After thinking about last month's self-rant about not finishing the kits I've started and the shame associated with this modeling failure, I decided to pick a couple of kits to finish. The first one chosen is an old Hasegawa 1/72 MiG-29 Fulcrum that was already primed and base-colored. I discovered that I had custom color mixed and spray painted a Russian flag "flash" on both outboard rudders of the aircraft. All I needed to complete this project was to finish the landing gear and doors and apply a camouflage pattern. Of course, the subsequent clear coats, weathering and what-not has to be done as well. As I was examining my previous work, I wondered why I hadn't finished it. I still don't know. In all honesty it looks pretty good. It's in a two-tone grey now and very shiny because of the smooth Future clear coats applied. I used a product for darkening the panel lines that I haven't tried in the past: A-K Interactive's NATO Armor Dark Wash. It's enamel based and is one of the best washes I've ever used. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the final look. The downside to this little "correct the shame" project is that the decals as supplied in the kit are complete "dog-rot". The red Soviet stars were very thick and brittle and most ended up breaking as I applied them to the model. I was pleased that I was able to gently nudge and slide them together successfully. I don't think this model will win any awards, but she will be finished.

The other kit I decided to do is a Tamiya/Italeri 1/48 scale BaE Hawk two seat jet trainer of Great Britain's Royal Navy. Again, as I examined it I found that the reason I put it away was that I had partially obliterated two engraved panels on the top side wings near the fuselage join and I couldn't figure out how to re-scribe them (without a template) without making a total mess of it. I still don't know how to do this, so I said to myself, "forget these little engraved thingies... fill them in, sand 'em smooth and move on." So I did. And I'm glad I did because she's looking really spiffy now. The look I opted for, for this sexy little jet, is a gloss black livery. Right now, I think it looks too glossy for the scale so I'm going to tone it down a bit after all the little bits are applied to finish the kit. Again, no show winner (I can now see where some seams need more work) but it's a cool looking model and will also be finished very soon.

I'm proud that I took these kits out, re-examined them and decided to "put them to rest". My challenge to you is to pull a kit or two out of "modeling limbo" and have at it. In fact, like I mentioned at our last club meeting, I'm going to make this a contest starting at the March club meeting, very similar to the Timmy's Challenge. I will be offering up a prize out of my own pocket just to throw the proverbial "glove on the ground" and see who among us have the guts to end their own "Parade of Shame" of partially built kits! Please, keep in mind that this hasn't kept me from starting any new ones... Trumpeter's 1/48 Supermarine Sea Fang... Revell Germany 1/48 Westland Wessex... Bronco's 1/35 USMC Humvee...

The next IPMS Niagara Frontier Chapter meeting will be held at 7 PM on Monday, February 18 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 2735 Union Road, Cheektowaga, NY 14227. We meet in the BuffCon contest room. I'm looking forward to seeing you all.

Don't forget that your 2013 club dues were due in January. This month is the catch up month and we're hoping that we can get through all the renewals as soon as possible so we can clean up the membership roll. If you haven't renewed by (or at) the March meeting, we'll assume that you are no longer interested in being a member. That means you won't be getting these monthly reminders and you will no longer have the rights and responsibilities of a paid member. This includes BuffCon activities. Having said that, you are always welcome to drop in to one of our club meetings as well as keep up with what's going on with our club through our website.

This is the first year in a long lime that we'll be meeting on the Presidents Day holiday. I hope to see a bunch of you on Monday.

John Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993

Model Table Round-up for January 2013

Unfortunately, the usual suspects that take notes for the Model Tables weren't able to make it to the meeting this month, so the commentary on the photos will be limited to what I can remember, which isn't much.

I'll get my own stuff out of the way first, since I actually can remember what I brought to the meeting. My stuff (me being Larry Osolkowski) included the continuing progress on the Airfix 1/32 Mini Cooper S. The chassis is done, the body has red and black paint applied, the various grills are painted, the seats are done, and the headlight and taillight pieces are ready to go together.

I also brought in more painted spoons to show the Mini red covered with Testors gloss clear lacquer and Alclad Aqueous clear, and some experiments in duplicating the chrome-like finish on recent MacLaren Formula 1 cars. Alclad chrome with the aqueous clear seems to give the best results.

Fujimi has been cranking out kits of recent Formula 1 cars at an amazing clip lately, and their latest offering is the Ferrari car from the 2012 season. Looks like a very nice kit.

There were some very nice armor models on display, of which I unfortunately don't have any information.

Joe Szczygiel brought in his latest amazing scratch-built project, a piece of military construction equipment. Of course, the mechanisms for the scoops were functional, and Joe displayed some of his reference material.

New member Matt Klukowski showed us his latest project, complete with figures. He seems to like those lime green paint jobs.

Bob Kozlowski brought in a Smokey Yunick 1960's vintage Indy race car built from a resin kit.

Brian McFee displayed his recently completed 1/48 Hasegawa F4G, and brought some decals for his next project, an F-16 (his favorite aircraft).

Dan Marafino brought in his latest project (yes, he's building aircraft again), a TBF-1C Avenger. Dan showed his technique of brush painting the interior areas while the parts are still on the sprue.

Tom Brown Jr. showed us his latest 25mm Warhammer fantasy gaming figures.

Also on display was a nice build of a P-51 Mustang, "Mah Sweet Eva Lea". Unfortunately, I didn't get any info on who made it.

Ilya Grinberg brought in his latest projects in 1/72 scale.

Someone (sorry, don't know who) showed us an in-progress build of a military Land Rover.

Paul Hines displayed his latest automotive artwork. Paul has been doing some excellent pencil drawings of hot rod and custom car subjects recently. I brought in some old car magazines to provide him with some reference material.

Frank Blonski showed his progress on his Rat Rod project.

Tony Gliszczynski also brought in his in-progress Rat Rod. The seat is covered with duct tape!

Another Rat Rod project was displayed by Justen Hanna. His weathering is looking really good, and that flathead V-12 is a nice touch.

There were some additional Rat Rod projects on display; unfortunately, I don't have more information.

Here are some additional shots of items on the modeling tables.

Dan Marafino was absorbing the meeting ambience.

Bob Kozlowski returned after being missed for a while.

Club President John Zaranek collected annual dues.

Various items were on display for sale.

I gave a short demo on using Tamiya masking tape to make templates for carbon fiber decals to be applied to race car models. The technique can be used for any decal that is available in sheet form, such as seat covers and presumably camouflage patterns. I also brought in some samples of various carbon fiber decals, which are available in a variety of styles and scales.

Finally, some around-the-room shots of the meeting.

Good meeting all around and good to see you all.

Thanks to Tony Gliszczynski for the photography.

YOUR 2013 DUES WERE DUE IN JANUARY