overwhelming majority are really good guys I can learn from without feeling isolated. Particularly the spectrum of s/builders - and I don’t need to go anywhere further than my armchair to interact with ‘em.
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well, its the only forum that i managed sticking to since 2004? Still, I regret that we lost so many good people over the years: Merlin, mother, tedmamere, the queen of trash kits… just to name a few.
But it is a good compliment to a local hobby club. The advantage of a lhc is that you get to knwo the people also outside the strict modelling aspect
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I like scratchbuilding when I need to convert or correct something, per example I intend to scratch part of my heller soleil royal sculpture to make it more accurate to the 1669 version and I can scratch cope cages using plasticard too.
I’m in a modelling club, it’s going fine so far (I had to coach someone starting modelling once and in june, we’l lgo to the walbourg museum)
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Sure don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against clubs they’re ideal for many and for many reasons. Horses for courses & all that, just not for me.
On the primary subject of this thread, for newbies (and those who don’t look at the Ships forum) check this out - a monument to 100% scratch-building, and just the latest from Myles:
Iowa Class Engine Room #3 Model for BB62 Permanent Display - #101 by Builder2010
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I really appreciate the plug! I really didn’t start scratch building anything until my mid 60s. I started building kits on my 9th birthday in 1954 and didn’t stop. I did some very rudimentary scratch building as a kid on my train layout, but from that point on it was always kits. I bought kits on a) interest, b) parts count, c) number of decals and d) how thick was the instruction book. I didn’t add any aftermarket product until 1986 when Gold Medal Models started producing PE for ship detailing. All that said it was the advent of laser cutting (done by outisde providers) and 3D printing that really kicked off my scratch buillding. Prior to that point I didn’t think I had the skills to pull it off.
What supercharged the effort was the dramatic price drop in hi-res, resin printers in 2019 when Elegoo came out with the Mars for $350.00. Everything changed at that moment. I was pretty good using SketchUp, but never really pushed it to the limit. With my own printer and SketchUp, literally, if I could conceive it and then draw it, I could probably print it and then build it. So far this logic has persisted.
I’m on my 3rd generation Elegoo printer with the Saturn 4 Ultra. This machine is producing parts with a detail level that continues to amaze me. The model Dioramartin mentions is in 1:48. Here is a sample part that I printed yesterday. It’s the Master Gauge Panel of the Battleship NJ’s #3 engine room. I always print more than one to have spares.
With this process, the drawing requirements are explicit. Mistake on a drawing = mistake on the print. Period! 90% of my failures with this new machine are my drawing errors. Drawing for 3D printing has more stringent requirements that drawing for illustration purposes. To that end I’ve writen a book, “21st Century Modeling: Combining 3D CAD, 3D Printing and Traditional Skills”. I’m in the process of getting it ready to upload on Apple Books, but if you’d like to have a copy, send me a private message and I can Drop Box a copy to you. It’s priced at $24.99.
The cover art is a rendering of the completed engine room model.
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