It is with deep sadness that I must announce the passing of IPMS Niagara Frontier member Mark Puto, Sr. on April 28th
after a brief illness. Mark was an avid fire vehicle modeler and active with the South Line Fire Company in Cheektowaga.
We will be "passing the hat" at Monday's meeting to gather donations to help out his family, if you care to give. Mark's
son, Mark, Jr. is also a regular member at our meetings. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.
BuffCon was another great success this year with 406 model entries, a sold-out vendor room and happy contest winners. Thanks to all of you who graciously donated your time to work the show. This is what keeps BuffCon one of the best shows in the Northeast IPMS Region.
Speaking of the Northeast Region, Noreastcon46 is rapidly approaching on May 19 and 20th, 2017 at the Quality Inn Hotel in Batavia, New York, right off of Exit 48 of the New York State Thruway. Again, any help you can provide throughout this two-day event is appreciated.
At last month's meeting, a general vote was held and a motion to increase membership dues from $10 to $20 was passed. The reason for the increase is to offset the cost of renting the Columbus Club hall and for the two pizza parties we have each year. The increase will go into effect on January 1, 2018. I also wish to note that this is the first increase in chapter history since its inception in 1983.
It's that time of year again for our annual "Tony Bartozek Memorial - I'm Not A Modeling Loser Competition". This voluntary contest involves selecting and registering an unbuilt kit of your choice at the June meeting. You must agree to complete the kit by the September club meeting where it will be presented to the membership. "Completed" is defined as fully assembled, painted and decaled as per the instructions. Additional detailing and weathering is optional. We may be changing the rules (to be discussed at the E-Board meeting on May 22) to the original intent of Tony Bartozek. The rules may be that anyone who fails to complete their model by the due date, shall give each person who does complete one a $5.00 Tim Horton's gift card. The past few years, we were doing it as a "team" style competition where each participant submits a $5 gift card to the club president who holds them for the duration of the contest. On the due date, the team who has the most completed models "wins" the other teams gift cards, and gets theirs back. The discussion among the membership after last years event was that this punishes those that completed their models on time. With the "Bartozek Way", the pressure is on the individual. So, please think about this and I will let you know in the next newsletter which method the board decides.
Keep on cutting sprue and applying glue!
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Tables from the April club meeting:
Alan Gryfe brought in a couple of Audi Quattros made by an unidentified die-cast company. He's repainted the
rally version of the Quattro to a street version and has modified the Audi 200 to a 4000 by removing the front air
dam, but it needs to have the rear spoiler installed. He's using Dupli-Color automobile paints for the finish.
Dave Safe's MPC 1/25th scale 1984 GMC Sierra was given the "here's an old beater being rebuilt" modification.
He's added a roll bar, rust holes and an antique patina to represent an aged vehicle that's undergoing restoration.
For the rust, he's added the real thing - rust powder he made himself, along with different colors of primer and
paint. His motivation is that he used to have a real truck just like it.
Frank Blonski's Master Box 1/35th scale Austin Mk. III World War I Era British Armored Car kit is a work in
progress. He's using Tamiya Khaki paint and the "modulation" technique which simulates difference in lighting
(shadows and highlights) by altering the tone of the paint. Frank's motivation is to complete a WWI-themed model
for NorEastCon later this month.
Tom Brown, Sr. finished his unique Hawk as the Secret Santa build for BuffCon. Tom explains that it was a car
kit, but was placed in an airplane box and airplane instructions. It was missing parts and was the worst car kit
he ever built.
Joe Szczygiel brought in his Trumpeter 1/35th scale M17 US Army truck with the M872 trailer. It's currently a
work in progress.
Joe is also progressing on a scratchbuilt, full scale M2 "Ma Deuce" 50 calibre machine gun. Joe is building it
from Evergreen sheet plastic and what looks to be PVC pipe.
Joe had his Tamiya 1/35th scale M60A1 tank with Verlinden resin engine. He painted it Tamiya Deck Tan and Buff
to represent the vehicle in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Paul Hines is expanding his artistic repertoire into the world of aviation art. He showed us an F-4 Phantom II,
a P-51 Mustang and an F4U Corsair. Paul is planning on covering a range of subjects from WWI, civil aviation, WWII,
modern fighters and helicopters.
Larry Osolkowski made some progress on his 1/12 Aoshima Honda Ape motorcycle. He decided to paint it yellow,
using Tamiya spray lacquer decanted for airbrushing.
Larry also brought in another 1/43 Provence Moulage kit of an Audi R8R. This one was campaigned by the
Champion Racing team, based in the US. The body is currently in primer.
He also showed us some spools of lead wire in various diameters from 0.010" to 0.030" that he obtained
from an online fishing tackle shop at great prices - around $2.50 per roll.
Finally, Larry displayed a kit from Japan (where else) of a Bonsai tree. It's pre-finished and was just
too weird to pass up.
Dave Armitage showed some of his vast collection of his work this month. The first is a WWI truck, "Little
Willie" by Accurate Armor that he weathered with washes.
The second is a 1914 Stutz by MPC finished in acrylics.
Third is a diorama of "Austro-Hungarians vs. Italian Infantry in the Alps - Fall, 1917". He made the rock
work out of pink foam board covered with Durham's Rock Hard Putty. Ground cover is everything from stale spices
and maple shavings to model railroad materials. Paints used were by Apple Barrel and Folk Art craft acrylics.
There were a lot of additional unidentified items on the tables - please make sure your description sheets
are turned in to John before the end of the meeting!
Finally, some around-the-room photos.
Thanks to Bob Conshafter for moderating the model tables, and to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.
A final reminder: if you bring in a model for the tables, make sure you fill out a form with the description,
and make sure that John (or the officer running the meeting) gets the form at the end of the night. The
forms can be downloaded from the link on the website front page, or picked up at the meeting.
