Hello everyone!
There's not a heckuvalot going on this month to report, but I must let you all know that our First Vice-President, Justen Hanna, has decided to step down from his position to focus on his family and running his business. I have no idea how much time and energy running a business takes, but I do know that Justen and Samantha put their hearts and souls into Section 8 Hobbies. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Justen for picking up the slack as my "Number 1" when I could not do it and for all of the work he puts in to BuffCon and, most recently, a very successful Noreastcon last May. If any of you enjoyed the vendor rooms, we all have Justen to thank for putting it all together. Justen isn't disappearing from the club, merely refocusing his efforts.
The "Tony Bartozek Memorial I'm Not A Modeling Loser" contest is in its final month. For those of us who agreed to participate that leaves roughly 30 days to finish or be shamed for the next year.
We have the opportunity to watch a true modeling master in action this month. Bob Collignon has agreed to give us a demonstration on how to build a diorama base from scratch. The theme will be "field ground work" and you can learn how to create the perfect background for your models. Bob said that for him to do the demo, it will take about an hour and I can guarantee that this is one you won't want to miss.
That's it for this month - see you at the meeting!
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Tables from the July club meeting:
John Zachritz had a whole bunch of things this month. We'll start with his Hobby Boss 1/700th scale US Navy
Gato Class submarine decked out in pink as it was portrayed in the movie "Operation Petticoat".
He built the Bandai MS-06F2 Zaku II F2 straight from the box. John used a hot Xacto knife to burn a hole in his
head as a "kill shot". He's titled it, "Death of a Noob - Brought An Axe To A Gunfight". John also affixed cotton
fibers from a Q-Tip to simulate an electrical fire in its head.
Next up is another Bandai kit built from the box: 1/144 scale Gundam Gusion Rebake. John adapted a base found
in the toy bin at a thrift store to use for both robots and added graphite to accent the edges and highlights.
John built the Revell 1/50th scale "Force Awakens Tie Fighter", again, straight out of the box. He modified a
pilot figure from a P-40 by making a helmet out of putty and painting it red. Highlights were added by drybrushing
aluminum and brass metallics to the kit.
Keeping with the Star Wars "Force Awakens" theme, the Millenium Falcon is next up, built by his grandson, Tommy
Hopkins out of the box. Some features of the kit include retractable landing pads, pivoting gun turrets, engine
lights and sound effects.
Tommy Hopkins also built the Dragon Ball Fighter Z Super Saiyon Vegeta.
Paul Hines showed us his recent artwork: Great Lakes Biplane 2TI 1930, Waco QDC2 Biplane, Sopwith Camel and
the Albatros 1913-1939. Paul says that next month will feature jets.
Larry Osolkowski brought in two new acquisitions for our perusal. The first is a new kit from Hasegawa,
a 1/24 1971 BMW 2002tii. This was the car that really got BMW going in the USA, and Larry says the kit looks
very nice, although the interior door panels lack detail.
Larry also displayed a 1/24 Deltawing resin race car kit from Le Mans 2012, produced by Profil 24. This
car broke all the rules for race car design when it was introduced, and ran for several years with limited
success. He said the kit was pretty rough, with some serious bubbles in some of the resin parts, but the
subject matter was worth it.
Nick Carluccio brought in his AMT 1966 Ford Mustang hard top and modified it to look like the car featured
in the television series "Kolchak, The Night Stalker". Nick removed the roof, changed the engine from a V8 to
a six cylinder, modified the dual exhaust to a single pipe and added plug wires. He added salvaged sun visors
from an old kit and added a speedometer gauge. The final finish used was Warm Yellow by Painter's Touch and
chrome via a Molotow Chrome Pen.
Bob Raithel showed us some of his "heads" he's been sculpting from wax. He explained that he is working on
reacquainting himself with the tools and techniques in sculpting.
Jason Ignatjew's "Not A Modeling Loser" challenge entry is a 1965 Plymouth. Jason explained that the kit
just "fell together" and it is built straight from the box. He used Testor's One Coat/Factory Color Base Clear.
Ilya Grinberg showed a very tiny and very intricately detailed 1/72nd scale HMMWV M1114 US Army vehicle by
T-Model. Ilya added combat identification panels scrounged from a Dragon kit and he made his own masks by
photocopying the kit instructions, cutting out the pattern and applying them to masking tape. This was then
cut out and applied to the model. Paint used for the kit is by AMMO and there is weathering yet to be done.
Al Germann's Tony Bartozek's Memorial Challenge entry is the Eduard 1/48th scale DFW-28 "Floh" German
Biplane kit. Al explained that he chose this kit as a "quick build" for the challenge. He built it out of the
box, which included some photoetch detail parts, but scratchbuilt the turnbuckles.
Eugene Paveljack's 1BG Scammell Tractor was finished with AMMO line of paints, including Olive Drab and
a Blue/Black camo pattern.
There were quite a few other items on the tables. Please remember to make sure John has your description
sheets before the end of the meeting.
Finally, some around-the-room photos.
Thanks to Ed Button for handling the tables, and to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.
