Greetings and salutations to one and all! By now everyone should have seen and read Larry's latest
email about this months meeting - IT IS ON!! Yes, we will be having our monthly meeting which will be held
next Monday, February the 15th.
Since our last newsletter, we are still discussing the options as to when we can have our own show as well as the possibility of a Noreastcon.
Since our last newsletter, we are still discussing the options as to when we can have our own show. Monday's meeting (1/18/21) is canceled and just keep tabs on our club emails and the Sprue and Glue News for any additional updates.
Two more things - first, if you have not paid your dues, please pay up and send the $20 dues to Tom Faith
at the below address, or you can pay in person at this coming Mondays meeting.
Tom Faith
7381 Clinton St.
Elma, NY 14059
Make checks payable to IPMS Niagara Frontier.
Secondly, in regards to holding the meetings at the hall: due to Covid, we will be taking everyone's temperature, answering a short questionnaire (I have to fill 'em out every time I see my doctors/neurosurgeon, (SOP)) and wearing our masks while in attendance. In order to have our meetings at the hall, we have to follow NYS/hall guidelines in order to stay safe and if not, we'll be holding our meetings at someone's house in the future ;-)
One final thing - as of the last newsletter, we have roughly 11 club members that have paid their dues. We did not have a BuffCon last year due to public venues being closed, and from the way it looks, BuffCon for this April will be postponed to a possible later date in the year if not next year. With that being said, I cannot stress enough that everyone should please pay their dues, as this will help the club out financially until things get back to normal.
I hope I'll be seeing a lot more faces at this coming Monday's meeting!
Until next time, happy modeling!
Michael Butry
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - February 15, 2021
7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms.
7:10 PM - Meeting called to order.
Old Business:
New Business:
Questions from the floor.
Table discussion: Members tell the club about the models they have on the tables.
Break: 10 minutes.
Members catch up on what's been going on since the last meeting.
Call for adjournment.
We would like to encourage all club members to join the national IPMS. Help support your hobby on a national level. IPMS provides the insurance that allows us to have our events, and membership includes a nice monthly magazine. The website can be found at: IPMS, and an application form can be found HERE.
We have some great news! The Knights Hall is reopening, and that will allow us to have our monthly general
club meeting for February in person again. The meeting will be on Monday, February 15th, starting at the
usual 7:00pm. Here are the safety guidelines we will be following:
If everyone follows these guidelines, we can have a safe meeting. Please consider coming to the meeting to
support your club, and bring your current projects. Hope to see you there!
Club dues for 2021 are now due. The Eboard realizes that club activities have been greatly reduced due to
the pandemic, but the club still needs revenue to cover expenses. We have been fortunate that our club
meeting facility, the Knights Hall, has not been charging us for the months that we've been unable to hold
general meetings, but that will change as soon as meetings can be held again. Also, the club was not able
to have our annual BuffCon show, a major source of income, last year, and there is a real chance that we
may not be able to hold a BuffCon in 2021. If you can afford to pay the annual dues of $20 and help support
the club during difficult times, please send a check to:
Tom Faith
7381 Clinton St.
Elma, NY 14059
Make checks payable to IPMS Niagara Frontier. Thank you!
The Links page on the club website has recently been updated with information contributed by members. If you have a favorite website for modeling info, forums, etc., email the information to larryo@ipmsniagarafrontier.com.
A NOTE TO NON-MEMBERS
IPMS Niagara Frontier is a group of people from the Western New York area who enjoy the hobby of scale model building. We have about 80 members with 40+ attending each monthly meeting. Our club meets at 7:00pm on the third Monday of every month at The Knights, 2375 Union Rd., Cheektowaga, NY 14225.
A typical meeting starts with a short session related to club business. This is followed by "Show & Tell" - many members bring in their current work in progress to share experiences with other members. There is usually at least one model-related demonstration by a club member at each meeting. Meetings are free to the public. If you are in the Western New York area we would love to have you drop in to one of our meetings and say hello. We welcome modelers of all skill levels - from beginner to expert.
Our annual BuffCon event held each year in April continues to be one of the largest shows in this part of the country.
As a community-oriented club we also gather toys each Christmas for the "Toys-for-Tots" program and are proud of our support of this worthwhile program.
A brochure that describes the club and its activities can be found HERE.
The January 2021 general meeting was cancelled, so there are no minutes.
To promote greater transparency regarding the operation of the club and the EBoard, action items from the previous month's EBoard meeting will be published in the newsletter. These will not be detailed minutes of the meetings, but highlights that the general membership should be aware of.
January 11 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held online via Zoom.
February 8 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held online via Zoom.
The Start Of a Snow Sherman, Part 3
by Mike Butry
In this segment, I'm going to work on the winter white-wash along with the weathering process on the
Sherman build. Here's what I will use:
As I mentioned in my first article (Pt. 1), I had permanently glued the tarps, bags and any other gear to
the kit so it would be easier for me to paint/detail later.
Well later is now. I used the final color of the build as the base coat for the tarps, bags and such. I went back over the tarps and bags with various shades of greens/browns, starting from the darkest color and ending with dry brushing of the lightest color(s). The dry brushing aspect is essentially to highlight any raised surface details.
When it comes down to the weathering process of the tank, I checked out reference photos of various
Sherman and other tanks and went from there. Since the Sherman was going to have a winter white wash, I did
subtly weather the tank using all of the goodies listed above minus the weathering stick.
Once I was happy with the over all weathered look, I began to apply the winter wash.
I initially had seen a particular Sherman rolling through a town with a winter wash that was
unique and I thought, that's the look I want. To be honest, I do not recall if the tank's unit was
listed but this is the only photo of this tank that I have seen so far. So, using my imagination
(scary, I know), the tank that I am doing will be from the same unit but its pattern will be a tad
different.
Tamiya's weathering stick looks a lot like chalk but it's softer and has more of a silky feel to it. It's very easy to apply, but with the stick having a bigger surface area, I shaped the stick to more of a point for ease of applying in a more controlled fashion.
I spent roughly 2-3 hours applying the winter wash, as it was time consuming and, well, my eyes began to cross after a while. Just to think, when applying such washes on the real deal, they used paint brushes, towels, mops and brooms, just to name a few ways. Once the initial wash was on, I tweaked it where need be, then began the process of weathering the overall build. Again, as listed above, I used a mixture of paints, washes and pencils for the final weathering process. I am pretty stoked on the overall look, so with some touch-ups here and there, hopefully I'll be able to call her done.
The last few photos are just a few ways the winter wash was applied, and the last of the pics is
the tank I modeled mine after. Crossing fingers 'n' toes, in the next newsletter my Sherman will be
complete, so stay tuned!
Happy modeling!
Mike Butry
My February Progress and Some Modeling Philosophy
by Dick Schulenberg
I finally finished up the 1/72 MPM Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket kit I started a while ago. Some of us might remember that the Skyrocket was flown by the Blackhawk comic book heroes who were contemporary with the early Superman and Batman characters. The comic book ran from 1941 to 1984, by which time they had flown the Polish P-50 Jaztstrab fighter, the Skyrocket, the straight wing F-84, the Lockheed XF-90 and a vertical takeoff and landing version of the Republic F-105. This kit was one of the earliest of the short run kits with low pressure moldings, a vacform canopy and marginal decals. I really like the airplane, and 1/72 is my scale, so there you go. Last month I stripped off the paint that was brushed on and didn't like. It's been sprayed with Vallejo Model Air Aluminum and Deep Yellow which worked much better than brushing these particular colors but is more delicate than the Tamiya spray can lacquer I often use. I did have to repair some paint damage as I went along, both by respraying and brushing but a brushed on coat of Pledge Revive It floor gloss (the old Future, which sounds pretty funny to me) hardened up the surfaces just fine. I only used the small XF5F-1 and serial number decals from the kit. Everything else is from Starfighter decal sets. It's a cool looking plane and I like it but it's not a front row model.
This relative success prompted me to pull out the 1/32 Hasegawa P-26 that I'd almost finished
for a Tony's Challenge several years ago. What stopped me then was a paint problem. I painted the
yellow using Tamiya Camel Yellow from their spray can and the fuselage using their US Army Olive
Drab spray. Now, the Air Corps OD is one of the many variations of OD, but not the one on my P-26.
I scrubbed it off with Testors Easy Lift Off (ELO) and went off to find a correct OD. I came home
from Section 8 with 6 new bottles of various shades of OD, none of which matched the OD 22 chip in
the Monogram US Army Air Service and Air Corps Color Guide bible. My next step was to ask Mark
Tutton (Starfighter Decals) for a paint recommendation. He suggested AK Interactive acrylic OD 22
as the best match he had found. I got a couple of bottles and some thinner online. It sprayed well
but was hard to clean out of the airbrush. The good thing was that it matched the color chip. The
bad thing was that I realized that I had mistakenly masked the OD/yellow division around the tail
following the simplified pattern for the later blue/yellow scheme. It took a while to get up the
ambition to strip it again and correct but it's done now and the thing is clear coated for decals.
I've got a spare set just in case so I'm looking forward to this part of the build.
I started an old Minicraft 1/144 Boeing B-29 that I intend to mark as a black-bellied Korean War
night bomber. The kit is from the forty year old Crown molds and it shows. What few details there
are, are mushy at best and the cowls and propellers are oversize and clubby. I replaced both with
some nice resin parts from Brengun. The original molded in nacelles are oversize so there was quite
a bit of sanding required to match them to the correctly sized Brengun cowls. The cockpit glazing is
oversize and thick so it was sanded flush and polished after it was glued in place. This took care
of the indistinct framing lines. It's re-scribed and all together now and ready for priming. The
masking is a combination of .4mm and .7mm Aizu tape and Elmer's School Glue. I'm showing this one
wheels up on a simple stand.
I've set aside the 1/72 Azur Nieuport Delays NiD.622 that I started last month until I figure
out a good way to locate the upper wing correctly. There are too many variables in positioning and
no molded-in locating points to work from. I'll save this one for a better day.
After reading this, it sounds like model building isn't much fun, but for me, the small challenges with older and short run kits is exactly what makes them enjoyable. Fiddling with fits to eliminate gaps without filler, adding some necessary details from scratch or the scrap box, thinning edges and that kind of stuff really makes it for me. I struggle with painting as you can tell, but even that gives me a real sense of accomplishment when it works.
Regardless of the challenges, big or small, keep on modeling.
Dick Schulenberg
Club members' current projects:
Dave Armitage has been very productive. He sent us photos of eight completed individual
models plus a diorama. His first model is the USS Lionfish, a WWII submarine from an old Revell
kit in 1/220 scale.
Dave's next model is the Varyag, a protected cruiser built in the US for the Russian Pacific
fleet in 1899. It was scuttled by its crew after being severely damaged at the battle of Chemulpo
in the Russo-Japanese war, 1904. The model is in 1/350 scale.
Dave also built a 1934 Ford truck in 1/25 scale. The original kit was from AMT but it was
reissued by Lindberg.
Dave's next item is a 1914 Model T one ton truck from very old Entex kit. It's highly detailed
with all wiring, gas lines, speedometer cable and tubing for carbide lights.
Dave's next model is a Dodge 1.5 ton truck, late WWII from an Italeri kit in 1/35 scale.
Dave also sent a photo of a 155mm gun, M1, also from Italeri in 1/35 scale.
In a different subject area, Dave built a Clerget 9 cylinder 130 HP rotary aircraft
engine from WWI. The scale is 1/16 and the kit is from Model Expo. Dave said the kit
contained mostly metal parts, with a few in wood.
Dave's last individual model was a Nieuport 28, built from an old Revell kit in 1/72.
Dave's final model this month was a diorama depicting Sept. 15, 1916, the first use of tanks
in warfare.
Al Germann sent us an update on his current projects: "The 1969 Chevelle is almost done and
I'm very happy with the way it is turning out. Looks like the car I had as a teenager around 1980.
Over the last month, I scratch-built heater hoses from 1/16" styrene rod and fitted into
predrilled holes in the firewall heater box and the engine water pump. Also came up with a
windshield washer bottle. I used styrene rod to pin the exhaust to the chassis and to lengthen
the exhaust pipe up near the connection to the headers. There are some photo-etch pieces scattered
around but I de-badged my Chevelle of name plates. Also deleted were extra chrome trim pieces like
the real car. If anyone builds one of these, the windshield takes some thinning on the ends to
look right and the tail lights were horrible. It took some shaving to get them in place and then
the chrome trim didn't follow the body. Shaving the chrome trim was the only way. Some light
sanding to smooth it out, then touch up with the chrome pen and it looks really good! I just have
to add the window cranks for the back window and think I am done."
Al continues with his second project: "I made some progress on the 1959 Century Coronado power
boat in 1/25 scale, and I'm off to a great start building the boat dock, although I'm having a hard
time deciding on the resin water. The boat is now wearing a coat of white before painting the wood
grain section. The base is plain old pine board and the posts are 3/8" wooden dowel to simulate the
right diameter pier post. All the other lumber was cut from pine boards down to scale size lumber.
There was more sawdust than remaining wood, but it was all old stock in the basement. A stiff wire
brush was used to scuff up the wood, especially the ends to simulate heavy weathering and rot. I
then dipped everything in 2 washes of a dark green, then a gray, but some needs touching up. The
larger horizontal boards are held in place using straight pins cut down to about 1/2" length and
pushed in predrilled holes. The head of the pin looks like the head of a carriage head bolt. It is
a different and fun project. I can see building some weathered picnic tables in the future with this
technique."
Al concludes with his last project: "Now that I am done with the Chevelle and the fact I like to
work on more than one model at a time, I started a kit from a Christmas gift of the new Ford GT by
Tamiya. A real nice kit and to show off the unique shape of the body, I came up with this two-tone
paint job using Testors lacquer spray paints. The pearl white is actually a clear base paint, so I
sprayed right on the white plastic. Both colors lay down very nice. I went with a different two-tone
for the interior using some old Krylon spray can I had. It is a well engineered kit, so fit is
fantastic, although it doesn't come with seat belts so I need to take care of that. Still should turn
out to be a rather quick build kit."
Eugene Paveljack has been posting photos of his current projects on the IPMS Niagara Frontier
Group Facebook page. Here are a few examples.
Jeff Belling has been working on a few models since last month. His first is a build of an
old Airfix 1/48 Hurricane, which he says is pretty much done.
Jeff's second model is a 1/72 Airfix Spitfire Mk. 9 which is also finished.
Jeff also did some work on adding a bit of interior to an old Heller 1/72 Curtis Hawk A3
that had nothing at all inside. He said you won't see much with the canopy on.
Jeff Keenan passed along some photos of modeling activity in his household. Jeff said:
"my youngest son, Derek, has found a renewed interest in modeling when I pulled out some old
Batman models. So far he has finished the Batwing and he's working on the Batmobile. I just
got him the Batpod from Section 8, which is the motorcycle-looking vehicle with the giant
wheels. He's just given me a wishlist for more (the Batboat, Robin and the Joker) so we'll see
what he gets for his birthday in March."
Jeff continues: "I've been working on a few projects myself, mostly trying to finish some
clunkers and get them from 'Why I did I stop working on this one?' to 'Done.' The first is a 1/72
X-29 from Hasegawa. I had it all painted in gloss white and was ready to apply all the long
decals that go across the wings. Sure enough, the decals shattered as I was putting them on. I
spent some time trying to decide if I wanted to mask and paint and decided my masking skills just
aren't good enough for that yet. So I took a turn in the what-if direction and sprayed an
experimental camouflage with Tamiya Sky Grey and Neutral Grey, and Vallejo Deep Sky Blue. It
looks somewhat like the Russian schemes and I really like how the Vallejo Deep Sky Blue came out
- it's almost garish. Once I'm happy with that I'll slap some spare low-vis USAF decals on it and
call it a day."
More from Jeff: "I'm also wrapping up a tiny Bandai Cosmo Tiger II. It comes from a reboot of
a Japanimation show that I watched when I was a kid called Starblazers. As always, they fall
together. There are no paint instructions so I'm trying to match the box art as best I can. There's
still some painting, weathering and clean up to do, including the ordinance. I like the colors on
this one, too."
Jeff concludes with: "last is a model that almost ended up in the trash can a few times. It's a
1/48 Revell AH-1F Cobra. I could scratchbuild another model from all the flash and misaligned seams
I've had to cut off. A couple of pieces look like they melted. The cockpit and pilots are actually
decent, though. I'm not quite sure why I'm so determined to finish it but I am. It's currently in
Helo Drab but I've never done hairspray chipping, so I'm going to do that with a top coat of a Gulf
War Sand color."
Larry Osolkowski made some progress on the 1/43 Meri kit of a Benetton-BMW TG186 Formula 1 car
from the 1986 season. He got the wheels assembled from two turned aluminum rim pieces with a photo-etch
center and an added photo-etch wheel nut, painted them with Zero Semigloss Black and mounted the tires.
The Pirelli decals were added and covered with Testors Dullcoat.
Larry next worked on the chassis by painting the base plate with etching metal primer followed
by Zero Semigloss Black. The instrument panel was similarly painted, and toggle switches and indicators
made from fine wire were added, along with instrument decals from an aftermarket decal sheet. The seat
was painted with the etching primer followed by Model Master Black Chrome, and Tameo photo-etched
seatbelts were painted and added. Then the seat and instrument panel were glued in.
The "engine", transmission and rear suspension were assembled, painted with the metal primer,
Alclad magnesium with a Dullcoat overcoat, Model Master Steel for the rear axles, and Model Master
Semigloss Black for the rear suspension. The rear axle was made from a section of brass rod since
the original white metal part was pretty useless. The whole assembly was glued to the base plate.
Finally, Larry cleaned up the front and rear wings, which were both one-piece white metal
castings, and shot them with etching metal primer, along with the front hubs. They will receive
a coat of Zero Semigloss Black, followed by the kit decals.
Steve Weller has been busy working on a few things since last month. His first item is a
Monogram/Revell 1/48 B17E kitbash, which received a black undercoat to duplicate a previous
technique he also used on an Airfix 1/72 P38. Steve said: "when confronted with raised rivet and
panel line detail, a lazy modeler might just use a rub through to bring out the details rather
than re-scribe everything."
Steve continued with: "the 1/72 Stuart tank is my oldest mothballed project - carbon
dating has placed it in my modeling Paleozoic era. It may date from before 1993."
Steve had one more current project: "the Airfix Tribal class destroyer is about the same
age as the B17, 10 years. If I can honor my oath to get the B17 done these archeology projects
should be next - unless I get distracted."
Steve wrapped up with the following: "so here's one of several items that may become
distractions. I've waited 30 years for someone to put out a decent injection Sherman with an
interior and this RFM kit exceeds expectations by a mile. It's got the interior fuel tanks,
ammo stowage and just about everything else. The other developing distraction after 30 years
of waiting is a Panzer lllJ with an interior which is on its way from overseas as I write this.
Oh dear - my will power may be crumbling."
Bill Borkowski reported that he started a new model! It's a Tamiya 1/24 scale BMW Z3
roadster.
Thanks to all of the members who sent in photos and updates on their current projects.
