Capital Area Modelers Society

CAMS had a strong contingent at the 2025 IPMS/USA National Convention in Hampton, Virginia, to watch President Dick Davenport accept our Chapter of the Year award. Members also put some models in the competition, with Chris “Fishstick” Long taking first in his category for his Gundam Astray. In total, three…

The Boulton Paul Defiant was unique among WWII RAF aircraft as the only single engine fighter with a gunner turret. The intent was for the Defiant to fly into a formation of bombers with the ability to fire in most directions. The expectation was that bombers flying directly from Germany…

CAMS members had a good time at Saturday’s Tim Ridout Challenge, but were shut out of the awards, leaving IPMS West Michigan to take the traveling trophy for 2025. This was the second year CAMS was invited to join the gathering between West Michigan, IPMS Kalamazoo Scale Modelers and the…

Not long ago, I distributed a hand-out listing the steps for creating your own masks, so here is a refresher with some pictures.  I hope this is helpful. In my experience, the process I’m showing works for canopies with raised framing. First, apply your tape to a section at a…

Chris “Fishstick” Long was the sole CAMS representative in the 2025 Model Con 419 (though there were others of us in attendance) and took third place in the Gundam category. The competition, sponsored by IPMS/Fremont Kitbashers and IPMS/Toledo Plastic Modelers, featured several hundred kits representing some impressive work. Best in…

After a couple of years in the United States visiting IPMS/USA (and some unaffiliated) shows and contests, CAMS member Yun “H.J.” Hyeon-Jung has returned home to South Korea and sent us some thoughts on the IPMS Korea show last month. “IPMS Korea show has been sort of a joint club…

Thanks to a manufacturing mistake, CAMS members had a build challenge for the May meeting. Atlantis molded hundreds of the military version of its P-39 kit in the yellow intended for its racing version of the kit. Rather than throw them away, the company offered them for pennies to IPMS…

Kevin Epling of Smallscalepics (smallscalepics.smugmug.com) at out March meeting had set up some backdrops and photographed some of our models to show us some tricks for lighting, angles and focus, as well as some gear for both our phones and for camera equipment. Some of the pictures we took were…

Brad Shafer took a second Best of Show at the 2025 SEMMEX show with his F-4 Phantom. CAMS members Mike Orris and Chris Long took best of categories in box stock and Gundam respectively in addition to numerous bronze, silver and gold badges for several entries. Judges said Brad’s notebook…