Greetings and salutations to one and all! Fall is upon us and I hope everyone has dusted off their work spaces, as it looks like it's going to be a long cold winter.

Before I sign off, as a club - please keep IPMS Rochester club member Jim Incavo in your thoughts as his health has declined. Prayers, positive waves, meditation will definitely be appreciated.

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - October 19, 2021

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, October 19th, starting at the usual 7:00pm at the usual meeting room in the rear building. Here are the safety guidelines we will be following:

1. Masks are not required for fully vaccinated individuals.

Our annual collection for Toys for Tots will be held again at the December meeting. Please plan on bringing new, unwrapped toys to that meeting. Representatives of the U.S. Marines will be there as usual to collect our donations. We are also considering the annual pizza party usually held at the December meeting. With the club's finances being tight due to the inability to hold BuffCons for the past two years, the EBoard has been considering alternatives, such as having members sign up for the party and contribute something to support it, like $5 or $10, or having a pot luck party instead. Think about it, and we'll discuss it at the October meeting.

The BuffCon 37 website is now up, and can be viewed HERE.

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 the 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.

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

The minutes from the September 2021 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.

September 21st - President Mike Butry led the meeting.

• Old Business:
  • Tom Faith described the financial report for the club along with upcoming expenses.
  • Dues at the beginning of the year are a significant source of revenue to the club.
  • Briefly spoke of hall rental fee for the monthly meeting as it is a major expense. One idea brought up was to cut back on the number of meetings, such as alternating months. The club is not close to making changes and no changes are planned at this time.
• New Business:
  • N/A.
• BuffCon #37, April 3, 2022:
  • Overview of preparation and considerations for BuffCon were discussed which included advertisements in magazines, kitchen operations, estimates of attendance, model entry limits (per person), vendor tables, judging and possible raffle.
• NorEastCon 2022:
  • N/A
• Miscellaneous/Open Floor:
  • Upcoming shows were listed and included Syracuse, Cleveland.
  • Member's models on the tables were presented.
  • Dan Price presented a demo on a painting technique to achieve a marbleized pattern.

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.

October 11th - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held online via Zoom.

• Old Business:
  • None.
• New Business:
  • None.
• BuffCon #37, 2022:
  • Larry stated the website for BuffCon is almost ready and will have links to the club's website which will also have links to BuffCon.
  • The model entry form available from the website needs to state that the form must be stamped at registration or model will not be judged. Larry has action item to confirm or facilitate any changes needed.
  • Jeff recently submitted a draft of the vendor table form which was discussed with feedback. Some of those were changed immediately. Jeff has action item to complete and resubmit.
  • Tom F. clarified the preferred phrasing on checks for vendor tables as Niagara Frontier Chapter IPMS.
  • Sponsorship recognition was discussed with regards to website, signage at BuffCon and category sponsorships. Tom F. has action item to acquire large printed sponsorship signage.
  • Dick provided reminder of print advertising and the deadlines as early as Dec 7th. This includes IPMS Journal and Fine Scale Modeler. EBoard is in agreement but has not voted to proceed. Mike has action item to update the contact name.
  • Vendor table arrangement was discussed and that Rich B. may have a diagram. Mike has action item to confirm.
  • Inventory of supplies were briefly discussed and Al G. stated he has a large amount of the storage totes.
  • Al G. has action item to send BuffCon documents to EBoard for review and updates. This includes inventory sheets, area work instructions and project management worksheets. Mike has action item to check with John Z. on the table cloths.
• Miscellaneous:
  • EBoard discussed recent RoCon show. There was a good showing of club members with some winning awards.
  • The traditional pizza party at the December meeting will not happen. One alternative is to have a signup sheet and attending members contribute $5 and the club will cover the balance of cost for the pizza. More discussion is needed. Mike has action item to bring this up at October general meeting.
  • Toys for Tots is still planned for December meeting.

The turnout for the model tables in September was apparently rather light. Your newsletter editor was unable to attend the meeting, so thanks to Bill Borkowski for taking photos of the models and information sheets. Unfortunately, there weren't enough info sheets to go around, so some members wrote descriptions down on regular sheets of paper. This worked pretty well, except that some of the sheets didn't have names on them. The first item on the tables was a 90mm figure of Robert Rogers of the Rangers, sculpted by Dave Ackermann and distributed by Custom Dioramics. Unfortunately, there was no name on the sheet, but the member described the kit as having superb detail, with accurate accoutrements, including bags, musket and legettes.

Dave Armitage displayed a 1926 Ford Model T, modified from an AMT kit of a 1927. Dave built the model as a replica of the car described in a book he also displayed, called "Darlene's Silver Streak and the Bradford Model T Girls". Dave described his model: "I had to cut off bumpers and substitute wood spoke wheels to make it a 1926. As in the book, a young lady acquired the car in the early 1930s, painted it silver, called it the "Silver Streak", and travelled all over with five of her friends. They started out in Indiana, went to Detroit to see Henry Ford, then to Canada to see the Dionne quintuplets. They also drove to California, and to the 1939 New York World's Fair. Quite an accomplishment for a car that was already over a decade old and had a top speed of 40 mph.

Dave also had a model of a U.S. Marshall Stage Coach in 1/12 scale, painted in acrylics.

John Doerr showed us his Hobby Boss 1/72 Ju 88 6-6. He used Mr. Color RLM 65 and 76, and Mig RLM 75 paints. John said the kit only supplied rear gun barrels, so he drilled them out and replaced them with spare MG-17s. He mentioned that he had real problems with the canopy - he used new Future/Pledge, and the masking tape adhesive stuck to the finish. He had to soak it in ammonia and redo. John thought it was an interesting subject, and the kit was an easy build to get practice.

John also had a second model, a Crown Bf-110C. He brush painted it with Polly S paints in RLM 02, 65 and 71. John said this was also an easy build with a simple camo scheme.

Tim Grieve showed us a Lindberg 1/72 F-4G Phantom with battle damage. He used Model Color paints in flat black, aluminum, blue gray, white and tan, with some weathering added. Tim said doing the battle damage was a learning experience.

Tim also displayed a Revell 1/72 Halifax B Mk. I, finished with Model Masters paints in flat black, rubber, dark earth, yellow, tan and dark green. He weathered it with a black shad stick and dull coat over the top. Tim said the kit went together well with good parts fit. The kit was a gift, and completes his British Bomber collection.

Jim Greenfield brought in a work-in-progress, a Dragon 1/35 Seal Attack Boat. He said he had to splice two hulls together because the S.T.A.B. boat was 2 1/2 feet longer than the standard L.S.C.C. boat, and armed differently. He also had to make an engine bay because the kit didn't come with one.

Mike Butry showed us his Tamiya 1/35 Armored Jeep. He used thin Evergreen sheet to make the armor plating, and spare Verlinden goodies for the stowage along with aluminum foil for the tarps. Mike used stretched sprue cut to lengths to represent spent shells. He finished it with a mix of paints: Tamiya, Model Master and Aero Master, along with Tamiya pastels for weathering. He also used drafting pencils for chipping, along with a Prisma silver pencil for newer chips and scratches. Mike said: "why did I build it? It's a Jeep thing."

Dan Marafino brought in a couple of pieces of artwork. The first was a pencil drawing of an F4U-1A. He said it was done basically generic with no particular markings, and he'll probably add a background later.

Dan's second work was an acrylic painting of a P-40K in the Mediterranean, when German transports tried to reinforce supplies to the Afrika Corps. Dan said that this didn't work very well, as Spitfires and P-40s downed a large number of Ju 52s in the drink. He said this was the last time the Luftwaffe tried this.

Jeff Keenan displayed his progress on his Bandai 1/12 Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike. He said he made some progress on weathering the bike, but it's still not done. He's finalized the trooper's position, and started filling in the joints with sheet styrene and putty. Jeff said he mostly used Tamiya, Model Master enamels and Vallejo paints.

Paul Hines had a few new paintings for us to see. The first was an old school classic '32 Ford with a flat head V8 engine.

For his other two paintings, Paul said he went outside the box and decided to paint two motocross racers. He said they are very colorful and he enjoyed doing something different.

Al Germann displayed a couple of models-in-progress. Al describes the first one: "The 289 Cobra is a somewhat older kit from AMT in 1/25 scale. I am modeling it after the last 289 Cobra before the 427 Cobra came out. 1965 was the change-over year but both versions were available in that year. The last 289 was rather basic in maroon (Rouge Iris) with black interior. The model is going together very with no real issues. Still need to improve the paint job. The real Cobra went up for auction in January. The Cobra reached a high bid of $1,050,000 but failed to meet its reserve and was not sold."

Al describes his second model: "The 1961 Chevy Impala is the model from hell. I received it as a birthday gift from my brother as I was born in that year. I also liked this year Impala so I was excited to build it. I had some old spray can that would be perfect for a two-tone paint job. Upon opening the box, the A-pillar was busted apart with a section loose in the box. The roof was a bit smooshed down and excess flash was all over the body. I couldn't tell what was car trim molding or a parting line in the mold. Also, the chrome tree had large black spots all over it. Looking at the website for Round 2, there is a service for getting replace parts. Small parts were $5 and large parts were $10. I could just buy another whole kit for only a little more so I just made it work. I had some paint defects from my own doing that need fixing but do like the colors. I am stripping the chrome and fixed the plating problems then applied a Krylon satin nickel which I am very happy with the results."

There were a number of other models on the tables for which identifying information was not available.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks again to Bill Borkowski for taking the photos.