Greetings and salutations to one and all! Well folks, that's all she wrote. Buffcon39 is in the books and I can't wait till next year! Too soon?

Thank you to all who volunteered in one way or other. It truly helped and we were able to get the vendors set up earlier than normal and we were even able to open the doors early too! This would not have been done without the help of our members, so thank you again! From what I have heard, the vendors did very well along with our raffles.

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - April 16, 2024

NOTE: CANNOT ACCESS FACILITY BEFORE 6:50PM

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, April 16th 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:

There are three important club activities that start next month:

• Elections for the club officers and executive board will be held at the May meeting. You must be a current paid member to run for office and to vote in the elections. Nominations will be held at the April meeting. If you are interested in running for any position, talk to President Mike Butry or any EBoard member before the meeting or during the break. If you intend to nominate someone for a position, be sure to verify that they are willing to run. You can nominate yourself. Nominations will be closed at the end of the meeting.
• There will be a pizza party at the May meeting in recognition of all the volunteers who helped make BuffCon a success this year. Pizza and beverages will be supplied for current, paid-up members.
• Start thinking about your entry for the Tony Bartozek "I'm Not a Modeling Loser" Challenge. Your entry must be a new, unstarted kit with at least 5 parts, and it will have to be painted. The Challenge will begin at the May 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

There are no minutes from the March 2024 general meeting due to the club Secretary being unable to attend. Nothing important happened anyway.

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.

April 9 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held at Section 8 Hobbies.

• Old Business:
  • Dick S. provided an update on the interest at the Clarance library offer to display a limited number of models. Dick has action item to continue to pursue. Targeting July. Al G. has action item to produce appropriate flyer.
  • Elections will take place at the May meeting. The names for the ballot will be discussed at the April meeting. Mike has action item to create list. Participation in voting or running is limited to paid members.
  • Tom B. stated the display case at the Buffalo Naval Servicemen's park still has an old display case with club's models. Tom F. has action item to follow up.
• New Business:
  • Mike B. has action item to announce the Tony Bartozek "I'm not a modeling loser" challenge at the April meeting to start with May meeting.
  • Tom F. proposed the Treasurer position become an appointed one and not elected.
• BuffCon #39, April 7th, 2024:
  • Financial results of show is not determined yet.
  • Attendance, model entries and crowd appeared good.
  • Feedback on kitchen service was favorable.
  • Set up and tear down was good.
  • Vendor room could fit additional tables. Some room to add a few more.
  • Most vendors did well with sales.
  • Raffle gave away 80 kits plus additional books, DVDs and small-scale armor and figure kits as a bonus for any ticket purchased.
  • Judging went well but some categories were slow to complete. Gundam had a large number of entries. Justin can delegate and bring in more judges as needed.
  • Models in categories were only on one side of table which aided in easier judging.
  • 17 table cloths need to be washed. Some were too dirty to use out of the storage container. Tom B. has action item to wash as needed.
  • Microphones had some intermittent problem until batteries were changed. To be revisited in BuffCon prep.
  • Suggestion by E-board to have CA super glue for any needed repairs to models. To be revisited in BuffCon prep.
  • Dan P. took inventory during tear down. Mainly "who" has "what".
  • One container for table legs was cracked. May be able to locate extra/empty one.
  • Mike led discussion that vendor sales starting prior to published starting times were unfavorable actions. To be revisited in BuffCon prep.
  • Members from train club and boat club provided good feedback. We are planning to continue with table swap at train show at Hamburg fairgrounds.
  • Short discussion on online registration used by HeritageCon event. Some disadvantages at this time.
  • The "thank you" pizza party is tentatively planned for the May meeting. Same meeting as Executive Board elections.
• BuffCon #40, April 6th, 2025:
  • New flyer needed to ensure start times for judges meeting and judging start. Mike has action item for identify and possibly to delegate this.
  • New signage for show on time schedule for the day. Dan has action item for this.
  • Justin S. has action to identify additional categories for Gundam.
  • Dan has action item to purchase a new counting stamper for next BuffCon.
  • Option for theme award was discussed with possible membership voting on it at May meeting. Al has action item to submit short list of theme ideas. One suggestion was to celebrate 40 BuffCons with a 1985 or 80's theme. Another was for 1940's theme.
• Miscellaneous:
  • ROCON show may be moving to a new location for fall event. Mike has action item to continue with communications with Rochester club for increased relations that may include a joint meeting.

First, a correction of an oversight in last month's newsletter. There were two models shown as unidentified, when in fact, info sheets were provided and misplaced by your newsletter editor. The first one was from Tom Faith, a Tamiya Sdkfz 7/2. Tom used grey primer, red (German) primer, German gray, dark yellow, and washes in Army painter dark and black. He modified the windscreen, used Frui track, Barrel Store gun barrels and Eduard photo-etch sets. Additional weathering was done with powders, oil based pastels, washes, dust and graphite pencils. Tom said it was a straightforward build except for difficulties he created for himself. He picked the subject because he just liked it.

The second model was from Jeff Keenan, a Trumpeter 1/72 BAC Lightning F.6. Jeff used Vallejo, Tamiya and craft paints, along with Rustoleum Silver Metallic on his work-in-progress. Jeff said he hasn't done any modifications, but may try adding riveting with his new Trumpeter riveting tool. He mentioned that there were significant gaps that required shims and putty. He picked the subject because he's never done a metal finish, and he also likes the over-and-under engines.

Moving to the March meeting tables, Jeff updated us on his progress on the Lightning F.6. The fuselage now had a coat of Rustoleum Bright Coat Aluminum for the metallic finish. Jeff said he plans to paint some panels in different metallic shades and add weathering with acrylic washes. He commented that the wing root fit was pretty bad, needing shims, and the landing gear is flimsy and broke, so he'll have to scratchbuild a fix. Jeff picked the subject because he wanted to try a metallic finish; he said the overwing fuel tanks look cool, too. He also mentioned that the fuel tank came off right before the meeting.

Justin Schroeder displayed his AMT 1/38 X-Wing Fighter. It was finished with airbrushed Archive-X paints, and weathered with airbrushed accents. Justin said he built it the way the prop was built for the ROTJ movie; the prop was auctioned off a few years ago, and he used photos of the prop for reference. He mentioned that he had to buy another kit to redo the wings which he had built incorrectly; he wasn't happy about that. He chose the subject to test his skills at duplicating a movie prop, and would like feedback from the members on whether the build should be submitted to Fine Scale Modeler magazine.

John Doerr brought in two models this month. The first was a Hasegawa 1/32 Bf-109 G-6. John used Tamiya German Gray and Testors Model Master RLM 74, 75 and 76 paints with a clear gloss lacquer top coat. Weathering was added using water-based Tempera black wiped with a damp cloth, and Floquil Grime for the exhaust. He said the cockpit was excellent with only photoetch seatbelts added. He also replaced the kit 20mm barrels with aluminum tubing and used aftermarket decals. The camouflage scheme reproduced the Anton Toni Hackle one from early 1944. John said the build was fun.

John's second model is just getting started. It's an Academy 1/48 Bf-109 G-6 & E-3. He'll be using aftermarket decals and photoetch seatbelts.

Larry Osolkowski brought in two items this month. The first was a new kit from Nunu Platz, a 1/24 BMW 320si race car from the 2008 World Touring Car Championship. It's a typical excellent kit from this manufacturer, and Larry also bought the related detail set that includes photoetch, seat belt material and extra carbon fiber decals.

Larry's second item was his progress on the old 1/24 Heller kit of the 1938 BMW 328 race car he's been working on for a few months. One side of the hood has been modified to open up a vent on the side which will get a photoetch grill, and the poor louvers on the top have been removed and replaced with scratch-built ones using Evergreen quarter-round strip. The grills on the main body have also been opened up to receive photoetch pieces, the radiator has been painted, and the chassis has the fuel tank and rear axle mounted.

Rob Downs brought in an AMT 1969 Camaro Z28. Alclad Candy Orange was sprayed over a Bright Silver base with an Alclad lacquer clearcoat. The interior is done in Vallejo black acrylic, the wheels are Alclad Bright Silver base with acrylic on the spokes, and the sidepipes are the same black and silver mix as the wheels. Rob said the build is box stock except for resin wheels and tires, and minor suspension mods to get the correct stance with the larger wheels. He mentioned some issues with the paint job - the lacquer lifted the candy color, in spite of successful tests runs. Rob said he's had the kit for years and wanted to learn how to use the Alclad candy colors; he learned the hard way on this one. He added that he's going to try again with a '70 1/2 kit; he found out that Alclad now recommends using their Aqua Clear product for a top coat.

Jim Greenfield displayed his Pegasus 1/35 Terminator 2 Robot Tank. He used Citadel black primer and Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum rattle can paint, and is buffing the aluminum. He added some idler bogie wheels and some Plasti Strut plastic strips to fill gaps. Jim said the plastic was brittle and there were gap issues. He picked the subject because "it's cool".

Jeff Belling showed us two new subjects: a Hasegawa 1/72 Grant tank from British North Africa, and an Esci 1/72 M4 Sherman tank. He used Vallejo paints along with oil washes, pastels and chipping for weathering. Jeff added two resin stowage bundles from Valve Gear on the Sherman. He commented that "small is manageable".

Ilya Grinberg displayed his Tamiya 1/72 F-16CJ, finished with Vallejo, Tamiya and AK Extreme Metal paints. He used a resin cockpit by Aires, resin wheel wells by Attack Squadron, and pitot, angle of attack sensors and static dischargers by Master Model.

There were a lot of unidentified objects on the tables.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks to Bob Conshafter for handling the model tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photos.