Iron Modeler

Category: Racin’

  • Game Changers

    Howdy, all!

    There have been several times along the way in my scale modeling adventures where I have learned or discovered something that changed the way I built models.  The short list:

    • Monogram Models diorama sheets.  These diorama sheets were written by a guy named Sheperd Paine.  I had never heard of him, but the dioramas he built were stunning.  He laid the path that eventually I would attempt to follow.  The models were unlike any I had ever seen.  It whetted my appetite to know more.
    • Challenge Publications’ “Scale Modeler” magazine.  Before I saw that March 1978 issue at the local Albertson’s, I had no idea that magazines like this existed!  The models I was looking at and reading about were superb.  The authors spoke of things I had never known about–liquid cement, filler putty, decal solvents, airbrushes–and I figured if I was going to get better, I needed them.  I also saw ads for exotic kits from exotic lands, aftermarket decals to decorate the model differently that the kit manufacturers specified, specialty paints that matched any one of a dozen heretofore unknown to me “standards”, and doo-dads to detail models.  Until this time, I had seen their mention in passing in the Paine diorama sheets in the Monogram Models kits.
    • Warrick Custom Hobbies, Orange Blossom Hobbies, and Universal Hobbies.  It was inside the walls of these establishments where I could actually see the things I had been reading about.  As a bonus, I could see completed models that matched or exceeded the work I saw in the magazines.    I’ve written about these shops before since I started this blog, so I won’t re-take old ground.  Suffice to say that had I not had good hobby shops in the area when I was growing up, my pursuit of the hobby may have been very different, indeed.
    • Kalmbach Publications’ “FineScale Modeler” magazine and their modeling books.  I discovered FSM at the same time I saw Paine’s “How To Build Dioramas” book and the “Hints and Tips For Plastic Modeling” book right next to it.  Between the covers of these pubs, I uncovered even more superb work.  I was still a relative neophyte, looking back, and still had a lot to learn.  My skills had improved, but I still had a lot to learn.
    • Joining the IPMS/Flight 19 Chapter.  Joining a club put me in touch with like minded folks who shared my passion for little plastic airplanes, tanks, ships, cars, and the like.  That was reinforced when I took a break after moving to South Carolina–after nine years, I dipped my toes back into the club scene when I joined the IPMS/Mid-Carolina Swamp Fox Modelers and the AMPS Central South Carolina Wildcats, and haven’t looked back.

    As I have presented “Model Building 101”, I tell the stories of lessons learned.  For instance, when I get to the section on using fillers, I relate how a younger me would smear Squadron Green Putty over every glue seam as soon as the cement dried–and not in a thin layer, either.  I would squeeze out a blob of putty on my right forefinger and smear putty over every seam to bury them–and spend the next day sanding it all down.  I relate how I began using CA as a filler more frequently in my dotage–my previous attempts didn’t quite end in disaster, but they didn’t exactly win any awards.  I learned, in time, that it wasn’t what I was using, the problem with the CA (like the Green Putty) was the how much.  I was simply relying on gobs of putty or a river of CA when, had I done my prep work better, I would have needed a small smear or a few drops.  Yeah, I’m hard-headed, what can I say…

    The same thing goes for all the techniques I use today.  As I tell the folks who attend the seminar, most of the techniques I use were learned over the years.  Some of them I use exactly as I was taught, others are variations on the theme that I developed to work for me.  Which brings me to the most important thing I try to teach–model building is as individual as those who pursue it.

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    If you want to see “Model Building 101” in person, come to the 2019 IPMS/USA National Convention in Chattanooga.  I’ll be presenting it there, tentatively on the schedule for Thursday morning at 9 AM.

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    That’s all I have for now.  Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.

  • The month of Indy is upon us…

    (As I update this entry, it is May 2nd, 2026 and once again the motorsports world is looking towards Indianapolis.  Since this original entry, the series and speedway have been bought by Roger Penske, who is doing his usual efficient job of managing things.  The fields are smaller, however–these days, the big question isn’t “How many teams will go home on Bump Day” but “Will we have 33 entries?”

    On the subject of lady racers, Milka, Danica, and Sarah retired–Sarah sold her team to Ed Carpenter.  Bia and Simona have moved on to other series, too.  This year, Katherine Legge, a driver from Jolly Old England and one hell of a wheel, will be driving in a one-off deal with AJ Foyt Racing.  Katherine raced in the Atlantic series before moving to CART, then to IndyCar before moving to sports cars with the now-defunct American Le Mans Series and finally IMSA.  She’s one of my favorites to watch when she races in the 500, and I hope this year she does well…)   

    May.  Spring is on the wane, the heat and humidity levels are rising, and the racers are back at Indianapolis.  Well, maybe not quite yet, since their race in Brazil ran a day longer than it was planned to due to rain…

    I remember watching footage of the 500 as a kid–you’d usually catch it on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” a few weeks after the race ran.  I didn’t follow it as closely as some fans did back then, but I knew of it and of the storied drivers who attempted to beat the track.  Some won, some lost…

    I was in college when I really started taking an interest in the race.  I got familiar with their qualifying format, Bump Day, Carburetion day, and the like.  Back then, you might have 50 or 60 cars vying for a spot in the starting grid.  Indy, unlike other races, sees the fastest 33 cars start the race.  It doesn’t matter if you’re the defending Champ, if you aren’t quick enough, you go home–as Smokey Yunick said in his memoirs, “Turn in your hero badge and try again next year.”

    When the Split came in 1996, I lost interest.  It seemed to me then that North American open wheel racing was in serious trouble.  I wasn’t far off the mark–the upstart Indy Racing League (IRL) sputtered on with their low-buck scheme using one or two approved powerplants and chassis to make racing affordable, while the established Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) seemed to hold all the cards–other than the Memorial Day race at the Brickyard, they had the well funded teams and still fostered a sense of innovation.  CART had better backing, and most of the established teams stayed with CART after the split.  After a few years, though, CART’s armor started to tarnish when several big name teams–Penske, Ganassi, and what is now Andretti Autosport, to name a few–defected to the IRL. Their goal?  Run ans win the Indy 500.  As CART teams, their chances were limited under the IRL’s rules which only allowed a certain number of non-IRL teams an opportunity to qualify.   CART went insolvent in 2003, re-branded itself as ChampCar, and then folded in early 2008.  The two series were reunified under the IRL (now IndyCar) banner.

    But the IRL wasn’t the first time that open wheel racing in the States had issues.  The Indy 500 was originally sanctioned by The American Automobile Association, and remained so until the multitude of racing fatalities that occurred in 1955–Bill Vukovich died in a fiery crash at Indy, and over 200 hundred people were killed or injured at that year’s running of the 24 Heures duMans when Pierre Leveigh’s Mercedes went airborne and crashed into a group of spectators, to name a few.  AAA got out of the racing business.  The United States Auto Club (USAC) took over sanctioning duties for North American open-wheel racing (along with short track, sprint cars, and briefly, stock cars) until the late 1970’s.  With attendance, purses and revenues on a decline, and a sense that the sanctioning body wasn’t doing their job, a group of team owners drafted the “Gurney White Paper”, which was inspired by the way Bernie Ecclestone had reformed Formula One.  CART would promote the races under USAC sponsorship.  When that was rejected by USAC, CART took over.  The rest, as they say…

    These days, a good year sees maybe 35 to 40 cars make a qualifying attempt.  I do certainly hope that the new overseers of IndyCar take a long look at what Indy has become.  Do we need four weeks at the speedway?  After all, the cars haven’t used carburetted engines since the 1960’s or earlier, so what sense is having Carb Day?  Knock it down to two weeks, and you’ll save the teams money and maybe be able to add a race to the schedule.

    If you want a good idea of what Indy qualifying used to be like, you need to read Smokey Yunick’s memior/autobiography.  While largely though of as a NASCAR personality, Smokey’s real love was Indy and the 500.  As he says, they had a little. skinny rule book and they fostered innovation.  And Smokey was certainly an innovator.

    I do look forward to this year’s running–it is the 100th running of the Indy 500, true, but the quality of the racing has improved.  In a twist of irony, the IRL under previous leader Tony George had turned into what CART was when the Split took place–a few large, well funded teams were the perennial winners, the others were also-rans.  Once they defected from CART, they quickly became the teams to beat, and the smaller, lesser known teams suffered as a result.  It seems that the new leadership at IndyCar understands this, and it also seems as if some of the former ChampCar teams have caught up to the long-standing IRL teams in terms of speed and quality.  New drivers have come along, both those from the defunct CART/ChampCar ranks and from the various developmental series.

    And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “girl racers”.  While ladies had run Indy before–Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie have both run the race–lately it has been the Danica Patrick show.  Before Danica was Sarah Fisher, now a team owner, and the forgettable Milka Duno–Milka came to the IRL from the Grand American Road Racing Associations’ Rolex Sports Car series, where she was a perennial back marker.  If she couldn’t get it done at sub-100 mile per hour speeds, she certainly became a hazard at 200+ mph.  Lately, two new young ladies have entered the series:  Simona deSilvestro and Ana Beatriz.  Simona and Ana, I believe, have what it takes to win races–Simona had the quickest lap this past weekend at the rain-soaked Brazilian race.

    And my favorite to win?  This year, I’d like to see Sarah Fisher’s hard work pay off.  She’s due for some good fortune at Indy, and why not this year?

    Whoever you cheer for, enjoy the month of Indy.  Try to catch some of the qualifying sessions.  They’re so different from the way qualifying is usually done, and it can become habit-forming.

    Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.