Bagpipes in Military History
MMSI member Tim Deichl offered a presentation on “The Military and Cultural History of Bagpipes from Ancient Egypt to the Space Station." Then Tim, a talented bagpiper himself, performed a number of tunes for the group with two fellow pipers.
Sept. 6, 2024 Plastic Modeling
Chris Chapman and Paul LaRock present an overview of armor modelling, from the first tank models in 1916 to current trends and developments in the hobby, including the dramatic expansion of available scales and 3D printing. They also offer tips on selecting your first armor model kit and basic finishing techniques. Then, John VanDerMeulen discusses a history of aircraft modelling and the rise of popular scales being used today. He’ll give an update on the current state of production and the various aftermarket options available to the modeler.
MMSI May 2024 Painting & Modeling Day
Bud Bowie Talks Howitzers
Joe Berton on Painting Marble
MMSI March 2024
Michael Bennett: “Adventures in Re-Enacting”
MMSI February 2024
Michael Berger: Ancient Egyptian Warfare, "Tut's Weapons: Khepesh, Bows, and Chariots"
MMSI Meeting October 2023
Herb Metzler on "The Sorrows of Young Napoleon, or A Tale of Two Islands."
MMSI Meeting September 2023
Bud Bowie on “Artillery, the King of Battle”
MMSI Meeting February 2023
Veteran club member Dave Peschke led the group through A Civil War Show-and-Tell at its first meeting at its new local, the Morton Grove Civic Center. Members brought their memorabilia, figures, toy soldiers, books, and other collectibles from the War Between the States, and Felix Gonzales captured it on this video.
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MMSI Meeting October 2022
Back from a busy summer of travels, club president Joe Berton offered a presentation on four museums with WWI exhibits: the Imperial War Museum in London, the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, and the In Flanders Fields Museum in Belgium. It was the club’s last meeting at Oakton Community College, and members also brought their WWI figures and militaria.
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Zoom Meeting Number 14,
September 11, 2022
Belgian modeler Marijn Van Gils joined us for a fascinating presentation on composition in diorama-building. Don’t miss it!
Zoom Meeting Number 13, March 4, 2022
Italian master modeler Ivo Preda joined us from Turin to talk about the history of Marshal Murat and modeling this most colorful of Napoleon’s commanders.
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Zoom Meeting Number 12, Feb. 4, 2022
Veteran, club stalwart, and Chicago Show chairman Pat Vess offers a presentation entitled "Desert Shield and Desert Storm from a Tank Commander's Perspective" (that's Pat on the right and his tank in the background), or, "How I Spent the First Half of 1991 in the Desert."
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Zoom Meeting Number 9:
Old Fort Dearborn, the Chicago 1933 Worlds Fair, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago's most resilient failure of a toy manufacturer who edited The Scabbard and helped create the MMSI... and a host of other familiar and forgotten characters precipitated a revolution in the manufacture of figures in the opening years of the Great Depression. The world of figure-making was never the same after the events which transpired in and around the Century of Progress World's Fair. And it all happened right here in Chicago. MMSI member Marc Gaynes will be presenting this amazing tale full of twists and turns, replete with cameo appearances by some of the top American artists of the 20th Century, which also was the first ever keynote address at the Old Toy Soldier Show. (Once again, we were plagued by technical difficulties, I have posted Marc’s original video presentation, which has much better sound than we had at our group meeting.)
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Zoom Meeting Number Five:
Jack Lynch gives us a tutorial on making molds and casting your own parts. (Unfortunately, we lost the first few minutes of Jack’s presentation, but he has helpfully created two handouts covering everything he taught us about molds and resin casting. You can download those here: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/29LB46W006 and here: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/fOlrrLLBDG
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Zoom Meeting Number Four:
Barry Biediger and Jim DeRogatis, editors of boxdioramas.com, discuss this challenging but rewarding aspect of our hobby in a discussion about some of their box dioramas.
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Zoom Meeting Number Three:
Joe Berton leads a guided tour through the militaria collection of Shep Paine.
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Zoom Meeting Number Two:
Art Etchells on collecting military flags and flags in military miniatures, Jan. 8, 2021.
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Our first session on Zoom was held on Dec. 4, 2020
Featured MMSI member Edward "Bud "Bowie, published author, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired), and former professor in the Department of Military History with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth guiding us through a presentation entitled "Iron War Horses--Armored Trains & Military Railroads."