Our final meeting of the Summer was another great meeting. The August meeting wasn’t as well attended as last month’s, but we still had a room full of regulars, plus a returning visitor.
Jim Rhetta presided, with members Walt Hlavecek, George Sloup, Jacob Cohn, Clare Hess, Fred Sotcher, and Chris Gounarides present, with guest Kevin Smith returning, and a guest John Schlagheck, who came to our meeting may years ago to talk about his maritime archaeology work on the SF Bay Lighter that was discovered back in 2013. More on this later.
This was the first meeting following the club’s participation in the Santa Clara County Fair, which took place about a week before the meeting, so Jim led a little discussion on how things went, the people that the participating members talked with and ways we can create better participation.
Below is a little slideshow of pics from the club’s County Fair booth. Hover over the first image to find the triangular “play” button.
For the meeting, while we don’t have any pics, members Fred Sotcher and Walt Hlavecek, each brought jigs they fashioned to help them with their ship modeling tasks, showing how some ship modelers are really great at creating tools to make their work easier and better.
George Sloup discussed options he’s considering for his next ship model project, now that his Russian tender Avos model is done. The main contenders are Shipyard’s paper model of the English galleon Revenge, and the Russian brig Mercury, which George has had in waiting for years. He didn’t bring the completed Avos model this month, but he promised to bring it to the next meeting.
Walt Hlavecek also showed us the Fantail Launch model he recently started building, and also brought along the steam engine that will be going in it. Returning guest Kevin Smith brought his newly started model of HM Brig Supply, a 1/62-scale kit from Caldercraft.
Clare Hess showed two “Mystery Items” that he revealed at the meeting. One turned out to be the cooking hearth from his model of the French frigate Hermione, and the other turned out to be a prototype hull for a “Kid’s Kit” design he’s been tinkering with.
The highlight of the ship models brought, was Jacob Cohn’s 1/72nd scale, laser-cut card model of the colonial schooner Bernice, 1780, from the Polish paper kit company Shipyard.
Finally, Jim Rhetta Brought in a model that the club had received a few months ago, discussed the modifications he’s made to it, and how the modifications make it an ideal “hand’s on” display model for events like the recent county fair, where he had it set up.
Finally, our returning guest John Schlagheck explained about his work in recording and preserving the San Francisco Bay Lighter, which was a raft-like boat or barge that was used to transfer people and cargo between a boat and shore or dock. John described how the lighter was found, how he was brought in to record details, and how he had built a model of it, which was then displayed in the SF Maritime Museum.
John promised to come back with an expanded presentation on the subject in a future meeting.
Want to know more about the models and discussion topics? Come to our meetings:!
Next Meeting Date: Saturday, September 13th, 2pm – 4pm
Location: Game Kastle, 1350 Coleman Ave, Santa Clara, CA
Next Zoom Meeting: Thursday, August 21st, 7pm.
