Tough Little Kitty: The Grumman F8F Bearcat

E. L. Motley has written yet another in-depth article, this time covering Grumman's F8F Bearcat. All of E. L.'s fine articles can be located under the "Resources" tab above or the F8F article itself by clicking here.

Thanks, E. L., and well done!

September 2020 Spare Parts

 The September 2020 issue of Spare Parts in now available on-line. You can access it from the link under "Spare Parts" above or right here: September 2020 Spare Parts.

August 2020 Spare Parts

The August 2020 edition of Spare Parts can be accessed through the Spare Parts tab above.

Please note that it includes information regarding our in-person meeting at the Smoketree Community Building on Monday, August 10, at 6:30 p.m.

August 10 Meeting to be "Live"

We are going to attempt to hold our next meeting, August 10, "live" at the Smoketree Community Center. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.--there will be no pre-meeting dinner.

Following are the rules that all attendees must follow:

• All attendees must wear masks.
• All attendees must maintain the prescribed social distancing.
• Before departing, all member attendees are expected to assist with the disinfecting of all chairs and tables used during the meeting. Cleaning supplies will be provided.
• Attendees should limit their use to one or two trash cans that must be emptied before departing.

Following these rules will ensure that we are able to continue using the Smoketree building during the Coronavirus.

If any governmental agency changes social rules prior to the meeting, the above may be revised or the meetine may, once again, be canceled.

July 2020 Spare Parts

The July issue of Spare Parts is now available for viewing under the Spart Parts tab above.

Don't forget about our monthly meeting on Jitsi Monday evening, July 13!

July 13, 2020 Meeting

We will meet via Jitsi for our July 13, 2020 meeting. Our intention is to return to Smoketree for our August 10, 2020 meeting. 

Jitsi is easy to get up and running. Linked below is a document with instructions for downloading and using Jitsi. However, here are the basic steps:

• Download the Jitsi app (www.jitsi.org)
• At 6:30 p.m., enter the meeting by typing "ipmsrichmond" in the Meeting box. There is no password.
• Either watch or participate.

Our meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. and for the first half-hour we will simply chit-chat and work out any installation or usability bugs. At 7:00 p.m. we will begin the actual meeting with whatever club business there is followed by the main event of Show and Tell. I know everyone has quite a few quarantine projects so please share them with us!

By the way, the "ipmsrichmond" meeting room is always open, so you can certainly log in earlier to meet others or just try it out.

Click here for the Jitsi instructions

2020 IPMS USA National Convention Canceled

The following is a joint announcement from the San Marcos 2020 Convention Leadership team and the IPMS USA Executive Board.

We jointly appreciate all the feedback we received regarding this year‘s convention. We’ve taken your comments and concerns into careful consideration, while maintaining an ongoing dialogue and negotiation with the Embassy Suites convention center in San Marcos. These negotiations have been proceeding carefully due to the significant financial exposure that IPMS would be subject to if we simply decided to cancel the convention unilaterally.

We are now prepared to announce that the 2020 National Convention is officially canceled. While this may disappoint many, including your authors, we believe it is the prudent, safe and sensible thing to do.

On a more positive note, we have been successful in negotiating the use of the Embassy Suites San Marcos location for the 2023 convention. Therefore, the rotation for the next three years, circumstances permitting, will be Las Vegas in 2021, Omaha in 2022, and San Marcos in 2023. Tentative dates for the 2023 convention will be August 2nd through the 5th. We are currently finalizing details of the contract with Embassy Suites and expect a finalized version within a week.

For those who have registered already for the convention, we will be processing your refunds. For those who have booked hotel reservations at one of the convention center hotels, it will be up to you to cancel those on your own. Vendors will be refunded their money for tables as well through our vendor coordinator, Craig Gregory. Chapters and individuals who have sponsored contest categories may also receive refunds for their sponsorships.

Again, we want to thank you all for your patience and support during these trying times, and hope that you recognize we have made the best possible decision for all under the circumstances.

For any questions please contact John Noack at: IPMSPresident@ipmsusa.org

Or Len Pilhofer at: director.nats2020@gmail.com

Respectfully submitted,

Len Pilhofer, 2020 Convention Chairman 

John Noack IPMS USA President