Mike George
Region 5 Coordinator
March 30th, 2009

Hello Region Five,

Yours truly checking in. I have just returned from our Region 5 Regional in Madison Wisconsin. Our hosts, the Mad City Modelers, led by Jim Turek did an outstanding job! The raffle was bigger than that of the Nationals. I am in awe at how that happened. Model turnout was enormous. I attend nearly every Regional and have for many years and I have to say, this was about the largest model turnout that I can recall. For the first time I can also recall, the host chapter had seminars and not just one but two Make and Take sessions! I really hope other chapters consider using this years’ regional as a template when they plan theirs. We had a Region 5 meeting and there were reps from about 8 chapters present. I really appreciate the feedback given to me. I gave out some Region 5 awards as well. They are as follows….

IPMS USA Region 5 Website of the Year. IPMS KC AMPS.

IPMS USA Region 5 Newsletter of the Year. IPMS Lakes Region.

IPMS USA Region 5 Chapter of the Year. IPMS Plastic Surgeons.

IPMS USA Region 5 Person of the Year. Doug Barton of IPMS Gateway.

To summarize the nominations. I only received one nomination for each of these. The first two were simply “we think this is a good ____________”. Simple but still nominated. The Chapter and Person of the year nominations were in depth write ups which spelled out the many things that those nominated do. All in my opinion, were fine nominees. It made picking the winners pretty easy for the RC. Hopefully, next year we will get more than one per award.

Our 2010 Regional. My thanks to the IPMS Duneland and IPMS Ft. Crook Chapters for accepting the challenge to bid. Both had given well thought out bids and were quite comparable. Alas, there can be only one (as they say in the Highlander movies). And the 2010 host are the fine folks at IPMS Duneland. Watch for specific information soon. As for the Ft. Crook guys, they are great and motivated and I think they will be doing some big things in the future. Kudos to both groups.

If you are receiving this update you are a chapter contact for your chapter or perhaps an officer for your chapter. In the past couple of months, our DLC Dick Montgomery, has been sending out a series of informational (or educational) missives about the position of a chapter contact and their duties as it pertains to IPMS USA. These have been sent to the official chapter contact of your chapter, based on the information on your chapter’s fact sheet. If you have not been receiving these, please let me know ASAP.

The first 5 chapters to respond to this update will receive autographed pictures from the the babe/motorcycle shoot I did in Florida. WHAT THE HELL DID HE JUST SAY? I was trying to get your attention. You won’t actually get any autographed shots. I was just hoping to get some verifications that you are actually getting my updates. If you do respond, I may actually send you some sort of surprise as a thank you. I am going to, as I often do, toss out some thoughts about a subject that pertains to modelers, clubs or IPMS. In the past year, we have lost a number of great modelers-great people to be more specific in IPMS. In retrospect, I had the honor of knowing at least three of them. Sadly, one of the best, was not all that comfortable talking in front of folks. As a result, many of his techniques were lost to us on his passing. I find this a great loss. Why? You may wonder.

Well, IPMS USA is an organization by modelers for modelers. I cannot think of a better way to do so than to share your knowledge with your fellow modelers. Why not do a how to demonstration at your club meeting. Better yet, offer to do one at a Regional or a National. Now some of you are saying, I cannot speak in front of people. I understand that some folks are uncomfortable doing public speaking. In fact, I believe in college, one of my instructors said that was the number 1 phobia of people around the globe. Ahh, but there is a solution. Probably 3 or more folks in your chapter have a camcorder. Have one of them come to your house and video tape you working on your models. Perhaps even start at the beginning of a kit and do various sessions and show it through to the completion. Perhaps you are known for a particular technique, such as applying Bare Metal Foil. Do a demonstration on that, but get it on tape. The tape/cd/dvd can then be shown at club meetings, Regionals or even a national. Your chapter could even make it available to other chapters. One thing I have found over the years is that there are dozens of ways to accomplish the same effect. It all is in how comfortable you are with a said process or technique. Some will work well for you, others won’t. I just feel that we should share this information among one another. Ok, I have said my peace, what say you folks?

A final thought, I just learned of the passing of John Brooks of IPMS St. Louis, and IPMS Gateway. Currently he was active in IPMS St. Louis but has over the many years been with both clubs. I am not sure of his IPMS USA status, but many in IPMS knew John. Although battling a number of health issues over recent years, his passing was unexpected. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Thought for today—using a straw to blown into a mold that contains setting resin can cause some quite uncomfortable burning sensations in one’s beard.

Mike George,
Region 5 Regional Coordinator