Greetings IPMS Niagara Frontier members!

Model Table Entries from the January club meeting:

Joe Szczygielski continues to add many scratchbuilt details to his Trumpeter 1/16th scale M-ATV. He showed us that the entire interior is completely built from basic plastic pieces and wire including the radios and brake lines. He's planning on finishing it in Tamiya military colors and will place it on a base with resin figures from Verlinden and Warriors.

He also showed a kit he has yet to start, the AFV Club 1/35th scale M60A3 with a resin engine from Legends.

Paul Hines's artwork is next in what he describes as "two examples of extraordinary human craftsmanship": a 1927 Mercedes Benz S Baujar and a 1931 Bugatti Type 55 Roadster. Paul also had an item for sale.

Mike Butry brought in two of his projects this month. The first was the Tamiya 1/48th scale 7-ton British armored car which is still in the construction stage, and the second is a Tamiya 1/48th scale Marder III that is being constructed as well. He says he plans on building both "out-of-the-box" but will probably add some scratchbuilt details.

Renaldo Hanna is busy building the Tamiya Quad 20mm Anti-Aircraft gun in 1/35th scale.

Justen Hanna is even busier with three projects of his own this month. The first is the Wingnut Wings D.H.2. He chose this subject as one that is "odd" to experiment with "aero wire" rigging. He's used paints by Tamiya, Vallejo and various artist's oils to finish it. He's also applied basic washes and oil filter to enhance its appearance. Another neat technique: he's used the airbrush to accentuate the ribbing on the wings.

To go along with the "aeroplane", Justen has completed a 1/32nd Royal Flying Corps pilot figure. He repositioned the arm for a better pose and scratchbuilt a rudder from an enemy's Fokker as a "trophy".

Lastly, Hanna is building an army of Warhammer "Death" figures and painting them in a variety of Citadel and Vallejo colors.

Jason Ignatjew brought in his "Secret Santa" exchange kit this month. It's the Monogram 1957 Corvette. He's painted it Tamiya "Pure White" with a gloss pearl overcoat, also by Tamiya. To the kit, he's added sunken headlights, custom taillights and a race car theme.

Larry Osolkowski showed us his progress on the 1/25 Revell Chevy Corvette C-7R race car. He had to obtain some aftermarket Michelin tire decals from eBay after overcoating the kit decals with a flat finish that wouldn't dry. The rest of the kit is coming along.

Larry also received a 1/24 Ford GT multimedia race car kit from Profil24 as a Christmas present. This is the car that won its class on debut at Le Mans last year. He also found some appropriate paints from a fairly new company called Gravity Colors.

Al Germann has also been very busy this month (geez, you'd think this was a scale modeling club or something). His first project is a custom 1/25th scale 1957 Chrysler 300 onto which he's spliced a roof from a 1967 Chevy Impala. The reasoning behind this is that the Impala's roof matches the fins on the Chrysler.

Al has also returned to a project I remember seeing a little while ago, the "Rain Forest Ferrari". He is making a diorama featuring an abandoned car in a rain forest to demonstrate his advanced weathering skills. Dents, rust, hairspray and salt chipping techniques and more will be included.

The DeLorean from "Back To The Future" is his third project this month. It was a gift from his wife and he's using Tamiya paints on it.

Nigel Usiak showed us his Panzer III by Armourfast. Nigel explained that the gun barrel wasn't in the box, so he fashioned a new one from wire. The model was painted in Tamiya light grey with reddish-brown pastels for some weathering effects. He used rust colored pastels for the tracks and brown paint stippled on for mud effects.

Gene Paveljack demonstrated his Model T 1917 Ambulance. He didn't specify the kit or scale, but he did remove the front windshield and added two struts to support the canopy. He used paints by Mig and Vallejo.

Cindy Gauthier brought in a new N-Scale industrial building by Walthers to add to her train layout. She has yet to start it and she only opened the box to "get motivated".

Mike Hall had his Willys Jeep finished in Tamiya paints.

Phillip showed his Ford Galaxie which he painted teal blue and tan with a black frame.

Dick Schulenberg had a couple of 1/72nd airplane models this month. First, a Spitfire XIVe in 1/72nd scale by AZ Models. Despite vague and error prone instructions, he was able to portray a post-war variant from Belgium using Vallejo acrylics with Italeri dark green. Decals were sourced from an old Aeromaster sheet.

His other kit is a 1/72nd scale Curtiss Wright CW-21 fighter by MPM in Dutch East Indies markings. Dick replaced the kit engine with a white metal one from Aeromaster and the prop from an Airfix Spitfire I kit. Tamiya spray can silver was the base color and Italeri acrylics in USAF Vietnam colors for the finish.

Jim Greenfield's Star Wars Virago Star Fighter by AMT in 1/48th scale is a kit "in need of help". Jim says it's "crude and fits poorly - will need lots of clamps" to get it together.

John Zaranek brought in his "Secret Santa" work in progress, the Tamiya 1/35th scale M3 British Tank. The date from the mold says it was originally made in 1973, but is a pretty decent kit. He's going to finish it in a desert paint scheme from the North African campaign against Germany during WWII.

Tom Faith displayed his completed diorama based on the Testor's RSO (Ost) in 1/35th scale. As always, Tom's exquisite attention to detail brings the scene to life.

I know John Zachritz had some really creative things last month, but unfortunately, I cannot find his description sheet. My apologies to John.

There were a number of additional unidentified items on the tables:

Finally, some around-the-room photos.

Thanks to Mike Butry for handling the table duties, and Larry Osolkowski for the photography.