The meeting was attended by Michael B., Dick D., George E., Steve H., Chris K., Chris L., Jason M., Mike O., Brad S., Reedis T., John W., and H.J. Y.. We welcomed back Vern Gibbs and young Vern, who joined C.A.M.S. during the meeting. We also welcomed Steven Foster as a guest, who will hopefully join us next month. Our special guests were Kevin and Tammy Epling; Kevin is the creator of Small Scale Pics (smallscalepics.smugmug.com). This was our first meeting at our new location, Judson Memorial Baptist Church, and it was a great success.
Chris K. distributed the new issue of the Gazette, and pointed out the list of upcoming events, especially, U.S. Scale Model Association Midwest Shutterbug, Portland IN, Sept. 28; IPMS Duneland, Hobart IN, Oct. 12. Chris L. reported that the Michigan Truck Modelers have an upcoming event and that C.A.M.S. is sponsoring a couple awards for the 2nd year. Dick will take copies of the newsletters to Evolution Games and Hoplite Games, asked that others take them to AFK Games and Summit Comics & Games.
Dick reported C.A.M.S. is now listed on the event calendar of the Lansing City Pulse newspaper (Lansingcitypulse.com). Chris K. stated we’re also listed on the 517living.com calendar, and invited recommendations for other listings.
Chris L. gave a Treasurer report; balance is $300+; it was approved to reimburse Chris K. for the purchase of 10 tool kits for door prizes at the Open House.
The “build night” at AFK Games last month had about 8 present, and elicited some interest from others there that evening. Dick reported he has been unable to re-establish contact with the Lansing Makers Network to schedule a “build night” there; if they get back in touch with us, we’ll pursue that opportunity. In the meantime, it was decided to schedule a “build night” at Hoplite Games on Sept. 27; Dick said he will coordinate that with the owner and notify everyone.
Dick reviewed plans for the Open House at AFK Games, October 20, 1-4 p.m. He showed the publicity flyer; Chris K recommended waiting until the first of next month to distribute them. Dick has some “entry level” aircraft kits and just received some small gundam kits for a “make & take” table. Jason, Reedis, H.J., and Chris K. all said they could contribute kits for door prizes. Chris K. said the tool kits include sprue cutters, hobby knife and blades, sanding sticks and tweezers as starters for a new hobbiest; these will also be as door prizes. Chris L. will bring the club table cover and prize tickets. Demonstrations will be provided by Chris L., Chris K., Michael B.; Reedis will oversee the “make & take” table. We still need others to provide demonstrations, e.g., decaling, detailing, weathering, figure painting, etc. We also need completed projects for a display table. Participants for the Open House will need to arrive at AFK Games by noon.
As update to the Ft. Wayne Nationals in 2026, Dick explained the Memorandum of Agreement and reported he had signed and returned our copy to John Figueroa. Our club is providing 3 key roles,
Brad as Volunteer Coordinator, with assistance from Tony; Chris L. will coordinate the Tiger Meet room; Chris K. will serve as webmaster. Brad described the layout of the venue and that there are are lots of doors which will need volunteers for monitoring access. He stated the planning group had their first “zoom” meeting on a lengthy list of tasks for the convention.
There was a brief discussion about the January meeting, which is scheduled for 1/2/25. Everyone agreed the date would not be a problem, so the meeting will remain as scheduled.
The rest of the evning was given over to Kevin Epling of Small Scale Pics (smallscalepics.smugmug.com), who gave an excellent presentation on photographing models. He covered topics such as cameras and lighting. But he spent a lot of time describing the role of imagination and creativity in using materials at hand to create settings and environments for the subjects of your photo. He shared lots of examples of his photos and how he constructed their sets, especially describing how he makes them modular so they can be rearranged and used in different ways at different time.
Following the presentation there was lots of discussion and conversation, and lots of interest in the items Kevin brought.
The next meeting will be Thursday, October 3, 6:30 p.m., at Judson Memorial Baptist Church.
Capital Area Modelers Society 