Baghdad Hobby Club

Gallery Article by Charles P. Kalina on Jan 3 2004

 

The Baghdad Hobby Club is located in the Victory Palace on Camp Slayer just south of Baghdad International Airport.  It was founded during the summer of 2003 and provides morale support and recreation for deployed personnel.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

Modeller's workbench

In-progress photo

Donated Kit Stash

Display Shelf of finished models

The club receives no support from the U.S. government, except for its meeting space and a work table.  Members pay modest one-time dues and usually make a small contribution when they take from the club’s kit stash.  Donations by Hobby Town USA and the Salt Lake City / Southern Front IPMS chapter helped get the club started, and it has received plenty of other contributions – many of which are older products that retailers have been unable to liquidate, but which are nonetheless welcome.  

Besides plastic models, there are members who play role-playing games or paint fantasy miniatures, and some are working on an HO-scale model railroad.  There are some radio-control vehicles, a slot car track and an O-scale train loop, plus some donated N-scale trains that nobody’s done much with as yet.  We’ve also passed along some donations to a nearby Civil Affairs unit, which is reconstituting a youth center destroyed by looting after the war.  

Paints and tools remain in short supply, we pool our resources for periodic mail-orders.  We can’t get spray paints due to shipping restrictions, but we do have airbrushes and compressors, with a separate room for airbrushing.

We may be working under primitive circumstances, but you have to admit that from the outside at least, we’ve got a pretty impressive-looking clubhouse.  Next time you’re in Baghdad , please feel free to drop by!

-CPK

Note from Steve Bamford

I feel this is a very good group of guys and deserve any support you can offer...no matter how small.  I've known Charles P. Kalina for a long while and his group is worthy of support.  E-mail him if you have model kits, accessories, tools, paints or cash you can send to help keep these and future members of this club busy while they are overseas.  Two members of this club are ARC regulars and it was an ARC regular that formed this club.  

Steve Bamford  ARC webmaster Jan 3 2004

Click on images below to see larger images

Display Shelf of finished models

Airbrushing Room

HO-Scale model Railroad under Construction

 

      

Photos and text © by Charles P. Kalina