Greetings and salutations to one and all. Before I begin, I want to apologize about the mixup in dates
regarding our general meeting. I use my laptop's planner which is synced through my phone and, for whatever
reason, it marked April 22nd as the third Tuesday and not the 15th. In the last month of planning for the
show, especially the day of the show, we had a lot going on so it just escaped me. I do have one rant though -
I got some calls concerning the meeting date change which is fine, but for a select few who essentially
jumped the gun and would not let me speak a word in edgewise, it's uncalled for! I was trying to simply
explain what had happened, yet they kept on cutting me off and going "um, huh, uh, sure...". With that being
said, it was an honest oversight/mistake on my part - BUT - for those of you who think otherwise, maybe it's
time to ask yourself, what am I doing here, what is my purpose of being here? This will be the first and
last warning, do not speak to me in such a manner again because the next time, I won't be nice. The
presidential complaint department is open on Sundays from noon to 12:01.
Since we have gotten that all cleared up, on to Buffcon40. By the time most of you have read this, our eBoard meeting will be/was held on Monday, April 21st, so we should have some answers for everyone regarding the show. The contest room was lighter this year from previous years, and so was the attendance, but from what Mr. Faith mentioned in a brief phone call, we still did pretty well. If memory serves me, we oversold our tables by one, with 66. The vendors were once again happy with us lending a helping hand and so far, no complaints on sales, which is a good thing.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who volunteered in one capacity or another, as it was a huge help and it made setting up and tearing down seem to be a breeze. Also, a huge thank you for those who volunteered to judge (IPMS Niagara Frontier, Syracuse, Rochester and Kirk from IPMS John H. Glenn(OH)). We had 31 judges on hand and as to date, I have not heard of any complaints about time management so that's a huge plus.
The after the show pizza party will be held at our May meeting. See you all on Tuesday April 22nd, 2025 for the general club meeting.
Just one more thing - remember in the January newsletter I listed what I wanted to accomplish in regards to building for the upcoming year? Well, my son has the itch to build his GT-R R35, so I told him that I'd do a build along with him so these two should be making an appearance on the bench by next week. He wants to build and that's all that matters.
We have a few members coming up to bat with demos:
Upcoming shows:
- 11th Annual Spring Thaw Model Show (Scale Vehicles), May 4th, 2025 (9am - 3pm) - Willowvale Fire Co., 3459 Oneida St., Chadwick, NY 13319.
- NNL Buffalo 3rd Annual Model Car Show, September 6, 2025 (9am - 4:30pm) - Madonna Council #2535, Knights of Columbus, 755 Erie Ave., North Tonawanda, NY 14120
Happy Modeling,
Michael Butry
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 52196
IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - April 22, 2025
NOTE: CANNOT ACCESS FACILITY BEFORE 6:55PM
7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms.
7:10 PM - Meeting called to order.
Old Business:
- Clarence Library.
New Business:
- Buffcon40
Questions from the floor.
Demo: Pending.
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, April 22nd 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:
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 March 2025 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.
February 18th - 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.
March 31 - President Mike Butry led the special pre-BuffCon meeting, held at Section 8 Hobbies.
ModelZona 24.5 in Phoenix, Arizona
by Jim Whiting for Austin Stegall
Austin Stegall attended ModelZona 24.5 in Phoenix, Arizona. This was his first time in the desert.
Honda NSR500
by Tim Carson
This is the 2012 boxing of the Honda NSR500 (1984) ridden by Fast Freddie Spencer.
Flying the number 1 as the World Champion from 1983, Freddie won three times on this newly designed bike.
The kit went together beautifully, as is expected with Tamiya motorcycle kits. I used the Tamiya Front Fork Set, which also included metal mesh to be placed over the carburetors. Even though the replacement for pieces and the mesh are not easily seen, they still add a nice touch to the kit.
The body parts were painted TS-26 Pure White, and then masking was done (a mixture of tape and masks included with the kit) before spraying TS-8 Italian Red. The blue is all decals. The original decals were used and were in very nice shape, although some Tamiya Decal Solution was used over the complex curves.
The remainder of the kit was painted with various Tamiya acrylics, including TS-30 Silver Leaf which gave a lovely metal look to the frame and other parts.
I built Freddie Spencer's 1983 NS500 when I was a kid, and this build brought back many memories.
John-Allen Price brought in his kitbashed Revell/Hasegawa 1/72 A-6A Intruder, "Jungle Cats On
the Flight Deck". He applied two shades of white on the underside using a spray can, and two
shades of Model Master and Polly-S olive drab along with Luftwaffe black green to the top.
Humbrol acrylic black and red and enamel olive drab were also used. John-Allen combined the
fuselage from the Hasegawa A-6E with the wings from the Revell A-6E, and added 3D-printed
Retarded (Snake Eye) 500 lb. bombs. He said mating parts from two different kits was "interesting".
He picked the subject because of it being a unique part of Vietnam War history. John-Allen added
that he might take a break in this collection to do a WW II kit.
Paul Hines displayed three new automotive paintings. The first was a 2017 Ferrari La Ferrari.
Paul said the car is a hybrid comprising a V12 with 788 hp along with a 161 hp electric motor for
a total of 949 hp and a top speed of 217 mph. He mentioned that 500 coupes were made with the
last one selling for $9.96 million.
Paul's second painting was a 1965 Lotus-Ford F1 race car. Paul said he always liked the open
"cigar"-shaped cars, and especially the green and yellow paint job. He said the painting detailed
up nicely.
Paul's last painting was another open wheel F1 race car, but he did this one very loose and
fluid. He mentioned that acrylics can be thinned with water to behave just like watercolors, and
this is an excellent example.
Jeff Keenan showed us his 1/35 Borden Models Apocalypse Tank. No paint has been applied yet,
since it's still in the construction phase; he's planning on using Tamiya and Vallejo paints.
Jeff said the kit includes a lighting kit, which is a first for him. He also mentioned that he
will be replacing some of the handles with wire since the kit parts are out of scale, and he
will also be adding a tow cable. Plans for weathering include lots of chipping and dust/dirt.
Jeff mentioned that the tracks were a huge pain - they just barely fit and are very tight. The
LEDs also required some very sensitive 90 degree bends. He picked the subject because this tank
is from the game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, which he played frequently in the '90s, and he
really likes how aggressive and modern it looks. Jeff also mentioned that he was going to move
the drive sprockets to the front like it is on every other tank, but decided it was too much
work.
Rob Downs displayed a pair of Chevy Camaros in candy orange. His most recent effort is an AMT
'70 1/2 Z28, finished in Alclad candy orange over an Alclad bright silver base. The build is box
stock except for suspension mods to lower the stance. Rob said there was no weathering done on
this one except for some gloss black oil leaks. The model was a second try on this theme, and
was displayed next to his '69 Camaro that was built last year but had paint problems.
Tom Brown, Sr. brought in a USMC Eagle Globe and Anchor. He used black spray paint for the
base coat and acrylics for everything else. The model was 3D printed at Section 8 Hobbies, and
this is his second attempt since he dropped the first one. Tom said he scratched in the eagle
feathers, and used red putty to add the mountain ranges to the globe. The subject was chosen
because Tom has a USMC family.
Austin Stegall showed us his Tamiya M3 Stuart tank. It's finished in olive drab, buff, rubber
black, gun metal and dark rust paints. Austin added weathering using drybrushing with buff, pigments
and washes. He picked the subject because he's never made one before.
Justin Schroeder brought in a work-in-progress, a 1/24 Pegasus Hobbied Triceratops. No painting
has been done yet. He picked this subject because he's going to WonderFest in June and they have a
dinosaur category.
Larry Osolkowski had two items on the table. The first was his work-in-progress Monogram 1/25
Porsche Indycar race car. The engine and gearbox have been mounted to the floor pan, so the chassis
is pretty much done. The front wing and rear wing endplates have been primered in Scalefinishes
white primer.
Larry's second item was his ongoing progress on the BBR 1/43 Ferrari F310B 1997 F1 race car. The
main section of the rear wing has been assembled and primered, along with other wing parts, in white.
The front suspension elements including brakes are assembled, the rear suspension and brakes are
ready to be put together, and the seat, seatbelts and steering wheel are done. All four wheels and
tires are complete, and Larry did a test shot on a spoon of some really old paint that he got with
the kit and resuscitated with lacquer thinner.
Al Germann finished up his "Vista De Nada" Service Truck built from the Moebius 1965 Ford F100. The
interior is loaded up with even more dashboard junk, including sunglasses and a pine tree air freshener
hanging on the mirror. The lunch box has a can of bug spray sitting next to it on the front seat while
the service bed is filled with little room to spare. Most of the cargo is 3D printed from a seller on
eBa, but Al added his own touches with tie down points, bungee cords, duct tape and even an electrical
plug on the box fan. The lamp posts are LEGO pieces. Heavily weathered vehicles are something that Al
enjoys, partially because he doesn't stress over the paint job.
Al also brought in his two recent World War I monoplanes. The Fokker Eindecker is now complete after
a near disaster. While Al was airbrushing a matte clear prior to rigging, one of the Maltese Crosses
took flight and could not be saved. A template using parchment paper over one of the remaining was then
transferred to Tamiya painter's tape. Fortunately, Al only needed to paint the large white background
and then the black cross. Rigging was completed without a fuss. The other plane is a Morane-Saulnier Type
N completed a few months ago. Both models are Eduard kits in 1/48 scale. Al mainly wanted to display his
"transport cradles" made from insulation foam board. As he had to purchase a 4' x 8' sheet of this, he
has a life-time supply if anyone needs any.
And now for something completely different, Al brought in some work in progress of the nuclear blast
house used during tests in the 1950s. Working from a couple of photos, Al estimated the basic dimensions
while taking some artistic liberties. Scratch built using insulation foam and a manilla folder for the
siding material, it's all held together with Elmer's glue. Al said he had this idea for a while, and
finding out that the theme build at the national IPMS show is "the Atomic Age" was all the motivation
that was needed. And yes, the house will be modeled coming apart from the blast.
Ilya Grinberg displayed a couple of new models. The first was a Lancer Models 1/72 BA-6 Armored Car.
The kit is resin, and Ilya added a turned metal barrel and a machine gun from MiniWorld.
Ilya's second model was an ACE 1/72 T-60 tank, Factory 264. He added 3D-printed running gear and
stowage boxes, a gun barrel made from tubing, and another MiniWorld machine gun.
Ted Szczesny brought in more unique items (where does he find this stuff?!): ROKR - Parallel World:
The Last City & The Future City Marble Runs. These were pre-painted kits, so Ted only did some touch-up
with Sharpies. He modified the models to add a USB-C power cable, 5V/2A USB-C plug-in power adapter, and
a 5V USB-C battery (4 AA batteries) power adapter. Ted said: "Want more! Kits can be combined to operate
side by side or top to bottom. A 4 kit top/bottom-side/side combo is possible, but only these two kits
are currently available. Two more new different kits would make a cool four-kit combo." He mentioned
that he enjoys making marble runs, up to now mostly wooden models. He said he couldn't resist the
discounted price on the dual kit. Ted added that ROKR makes more multi-media (wood, metal, plastic and
electronic parts) kits than most of the other wood kit manufacturers. These two kits are basically
plastic model kits, but the plastic parts are all press-fit so no glue is necessary, and assembly tools
are included in the kits.
Paul Kittell displayed his progress on current projects.
Don Spielberger showed us his scratchbuilt, battery powered radio control 56 foot long WWII RAF Picket
boat. Don made the hull from fiberglass.
There were some old Life magazines and some model magazines on the table free for the taking.
There were some unidentified items on the tables.
Larry Osolkowski had a few general photos taken at Heritagecon.
Finally, some around-the-room shots.
Thanks to the members for handling the model tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photos.
