I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving that you shared with family and friends!

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - December 17, 2018

7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms - members trading kits.

President Rich Bernicki is formally requesting the following changes to the Club Constitution:

1. To add the following non-discrimination clause to the Constitution so the Club will be in compliance with IRS and NY State regulations: "In the conduct of all aspects of its activities, the Club shall not discriminate on the grounds of color, religion, race, gender, national origin, mental or physical disability, genetics, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, transsexual status, (NYS) transgender status, gender identity or expression, alternate life style, familial status, domestic violence status, or physical appearance."

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 December newsletter of the IPMS Patriot chapter is available HERE.

The minutes from the October general meeting were inadvertently left out of last month's newsletter, and are included below along with the November meeting minutes. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.

October 15 - President Rich Bernecki led the meeting.

• Rich covered the recent appointment of the E-board that allowed him to become president. Rich also thanked the E-board for this.
• Frank Blonski discussed the header of the BuffCon flyer for 2020. Frank also suggested using the BuffCon A-frame road side the week prior to the event as a form of advertising.
• Upcoming shows were discussed that included Victor, Fulton, Albany, Hamilton and AMPS in Buffalo. Links to nearby shows are planned to be available on our club's website.
• There is still a need for someone to mentor with Paul Hines on his role of handling the trophies for the BuffCon show.
• The status of paid/unpaid membership was presented. After dropping the unpaid, the club stands with 84 paid members.
• A summary of the club's financial report will be posted after the fiscal year end, spring time 2019.
• Rich B. discussed his proposal to revise the club's constitution. As part of the discussion Tom Faith and Larry Osolkowski were going to take opposing sides to the stance of Robert's Rules of Order but Larry was reconsidering. He would like to see a draft of a replacement procedure. This and the other proposals were tabled by Rich's motion and will be discussed at the next E-board meeting with a planned membership vote at the December meeting.
• Al Germann presented the structure of the demonstration at the general meeting. This is structured as a narrated slideshow of a collection of techniques contributed to a specific subject. Planned start date is the January meeting. Frank B. did suggest the club's video can be used during a "live" demo.
• Rich B. was looking for feedback to the "meet the members" that was included with the monthly newsletter. Feedback was favorable with no stated objections.
• The floor was open for discussion:
  • Rod Adams (dual member with Hamilton's club) reported on the "I'm not a modeling loser" challenge with the Hamilton club finishing 68% of entries and our club finishing only 62%.
  • Tom Faith stated that with winter weather starting soon, TV Channel 2 WGZR will be used to communicate if any meetings are cancelled.
  • Tom Brown Sr. stated that the Toys for Tots drive will take place at the December meeting.
  • Bob Conshafter reported on the Royal Art Gallery of Ontario (near Dundas St.) is displaying a model collection of large ships that is impressive.
  • Rich B. recognized a visitor to the meeting.
• Rich B. hosted the models on the tables. He also opened up the floor for feedback on the format of presenting the models. Some light discussion occurred.
• Rich B. narrated a slideshow he created on the World War I display at the Buffalo Central Library.
• There was a raffle of a tank model for club members that stayed to the end of the meeting. This was won by Bill Borkowski.

November 19th - President Rich Bernecki led the meeting.

• Rich acknowledged and thanked the E-board for the amount of work they do with all the tasks of running the club.
• Old business: Tom Faith is working on the phrasing of the proposal for the non-discrimination clause in the constitution. This will be presented at the December meeting.
• New business: with regards to the the presentation of the models on the tables, there will be the option to hold questions based on the amount of models and available time. There will be time for questions at the end of the meeting.
• The presentation of the models on the tables will use the format of "pass the mic" around the room for members to speak about their model(s). This worked well and had positive feedback.
• Announced that the E-board approved purchase of software for Larry Osolkowski for support with the website and BuffCon entry forms.
• The floor was opened for questions and comments. There was a reminder that the Toys for Tots drive will be at the December meeting. There will be the "Secret Santa" gift exchange based on member feedback to the option. Tom Brown Sr. is the coordinator. Also the December meeting will be the pizza party.
• Tom Faith passed around a sheet with members names to gather "member build data" on which subject of modeling is their preference. This is intended to highlight the potential for demonstrations and possible focus groups to share ideas and techniques.
• Mike Butry Jr. passed along positive reviews of the World War I exhibit at the Buffalo Central Library as WBEN radio made multiple on-air comments. The exhibit includes a large number of club members' models.
• Member Rod Adams won awards at the recent show at Aberfoyl in Canada.
• Table models were presented with "pass the mic". Larry O. included products from Fire Ball Models as a supplier of resin parts focusing on resin door handles for muscle car models.
• Rich Bernecki presented a slide show of the recent show of the Cleveland IPMS club.
• Another raffle for a model kit was performed for attendees staying to the end of the meeting.

To promote greater transparency regarding the operation of the club and the EBoard, action items from the previous 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.

November 12 - President Rich Bernecki led the meeting.

• Larry O. requested approval to purchase software to aid in updating the website and be used on the BuffCon entry form. This will allow editing of a pdf document and cost $89.95. Al Germann moved to proceed with the purchase and Bill Borkowski seconded and motion was approved by E-board. This is an action item Larry will complete.
• Larry will e-mail out the general meeting minutes to the general membership. He will take this as an action item.
• There is a need to change the authorized names on the bank accounts from John Zaranek to Rich Bernecki. Tom F. will take this as an action item as the E-board voted and approved adding Rich Bernecki to the bank signature cards as a requirement.
• Tom F. requested data on what are our members building or their modeling interest. This "member build data" can be used to better serve the membership with demos, focus groups or discussions at the general meetings. Tom will take this action item and bring it up at the next general meeting.

Member Name: Thomas Brown Sr.

What type of modeling do you enjoy most? What scale?
I love to model weird stuff. Scale does not matter, but 1/24 is good. Some have called me Mr. Misc.

Member Name: Thomas Brown Jr.

What type of modeling do you enjoy most? What scale?
I love to mainly model Citadel miniatures, but I've been known to build ships and armor.

Model tables from the November meeting:

Dan Price displayed his Warlord Titan figure. He said he magnetized the weapons, and used Citadel paints with marbling using shredded baby wipes (demo?). There were no issues with the kit, although Dan said he wished that the wipes shredded better. He intends on playing the game that comes with the kit.

Al Germann brought in a couple of models for us to see. The first was the completed diorama of the James Bond BD-5 Jet scene from the movie Octopussy. Al built this as an entry for the BuffCon Movie Theme category, and it was fun to do. He scratch-built the hangar doors, and finished the model with Tamiya paints, using rust, paints and pastels for weathering. He also showed some reference photos that were used.

Al's second model is another diorama, this one of a "Hurricane Mustang". He cut the car at the water line, and used Tamiya paints along with tissue paper and white glue for the water. Al said that seeing flooded areas with hurricanes inspired him to salvage something from the parts box. He still needs to finish the water.

Al Ciolek showed us his 1/72 P-47 Razorback. He finished it with metal acrylic paint, partly just to try out the paint.

Eugene Paveljack had his Trumpeter Soviet 100mm Air Defense Gun on display. He used Tamiya paints for finishing, with dry-brushing for weathering. Eugene says he's into artillery.

Larry Osolkowski showed us his completed Revell 1/25 Corvette C7R race car. He used Zero Paints for the chassis, Cobracolors for the yellow body, various Testors Model Master paints for details, and Future on the windows. He added ribbon seat belts with photo-etched hardware, and Scale Motorsports carbon fiber decals on the engine and some interior bits. The body was polished with polishing pads of grits 2400 through 12000, and Tamiya polishing compounds. The kit decals were excellent.

Larry also showed us some 1/24 resin door handles from Fireball Modelworks. They have a few different types for various US muscle cars. He also had some tiny solder balls that he bought on eBay that can be used for rivet heads. A tube of 25,000 was around $5 including shipping. They should last a while.

Finally, Larry again brought in some older model magazines for the taking. They disappeared quickly.

Clint Keidel displayed a Roden 1/32 Albatross DIII (OAW) that he's building out of box and finishing with Model Master paints (so far). He hasn't done any weathering yet, but the woodgrain is all hand painted. Clint said this is definitely not a Wingnuts kit, but the Albatross is his favorite WWI aircraft.

Brian McFee showed us his current work-in-progress, an A-4F that will be done as "Lady Jessie".

Rod Adam brought in another large ship model, the Great Eastern. Rod made new funnels and added a fifth one to the original four in converting it to a passenger ship. He used Tamiya paints, and mentioned some issues with the paddle boxes. Rod said he got a good deal on the kit, and likes this time period.

Paul Hines showed us his latest collection of paintings, this time on a supercar automotive theme. The three cars comprise a 2008 Porsche Gimbala Mirage GT, a 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale, and a 2014 McLaren P1. Paul said that each car presented different artistic problems: the Porsche with white highlights, the Ferrari with window reflections, and the McLaren with soft and hard edges.

Dave Armitage brought in a new collection of models for our perusal. The first was a WWI trench with resin and plastic figures. Dave used acrylic paints, and said that the barbed wire was tough to deal with. He also mentioned that the base was mostly scratchbuilt.

Dave's next models were a WWI Liberty truck type 4, and a 1912 Renault taxi of Paris, both made from ICM kits. The truck was painted with Testors spray and acrylics, and the taxi had Rustoleum red spray and acrylics applied. The taxi hood fell off and stayed home. He mentioned that the taxi was used by General Galieni to transport troops to the Marne in 1918. Dave likes WWI subjects.

Dave also had some more HO scale Mack AC and Model AA trucks from ConCor kits, finished with acrylics.

Another unusual model from Dave was a mantua - a 10th century Byzantine catapult. He said he had to use a thimble after the pin vise used to drill all the brass nail holes started making callouses on his palm.

Dave's last group of models included four Tonka dioramas: the Wright Brothers, Lindberg, a Confederate Raid, and a Four Alarm Call. Dave said he liked the subject matter and already had three other Tonka kits.

Rick Macdonald showed us his 1/56 Sarissa Precision Building in progress. Rick said he scratch-built the roof on top of the kit roof, and plans on adding more detail to make it look more realistic and add a Victorian look. He built the model for 1/56 war gaming.

Finally, some around-the-room photos.

The model raffle prize this month was a Wingnut Wings Fokker E.IV. Sorry, but we neglected to get the winner's name.

Thanks to Rich Bernecki for passing the microphone around for the tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photography.