July Meeting

Posted on July 13, 2015 by catopower

The next meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights is this coming Saturday, June 18th. We’ll be meeting as usual aboard the ferryboat Eureka at 9:30am.

Club topics that will be discussed will include our Annual Barbecue, which is taking place on Saturday, August 15th in lieu of our regular August meeting. Also, we’ll be trying to get a final count and to nail down a specific date for our upcoming club cruise on board the former Presidential Yacht, U.S.S. Potomac. The plan is to get a group of 20 signed up for a 2 hour cruise on either August 8th or September 12th. Members need to chime in so we can get this nailed down!

The Potomac is moored near Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. More info on the ship can be found at: usspotomac.org.

Ship Modeler Reporting from Philly

Posted on June 28, 2015 by catopower

32-gun Frigate L’Hermione

Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights member Mark Rosenbush, one of the newest members of our group, reported in on his trip to Philadelphia today where he is currently on the scene and completed touring some of the ships there including the newly built reconstruction of the 32-gun French frigate L’Hermione. The original ship brought the young Major General Lafayette, only 21 at the time, to Boston in 1780 to fight along side the Americans who were fighting for their independence from Great Britain.

Of course, there’s much more to the story and much more about the modern reconstruction which recently sailed across the Atlantic from France where it was built.

USS Olympia

Mark says he took at least 100 photos on his tour of the Hermoine and other ships. He’ll be bringing these back with him and maybe we can coax a slide show at an upcoming meeting.

HSPMS May Meeting Follow-Up

Posted on May 17, 2015 by catopower

Today was the May meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights and it was quite a gathering. With 11 members and 1 newly joining member and 2 guests, we had one of the largest meetings in quite some time, which was quite refreshing.

Lots of great after-meeting discussions.

We saw some good progress with models, with a couple that haven’t been seen in a while. Leo Kane brought in his scratch-built 1/64-scale US Frigate Essex that he’s been working on for about 3 years now. New member Dale Rappleye showed us some progress on his first ship model, the Armed Virginia Sloop, which he is building from a kit by Model Expo. There was also a nice half-hull model of a local sailing yacht, a scratch-built Skipjack, and more.

Skipjack model started by Paul Reck and finished by Dan Canada.

John Ferguson’s half hull model.

Dale Rappleye’s Armed Virginia Sloop.

As mentioned above, we had one visitor who joined our ragtag band of ship modelers at meetings end, making him the third new ship modeler to join the group so far this year. As ship model clubs all over struggle for members and to maintain attendance at their meetings, it’s nice to see this little group grow.

And, as kids getting into ship modeling, one of our guests in attendance was the grandson of member Warren Gammeter, and brought in a model of a Whitehall Tender that young man is working on with his granddad. A refreshing sight at the meeting.

Minutes with additional photos will be available online in the next week or so.

First HSPMS Meeting of the Year

Posted on January 13, 2015 by catopower

Saturday, January 17 marks the first meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights for 2015. It’s a new year and a great time to get those ship model projects out and to recommit ourselves to support the club and the park service by spending a little time at our workshop aboard the Eureka. Meeting starts at 9:30am.

From the December meeting

Tom Shea and Paul Reck deserve some thanks for having done some house cleaning in the workshop so members have more room to work on their builds. So, come and take advantage of the new space and see what everyone is working on.

Hyde Street Pier November Meeting

Posted on November 11, 2014 by catopower

November Meeting

The November meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights will be this Saturday, November 15th at 9:30am at our model shop aboard the Ferryboat Eureka at Hyde Street Pier.

This month, we’ll be collecting photos for our club calendar in time to get them ordered and delivered by the December meeting. Members, please provide your photo contributions to Clare Hess at the meeting or by email ASAP.

Correction… Don’t Eat, Meet!

Posted on August 4, 2014 by catopower

No, that’s not to say “don’t eat meat.”

Looks like the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights’ annual barbecue will have to wait for another time due to scheduling conflicts. So, there will be no annual barbecue on Saturday, August 9th, after all.

The good news is that this means that we will have an August meeting after all. Likely location of the meeting will again be in the conference room under the bleachers by the Bath House. Meeting starts at 9:30am. Don’t be late, because the doors have to remain locked, and once we start our meeting they will be closed and we’ll be out of earshot of any knocking.

Among other things of importance, we’ll be discussing the date of the rescheduled barbecue. So, be there and bring your projects!

Hail to the Chief

Posted on July 30, 2014 by catopower

At the June meeting of the Hyde Street Pier Model Shipwrights, the club made a big change to its organization and agreed it should have an official club president. The club’s de-facto leader has for years been member Paul Reck, but at the June meeting, that was made official with the nomination and election of Mr. Reck to the post of Club President.

Nothing really changes at this point, except that we as a group have officially recognized Paul’s role. Member Leo Kane will continue to continue to moderate our monthly meetings.