First off, I'd like to thank 2nd VP Larry Osolkowski for filling in at the last moment and running the meeting in my absence.
Sometimes work commitments are unavoidable, and adjustments are necessary on short notice. 1st VP Justen Hanna would normally take
over, but he wimped out with no explanation.
I'd like to remind everyone that the May meeting is the official kickoff for the Annual Tony Bartozek Memorial "I'm Not A Modeling Loser" Contest. Continuing this time-honored tradition for IPMS Niagara Frontier, members who wish to enter should select a new, non-started model kit of their own choosing, bring it to the May meeting so it can be officially listed, and have it completed and entered at the club meeting in August. Entry fee for this contest is one (1) Tim Hortons Coffee gift card in the amount of $5.00. The club executive board will retain the gift cards until August. Those who enter shall be divided into two teams of an even amount of entrants, of which team captains shall be named at the start of the contest. The model entries must be built, at a minimum, out-of-the-box, painted and decals (if appropriate) applied. Weathering, aftermarket accessories, scratchbuilt details are all optional and up to the discretion of the entrant, but the kit must be finished. Those who agree to entering and do not have their kit completed will forfeit their card and will be struck from their teams list. At the August meeting, after the entries have been presented and the total of forfeits counted, the team with the least amount of forfeits will be declared "Modeling Winners" for 2015. The team with the most forfeits shall be declared "Modeling Losers" and must be photographed displaying the capital letter "L" made up of their thumb and forefinger upon their foreheads and published as such in this newsletter, immortalized as such for eternity. The winning team will then receive the losing team's Tim Hortons gift cards as a reward. Team captains are expected to check the progress of their team members and encourage them to finish their projects on time. Encouragement can be of any form of their choosing. However, disembowelment and defenestration are strictly forbidden. For those of us who've entered in the past, know what it's like and what to expect, I find the pressure of getting it done on time kind of fun and pushes me to actually complete something. Perhaps you will, too!
See you at the meeting!
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Table Round-up from the April meeting
Thanks to Matt Keysa for directing the model table commentary.
Matt Klukowski brought in his entry from BuffCon, the 1/87 (HO scale) DPM kit converted into a night club called
"Ariana Nights". Matt used Citadel and Vallejo paints for finishing, and his work includes hand-painted graffiti on the
side of the building, a scratch-built stage and bar on the first floor, and a VIP area, seats and bathroom on the second
floor. He also added a roof with skylights and light shades, weathered the model with a purple wash, and the inside and
outside lights work. Matt tells us "at first I wanted to throw the kit out the window, but honestly it came out amazing."
He also mentioned that he's working on a train layout, and is planning on building a town and city in HO scale.
Joe Villone displayed a 1/48 F2G Corsair. It was painted using Tamiya acrylics with an airbrush, and weathered with
pastels. Joe says he molded his own canopy, and built the model because this is his favorite airplane.
A Tamiya 1/35 QF25 Pounder Artillery gun was shown by Matt Keysa. Matt used an Eduard detail set and Aber barrel with
flash deflector, and finished the model with AK and Vallejo paints with weathering to follow. He mentioned that the trail
arm assembly and fit was poor, there were seams in awkward places, and tolerances between parts overall were fairly loose.
He also observed that the 1970's era kit shows its age, and there are better offerings from Dragon and Bronco today. He
picked this subject to test some new techniques.
Mike Butry brought in a rather rare Tamiya 1/24 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra. Mike informed us that this will be a rebuild
of a kit that was originally bought in 1995 for $22.50, and was almost 85% completed in 1996. He mentioned that so far it's
been easy to disassemble and all previous paint was removed by soaking it in 91% rubbing alcohol. Mike plans to rebuild it
"out of the box", and is not yet sure what color it will get. The subject was selected because he just likes the looks of
the lines on the Cobra.
Another BuffCon entry came from Tom Brown, Sr. who displayed his Humor in Modeling entry, "Harbor Time". This model was
scratch built, and Tom says "I guess you have to live in Buffalo to get the 'buy a six pack' story." Tom mentioned that the
shed is built from foam board and the stacks are made of white duct tape. He also said "I drank the six pack and then built
the shack on top - I thought it would be funny for Humor in Modeling."
Larry Osolkowski brought a couple of items for our perusal. The first is a book he picked up recently on the Gurney
Eagle-Weslake F1 car. It's a quick read, but has some excellent photographs. The second item was a BuffCon acquisition, a
Fujimi 1/24 Ferrari 458 Italia. Larry said he plans to build it box stock, and paint it yellow. He got it because "it was
cheap, it's a Ferrari, and it's a nice looking kit."
Once again we were graced with another collection of acrylic paintings from Paul Hines. This time the selection comprised
a 1945 MGTC, a Talbot Lago, a 1914 Marmon, and a BMW V12 LMR at night. Paul mentioned that he tried some experimentation with
backgrounds this time, to add color without distracting from the focus of the painting. Next month he plans to bring a group
of four rat rods.
Dick Schulenberg brought in a 1/32 Fokker D-VII that was scratch built by the late John Bishop. John was a long time
member of IPMS Niagara Frontier who was an avid scratch builder of early aircraft and car models. The Fokker was his first
scratch build in plastic, built in the late 1980's. There are no commercial or kit parts in this model. The lozenge camouflage
was all painted by hand. John scratch built many 1/16 scale model airplanes from plastic, including a P-12C, a Sopwith Dolphin,
Eddie Rickenbacker's SPAD 13, a Bleriot X and a Nieuport IVG. All these models are on permanent display at the Glen Curtiss
Museum in Hammondsport, NY. The Fokker will join them. The Aircraft Scratch Built category at BuffCon is sponsored in John's
memory.
There were a couple of other unidentified models on the table.
The annual post-BuffCon pizza party was enjoyed by all.
Finally, a few around-the-room shots.
Thanks to Bob Collignon for the photography.
