Greetings and salutations to one and all! Just think, on June 21st, summer will officially begin and we all know what that means, right? We'll be getting our grills ready for the summer cooking season once again and sadly, our project(s) will be placed on the back burner as we enjoy the outdoors!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone will be doing for the build challenge. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - June 20, 2023

7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms.

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.

The monthly general club meeting will be on Tuesday, June 20th at the Williamsville Youth & Recreation Center, 5005 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221, starting at the usual 7:00pm. Parking and entry to the building is in the back. There will also be a 50/50 raffle held at the meeting to help raise funds for the club. Directions:

If you haven't paid your membership dues for 2023 yet, please see Tom Faith at the meeting.

To keep our club mailing list up-to-date, if you are a member of IPMS Niagara Frontier and have recently changed your email address or are not receiving the club newsletter and meeting emails, please contact our website coordinator, Larry Osolkowski, and pass along your email information. Thanks!

A link to the current Sprue and Glue News has been added in recent months to the Newsletter Blast emails provided by National IPMS. For those readers from other chapters, and anyone else who might be interested, our website has a Newsletter page with buttons to select any of our newsletters from the current year. There is also a button on that page to access the Archive page, which has links to all of the newsletters published since September 2007.

A NOTE TO NON-MEMBERS

Our secretary was unable to attend the May general meeting, so unfortunately, there are no meeting 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.

Eboard meetings are suspended for the summer months of June, July and August. Meetings will resume in September.

John Doerr sent in some photos of recent builds.

John will be bringing his Trumpeter 1/144 F-86 to the next meeting to show his progress since last month.

Moving to the model tables, Rich Bernecki brought in a work-in-progress, a Tamiya 1/32 P-51D Mustang. He used Model Master Interior Green and Tamiya Black and Rust paints for the work done so far, and added a Yahoo instrument panel with Eduard color photoetch and a Baracuda Studios resin battery. Rich said that the P-51D has always been a favorite aircraft subject for him. He also mentioned that he'll be replacing the fuel gauge with clear blue sprue instead of gray plastic painted white.

Tim Grieve showed us his Academy 1/800 CV-63 USS Kitty Hawk. He used Model Color and Model Master paints in flat black, white, yellow, red, silver, metallic gray, dark gray, gray green and gold. Tim mentioned that he had a problem with the elevators not fitting flush with the deck. He said this ship was the next step to a modern carrier, but still conventionally powered. Tim said he had a lot of fun painting and applying decals to all the aircraft.

Brian McFee displayed his 1/48 Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat, finished with Vallejo Model Air Dark Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and White. He added a resin seat and weathered the model with Tempa water-based paint.

There was a flyer on the table for an upcoming new model show in the area, the first NNL Buffalo Model Car Show. It will be held on September 10, 2023 at the VFW Post on 110 Elgin St. in Tonawanda. Here's a link to the show website.

There was also a flyer on the table for the Torcan show, which will already have taken place by the time this newsletter is published. We should have a report on the show at the next meeting.

David Safe showed us his ongoing work on a Lindberg 1/16 Concord Stage Coach. He started with the horses, which currently have airbrushed Vallejo paints custom mixed to get the right shade, with added black highlights. David plans to add dust and weathering as the project progresses. He mentioned that there was a lot of seam-filling on the two-part horses, but the model should look awesome when it's finished.

David also brought in some cut-offs of thin sheet Lexan that were there for the taking.

Paul Hines had a couple of new paintings of automotive subjects this month. The first was a 1957 Chevy Corvette with fuel injection. Paul said only 57 of these cars were made, and it's his most favorite body style.

Paul's second painting was a 1988 Ferrari F40, which commemorated Ferrari's 40 years in automaking. Paul mentioned that the aerodynamic shape and 478 horsepower could propel the car to 196 mph and 0-60 in 3.8 seconds.

John Doerr had four models on display this month. The first was a Trumpeter 1/144 F-86F. It's currently painted with Tamiya TS-17 Gloss Aluminum and Model Master Metalizer Steel. John said the kit parts fit was superb.

John's second model was a Tamiya 1/72 F4D-1. He used Tamiya White Primer spray along with brushed Polly-S Light Gull Gray and Tamiya 66 Black enamel wash. John said the fit was excellent, but he left some Tamiya tape on the canopy for too long; he tried various thinners to remove the residue, but they didn't work. He used 1/64" chart pak tape on the canopy.

John's third model was a Tamiya 1/48 Bf-109E-3. It was brush-painted with Tamiya 70 and Model Master 65/71 paints, and weathered with pastel chalk. John said the only problems were caused by himself, mainly with painting the canopy.

John's last model was a Hasegawa 1/48 F6F-3, finished with all Model Master paints, including a custom mix for the Grumman Bronze-Green interior. He used a PE seatbelt and an aftermarket decal set, and added a Tempera black wash and Floquil Grime airbrushed for exhaust staining. John mentioned that the decal sheet contained errors for his specific build of an aircraft from the USN Pacific theater.

Tom Brown Sr. showed us his progress on the Iwo Jima Monument. The model is based on GI Joe figures from flea markets, and uses a cleaning rod for the flagpole, and scratch-built weapons, pouches and helmets. The rocks are made from Playdoh, and everything is finished in bronze paint. Tom was attracted to the subject by his USMC background.

Larry Osolkowski displayed some "progress" on the Wicked Models 1/24 3D-printed kit of a current Porsche 963 GTP race car from the IMSA Weathertech Sports Car series. After applying the Michelin decals to the tires, they weren't lying completely flat so he tried some Tameo Extra Strong setting solution. Unfortunately, it caused the decals to curl up and smear, so they'll have to be removed and replaced. Larry did find a good photo of the tires online, and was able to print some decals on white decal film that should do the job. He also got the wheels painted and made some progress on the dashboard and interior.

Larry also brought in an old Studio 27 kit from his stash, a 1/24 Penske 2007 Porsche RS-Spyder. This race car was the last cooperative project between Team Penske and Porsche, and was very successful. The kit is multimedia, with resin, white metal and photo-etched parts. The cast resin parts are very clean and the kit should go together well.

Jeff Keenan displayed two models. The first was his progress on a Zvezda 1/72 Mi-28NE Night Hawk. He used Tamiya and Vallejo Model Air paints, with some stretched sprue details added. Jeff said he had to saw the nose off and replace it with newer parts; that didn't go very well, resulting in a "horrible" putty job. Jeff picked the subject because it's a combat helicopter and he likes anything with weapons hanging off of it. He mentioned that at this point, he's just trying to get it across the finish line. "It's been a comedy of errors."

Jeff's other model was a Bandai 1/144 U-Wing Fighter from the Star Wars universe. Vallejo and Tamiya paints were used, with a Tamiya panel wash and paint chipping. Jeff said the only issue was that the cockpit is too dark to see the tiny figures. He said he might end up trying to get some LED lights into it. Jeff chose the subject because the U-Wing has a sleek, somewhat unique design.

Maryann Germann showed us her Airfix 1/12 figure of Henry VIII. She finished it with Tamiya paints, and added brown flocking to the fur collar and used thinned paint for multiple washes. Maryann said she bought the kit at BuffCon, and did the matching Ann Bolyn last year.

Justin Sczepczenski brought in his latest project (sorry, no details) and showed us some specialized pre-cut masking sheets for use on Gundam models.

There were a few unidentified objects on the tables.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks to Bob Conshafter for handling the model tables. Photos provided by Larry Osolkowski.