Greetings and salutations to one and all. Summer is finally here or at least I think it is?

Lastly, at our June general club meeting (6/17), it'll be a build-n-bull session along with a swap meet. So, for those that have stash that needs thinning and for those that need to add something, here's your chance! Looking forward to seeing what you have to sell and what you are building.

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - June 17, 2025

NOTE: CANNOT ACCESS FACILITY BEFORE 6:55PM

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 17th 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 be a 50/50 raffle held at the meeting to help raise funds for the club. Directions:

The Tony Bartozek Memorial "I Am Not a Modeling Loser" Challenge kicked off at the May meeting. This is an annual affair with a long and complicated history, but for the current version, participating members bring in an unstarted kit, get their pictures taken with the kit (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), and attempt to complete the build by the September meeting. The kit must have a minimum of five parts, and must receive at least some painting. At the September meeting, those who finished their kits are winners, and those who failed to complete their models are declared Modeling Losers and suffer eternal embarassment (or at least until next year.) The members signed up for this year are:

Jim Greenfield, Warhammer Redemption Dreadnought 30mm.

Joe Kugel, MPC Taco Trike (sorry, no photo).

Mike Butry, Tamiya 1/35 Panzer I Ausf B.

Mark Budniewski, Monogram 1958 Thunderbird.

Jerry Hock, 1996 Ford Thunderbird.

Tom Faith, Mirage C7P "Klara".

Anthony Gliszczynski, 1960 Ford Pickup.

Tom Brown, Sr., War Elephant.

Larry Osolkowski, 1964 Chevelle Malibu SS.

Tim Carson, 1950 Austin Drag Car.

Al Germann, 1977 Ford Van.

Good luck to all the entrants!

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

The club Secretary was unable to attend the May 2025 general meeting, so unfortunately we have no minutes this month. They will return next month.

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. The club Secretary was unable to attend the May 2025 EBoard meeting, so unfortunately we have no minutes this month.

Kit Stash

John-Allen Price displayed his Airfix 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk. 1C work-in-progress. He used Pactra Red Brick enamel, Model Master Acrylic Aluminum, Rustoleum Canary Yello and matt Aluminum from spray cans for painting, with no weathering done yet. He picked the subject because of the unique markings, and said the kit has a lot of detail.

Paul Hines displayed two more nautical paintings. Paul described the first: "beautiful sailboats never get old. I have this one framed and mounted on my living room wall. It brings me back to our trips in Maine."

Paul's second painting was "my first tugboat - freighter painting. Like a diorama, the tug is breaking the ice to reach the freighter. With two subjects, the painting gets to tell an interacting story."

Tom Petkovsky brought in his 1/48 Monogram B-24. He used Mission Models Desert Pink for the overall paint, with an Ammo-MiG 3-color camo wash. Tom said the kit decals fell apart; he also tried using Quick Shine instead of Future, and it was a disaster, washing off when he tried to apply decals. He picked the subject because of his son's boss - his father flew in a B-24.

Riley Shaw showed us his Tamiya 1/35 Type 82 (Tunisia 1943) Kubelwagen with Tamiya US Army Infantry. He used Vallejo paints in German Yellow, Rubber Black for the wheels, and a dust wash representing North Africa. The Infantry figures were also finished with Vallejo paints. Riley added Jerry cans and ammo boxes, along with pebbles from his garden and an acacia tree made from copper wire. He said the Vallejo dust wash was easy to work with, allowing him to cover the vehicle in a thick coat to show grime and buildup of dirt. He mentioned that the kit design forces the wheels to be straight; he would have liked to be able to show them turned. Riley picked the subject because the African front of WW II isn't discussed much, and he's always been interested in the lesser-known fronts of the war, including Finland and Spain. He titled the piece "You Got Me", showing a Luftwaffe Logistics driver intercepted by US troops.

Anthony Gliszczynski brought in two new models. The first was a Lindberg 1/25 Dodge A100 Pickup truck. He used Scalefinishes paint, along with some car paint, and made it into a street rod. Anthony said there were some fit issues with the doors.

Anthony's second model was an AMT 1/25 Ford LNT-8000 Snow Plow. This was also finished with Scalefinishes and car paint. He said it was a very rough build - nothing fit properly. He added that he got the kit already started at a garage sale for $10.

Steve Weller showed us a B-24J Diecast in approximately 1/160 scale. He got it to have a model of Jimmy Stewart's A/C when he was a group C.O. in the 8th Air Force.

Justin Schroeder brought in a 1/24 Pegasus Hobbies Triceratops dinosaur. He used Vallejo paints in Pale Blue and Pale Green on the body with Hot Orange for the orange markings; the horns and bony parts received a mixture of Bone White and Dead Flesh. The base is an 8x10 piece of wood inside an 8x10 picture frame. He covered it with rocks, FX mod, moss, texture water, airbrushing and a "bunch of other stuff". He also drilled holes in the two legs that are touching the ground and pinned them in place with metal rods. Justin said he had issues with the fit of the back legs to the body, but got them sorted out. He picked the subject to enter in the dinosaur category at Wonderfest, but decided to cancel his trip. Justin mentioned that Triceratops could reach up to 30ft. in length, 10ft. in height, and weigh up to 12 tons. It was first discovered in Montana in 1888.

Larry Osolkowski had two items on the table. The first was an old 1/24 resin kit of a Lola T-260 Can-Am race car from 1971, made by a long defunct company called UMI Modelworks. They were one of the early resin/multimedia kit manufacturers, and the quality of the resin parts is really crude by current standards. The castings are actually not too bad, with almost no pinholes, but the masters left a lot to be desired. The white metal parts and decals are decent, and the instructions include making a number of scratch-built parts from plastic sheet. It's an interesting blast from the past.

Larry's second item was his entry into the Tony Bartozek "I'm Not a Modeling Loser" challenge, a recent release from AMT in 1/25 scale of a 1964 Chevelle Malibu SS. This is a simple, curbside kit so it should go together quickly. Larry plans on finishing it with Scalefinishes paints, using the correct GM Silver Blue for the body, and possibly using GM Marina Blue for the interior. This car was Larry's second car, which he bought while attending UB. With a 300HP 327 V8 and a four speed, it was quite a step up from his first car, a 1960 Valiant.

Jeff Keenan had two items on the table. The first was a Takara 1/35 ATH-14-ST "Standing Tortoise". He used Vallejo (both Model Color and Model Air) and Tamiya paints, and is trying to do some paint modulation for a fading paint effect; he will be adding some washes and drybrushing. Jeff said that painting is difficult because you have to build the arms and legs with moveable joints, and if they move too much the paint scrapes off. He said that once he picks a pose, he'll glue it and make it static. He plans to build it out-of-box. Jeff mentioned that he saw the kit at Heritagecon and thought it looked cool, so he bought it. He added that he'd never heard of VOTOMS, the Anime series that the model is based on, which has an interesting plot.

Jeff's second model was a Border Models 1/35 Apocalypse Tank. He used Tamiya and Vallejo paints, and added fuel lines made from solder with a T-fitting made from brass tubing he got at Heritagecon. He plans to add a tow cable as well. Weathering was done using hairspray chipping; Jeff said he got a little overzealous so he may repaint and start over. He plans on doing lots of weathering with oils and washes. Jeff said that besides the lighting, which he's never done before, there were no issues with the kit - it went together pretty well. He picked the subject because it's from a video game that he played in college. Jeff added that this is a big scale for him, so he's looking forward to seeing what he can do with it.

Austin Stegall showed us his Tamiya 1/35 Tiger I tank. He used AK RAL8000 and Gunmetal paints, and added a photoetch grill and chipping for weathering. Austin said he had no issues with the kit.

Ted Szczesny displayed his completed Hornby/Pocher 1/8 Lotus 72D F1 race car. He mentioned that he used Pacer Formula 560 Canopy Glue for the windscreen and gauge lenses.

Dick Schulenberg showed us his SS Frank W. Dopler (his grandfather) 1920's 600 footer Great Lakes steam bulk freighter in 1/350 scale. The model is totally scratch-built except for the anchors that came from his spares box. He made the hull and upper works from wood, and used paper and plastic for details, with doors and windows copied onto paper wrappers for the cabins. He added Toms Model Works PE railings and stairs. Dick used Polly Scale and Model Master acrylics for the main colors, with the remainder done with Vallejo. The base is painted with artist's Super Heavy Gesso over plexiglas. Dick said this has been an on and off project for several years while he figured out how to do different parts. He scrapped all of his first attempts at cabins. He picked the subject because he's always been fascinated by lake freighters since he was a kid watching them pass by Dunkirk on Lake Erie. Dick mentioned that he really wanted to get back to scratchbuilding and this was a great subject; the model is somewhat free form, based on the SS David Morrell and photos of similar steamers of the 1920s.

Dan Marafino had several aircraft-themed paintings on display.

Tom Brown, Sr., displayed his "Cut the Herd" award winner from BuffCon.

There were some unidentified items on the tables.

There were some flyers for upcoming shows on the table.

There were also some magazines on the table, free for the taking.

The pizza party was appreciated by all.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

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