Greetings, modelers! There's lots of interesting club stuff happening and I'll outline it for you here.
In our on-going efforts to make the club meetings more interesting and informative, we're going to start projecting and filming the demonstrations. It can be difficult to see and hear everything that goes on during a demo, so we'll be hooking up a projector and adding a sound system so that everyone can see and hear what exactly is happening. The video that results from this will be published on our club website for future playback (and historical documentation) should you wish to review what was shown at a later date. How cool is that?
This meeting, miniature figure painting expert Johnny Newman, will be showing all of us how to judge the quality of figures. Sometimes, this is one of the most frustrating parts of contest judging, especially if you personally don't feel you're good at it. Johnny will show us what to look for in a quality figure. Not only does this help the fairness of judging, but it will also make you a better figure painter.
We've also been discussing themes and "group builds" to add to our club's repertoire. Being the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War (WWI), we are encouraging members to bring to the November meeting any model, in any scale of any subject related to World War I. This can include, but is not limited to, aircraft (bi-planes, balloons), tanks, field artillery, horse drawn vehicles, motorized vehicles, trench warfare dioramas and, of course, figures. This is not a contest, just a gathering of a theme. You can start building now, or bring in anything you feel is appropriate. We'll even accept "works in progress" or unstarted kits and projects.
Similarly, since December is the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, we're going to have a theme similar to November's; any model theme that directly relates to the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941 applies.
I'll have a separate table set aside for these themes at each meeting, so nothing gets confused or lost in the "round table shuffle".
If you have any theme or group build ideas, we want to hear 'em - see any E-Board member and we'll do our best to include it.
It is IPMS Niagara Frontier's time-honored tradition to support the United States Marine Corps annual Toys For Tots drive and we will do so again this year. At the December club meeting, please bring in one unwrapped toy to donate to this most worthy of charities. Representatives of the Corps will attend our meeting and collect our donations (it is also our annual holiday pizza party, too). Donations are not mandatory, so if you cannot donate - no worries. If you can, that's great because it will definitely make a child much happier this Christmas. One note, please consider kids that are older, as in the 14 to 17 year old range. Sometimes they get left out as lots of generous folks buy gifts for much younger children. I also need to mention that PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH ANY NOTES, CARDS, NAMES OR WRAPPING PAPER on any of your donations. By USMC rules, all donations must be anonymous or they cannot accept them. If you have any questions, please ask me or Tom Brown, Sr.
Keep on modeling,
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Table Round-up from the September meeting
Larry Osolkowski brought in his work in progress, a Marsh Models Chaparral 2 - Mosport 1965. Larry explains that
the panel lines were out of scale and the wheels fit loosely in the tires. He spent time filling in and rescribing the
panel lines, fixing a gap between the wheel rims and tires and he ground out the air inlets on the rear fenders. Larry
is using MCW "Chaparral White (an automotive lacquer) paint, along with Model Master acrylic "Rust" colors. He plans
on painting the rocker panels as opposed to using decals and will probably scratchbuild the side air scoops and exhaust
pipes. Larry chose this model "to add to my Chaparral collection".
He also displayed some aftermarket decals for the Revell-Germany BMW DTM race car kit he brought in recently.
Tom Faith showed his Italeri "15 CWT Truck" with the Bronco "40mm Bofors Gun" project. Starting with the truck, Tom
scratchbuilt the bed using scale lumber, Grandt Line bolts and Evergreen plastic. For the Bofors gun, he added an
aftermarket barrel detailed with Grandt Line bolts and fixtures. Tom relates that the Bronco plastic feels "brittle" and
reacted badly to ordinary model glues. He used Testor's "Olive Drab" and Tamiya "Dark Green" for the paintwork. His
inspiration for the project: "I love the gun and the truck was added as a reference connection". Tom says, "stay tuned
for more"!
Eric Hillebrand offered up his Mirror Models "C15A Armored Ambulance". He says it was a tough build, but had good
detail. He emphasized that detail with "lots of photo etch" and used Testor's spray paint along with Vallejo colors.
Eric also brought along the Takom "St. Chamond" tank. He's just getting started with it and is impressed with the
excellent engineering of the kit and many small parts.
Tom Brown, Sr. brought in his VERY FIRST AIRCRAFT MODEL KIT, a Monogram 1/48th scale US Navy Troan T-28A trainer
in white and bright orange livery. Tom said that parts of the canopy were missing, so he built it "wheels up" so it
could be hung from the ceiling as if it were flying. This is his donation to the Liberty Hound Tavern project at the
Buffalo Naval and Serviceman's Park.
Todd Habscheid offers up his Hordes "Rip Horn Satyr" miniature fantasy figure. He explains that the hands were
difficult to fit to the arms and had to trim them to fit. He used Citadel spray paints as a base coat and weathered it
with dark earth and Nuln oil washes.
Joe Szczygielski has delved into another of his scratchbuilt projects. This one is the US Army's Assault Breacher
Vehicle (ABV) in 1/35th scale. The base of the project is the lower hull of an M1A1 Abrams battle tank. He will be adding
an entirely scratch built upper hull and plow by using various types of Evergreen plastic. Joe's fascination with
engineering vehicles of the modern era is his inspiration for the build.
Michael Martinez showed his current work in progress, the Italeri "1933 Cadillac Town Car". Mike cut the front axle
and shaved the leaf springs to lower the front end to give it "a better stance". Generally, it's a smooth build, but the
right side of the bonnet was warped. He's painting it Gloss Black over Garnet Duplicolor on the lower portions. He was
inspired to build it after the club's recent group trip to the Buffalo Pierce Arrow museum.
Nick Carluccio brought in his 1962 Buick Electra project. Nick used Duplicolor "Nightshadow Pearl" clear coated with
Painter's Touch "Clear Gloss". He also detailed the wheels with Monogram's whitewall tire inserts and used chrome foil to
simulate the trim (of which he says, "was a real pain"). Nick also used the LMG polishing kit to get a high gloss finish.
Dick Schulenberg loves armored cars and brought in some subjects he built about 10 years ago: the Commander Models resin
BA-10 and Polish Army armored cars, all strictly out of the box and used Polly Scale paint to finish them. The Polish "White
Eagle" markings were supplied as dry transfers, not decals.
Matt Klukowski showed us his on-going model train layout building called, "Merchant's Row 1" by Walters. Matt's added
some Evergreen styrene blocks to cover some of the upper windows, scratchbuilt a flag and added various signs to the stores.
The buildings were painted using Citadel and Vallejo acrylics to which he added dark brown washes.
John Zaranek brought in a nearly finished "Grizzly" Infantry Combat Vehicle used by the Canadian Armed Forces in the
Balkans circa 1996. He used the Trumpeter 1/35th scale kit and used Tamiya acrylics as the base coat. He lightened the base
color and applied it to the center of the panels. After applying a dark brown oil wash, he applied fading effects and water
streaks with various artist's oils. He finished it off by apply dust via the airbrush and pastel powders.
He also displayed some metal figures he'll be using, and some resin parts for a new project.
Finally, some reference material and decals, and a new kit were displayed by unknown members.
Thanks to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.
