Greetings and salutations to one and all. Before I dive right into things, at last month's general club
meeting (1/21/25), our annual dues were due. Adults - $20.00 and youth under the age of 18 is $5.00. So if you
have not paid yet, forgot to or simply missed the meeting, you can pay at next week's general club meeting
(2/18/25).
The countdown continues: only 1 month, 3 weeks until April 6th, 2025, aka Buffcon40. I am going to sound like a broken record, BUT I can't stress this enough, we need all hands on deck. We need everyone to be on the same page, volunteer, volunteer and volunteer. It can be set up/tear down, the admissions table, the club raffles, security, to judging. All help will be greatly appreciated.
At last month's meeting, we did a survey/suggestion of "where would you like to see the club go in 2025 / what changes would you like to see?" Out of 30 members present, only 15 responses were submitted. I heard a few "I am not going to fill this out / it's a waste of time", so guess what, we are going to have a second go at it. If you do not participate, I don't want to hear any complaining down the line.
Just one more thing - the Clarence Library display is still on for March. Figure meeting on Saturday morning, March 1st at 11:00am and combine it with a local restaurant visit. We need all hands on deck with this as well, as all display cases are available to our club.
We have a few members coming up to bat with demos:
- This month - Dan Price will be doing his marble technique.
- March - Austin Stegall will be doing weathering.
- April - Robert Downs will be doing chipping effects.
- May - Justin Sczepczenski will be doing panel line scribing.
Upcoming shows:
- Heritagecon17, March 23rd, 2025 - Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton, Ontario.
- BuffCon40, Sunday April 6, 2025 - Knights Event Center, 2735 Union Road, Cheektowaga, NY, 14227.
- 11th Annual Spring Thaw Model Show (Scale Vehicles), May 4th, 2025 (9am-3pm) - Willowvale Fire Co., 3459 Oneida St., Chadwick, NY 13319.
That's all for now, and I will see you all on Tuesday (2/18/2025) for the general meeting at 7pm at the
Williamsville Youth & Recreation center at 5005 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221. Parking and entry
to the facility is in the back.
Happy Modeling,
Michael Butry
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 52196
IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - February 18, 2025
NOTE: CANNOT ACCESS FACILITY BEFORE 6:50PM
7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms.
7:10 PM - Meeting called to order.
Old Business:
- None.
New Business:
- Possible picnic - where and when?
Questions from the floor.
Demo: Dan Price marble technique.
Break: 2 minute stretch.
Table discussion: Members tell the club about the models they have on the tables.
Members catch up on what's been going on since the last meeting.
Call for adjournment.
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, February 18th at the Williamsville Youth & Recreation Center, 5005 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221, starting at the usual 7:00pm. Please note that we are renting the facility from 7:00 to 9:00pm. The facility is NOT responsible for opening the doors before 7:00pm, so if you get there early, please be patient. 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:
Dues for 2025 are now due, and can be paid at the upcoming February meeting. Full year dues are currently $20 for adults 18 and over, $5 for juniors age 11-17 and free for under 11. If you joined the club after November 1, your paid dues are applied to 2025 for the full year.
The club has again been invited to display examples of our work at the Clarence Library. They have offered the use of several display cases, and our models would be on display for a month, starting on March 1st. If you would like to display some of your models to the public and help encourage others to join the hobby and the club, bring your models (of reasonable size - no gigantic dioramas, please) to the Clarence Library on Saturday, March 1. We will be meeting as a group around 11:00am that morning to deliver our models to the Library, at a place to be determined and announced at the February club meeting. Alternatively, you can contact Jeff Keenan at 716-550-2030 or email him at jeffrkeenan@gmail.com.
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 included in 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
IPMS Niagara Frontier is a group of people from the Western New York area who enjoy the hobby of scale model building. We have about 60 members with 30+ attending each monthly meeting. Our club meets at 7:00pm on the third Tuesday of every month at the Williamsville Youth & Recreation Center, 5005 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221.
A typical meeting starts with a short session related to club business. This is followed by "Show & Tell" - many members bring in their current work in progress to share experiences with other members. There is usually at least one model-related demonstration by a club member at each meeting. Meetings are free to the public. If you are in the Western New York area we would love to have you drop in to one of our meetings and say hello. We welcome modelers of all skill levels - from beginner to expert.
Our annual BuffCon event held each year in April continues to be one of the largest shows in this part of the country.
As a community-oriented club we also gather toys each Christmas for the "Toys-for-Tots" program and are proud of our support of this worthwhile program.
A brochure that describes the club and its activities can be found HERE.
The minutes from the January 2025 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.
January 28th - President Mike Butry led the meeting.
To promote greater transparency regarding the operation of the club and the EBoard, action items from the current 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.
February 10 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held at Section 8 Hobbies.
Tim Jacobs displayed his Revell/Monogram 1/25 1999 Ford NASCAR Taurus. The original kit was a
Jeff Burton car, but he built the model using decals from Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine. The decals
were made by Slix, and were provided to be used for entries to a contest held by the magazine. Tim
used Testors spray and bottle paints.
Paul Hines showed us another pair of nautical paintings this month. The first was a single-masted
sloop with a main sail and a head sail. He said the coloration and reflections caught his eye.
Paul's second painting was a two-masted oyster schooner, circa 1928, the A. J. Merrwald official
tall ship of New Jersey. Paul commented that there are three key elements in all of his paintings:
1. Accuracy - a good drawing to start. 2. Planning - how to approach the sequence in a painting.
3. Use the power of suggestion - not paint every detail, but let the eye fill it in.
Jim Greenfield brought in a Warhammer 40K Tyranids Biovore kitbashed into something else. Jim said
the model is half scratch built from his spare parts box, and is going together smoothly. The subject
was inspired by "a crazy idea in my head."
Justin Schroeder displayed a 1/48 Area 51 UFO by Testors. On the main body, he used Krylon Chrome,
and the top portion received Rustoleum Flat Black Primer, Behr Dark Steel and Krylon Chrome. Justin
said he sandblasted the inside of the clear plastic section so the paint would stick better. He also
added 26 Mega LEDs. Justin mentioned that there were no real issues with the kit, but he didn't use
the interior parts since you can't see them on the finished model; the resulting model has only four
parts. He also had to make the stand, as the kit didn't come with one. He picked the subject because
he likes UFOs.
Dave Zoerb showed us an Academy 1/72 OV-10A. He used Tamiya Gray Primer and Flat White paints.
Dave said the kit is fantastic, and OV-10s are one of his all-time favorites.
Jeff Keenan brought in a 1/72 Dragon M2A2 Bradley from Operation Desert Storm. He painted the base
with Tamiya Deck Tan. Jeff said he used air-dry clay to add elevation and it shrank way more than he
thought it would; it also cracked on the thinner edges - lesson learned. Jeff added that he still has
some chipping to do, but is calling it done.
Tom Petkovsky showed us his 1/700 Dragon USS Independence / Cowpens. It was finished using Mission
Models paints, and Mod Podge was used for the water. Tom mentioned that his uncle served on the USS
Cowpens.
Larry Osolkowski had two items on the table. The first was a venture into a new area of models
called book nooks. They are small boxes that can contain various scenes, and are constructed from
pre-painted flat wooden sheets containing laser-cut parts to be glued together. The kit he's
working on is from Anavrin, and is called "The Abandoned Submarine". It has a latching front door
and back-lighting provided by a number of LED strip lights. Larry said it's been a fun build so far.
Larry's second item was another Metal Earth kit, this one of an electric guitar. He plans to build
four more of these as presents for the guitarists in his bands. This one was tricky, because the strips
that form the sides of the guitar body had to be bent into complex curves.
Rob Downs displayed his diorama called "Barn Fresh", centered around a Lindberg 1/16 Bull Horn Ford
Model T Bucket kit. The body was painted with layers of various enamel spray paints, and the chassis was
painted in various colors of Testors enamels from the bottles. Rob said the kit is close to box stock,
the display base is made out of a wood artist base, and the fence is made of coffee stirrers. He mentioned
that the body was painted in layers of enamel put on so thick that it cracked. He then wet sanded down
through the layers for the worn effect. The chassis enamels were wet-blended with a brush, and Vallejo
acrylic rust effects were washed over. Rob said the kit was started several years ago, then put away;
one day he got it out and finished it. He may add figures and more detail to the base.
Al Germann had two items on display this month. The first was a Moebius 1/25 1965 Ford F100 Service
Truck, a work-in-progress. It's painted with Krylon paints (of course), with more to come. He plans to
build it out-of-box, but with some appropriate junk and weathering. Al said the kit is a great, modern
kit from Moebius. He added that it's a cool subject, but the original plan was to kitbash it with a Ford
Ranchero. Al was inspired by the movie "Multiplicity" from 1996 with Michael Keaton and a condo
construction site, Vista De Nada, which translates to "view of nothing".
Al's second item was an MPC 1/25 1975 Corvette Convertible. He used Testors paint airbrushed over
Tamiya spray can Primer, along with Krylon (of course) black for the frame and other colors for the
interior. He also used artist oils for woodgrain on the door panels. Al cut and repositioned the
headlight covers and the lid for the top, flattened the tires, and added aftermarket gauges. He
added weathering using washes, some pastels, and hair spray chipping. Al said it was an easy build
for a vintage kit. He picked the subject because he likes the C3 Corvette, but he said the mid-to-late
1970s were pretty lame and he wanted to show a sad and worn-out icon.
Al also had some 3D-printed detail parts from a company called White Tanks Hobbies. They included
jack stands, aluminum cans, coolers and more.
Dan Marafino displayed some of his aircraft art.
Steve Weller did a demo on panel line washes.
There were some model magazines on the table free for the taking.
There was an unidentified aircraft model on the tables.
Finally, some around-the-room shots.
Thanks to the members for handling the model tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photos.
