I hope that you all had a great holiday and have managed to stick with your New Year's resolutions so far. As a club, we're looking forward to another year of great modeling and good times with good friends. The E-Board is working on some more club outings to some of the local museums for later this year as well as getting ready for BuffCon 2014.

John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993

Model Table Round-up for December 2013

Wayne Dippold brought us a Hasegawa 1/48th scale Bell P-400 variant of the venerable Airacobra. He finished the bird in Model Master paints. He also used multi-layered airbrushing effects and faded the paint.

E-Board member Frank Blonski showed off his long-time in the making, kit bashed and scratchbuilt project he submitted for the President's Challenge. It's a pro-comp drag car that impressed him at Lancaster Speedway over 40 years ago. It's a Salemi car of which he had one photograph to use as a reference. The project started out as a highly modified 1923 Ford T-Bucket. Frank shortened it 3/8" to make it a scale 105. He also used a FAB Resinworks supplied body, core support, mailbox bug catcher and custom made decals. The body is beautifully finished with Pactra R/C Yellow over which he applied Sherwin Williams clear.

Mark Gadek demonstrated his President's Challenge winning entry, Mirage Hobby's 1/48 scale PZL-37 Los Polish Air Force bomber from the late 1930's. Mark stated that it is a short-run kit and nothing really fit correctly. The canopy, in particular, gave him fits. He needed to shim the halves together with clear styrene. Once the fit issues were dealt with, he finished the model using Agama "Polish Khaki" (out of production) and Model Master Metalizer paints over pre-shaded primer. It was finally completed using an oil wash to the panel lines and crevasses.

Vice-President Tony G gave us his completed Revell 1955 Jukebox Ford Top Sportsman. Tony says he had a good time building the kit despite lots of mold seams to clean up and some fit issues. He finished the model using automotive paints decanted out of the cans and applied through the airbrush. He did have to obtain a second kit, just for the decals. The original kit is of 1992 vintage and the decals shattered in water.

Michael Martinez showed off his 1/35th scale Tamiya 20mm Flakvierling. He finished the kit using acrylics via the paintbrush. He first used a black base coat, gave it a wash and then a progressive dry brush as the top coat. He also used a sponge technique to replicate paint chipping.

Another long-term project has come to final fruition: Justen Hanna's 1/48th scale kit of Eduard's Nachtjager of NJGr. 10 of the Luftwaffe in WWII. Justen states that it wasn't the easiest of builds, but satisfying none the less. He used some aftermarket accessories (S.A.C. landing gear) and the kit-supplied "special edition" parts. Vallejo "Model Air", Tamiya and Windsor and Newton paints were used throughout the project. Justen applied a "mask and fade" airbrush painting technique along with traditional artist's oils for the paint effects. Justen particularly likes the "nightfighter" accessories, the radar and nose art.

Bob Butry brought in his Hobby Boss 1/48 scale F8F-1 US Navy Bearcat. Bob was inspired to build the Bearcat because it's a navy subject and he just liked the look of it. He reported no problems with the kit and finished it using Floquil Dark Sea Blue overall with some Tamiya Satin Black and Silver accents. Bob also said he did not weather it because the Bearcat wasn't in service long enough.

New member Jason Wesolowski demonstrated a personal challenge project. He took the DML 1/35th scale kit of the German tank, Maus and converted it to a fantasy "Baneblade". The original hull was shortened by 1-inch and widened by the same amount using Evergreen plastic card and tubing. He also added sponsons to the hull. He applied the paintwork using Krylon in the rattle cans. A camouflage pattern was applied using masking tape to replicate a naval pattern. Jason said that there does exist a "Baneblade" kit which retails for about $130. With some planning, plastic card and careful measuring, he created what he wanted for about $45 - sounds like a good deal.

John Zachritz showed off some nicely done real scale bird projects. The company Real-Life produced a Hoopoo and Barn Swallow and John has replicated them for us to see. The Hoopoo had a broken beak tip so he sanded it down and helped hide the damage with a toy lizard. The Barn Swallow was replicated as a "Wire Tail Swallow" from Africa using wire obtained from Section 8 Hobbies.

John also brought in a snap-kit, Pokemon - Legendary Series and a "Portrait" figure from Neon Genesis Evangelion pre-painted. kit. They provide stickers instead of paint for the decoration.

Lastly, John finished his 1/16th scale Toy Biz's "The Thing". He replicated the street sign, "Yancy St." using dry transfer letters on clear decal film.

Matt Klukowski finished his President's Challenge entry just two hours before the December meeting, a 1963 Corvette in 1/25th scale by AMT. Matt painted the car overall in Tamiya Gloss Black and also used other Tamiya colors along with Citadel acrylics to finish it up.

Cindy Klukowski also brought in a Chevy; this one is a 1962 Impala for the President's Challenge as well. Cindy reports many problems with the kit - missing parts in particular - and it did give her a difficult time.

New member Nick Carluccio showed off his MPC 1968 Dodge Charger finished using Testor's Italian Red spray paint. Nick modified the base kit by making his own battery cables, ignition wires, used Cragar mags and applied Bare Metal Foil for the trim. He also said he need to "borrow" some parts from a "General Lee" kit. Nick is most definitely a Dodge Charger fan!

Web Master Larry Osolkowski showed us what he describes as a "nice little kit", the Airfix 1/32 Mini Cooper "S". Larry converted the kit from right to left hand drive; modified the wheels and added tread to the tires; added lenses to the headlights and side markers. To finish the paintwork, he used Alclad black and chrome, MCW red lacquer and various Testor's Model Master colors. To top it all off, some "little" details he added are: E-Z Pass device, registration and inspection stickers, license plates and he repaired the camber of the rear wheels to give it a "better stance". Larry's inspiration for the Mini is "my son owns one just like it".

Mark Budniewski brought us his work in progress, a 1965 Oldsmobile NASCAR. Mark is busy with it: he "re-radiused" the wheel openings and then filled them back in; modified the interior and built a roll cage. Mark picked the subject because it is unusual for NASCAR and there's an interesting story behind it.

Bob Collignon brought in a collection of photos of past IPMS Niagara Frontier events and members. I think we're going to make Bob our official "historian" for the club. Thanks, Bob!

Mike Butry says he "lost interest" in his club build project and wanted to do a tank instead (it's still a free country). Mike selected a Tamiya 1/48th scale M4 Sherman tank to do. Mike said that overall, the build was very straight forward and no difficulty at all except for the track assembly in some areas. Mike used Tamiya colors (Dark Green and then Olive Drab over that, followed by Khaki Drab) for the base coats. He used enamel based washes and oils for the details. He also tried the MIG line of weathering effects of which he is very impressed.

President John Zaranek brought in a nearly finished project, an "ancient" Tamiya 1/35th scale British Army Quad Gun Tractor from WWII. This kit was a very easy build and there were no fit problems. John painted the truck in a custom mix of Tamiya Dark Yellow and Khaki to represent the British 8th Army in North Africa. He then replicated paint chips by using Vallejo Dark Chocolate Brown acrylic by dabbing carefully around areas that would have had paint removed. He also gave the truck a weathering effect by using artist's oils called "dot filters" which gives a nice, subtle streaking and fading effect. Inside the cab, John replicated paint chips to the diamond plate by using table salt as a mask. All that's left is to build and mount the kit to a desert base and add a tow chain to the front of the chassis.

Once again, we still managed to miss getting information on a few other items on the tables. Please, don't forget to fill out the information forms if you have stuff on the tables!

Thanks to all who brought toys for our annual Toys for Tots donation.

Finally, some around-the-room shots of the tables and the meeting.

Thanks to Bob Collignon for the photography!

Results from the BuffCon Survey Cards

YOUR 2014 DUES ARE DUE IN JANUARY