Photo: Peter Davis’ 1/72 Eduard Hellcat. 2Q20

President’s Report

During lockdown and "isolation" one thing I noticed on the few Facebook modelling sites I follow is that there

have been quite a few people coming back to the hobby after a long period or just starting out. And, that people

have been a lot more productive. Myself included.

So, ScaleACT is still on. But what exactly does that mean in the current climate? Essentially, we have to reshape

the event to ensure that we comply with our COVID Safe Plan and existing Government restrictions. Together

with the changes we highlighted last year, we will have to implement the following changes to the way we do

business this year. In most cases, this will be a ScaleACT 20 thing only, but there will be one or two aspects we

may move forward with into future events depending on how successful they are.

1. Since we are unlikely to meet social distancing guidelines in particular, Swap and Sell will not feature at

ScaleACT this year – however, we are planning a club Swap and Sell as a substitute outside of ScaleACT.

2. Wherever possible, we will promote and adopt digital payments methods; although it is inevitable that

we will have to handle some cash, we'd like to keep that to a minimum.

3. Following on from the above point, we will ensure that hand sanitiser and gloves are supplied all round.

4. Online competition entries only. We anticipate an increase in the number of entries due to lockdown

builds, so this will help reduce the admin overheads on the day.

5. There will be fixed competition categories and the overall number may be slightly reduced; the judging

method will be modified to suit.

6. There will be an expectation that we have as many people as possible in yellow vests, not only to

promote and monitor the COVID Safe Plan, but also have a presence to deter such issues as theft and

breakages.

As we refine the plan, we will communicate it well in advance to the membership. We will also be watching

other scale model shows in the lead up to see whether there are any lessons there for us to take into account.

President’s Report P1-2

From the Editor P2

Treasurer’s Waffle P2

Chief Judges’ Spotlight P3

VP’s Corner and ACTSMS Calendar of Events 2020 P3-4

ScaleACT 2020 Update P5

Build Report – DH.61 Giant Moth P6-13

2020 Online People’s Choice Wrap-up P14-17

Committee Contact Details P18

ScaleACTION

ACTSMS Page 2

COVID also means that we will have to delay the AGM. In accordance with written advice from the ACT

Government we are scheduled to run the AGM at the September meeting – Government guidance is such that

we have been granted an extension to convene an AGM before the end of October.

ACTSMS President Tony Allocca

From the Editor

First up, I’d like to acknowledge that the past few months have been a difficult one for many people. Isolation

and social distancing go against the norm for social beings and I’m sure many of us are missing the interactions

and camaraderie we get from our monthly meetings.

If one was to look for a silver lining to what we have gone through, it would be that the club has realised

significant savings to its budget, in the form of room hire charges at the Hellenic Club. This has put us in a

healthy financial position which we can use to our advantage in planning and running ScaleACT at the end of the

year, amidst the ongoing uncertainty and the need to enact new practices and procedures.

Isolation and the increase in ‘work from home’ arrangements have also meant higher levels of productivity for

many modellers. Evidence of this is clear to see on the club’s Facebook page, and the monthly virtual People’s

Choice poll events have been well represented. Whilst these polls have been virtual, the prizes have been very

real indeed with Toyworld vouchers awarded to each month’s winners.

Since this issue of the newsletter comes at a time that sees us returning back to face-to-face meetings, and

these virtual polls on Facebook coming to an end, I am taking the opportunity to do a retrospective look at the

winners and finalists we’ve had.

Also in this issue of the newsletter, please find Jerry’s fantastic write-up of his DH.61 Giant Moth. This was a

supremely impressive scratchbuilt affair and well worth a read!

Editor Min Hwang

Treasurer’s Waffle

Thank you to all members who have made the extra payment due to the increase in subs passed at the EGM in

December. We still have some members who have yet to top up their membership. As you will all be aware,

with meetings cancelled at present, the financial position will improve as we do not pay for the Hellenic Club at

present.

If you need the bank account details or have any questions, simply send me an email on

quiltbear@internode.on.net.

ACTSMS Treasurer Elaine Jones

ACTSMS Page 3

Chief Judges’ Spotlight

Well, you’ve heard from Dave in the previous edition of the newsletter, so I guess it’s my turn now.

With the plan to go ahead with ScaleACT in November, one of the biggest challenges we face as organisers is the

competition itself. The last couple of years has seen the number of competition entries grow, and if you recall

2019 gave us a record 566, making our event the second largest competition (by entries) in the country! ‘Iso-

builds’ in 2020 could see us smashing that number again – in fact, it is VERY likely that this will come to pass.

With that in mind, Dave and I, along with the rest of the Committee and the esteemed Brad Fallen, have been

working on measures to manage this risk. Our intent, first and foremost, is to ensure that we preserve the

essence and purpose of the competition itself. The focus on quality remains, as does the essence of this being a

proper competition where winning models are determined through a robust judging process.

The general membership often does not see the amount of work that goes on in running ScaleACT and the

competition. The bulk of the work is administrative (recording of entries, on-the-day registrations, sorting and

table placings, category splitting, etc.), which further complicate the judging process itself. Suffice to say that if

we continue to do the same this year as we did in 2019, things will fall into a screaming heap.

To this end, we will be enacting some changes to how we will run the competition. You’ve already read that we

will be going fully online entry registrations only – this will alleviate the administrative burden of on-the-day

registrations on the morning of the competition. We will also be going to fixed categories, meaning that the list

of categories will be determined ahead of the online registration being opened, and there will be no category

splits, and no new categories created, on the day. The number of categories will also be rationalised to ensure

that it remains manageable for judging to take place in the time available.

Finally, the judging process itself will be refined, with Dave and I taking the action to prepare teams beforehand

to ensure everyone is on the same page and properly briefed on the process. We will not be using judges from

outside the club membership. ScaleACT remains an ACTSMS event as does the competition we host.

Further details (such as the competition categories, judging process, etc.) will be made available as they are

finalised.

Co-Chief Judge Min Hwang

VP’s Corner

COVID-19, we are all sick hearing about it and with restrictions starting to ease it’s time to start looking to

getting back to some semblance of normality.

Current plans within the ACT as restrictions ease will allow us to run ScaleACT 2020 this year. Planning is well

under way and work is being done to ensure the event complies with COVID guidelines and legislation. Due to

this ScaleACT 2020 might be a little bit different to what people have come to enjoy over the years. The

Committee is working hard to ensure this is still a fun, friendly and enjoyable event. Some changes might

disappoint people this year, but the Committee has made its decisions based on everyone’s safety first for this

year’s event. Despite all this, I’m sure we will have a great show and a great time.

We are keeping a close eye on events as they unfold, and that includes the current situation in Victoria; if

anything changes, we will update everyone as soon as we can.

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The Committee will have in place a COVID Safe Plan for ScaleACT 2020 and club meetings going forward. This

will be distributed in time for the next club meeting, so all members are aware of their obligations if they wish

to attend.

Enough COVID talk for now!

In the next few weeks I will be looking at finalising the second (Korean War) Group Build for the year. That

means we will be commencing the third Group Build starting on 15 July 2020. The details below will outline the

rules for this.

The next Group Build is a thank you to Toyworld Fyshwick and the support they give the club. They continue to

provide vouchers for prizes without question and provide a generous amount of sponsorship for ScaleACT each

year. As such, our third group Build will be “Anything from Toyworld (Fyshwick)”

• To enter, you must be a financial ACTSMS member.

• Post a photo of your kit with proof of purchase (invoice or just the price tag on the box) showing the

model was purchased from Toyworld Fyshwick – you can cross the price out if you wish.

• Photos of the model must be posted via Facebook or Email showing the unstarted kit.

• The Group Build commences on 19 July 2020 – no starts before this.

• The finish date will be 11 November 2020, with completed models to be brought in to the club

meeting for voting by the membership.

• The following Toyworld vouchers will be provided as prizes: 1st $150.00, 2nd $100.00 and 3rd $50.00 –

these vouchers are being purchased by the club as a small ‘Thank You’ to Toyworld Fyshwick.

The Committee is also working with Toyworld Fyshwick to obtain a full display case within the shop. This will be

branded with the ACTSMS logo and act as an advertisement for our club. We want this to be a professional-

looking display space to display models built by members, whilst also serving to advertise ACTSMS events. At the

conclusion of the group build, completed models will be rotated through the cabinet.

Below you will find the tentative calendar of events for the coming months. If you have any questions, please

contact me. In the meantime, stay safe and hope to see everyone in August.

Month Opening Break Main Break Closing Other Wednesday 5 August 2020 *Note – 1st Wed!

Admin Build night – Anything you want to bring along.

• Current build progress table

• Monster Raffle

• Badge draw

Wednesday 9 September 2020

Admin AGM • Current build progress table

• Build table (open after AGM)

• People’s Choice Draw

• Raffle

Wednesday 7 October 2020 *Note – 1st Wed!

Admin Workshop – How to use photoetch by Paul D’Orival Two minutes from two modellers

• Current build progress table

• Build table

• People’s Choice Draw

• Raffle

Vice-President Peter Davis

ACTSMS Page 5

ScaleACT 2020 Update

The ACTSMS Committee is still planning to make a ‘Go/No-Go’ decision in mid-August for ScaleACT 2020.

Things are looking promising so far and, should we proceed with hosting the event in November, dates have

been tentatively locked in for Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of November 2020.

Due to COVID-19, some changes will need to be made to the event. These are necessary to ensure compliance

with Government guidelines and restrictions, including working to a COVID Safe Plan. Some early changes

identified include:

• Electronic payments – we will be examining options for taking electronic payments, to minimise the

need for cash to change hands (this will also be an asset for our regular meetings, for raffles and

membership fees).

• Swap and Sell – we will not be running the Scale ACT Swap & Sell this year, as we will not be able to

safely comply with social distancing requirements in the space available.

• Online competition registrations – this year we will ONLY accept online competition registrations,

there will be NO in-person registration available on the Saturday morning.

Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks and months!

If you have any questions or comments about ScaleACT 2020, please contact with us via our email address

actsms@hotmail.com.

Thank you for your continuing interest in our show, and with luck we’ll see you as planned in November!

All the best, please stay safe and healthy, and enjoy the opportunity for modelling!

ACTSMS ScaleACT 2020 Organising Committee

ACTSMS Page 6

Build Report – DH.61 Giant Moth

When Peter Davis announced that the first Group Build of the year would be ‘Anything Qantas’ I thought it

would be a great thing to support and started hunting around for a suitable subject to build. There are a few

good resources out there which listed the aircraft that Qantas has operated over the years and I found quite a

few types that I’d not heard of, including the fabulous DH.61 “Giant Moth”.

The DH.61 was a purpose-built biplane airliner from 1927. It seated up to 8 and was powered by a single Bristol

Jupiter. The pilot sat in an open cockpit up behind the passenger compartment which added interest. In Qantas

service, the DH.61’s claim to fame was that it was the first airliner to carry a dunny! Well that sealed the

deal! I had found my subject.

I looked high and low, but couldn’t find a kit for the 61, so that only left Scratch-Building… The 61 made a pretty

good subject for scratch building, as the fuselage is mostly a square box with a few rounded bits and the wings

are parallel chord. Better still, I found a lovely resin engine in the right scale which would have been difficult to

get right.

So, the first job was to find a decent 3-view plan and work out scales. A couple of minutes Google led me to a

heap of good quality photos and a good 3-view. From here, it’s a fairly easy job to calculate the difference

between the full size aircraft wingspan (52 feet), the size of the printed 3-view plan (about 25cm span) and the

desired model span to give my selected 1/48th scale. There are a few good tools online which help with this; for

example; https://www.ginifab.com/feeds/cm_to_inch/scale_converter.html

Once I knew what scale the drawing was, you can calculate what multiplier you need to convert the 3-view

drawing to your scale – in my case, it happened to be a 1.09 X; so I could measure a dimension off the plan,

multiply it by 1.09 and I had my 1/48 scale dimension! Easy!

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The first job was the fuselage. I was lucky that this was essentially a flat box structure with a curved turtle deck

on top – so I started with the box section.

ACTSMS Page 8

Once this was assembled (and a rudimentary passenger compartment roughed in) I could glue a lump of balsa to

the top, then round it all off to give the basic fuselage shape. The extra bits of balsa give a bit of strength to the

basic fuselage box and make sanding easier later on.

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In this photo, the basic shape is roughed out, and I’m adding the extension for the cockpit on top, again from a

lump of balsa. The Jewelers saw is a great tool for cutting precise curves if you take your time.

The wings and tail were next. My scale measurements indicated that the wings would be about 3mm thick – so I

visited Bunnings and found the straightest ‘cleanest’ bit of 5mm pine I could from their indoor timber section,

this was simply sanded down to size and shape. Easy. The tail was thinner and I found a nice bit of 1.5mm Kauri

pine in the ‘flying models’ scrap box which was marked up, cut out and sanded to section.

ACTSMS Page 10

Soon, it was starting to look like an aircraft and I could start the major assemblies. To get things vaguely straight,

I roughed up a jig from (yep, more balsa) to get things like dihedral angle right.

As the wings are fairly large, I let sections of brass rod into the roots to give good strong attachment points.

The struts were another interesting challenge. Again, they had to be pretty strong to hold the weight of the

model when it was being handled and I wanted good strong attachments. The technique I hit on was to cut

sections of aluminum tube to length, slip a bit of soft wire up the middle and flatten the lot in my metal vice.

This gave a good rounded section to the struts and they are flat, straight and strong. The ends, I nipped off with

side-cutters and filed smooth to give the characteristic ‘v’ shape.

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The next interesting bit was the undercarriage. Again, with a heavy model I needed something that would hold

the model securely – so decided to solder the main UC elements up from brass then add sections of balsa to the

exterior that I could sand to shape to form the streamlined fairings of the original.

Sanding brass is actually easy once you know how and if you

use the right tools and preparation. One of the things that

makes it easy in these small-scale jobs it to use liquid solder

paste rather than solder wire. It flows really well and gives

you and extra hand to work with!

To start, draw up a scale plan of the bits you need and

bend/cut/shape these from brass rod. Once you have that, I

tape the main members down carefully onto an old ceramic

tile that I’ve had for years. It’s great for soldering, paint

mixing, glue palette etc… Once the main sections are all lined

up and taped down, a blob of liquid solder on each joint is

applied with a toothpick, then, the big moment, wave your

gas flame over the joints and the solder melts and flows into

all the bits you need! Of course, you still need to make sure

that all of the brass is absolutely clean first like any regular

soldering job. The Flux Pen is also great to help ensure the

metal is clean and ready for solder. JayCar carries the solder

paste and flux pen.

The last challenging jobs were the wheels and prop.

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The wheels are a thin bit of ply (1.5mm) with balsa on both sides to act as hub and tyres. The dished spoke cover

is some Milliput putty. This was roughly shaped while still soft, then sanded properly when dry by putting the

whole wheel in a Dremel and spinning it slowly like a tiny little lathe. Knives, scrapers and sanding blocks tidied

them up.

The Propeller is carved from a scrap of wood dressed up with a couple of bits of plastic-card. The engine was a

resin aftermarket kit with added brass pushrods.

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So that’s pretty much it! Paint was splashed around, and it was time to pull it all together.

The metal inter-wing struts went into holes drilled right the way through the timber wings and gave a very

secure and robust assembly – the undercarriage is also strong and is seated deep into the fuselage box so should

last. Once all the bits were together, I rigged it with EasyLine – still the best stuff for this job, I think.

Decals were done in a home computer graphics package and printed onto decal paper (easy to find online).

So there it is! A great fun project that gave a unique model and kept me busy for a couple of months. Scratch-

building adds a whole new dimension to the hobby and is great fun. Happy to answer any questions you may

have or to provide more detail on how any of the procedures worked.

Jeremy Cashman

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2020 Online People’s Choice Wrap-up

COVID-19 restrictions kicked in after our February meeting, which led to the cancellation of our club’s monthly

face-to-face meetings starting from March. The Committee decided that we would continue with our People’s

Choice events in a virtual format, using Facebook as the online medium so members can continue to showcase

their completed works whilst vying for the $30 prize vouchers from Toyworld.

Please note that with the change in format, we have been unable to continue with our usual scoring system for

People’s Choice (i.e. the tiered points system we’ve used for 1st, 2nd and 3rd). As such, the annual Modeler of the

Year and Exhibitor of the Year awards will be held this year. With the current plan to resume face-to-face

meetings from August, it is anticipated that the yearly cycle of People’s Choice voting will commence anew at

that meeting, and we will be in a position to reinstate these awards for 2021.

A big thank you to all who so kindly shared their work with our Facebook community. Membership of our

Facebook group is not limited to financial members only, so your posts, pictures, discussions have all helped

showcase the ACTSMS to people far and wide.

Without further ado, here are the winners and runners-up for the 2020 Online People’s Choice.

March 2020

Winner – David Low Renault FT-17 (Meng)

Second Place – Ben Winter-Giles God Gundam (Bandai 1/144)

Third Place – Ben Frohling Space 1999 Hawk

ACTSMS Page 15

April 2020

Winner – Craig Stanley Type XXI (AFV Club 1/350)

Second Place – Ben Winter-Giles Ultraman (Yolopark 1/6)

Third Place – Eric O’Brien Bf109G-6 (Hasegawa 1/32)

ACTSMS Page 16

June 2020

Winner – Min Hwang MiG-15bis (Tamiya 1/48)

Second Place – Ray Seppala AC-130H Spectre (AMT 1/72)

Third Place – Craig Stanley WMS-03 Maganac (Bandai 1/144)

ACTSMS Page 17

July 2020

Winner – Ray Seppala QANTAS Lancaster (Airfix 1/72)

Second Place – Ben Winter-Giles RG Sazabi (Bandai 1/144)

Third Place – Ben Frohling Focke-Wulf Triebflugel (Amusing Hobby 1/48)

ACTSMS Page 18

Committee Contact Details

President Tony Allocca tonyallocca1962@gmail.com

Vice-President Peter Davis peter.davis100488@gmail.com

Secretary Mark Napier mark-napier@hotmail.com

Treasurer Elaine Jones quiltbear@internode.on.net

Editor Min Hwang minjih@gmail.com

Events Coordinator Len Partridge len_partridge@hotmail.com

Chief Judges Min Hwang minjih@gmail.com Dave White whitettd@hotmail.com

E Coordinator Jerry Cashman jerrycashman@gmail.com

ACTSMS Post Box PO Box 600 Woden, ACT 2606

E: actsms@hotmail.com W: www.actsms.asn.au

Justice of the Peace John D. Purcell Life Member ACTSMS