Well, Saturday 11/20/21 came and 10 of us club members met at the designated parking lot at Kohl's on Van Dyke. There was Wally and Julie, Jerry and Terri, and Laura and Arnaldo, Chuck, Mark, Irene and John. 

 

At promptly 10:45 the caravan of corvettes left for The Suncoast Center of Fine Scale Modeling.  The trip was only 30 minutes from where we met and it was a quick trip up.  When we arrived, the parking lot was quite full but we managed to park all of the corvettes in the side lot. We went in, paid our admission, got the preliminary spiel and then entered the main exhibit.

 

From the first step in to the main room you will be amazed with the craftsmanship of each and every display.  There is a very large railroad display in the middle of the room. From the pictures you will see the details, the workmanship, the craftsmanship that these folks did to put this display together.

 

Words from our members were: Wow!! Amazing !! Incredible!! Unbelievable!!  Incredible talent and craftsmanship !!

 

The amazing thing I found out when talking to one of the docents is that the 12-in male figures are all GI Joes. These craftsmen put their time in to sculpt the faces, then air brush the detail for the expressions. The clothes are handsewn then starched to mold them into the shapes and curves they require. This is again followed by airbrushing the clothes.  All of the figures such as the animals, small 1-inch people and railroad buildings are ones you can buy from a department store. They just take the time to enhance the figures through sculpting and airbrushing. They use resin to make it look like water, whether it be a lake, pond waterfall or even pouring out of a 1/4 in picher.  It is just amazing what these craftsmen do.

- John H.