Greetings and salutations to one and all! Where did the month of January go?! Geez... Our show is just around the corner and we are in full gear with the preparations. As of the last eBoard meeting (2/12/24), we are a tad ahead of schedule with the sale of vendor tables which is definitely a good thing. If anyone is interested in a table, please see Jeff Keenan. Dick Schulenburg mentioned at this time all award/category sponsors that were spoken for have been paid for. So, if anyone is interested in sponsoring an award and or category or again, a vendor table, please see Dick S. or Jeff K. during the break or right after the meeting. Jeff Keenan and myself have taken care of the advertising via social media. Our show is linked to 15 various model related sites on Facebook and I believe Jeff got four or five podcast shows. At the next meeting, we'll discuss raffle donations as I know certain modeling subjects we are low on, so any contributions to the raffle stash will be greatly appreciated!

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - February 20, 2024

NOTE: CANNOT ACCESS FACILITY BEFORE 6:50PM

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

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, February 20th at the Williamsville Youth & Recreation Center, 5005 Sheridan Drive, Williamsville, NY 14221, starting at the usual 7:00pm. 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:

Tom Brown, Sr. has created a new modeling challenge for our club. Here is his proposal:

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 added in recent months to 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

The minutes from the January 2023 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.

January 23rd - President Mike Butry led the meeting.

• Old Business:
  • Mike B. stated there is a call for staffing the club's promotional table at the upcoming model train show at the Hamburg Fairgrounds February 16 & 17. This is a way to promote our club with the model railroad club as we share a lot of the same skills.
• New Business:
  • Mike started with a moment of silence for the passing of member Tim Grieve.
  • Club membership dues are due, $20. Tom F. started the collection and record keeping for the status.
  • Larry provided a printed list for members to confirm or provide their email address for the newsletter and other official club communication.
• BuffCon #39, April 2, 2024:
  • Mike B. and Dick S. provided status on sponsorship which is going well. We can pursue sponsorship outside our routine pursuit if anyone has ideas.
  • No update on kitchen operations.
  • Al G. provided status on raffle kits. Most categories are well stocked with mainly autos a bit light and Space and Ships are also light.
• BuffCon #40, April 6, 2025:
  • This date was confirmed with the Knights Hall.
  • Brief comments on need for flyer being ready for this year's BuffCon. Mike will continue discussion.
• NorEastCon 52, 2024:
  • None.
• Miscellaneous/Open Floor:
  • Mike B. recognized a visitor.
  • Tom B. proposed a challenge build, something using a Buffalo lawn ornament. Starts from a "Herd About Buffalo" promotion. Anything goes and Tom will sponsor the category himself. This year, it is open only to club members. The Buffalo lawn ornament is available at Valu Home Centers, other locations and at GoPinkBuffalo.com.
  • 50/50 raffle was run at this meeting with the tickets sold resulting in a $59/$58 split. The club's share will be donated to a charity in Tim's honor. There was a bonus raffle with a BuffCon raffle kit that had some box damage and may or may not have parts missing.
  • Bob C. lead the discussion for the models presented on the tables.

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.

February 12 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held at Section 8 Hobbies.

• Old Business:
  • Tom F. provided overall status of the club's financial state which is favorable and in good shape heading into BuffCon.
  • The club's tri-fold pamphlet for promotional purpose was reviewed and looks very good. Tom F. has action items for print in quantity for model railroad event.
  • Short update on shared table for promotion with the local railroad model club (National Model Railroad Association) at the Hamburg train show February 12-13, 2024. Larry has action item to send out email for members that can help out with staffing this table.
  • Mike led discussion on starting up demos for the general meeting. This was viewed favorably but actions will likely be after BuffCon.
• New Business:
  • Tom F. stated the Williamsville Youth Hall for the general meetings is paid through June.
  • The contact for Williamsville Youth Hall for the general meetings can provide some advance setup for the tables to our layout.
• BuffCon #39, April 7th, 2024:
  • Mike is still waiting on reply from Knights Hall for kitchen food service. E-board is very unhappy with lack of response and affects planning. Location of BuffCon 2026 may have to be reconsidered due to this.
  • Dick provided a written update for sponsorships which is progressing well. Larry is working on updating this on the website. Mike brought up some potential sponsors.
  • Jeff K. stated vendor table sales are progressing well and on target. 16 sold with interest by other vendors. Jeff has action item to send list to E-board.
  • Jeff also stated that our show was talked about on two podcasts as part of promotions.
  • The BuffCon flyer was printed for distribution.
  • Tom F. provided a draft of the trophy/plaques to E-board for review and comment.
  • Tom F. stated he might not be able to attend so contingency plans need to be in place. Mike has action item to discuss with Frank B.
  • Other areas were discussed that included security, judging coordinators and inventory list. Mike summarized inventory and locations of supplies.
• BuffCon #40, April 6th, 2025:
  • N/A.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Upcoming shows are HeritageCon in Hamilton Ontario and NorEastCon.
  • Tom B. brought up the Saturday activity at McKinney Mall to be used as club promotion. Cost is $40 for a 10x10 spot but we need to bring our own tables.

Bruce Mathes sent in some photos of his latest projects, including Sword's new 2-seat Cougar with excellent Blue Angels decals; Airfix Fat Albert; Monogram F4B-4 converted to Starfighter P-12E; A Model Beech 1900; Plus Model Martin T4M-1; and an AZ P-26 with Starfighter upgrades sent to me by Dick Schulenberg as was the P-12 conversion set.

Moving to the model tables, Rich Bernecki displayed a work-in-progress, a 1/32 Tamiya P-51 D/K, being built as a Mustang Mk.IV. Rich is using Tamiya and Modelmaster paints, with some Tamiya washes in the cockpit. He said he tried to "superdetail" the cockpit using a Yahu instrument panel, Eduard seat belts, Quinta cockpit details and a few small scratch-built items. Rich mentioned that since receiving his dual citizenship, he's working to build aircraft flown by Polish pilots. He added that the Mustang Mk. IV had louvered vents on the fuselage nose and Tamiya does not supply them, so he grafted a set from the Zoukei-Mura kit.

Bob Heiss showed us his progress on The Mummy by Moebius. Bob used acrylic paint for the base colors, and water color paint to detail, with weathering added using oil washes and pastel drybrushing. He said this will be part of his Three Stooges diorama for April.

Al Germann brought back his tribute to the "Inverted Jenny" stamp with the wings attached and basic color on. The stamp part of this diorama is made from 1/4" plywood with all the raised features cut from insulation foam board. Al cut the letters and numbers from an enlargement of the stamp as it supplied a perfect stencil to transfer to the foam where a sharp #11 blade did the rest. Al said this is a fun and creative project.

Al brought in another model he recently started and is progressing well, a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with the "Mod Top" option. This started with the reissue of the Barracuda and the Mod Top decals came from Ebay. Although the decals were rather thick, they still laid down well. Body color is Krylon Meringue which is close to the factory color. Interior beige is also coming from a Krylon spray can to keep things simple. Chrysler made around 2,900 cars with the Mod Top option on Barracudas, Chargers, Satellites, Coronets and the Dart, focused on marketing so a woman of the day could purchase a muscle car. It was a nice idea but the option only lasted two years.

Maryann Germann brought in a new work in process with that being a "Robot Rescue" that came from a seller on Ebay. After some basic super glue assembly and Krylon black primer, the rest was brush painted with Alclad and Testors metallic lacquers. Maryann is enjoying the build and appearance along with the presentation. There are two additional kits of this robot she may pick up at some time.

Larry Osolkowski brought in a few items this month. The first was a Christmas present (that he suggested) from his son - a set of sanding sticks from Amazon. It includes a nice selection of different shaped sanding pads, sticks and "twigs" in a good variety of grits, all at a very reasonable price.

Larry also displayed a recently completed mini-brick (much smaller than Legos) kit of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. This was a real challenge, as there were 4131 parts, many of them very tiny. It looks pretty good when done, but Larry said he probably won't do another one of these any time soon.

Larry's last item was some minimal progress on the old 1/24 Heller kit of the 1938 BMW 328 race car he's been working on for a few months. He painted the transmission which is part of the engine assembly, and started some work on the rear axle, including adding fill and drain plugs and some weld seams.

Justin Schroeder brought in a Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper from Star Wars. He said he didn't paint the model since the armor pieces came in white, but just added some weathering and battle damage. He painted a kill count on its left arm in red, and added a final mat finish coat. Justin scratch-built the gun holster from styrene and the sling for the blaster from real leather. He did the battle damage with a thin tip brush and Vallejo black. Justin said the kit was a Christmas present from his sister. He also mentioned that the base was made from a wooden base from Michael's, along with fine grass and cast molded rocks.

Bob Conshafter displayed a Hasegawa 1/72 F-15D in markings for the 18th Fighter Wing operating from Kadena, Okinawa. Bob used Tamiya XF-19 Sky Gray for a primer coat, with Vallejo Agressor Gray and Ocean Gray for the "Mod Eagle" paint scheme. He added parts that had been donated to the club for the two pilots and wing-mounted missiles not included in the kit. Bob said he probably will not weather the model due to the small scale and dark colors used. He commented that the kit dates from 1980 and requires some alignment and putty at the wing to fuselage join, but uses a horizontal seam which is easier to deal with. Bob picked the subject because his co-worker used to work on F-15 Eagles for much of his Air Force career, and the model actually has the markings of ZZ #562, a two-seater he worked on. He added that he will need to create the two exhaust nozzles without turkey feathers which means making up an exhaust with actuator rods. The two figures from the spares box will crew it, and the guy in the back seat will be giving a "thumbs up".

Paul Hines brought in two new paintings that return to automotive subjects. The first was a "Cops" off-road racer. Paul said John Langey produced the "Cops" TV show along with the popular theme song "Bad Boys", and he and his two sons, Morgan and Zak, formed a "Cops" racing team. Paul mentioned that the painting has a lot of detail, and he enjoyed doing something different.

Paul's second painting is a dry lakes racer. He said that West coast hot rod builders Tony Thacker and Jimmy Shine built this car from a 1928 model A Ford body on an original 1932 chassis. It ran in 1997 at the Bonneville salt flats up to 180 mph. Paul said the car caught his eye, and he enjoyed painting the shiny front tank, wheels and exhaust.

There were a couple of unidentified objects on the tables.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks to Bob Conshafter for handling the model tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photos.