The MSON participated in this years Pelham Strawberry Festival with a model boat show.  We were represented with models by four of our members, Derek White, Ron Campbell, Tijs Theijsmeijer, and Alan O'Neill).  Our tables were manned by Derrek and Ron. We were joined by Garth Parrish, a member of the Confederation Marine Modelers of Hamilton.

Derek reported:  The day was pretty much dedicated to children. There was a lot of activities for the younger age. There was quite a few attendees. More than expected. For the most part, people walked past our display and looked with interest, but not so much from a modelling perspective. Very few people asked questions or made comments. I believe there was around 4 brochures taken.

Overall the day was a good day. Plenty of food and strawberry desserts. Our host was very kind and made sure we were well taken care of.

DOWNLOAD PDF OF BOAT SHOW PHOTOS ..........

Our June meeting had 24 people in attendance including two special guest speakers and four guest visitors who where interested in the topic of the month - our PAPER MODEL SYMPOSIUM.

​We had four speakers scheduled but only the following three had time to present.
Ian McLaughlin will make his presentation at another time yet to be scheduled.

Invited guest speaker Mike Ng presented his card stock scratch build of RMS Queen Mary 2 ​as seen in the images above.  The actual ship was built in 2003 so there was a lot of information available on the internet, which is where the profile image and deck plans were found.  He had the images scaled up from letter size paper to match his build scale of 1:360 (1" = 30 feet).

Mike discussed his build in detail, including materials and glues used on this project.  He used corrugated cardboard for in internal bulkheads and various paper and card thicknesses for the remainder.  Card has a grain and he explained the material needs to be bent or rolled into shape with the grain.
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Mike provided a PDF of his build which can be downloaded here....

Invited guest speaker Paul Fontenoy, the present Nautical Research Journal editor and former curator of three North Carolina, USA maritime museums for 25 years, presented a number of his paper/card models and explained in some detail the process.  e likes to present his models on a water base (as seen above).

Paul explained that, due to his museum experience, he avoids corrugated cardboard as the glue used in it's production is acidic and so will eventually degrade.  He also electronically scans his sheets before he uses them so if he makes a mistake he can reprint the sheet.  He uses acrylic  archival quality water based PVA glue for his builds.  When building thickness he laminates his paper (multiple layers) using photographic dry mounting tissue instead of glue because it won't warp the card.  Cutting tools need to be sharp, he rarely uses scissors, but when he does they are surgical scissors for their sharpness.  You cannot drill a hole in card.  Paul pierces his holes with a needle and then roll it round and round to enlarge the hole to the desired size, and then he cuts off the curled swarf on the underside with a very sharp knife blade.  When cutting out things like windows, cut from the inside outwards, and this mus be done first!  He also colours all edges before assembling his parts as if you don't there will be a prominent white line.  He uses water colour brush pens or pencils.  He avoids markers as they always bleed. He never uses CA (super) glue as it will leak into it and change the colour. If you want a sharp edge, cut the paper at 45°.  Pieces need to be shaped before assembly.

Paul creates his water base using 100% Rag Acid Free Cold Pressed Rough Surface Water Colour Paper (made in India) as it has a rippled effect on it's surface.  He will cutout a hole to suit his model and paint and additionally texture the surface. Using small dowels or split bamboo to create swells in the water.  These are stuck onto the mounting base and the paper is pressed over them.  Paul uses automotive touch up spray can flat paint to colour his water, top this off with a  gloss spray coat.  To add addition water cresting effect he uses acrylic artists GESSO paint applied in strips or stippled.  He adheres the paper to the mounting base with double sided carpet tape.  All his models are sprayed with a flat UV resistant finish to seal the colours so they will not fade over time. He Plexiglas cases all his models and applies felt pads under the bases which allows him to stack them, reducing his display area!  Paul also told us he uses the free download photo editing software "Irfan".

MSON member Ralf Schnurbusch, former editor of the TransAtlantic Paper Model Magazine presented an introduction and history of paper modeling.  Ralf described how paper modeling changed from 2D to 3D using theoretical knowledge provided by Euclid (300BC) and that suitable paper was only produced in Germany after the 13th century.  The oldest discovered paper model was the sundial cruxifix of 1529. Most paper models are printed on 2mm (80g/m2) paper and that eastern design uses 1 to 2 mm paper for bulkheads.  He explained paper has a grain running vertically or parallel to the longer side and that rolling is impossible if the grain is too thick.  After a  short history Ralf showed us quite a number of paper models he had built.