Greetings! I'm writing this following another successful BuffCon. Although this is only my fourth one as
a member of the club I feel that it is one of the most smoothest running events that I've ever been involved
with. There is no doubt in my mind that the reason the show went smoothly is due to the dedicated and hard
work of all of you who were involved with the show. Successful shows make our visitors and contest entrants
happy. Happy people come back year after year and that keeps our club strong and viable. So, on behalf of
the entire E-Board, thank you for your dedicated efforts! I don't have all the details yet on attendance
figures and income and I'll be sure to inform all of you of this at the next club meeting when we have some
accurate numbers.
The E-Board is in the process of planning some events at our upcoming meetings that I think you'll find
interesting and maybe even a bit intriguing. For starters, we will be holding the Tim Horton's Modeling
Challenge again this year, starting at the May 2013 club meeting. Briefly, the rules are 1) it's voluntary.
2) you bring in a kit to the May 20th meeting that you want to build. It must be "un-started". This will be
documented by the club. 3) You will also bring in a $5 gift card from Tim Horton's as your entry fee. 4) You
will be assigned to a team and agree to complete the model no later than the August 19th club meeting. 5) If
all members of your team finished the models you will be designated the Winners and receive your gift card
back PLUS another $5.00 card from the losing team. 6) If your team should lose, you will forfeit the gift
card you entered with to the winning team and be forever immortalized as a modeling LOSER. A more detailed
instruction sheet will be provided to you shortly.
As I've mentioned at previous meetings I will be sponsoring a contest to encourage many of us (especially
me) to complete one of those kits that you've started but quit on it. I'm not exactly sure what to call this
just yet, but we're going to hold off on the contest until after the Timmy's Challenge is over in August. This
will give us shameful modelers some time to look at those kits we've put away and decide what can be completed,
so please keep this in the back of your minds for now.
We're also going to resurrect round-table modeling discussions at the meetings and add more modeling
demonstrations to help us all along in getting to be better builders. I wholeheartedly encourage all of you to
build and to enjoy the social aspects of this club as well.
Best regards,
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Table Round-up for March 2013
Bob Collignon brought in three 1/32 scale WWI resin soldiers (two German, one French) that he picked up
recently at the IMPS Hamilton show. The figures, created by John Smith (Modellbau Co.), are modeled after
actual photographs - copies of which are included in each kit.
In follow-up to a club discussion entertained at the last meeting, John-Allen Price brought in six books
and two magazines that assert the British Hawker Tempest was based upon the German Folke-Wulf Fw 190 design.
Mike Butry brought in two models. The first is a Porsche 911 GT2 that he is building out of the box (not
bad for an airplane guy!) The second model is an F5E Navy Aggressor that Mike would like to model as a plane
used in the Top Gun program. Mike has rescribed the panel lines and drilled thousands of rivets.
Rich Bernecki is modeling a captured version of the German Fw 190A-5 based upon the Hasegawa 1/32 kit.
Rich is leaning towards painting a blue fuselage version as depicted on one of several captured airplanes
flown under US markings during the Second World War.
Paul Hines brought in four new pencil drawings of vintage dragsters and roadsters. Paul commented about
how the roadster was particularly difficult to render.
Paul Minuse shared with us four very detailed military builds, including a Trumpeter artillery piece, two
tanks manufactured by Dragon, and one vehicle manufactured by Tamiya. All vehicles/weapons were effectively
weathered using just an airbrush.
Tom Brown brought in a retro (original issue!) 1960 Renwal Visible V8 (Large ¼ size!!) Nice find!
Tom Brown Jr. brought in a neat model of a Medieval Castle diorama, built entirely of LEGOs. Tom's
scene is entirely of Tom's creation - no kit was used.
John Zachritz is working on two Great White Shark models (1/8 scale), one of which he purchased from
Section 8 Hobbies. John is considering using the shark cage that came with the kit to keep a dinosaur
captive as depicted in the movie Jurassic Park.
John also brought in a 1/72 scale Japanese 'Nate' he recently completed. The model he built came with
no decals or a box. John also brought in THE THING from the Fantastic Four (Toy Biz Model).
Brian McFee showed us the progress he's made on his 1/48 North American F-100D Super Sabre. Brian is
practicing achieving the natural metal look with Alclad paints - buffed with a paper towel. Brian intends
to use aftermarket Squadron Decals in his build.
Al Germann brought in his recently completed custom build, that seamlessly integrated a PT Cruiser
front end onto a 1950 Chevy pickup.
Larry Osolkowski shared with the club a 1/24 scale Fujimi BMW Z4 GT3 2012 race car kit. Larry is going to
use European aftermarket racing decals from Studio 27 in his build. Larry also brought in a Tamiya 1/20 scale
Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Renault RB6. The kit came with blue paint that was receommended to be painted over a
gloss black base coat. Larry tried this painting technique first on a plastic spoon - and achieved the intended
hue of blue shown on the box cover. Larry also scored a sheet of tire decals on eBay for an enviable amount.
Cindy Klukowski brought in a recently completed panel depicting a derelict 1955 Chevy pickup. The setting
is one of six panels Cindy has completed that will form a junkyard scene.
Matt Klukowski shared with the club his latest build - a 1967 Ford Fairlane. Matt puts a lot of details into
his builds. Matt would like to add a zombie waitress to his Fairlane.
Mark Puto Jr. received a 1990s era Ford pickup from Tony Gliszcznski, then modified it to represent a fire
service vehicle used by the SouthLine Fire Department (local) on French Road. Very Cool!
Gregg Swartz brought in a Revell (1/32) 2007 Ford Shelby GT500 snap kit. Gregg says the kit depicts a 450hp
version of the popular Mustang, has ample detail and nice finish.
Finally, some around-the-room shots of the meeting.
Good meeting all around and good to see you all.
Thanks to Bob Colignon for the photography.
