My impression of BuffCon 31 is that it was a rousing success. Other than a few "snags", I've heard nothing but good things from all of the attendees - vendors, members and visitors alike. It takes an entire club to make a show like this successful and I want to personally thank everyone that participated; I love you guys! I don't have all the statistics just yet, but I do know that there were about 100 more models entered than last year - how great is that? It also seems to me that the quality of the entries improves every year, and this year the models were absolutely breathtaking. I can't wait for next year!!!

John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993

Model Table Round-up from the March meeting

Eric Hillebrand brings us his Italeri 1/35th scale Canadian Chevy truck with the Tamiya Field Kitchen in the same scale. Eric says he "bashed" two kits together and likes building captured vehicles.

Dave Safe brought in a large scale 47-foot US Coast Guard boat. Dave cut out his own parts out of hardwood, added real ropes, made his own docking system along with a homemade base and acrylic cover. He experienced some stress during the gluing process and making the fine, detailed parts but it was all worth it in the end. Dave's inspiration was that he wanted to "try something different".

Frank Blonski showed off his entry for BuffCon 31: the 1/24th scale Monogram Trantula Dragster. Frank remembers building the kit when he was very young and wanted to build it again, just for fun. This is an old kit and the plastic is very brittle. This makes it tend to break up when cutting it off of the sprue. The model has some very long seams, which he took care of with his own "goo method" (see Frank if you want to know more). Frank's finishing techniques are as follows: He used a white primer as a base coat and then followed by Tamiya Light Green overall. He then used Lemon Yellow "fogged" around the edges of the model. A mix of clear and clear blue was then applied to tone down the brightness of the yellow. He then followed this by adding Interference Gold to the blue mixture and overcoated the model with it. To finish, three to four coats of straight clear are added. The next step to get a nice, glossy finish was to sand the model with 4000 grit and then re-apply the clear coat. Sand again, this time with 6000 grit and re-clear again. He finished it up with a final sanding with 8000 grit.

Frank also brought in a selection of resin parts from his new company, Fab Resinworks.

Matt Klukowski, despite his ever-growing frustrations with it, is continuing on with his H-O scale Walter's Mrs. Betty's Diner. He started this project with his mom, Cindy, as a challenge to complete it. He's finishing the building by using the Citadel line of acrylics, specifically gold and purple. He's also drybrushing the edges with gold paint. He isn't adding anything to the basic kit other than some Evergreen plastic for the concrete sidewalks. Keep at it, Matt; you're getting there.

Matt has also offered up a "snap-kit" for our viewing pleasure, the Polar Lights "Back To The Future" DeLorean. Unlike the diner mentioned above, Matt says this kit "is awesome" and he chose the subject because he really likes the movie. The car was finished with Citadel acrylics and finished off with a Testor's clear coat.

Wayne Dippold offers up a nicely rendered P-51D Mustang in 1/32nd scale by Tamiya. Wayne explains that he is the third and final modeler to work on this kit. It was started by Rich Bernecki, who then gave it to Dan Marafino, who then gave it to Wayne to finish. He used different shades of Alclad lacquers for the metallic parts and layered different shades of olive drab/faded olive drab (by Model Master) to give a faded and worn look to the paint. Panel lines were highlighted by using ink pens and various washes. Wayne really wishes people would give him more started models to finish!

Dan Nethercott is continuing on his project, a scratchbuilt 1/50th scale Live Bottom Trailer. Dan says he's built it entirely from styrene (except the wheels/tires) and is having difficulty finding proper reference material. In fact, he built the bed of the trailer twice before he felt it looked "right". Dan intends to paint the model bright green or blue with chrome or stainless steel inlay on the sides with some diamond plate for accent. He also says he wanted to add to his collection of 1/50th scale vehicles that aren't commercially available in kit form and is trying to build as many parts as possible out of plastic.

If that isn't enough, Dan is also busy with another 1/50th scale project, a Hook Lift Truck. Dan explains that it was originally a vacuum truck and he replaced the body with a scratch built dumpster and bumper. Dan painted the truck with Duplicolor Acrylic Enamel spray paint in green. He says the paint would initially spray gloss, but would intermittently come out matt. He still needs to apply decals and other small details to finish it off. His motivation for this project is that he drives a similar truck at work and wanted a model of it.

Jim Wolfe's been equally busy and shared with the group his Dragon M2A1 105mm Howitzer, and an Italeri M2 105mm Howitzer conversion set (KMC 3" Anti-Tank Gun).

He also showed us his Moebius "Mars Attacks" Martian Warrior Party.

Paul Hines brought in more of his fine artwork. This time, it's a Model T Bucket body with a shortened bed, and a couple of Ford Coupe drag cars. Paul explains he's expanding into acrylic paints for more new techniques.

Jim Lewis showed us his latest project, a Thunderbird stock car turned drag car. Jim detailed the kit using dual four barrel carbs and manifold, changed the tires and wheels and added minor plumbing and wires. He finished it off using Testor's One Coat Fiery Orange and Wimbledon White.

Cindy Klukowski brought in her version of "Miss Betty's Diner", the co-project she's working on with son, Matt. Cindy added some battery powered lights inside, along with some trees and figures inside and out. She also adds that "the kit was a challenge to build, but worked out in the end."

Jacob Gadek demonstrated his latest creation, the Moebius 1/9th scale "Grandpa Munster" figure which he finished with Tamiya and Testor's paints. Jacob said he chose the model because he enjoys old comics and television shows. He further explained that Grandpa and the control panel were primarily painted by airbrush. Grandpa's head, feet and hands were brush painted before attaching to the rest of the figure. He used Tamiya's line of clear acrylics for the lights and pencil crayons for the fine details.

Our illustrious commander-in-chief displayed the progress on his Academy 1/48th scale CH-46D Sea Knight US Navy Search and Rescue helicopter. With the interior finished, the exterior is receiving attention to seams.

Finally, after his recent trip to the Sebring 12 Hour Sports Car Race, Larry Osolkowski brought proof that he was there: a genuine piece of carbon fiber from an unknown race car. Larry said it will make good reference material.

Thanks to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.