We are now one month into the annual "Tony Bartozek Memorial I'm Not A Modeling Loser" contest and I'm happy to report that there are 26 entrants this year. There will then be 13 members per team and let the pressure mount. Based on the registration from last meeting, there are lots of interesting subjects being entered and I'm looking forward to having 26 finished entries this year.

Other things in the modeling world I'm working on: modifying some 1/35th scale soldier figures into British Army subjects for my on-going Land Rover ambulance street scene diorama during the Northern Ireland "Troubles". I've never tried figure modifications before, so this will either be successful, or it will fall flat on it's scale faces - we shall see. I picked up a French main battle tank, the AMX-30B2 by Meng in 1/35th scale. This is a really nice kit in tan plastic and what feels like 3,000 parts, not including the individual track links, but it's very detailed and there are no fit issues to speak of. I'm finished with the the hull and running gear (minus the tracks) and am now onto the turret. The really neat part is that the commander's cupola is made of clear plastic, which will make painting and masking the vision blocks MUCH easier. This is my first MENG kit and I'm really impressed with it.

I also bought a 1/72nd scale Gloster Meteor by Xtrakit from Dick Schulenberg at BuffCon. This was a British jet used right after WWII and it was a fun little kit. It was the first time I decanted rattle can spray paint for use in my airbrush; it was messy and stinky (I use low-odor acrylics from jars 99% of the time), but, overall I was happy with the results. Right now, it looks like a natural metal finish, but the Brits used a paint called "High Speed Silver" so I need to tone down the shine with a matt clear. The kit was based on an MPM limited run product from the Czech Republic so I did have some fit issues around the air intakes and jet exhaust that I had to sand down and apply some filler - nothing basic modeling skills can't handle. After adding the landing gear doors, she'll be finished and another addition to my Royal Air Force/Royal Navy aviation collection.

Well, that's about it for this month so, here is the list of contestants for the contest. Enjoy and see you Monday!

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

Model Table Round-up from the May meeting

Thanks to everyone who participates in our Round Table model offerings every meeting. We are a scale modeling club and it's great to see members who do, indeed, build models!

Thanks again to Matt Keysa for directing the model table commentary.

Sam "Goose" Kuminecz brought in a very different and interesting version of the venerable P-51 Mustang: this is a Red Roo 1/72nd scale "Dart Stang". He used the Academy P-51D kit as the basic donor and added a resin turbo-prop conversion.

Ed Button offers another different and interesting conversion, the 1941 New York Central 20th Century Limited Observation Rail Car. Ed explains that he has the Rivarossi passenger train set, but it's not like the real thing. He's creating an accurate representation of the actual car. This pretty much involves painting to match and he's having difficulties matching shades of grey. He is also adding an aftermarket iconic lighted "20th Century Limited" sign to the end of the unit.

Ed also demonstrated another historical subject, his "Midway Survivor" replica of the sole surviving SBD Dauntless dive bomber during the Battle of Midway in 1942. The actual aircraft is now in a Florida museum and Ed has used the Monogram 1/48th scale kit for the replica. He scratchbuilt the interior and used Model Master paints and pastel pencils to replicate the weathering. It's nearly finished, but he says his fear of painting the canopy is holding it up.

Jason Ignatjew brought in a Lindberg 1961 Impala. He converted it to a drag car by scratchbuilding the straight front axle, roll bar and all drag components. He said the kit was easy to build and basically "fell together".

Dan Nethercott showed us his projects: a Truck and Tag Trailer (still in progress) and a 1/50th scale Flat Deck Trailer (completed). Dan says he scratchbuilt items from styrene, and the truck was disassembled and repainted. He used paint from the Model Master line and the wooden basswood deck was stained with Minwax "Early American". There is more detail work to be done: decals custom made at Buffalo Road Imports, safety striping from Microscale and the lights will be made from craft "gems" from a hobby store.

Paul Hines showed us four variations of "Rat Rod" paintings.

Returning club member Clint Keidel offered up a kit he started 15 years ago and just recently finished (there is hope for me yet) - the Hobby Craft 1/28th scale Fokker DR.1. He explains that he had to overcome difficulties such as decals that refused to lay flat despite applications of setting solutions and wing struts that didn't fit. Despite that, he finished it off by making a wood propeller, rigging and flying wires, an internal frame work, seat belts out of masking tape, a wood tail skid and exhaust pipes out of brass tube. He finished the kit with Krylon, Rustoleum, Testors and Tamiya paints and added weathering with chalk pastels, airbrushed shading and an AK Interactive oil wash.

Tom Mooney brought an outstanding vignette of a B-17 Gunner. Tom didn't note the manufacturer (Verlinden?) or the scale, but he used Windsor & Newton artist's oils (yellow ochre, ivory black, raw umber, burnt umber and raw sienna) to finish it along with some acrylic and enamel dry brushing to good effect. He did add scratchbuilt floor boards and oxygen hose to the basic kit. His only gripe with it is the "very poor, very vague instructions."

He also showed us his "Venom" figure. Tom said, "this is the worst fit of ANY kit I've ever worked on despite it being soft vinyl". Tom persevered with it and finished it with artist's oils and enamels.

Steve Weller brought in some interesting historical items: a photo of an Israel Armed Forces "Merkava" main battle tank and a Sherman vs. Tiger "after action report" (sorry, no photos).

Dan Marafino is in an armor frame of mind this month with his three projects, the Tamiya Italian m13/40 tank, a Hobby Boss Soviet T-34/85 tank and another Tamiya Israeli M1 Super Sherman tank. Dan used Tamiya acrylics via the airbrush in various appropriate colors. He says he chose these because he "likes 1/35th scale armor".

John-Allen Price has been equally inspired this month. His first project is an Airfix 1/72nd German He-111 H-6 night bomber from Kampfgruppe 26 based in Normandy. John-Allen said he converted a He-111H-20 to the earlier variant. He brush painted the kit using Polly-S and Humbrol paints.

His second project is the Revell Douglas A-20C Havoc in 1/72nd scale. This one is strictly out of the box and brush painted with Polly-S and Testor's paints. He used lighter shades of brown and green to replicate patched repairs as on the real aircraft along with some silver paint to replicate chipping. John-Allen states that he's "been waiting 40 years" to build this particular airplane.

Lastly, he brought in another Douglas A-20C Havoc in the same scale; this time he used the Frog kit in the same scale. This model represents the 8th Bomb Squadron that flew the first USAAF bombing missions from the UK in WWII.

Jim Wolfe brought in a city building he's been working on for a while now. Unfortunately, we lost the info sheet, but enjoy the pics.

Here are the entries in the "Tony Bartozek Memorial I'm Not A Modeling Loser" contest:

Team 1 - The Sprue Cutters

Mark Gadek - Arado German WWII Aircraft (sorry, no photo).

Geraldo Hanna - Airfix 1/72nd Curtiss Helldiver

John Zaranek - Italeri 1/35 USMC LAV-25 - Buffalo Police Tactical Vehicle conversion

Matt Keysa - Eduard 1/48 FW-190A-5

Tom Brown, Sr. - Ferrari 458 Italia

Nick Carluccio - 1969 Dodge Charger

Rich Bernecki - Tamiya 1/48 Bristol Beaufighter

Tom Faith - Hobby Boss 1/35 Land Wasser Schlepper

Dave Schwab - 1/12 WWII US Army Infantry Figure

Jason Ignatjew - Jimmy Flintstone 1961 Oldsmobile

Al Germann - Revell 1949 Mercury Custom Coupe

Larry Osolkowski - Nissan R89C

Justen Hanna - Classic Airframes 1/48 Boulton-Paul Defiant

Team 2 - The Green Putty Dreamers

Jacob Gadek - The Invisible Man (photo not visible)

Jeff Usiak - Emhar Viking Boat "Gokstad" (sorry, no photo)

Tom Brown, Jr. - 1/700 USS The Sullivans

Mark Budniewski - AMT 1960 Ranchero

Jim Wolfe - MiniArt 1/35 Polish City Building

Brian McFee - Tamiya 1/48 F4D Skyray

Samantha Hanna - 1/35 BA-3 Armored Car

Bob Raithel - Dragon 1/72 Ta-152

Matt Klukowski - 1989 Silverado

Frank Blonski - 1972 Corvette LT-1 Convertible

Tony Gliszczynski - 1941 Willys Pickup

Sam Kuminecz - LO Model AT-3 Jet Trainer

Jerry Fuglewicz - ??? (sorry, no photo)

Finally, a few around-the-room shots.

Thanks to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.