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  • November 13, 2019 1:11 PM | David Eddy

    The NRG Board appointed Robert J. Andreotti of Santa Fe, NM as a Director to fill the remaining term of office caused by Mitch Michelson’s death.

    Bob is a 20-year member of the NRG. Bob holds a BS degree from MIT (Cambridge) in Aeronautics & Astronautics and a JD from SMU (Dallas) and has been in private practice for 26 years. In addition to building ship models for 20 years he has been a flight instructor for 20 years.

    Bob helped the NRG in the past with updating the Resources section of the web site part of which included the updating of the list of maritime museums around the world. Bob has had experience with administration of some other not-for-profits and the Board thinks he will be a good fit here at the NRG.

    The NRG Board looks forward to working with Bob who joined us at our November 5 meeting of the Board.


  • October 16, 2019 12:01 PM | David Eddy

    This is a call for nomination for the three (3) upcoming director positions. Nominees must be current Regular members of the Nautical Research Guild and must have been a Regular member in good standing during the two (2) years immediately preceding the election.

    Directors, Toni Levine, Phil Roach and Kurt Van Dahm are the incumbents up for reelection and will be on the ballot.

    Nominations must contain a statement of no more than 500 words signed by the candidate, describing his or her qualifications for office, and affirming his or her willingness and ability to serve and to attend monthly meetings of the Board of Directors. An endorsement letter signed by at least two regular members and including the requisite statement shall constitute a nomination.

    The term of office is three years. Applicants must have internet access. See the bylaws posted on the NRG website for further information regarding duties of directors.

    Nominations must be submitted by November 30, 2019. Mail the two documents to the NRG Office, 237 South Lincoln Street, Westmont, IL 60559-1917. Alternatively, email the documents to the NRG Office - info@thenauticalresearchguild.org 

    Qualifying candidates and ballots will be presented in the Winter 2019 Secretary’s Newsletter and will also be posted on our website December 1, 2019, which will allow you to vote online. All ballots must be received by January 31, 2020. Results will be announced in the Spring 2020 SNL and will also be posted on the NRG website when the voting is completed.

    Proposed Bylaws Change

    The Board is proposing that the bylaws be amended to bring our election process up to date with today’s use of emails and internet rather than reliance on the postal service.

    The amendment would reduce the time for candidates to respond with the required information to run for office and for ballots to be returned from 45 days to 30 days. This change will allow the entire election process to decrease from 90 to 60 days.

    Forty-five days was originally chosen because of the time needed to receive ballots, which were included as a supplement to the Journal. Many of our international members do not receive their Journals for several weeks or two months after our US members. This is no longer a problem because the ballots are available on-line and are returned to the office via email; they are no longer sent with the Journal. Thirty days allows sufficient time for the return of ballots.  Changing the time interval for the voting process will allow us to contact the winning candidates earlier than the day before he/she is to take office – the situation we are now in with the present 45-day requirements.

    The bylaw section below has the forty-five (45) days struck out followed by the new text “thirty (30) days”.

    ARTICLE V   

    ELECTIONS

    SECTION 1 – Election of Directors

    A.  An election of Directors shall take place each year. Each Director shall serve a three-year term. A call for nominations shall be published in the Fall issue of the SNL. Nominees must be Regular Members in good standing during the two years immediately preceding the election. Nominations must contain a statement signed by the candidate describing his or her qualifications for office, affirming his or her willingness and ability to serve and to attend scheduled meetings of the Board of Directors. The candidate must also provide an endorsement letter signed by at least two Regular or Life Members. All nominations shall be submitted to the Secretary via surface or electronic mail. 

    B.  Prospective candidates shall have at least forty-five (45) thirty (30) days after the SNL has been posted to submit the required documentation to the Secretary of the Guild.

    C.  Incumbent and Appointed Directors shall have the right to nominate themselves without additional endorsements.

    SECTION 2 - The election shall be conducted in one of two ways:

    A.  Contested Election - The names of the nominees and their requisite statements shall be presented by the Board to the Membership by a special mailing (surface or electronic) or by inclusion in the Winter issue of the SNL. Voting will remain open for forty-five (45) thirty (30) days after the mailing or SNL has been posted. Ballots may be returned by surface mail or electronically at the discretion of the Board. If membership has expired, a returned ballot would be accepted only with dues renewal. The nominee(s) with the greatest number(s) of votes shall be elected to the announced vacancy (ies). The Board shall select an independent auditor to count and tabulate the ballots, whose results shall be published in the Spring issue of the SNL.

    The proposed bylaw change will be discussed at the membership meeting at the conference on Saturday, October 26 and the ballot for this proposed change will be emailed and posted on the web site by November 1, 2019. This proposed bylaw change will not affect the 2019 Director elections. If passed it will become effective on February 1, 2020.


  • September 18, 2019 12:28 PM | David Eddy

    As the result of the recent passing of Director Mitch Michelson, the Nautical Research Guild is actively recruiting for a new Director to help lead the NRG now and into the future. You may just be the perfect person to help the NRG remain the premier ship modeling organization in the world.

    We are seeking a motivated individual, in touch with the hobby and with some great ideas who is willing to pitch in and help to improve the Nautical Research Guild and to further advance the hobby of model ship building. The Board has many needs, including help with business administration; conference planning; membership recruitment and promotion; a variety of special projects; and many, many more activities. Currently, our biggest need is an individual with a background in marketing. If you have marketing experience, we need to talk!

    Your relative skill level as a model builder is not a factor in serving as a Director; we only seek motivated individuals who have been a NRG member for a minimum of two years, with a keen interest in the hobby and a commitment to help continually improve the NRG.

    Now, some of you might be saying to yourselves you wouldn’t mind helping the NRG board with one or more of its needs, but you really don’t want to become a Director at this time. And that’s OK. We would welcome your help with one or more special projects without the full commitment of becoming a Director.

    New Directors are mentored and guided, not thrown to the wolves to figure things out on their own. He or she will work with others before being turned loose to head up a project or committee.

    If you are interested in serving the Guild as a Director, or just want more information about this position or other activities the NRG needs help with, please contact the Board Chairman, Kurt Van Dahm no later than October 21st via email at nrgdirector1@gmail.com.

    Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon. You won’t regret it!


  • September 02, 2019 12:30 PM | David Eddy

    This week, we lost a passionate member of the ship modeling community. Mitch Michelson died on Wednesday, August 28 from a massive heart attack. He was 66 years old. His funeral was held on August 30 in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

    Mitch joined the Nautical Research Guild in 1989. He had been a Director since 2009 and served as Chairman of the Board in 2017. Those members who have attended the annual Conference recently will remember Mitch as our humorous emcee.


    In addition to his contributions to the Guild, he was actively involved in Boy Scouts and mentored many young men to achieve Eagle Scout status. He was an avid pipe collector and served on the boards of several business organizations and his synagogue.

    He is survived by three children and three grandchildren.

    Most of all, he was my friend.

    Kurt Van Dahm

    Chairman of the Board

    Nautical Research Guild


  • August 09, 2019 1:13 PM | David Eddy

    The NRG has teamed up with Chuck Passaro and Syren Ship Modeling Co. to make the plans for Syren's new release of the 1/4-inch scale HMS Winchelsea 1764 available to Model Ship World and NRG members.

    Access to the downloadable plans and the HMS Winchelsea group build section on MSW can be purchased in the NRG store, and provides perpetual access to the downloadable plans on MSW.  See the Syren Ship Modeling Co. web site for complete details about the project and the downloadable monograph.

    The HMS Winchelsea section of the Group Projects banner on MSW has complete instructions on how to gain access.  There are also buttons for additional information about the project and access to the member build logs.

    The downloadable plans include the four large sheets of 1/4-inch scale plans and many 8 ½ x 11 pages which contain the full-size bulkhead drawings and false keel. The large plans will need to be printed on a large format printer while the bulkhead and false keel drawings can be printed on a standard home computer printer.

    One must also be a member at MSW to access the plans - it's completely free and easy to use. 


  • August 04, 2019 12:35 PM | David Eddy

    The Autumn 2019 edition of the Nautical Research Journal is now available!

    Digital subscribers can access the digital edition here.  Print subscribers will be receiving their copies by mail soon!


    Features

    • Scratch-building a Maine bateau, Part 2 by Dan Brummer
    • The Narvaez Expedition barca by Steve Harris
    • U.S.S. Olympia by Edward E. Quam
    • Tips for tiny carvings by Tony Devroude
    • Neptunia No. 294
    • Scratch building a 1:48-scale Flower-class corvette on a Fleetscale hull, Part 6 by Bruce LeCren

    Columns and Editorials

    • Editorial - Piracy...Again by Paul E. Fontenoy, NRJ Editor
    • Shop Notes, featuring A development of the Harold Hahn building method by John Garnish and Securing rat lines by William E. Sproul
    • Tips and Techniques, featuring Working in tight places by Steve Wheeler and Masking tapes by Kurt Van Dahm
    • Book Reviews


  • August 04, 2019 9:30 AM | David Eddy

    As the NRG's 2019 Conference gets closer, we've got some great updates on speakers, model registration, and more.

    Check out all the updated information on the 2019 NRG Conference Page.


  • May 22, 2019 12:34 PM | David Eddy

    The Summer 2019 edition of the Nautical Research Journal is now available!

    Digital subscribers can access the digital edition here.  Print subscribers will be receiving their copies by mail soon!



    On Friday, May 31, 2019 we used a new mailing service for the Summer issue of the Journal (64.2) for all mailings outside of the US – except the first-class mailings we made last week. The mailings to Canada should be much quicker as there is a special class of USPS mail that we can now use for Canada. The reliability of the service to all areas outside the US and Canada should be improved and the time to receive the Journals should be shorter.

    We are asking all our non-US members to send an email to us letting us know the date you receive the Summer Issue, 64.2 of the Journal. It is important to do this so we can make sure this service is working as it should so we know if we should keep using it. We have been assured that service should be much better than previously to all areas but especially better to Canada.

    Upon receipt of the Summer, 64.2 issue, please send an email to nrghomeoffice@gmail.com telling us your name and the date you got your Journal. We would appreciate it very much if those getting their Journals by first class mail also respond so we can compare the services.


  • March 12, 2019 1:04 PM | David Eddy

    Ships in Scale Magazine back issues are finally available.

    We have just added the digital archive issues of Seaway’s Ships in Scale Magazine to the NRG Store, again on both disc and flash drive. These back issues are named “The Early Years 1983-1999” and “The Middle Years 2000-2009”. These were sold by Seaways as “The First 105 Issues 1983-199” and “The New Millennium Edition 2000-2009” respectively. The digital archives of the years from 2010 to 2018, when the magazine ceased publication, will hopefully be available before the end of the year.

    We have also added the complete series of digital back issues of Model Ship Builder Magazine on disc or flash drive. Seaways sold these digital back issues as Volume I, Volume II and the combined “The Complete History”. We have decided to offer only “The Complete History” which includes both Vol. I & II.

    We are now also offering popular practicum reprints by Clayton E. Feldmann, MD. The first, “Building the Continental Navy Brig LEXINGTON – A Practicum” is now available. The classic “Progressive Scratch Building in Ship Modeling” is also available. Both are sold on disc or flash drive.

    We now have all the digital archive back issues of the Nautical Research Journal available at the NRG Store on either CD/DVD and flash drives.

    Go to the NRG Store to order. Remember, NRG Members get a 20% discount on the price shown. Email the NRG Office at nrghomeoffice@gmail.com with your name and town to get the discount code (you would be surprised how many NRG members share names so we need to be able to tell you apart).


  • February 15, 2019 1:25 PM | David Eddy

    Karl Heinz Marquardt passed away on January 31, 2019 at the age of 92. He was a noted author, model builder and marine artist. A very complete biography and listings of his work can be found on his website - http://karl-heinz-marquardt.com/karl-heinz-marquardt

    In addition to many articles he authored the following books:

    • Anatomy of the Ship Books
    • The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution 'Old Ironsides'
    • HMS Beagle: Survey Ship Extraordinary
    • Captain Cook's Endeavour

    Other Books

    • The Global Schooner: Origins, Development, Design and Construction, 1695-1845
    • Schooners of the Global Seas
    • Eighteenth-Century Rigs and Rigging


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