Happy New Year fellow members!
I hope everyone had as good time as I did at our last club meeting. We did an outstanding job contributing to the USMC "Toys For Tots" campaign AGAIN this year and I thank you all for your generosity. I'd also like to thank Tom Brown, Sr. for his coordination of this endeavor. I know many children had a better Christmas this year than they would have otherwise.
January is when we are all expected to renew our memberships. Please see Tom Faith at the meeting with your $20 fee. We can accept cash (exact change is always appreciated), check or money order. Unfortunately, we are not able to take credit cards or other forms of electronic payment. Junior memberships remain at $5 per year.
As was voted upon at the last general meeting, we agreed to purchase a computer projector, portable speaker/microphones and a video camera to enhance our model building demonstration experience during meetings. I am leading the charge in procuring this audio visual equipment and expect to have it in hand and ready for use by the February club meeting.
Other things we're working on include investigating the establishment of a clothing website where club members can order and pay for their own IPMS Niagara Frontier club shirts. We've noticed at both BuffCon, Noreastcon and other shows that other clubs have a consistent look about them and we feel we really need to establish our own consistent "branding" of our club. So, look out for further developments along this line.
We are also planning a voluntary field trip in the spring to Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown. Some of the newer members may not know that this club scratch built a scale model of the fort (which is on display there) that took hundreds of man-hours to complete. I joined the club just after this was finished, so I'm looking forward to seeing this. I will let you know when plans are formalized.
For the January meeting, I'd like us all to do two things that are up for general discussion. The first: bring in your "strangest" model building tool that you use. It can be commercially built or home made - doesn't matter - but be prepared to discuss why you have it. Second, bring in your current "work in progress" - a project that you're in the middle of, and explain your progress, quality of the kit, pitfalls you're experiencing, etc.). I hope that the discussion gets animated and leads to a good "give and take" on modeling. Of course, bring in whatever you like for the Round Table discussion.
Also, bear in mind that should we have weather bad enough to warrant a cancellation of a club meeting, please tune in to WGRZ TV, Channel 2 in Buffalo for any notices. We are not set up with any other media outlet, just Channel 2. I think it also goes without saying that if you feel the weather is that bad, please don't risk yourself for a club meeting.
Well, that's enough for now. Please don't forget your dues are due (LOL) and I hope to see you on Monday night.
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model tables from the December meeting:
Jeff Keenan brought in a brand new Hasegawa 1/350th scale of the ship USS Gambier Bay(CVE-59). Jeff
also has a photoetch detail set by White Ensign for Casablanca Class carriers to add to the kit. Jeff
relates that his grandfather served on this ship, which is his motivation for the build.
John-Allen Price is planning on a trio of US Navy planes with experimental camouflage displayed during
the Vietnam War and is starting with Revell's 1/72nd scale RA-5C Vigilante. John-Allen explained that his
motivation to build it came from fellow club member Brian McFee's USAF F-4C Phantom model. He also says
that he has encountered no problems building this kit yet.
He also brought in his 1/72 Academy Mini-Craft P4BY-1 Liberator again, in case you missed it last month.
Paul Hines' line of artwork continues this month with "On Patrol", an EA-1E Skyraider; "Hot Pursuit",
a dogfight between a Spitfire and Focke-Wulf; and a Spitfire "Protecting England's Shores". Paul plans on
painting aviation art from the past, present and on into space exploration vehicles.
Nick Carluccio's fondness for late '60's era Dodge Chargers prompted him to build the MPC kit of one
from 1968. After wiring the engine and detailing the chassis, Nick used Testors Model Master "Tropical
Turquoise" for the paint job followed by a clear gloss coat, also by Testors. For the chrome, he used a
Molotow Chrome paint pen. To get the high shine, he used an LMG Polishing Kit.
Ron Mikol showed us his 1964 Comet, a 1951 Studebaker and some custom made fishing lures. Ron chopped
the tops and added wings on both cars. He used automotive urethane, custom mixed a teal color and metal
flake for flames. For the fishing lures, he used Bob Smith Industries two-part epoxy. He mentioned that
these lures have been in use for a couple of years, and the finish is still perfect.
Maryann Guest-Germann's first figure is almost complete: the Ares mythologic bust in 1/12th scale. She used
Testors "Teal Pearl" and GM automotive touch up paint to complete it.
Al Germann finished (finally) his "Rainforest Ferrari". Al explained that it started out as a $1.00 bag
of parts (of which he had to scrounge around some that were missing) and $50.00 in diorama pieces to make it
complete. The heavily weathered kit was done with simulated body damage and hair spray/salt chipping techniques.
He also has an in-progress "IM-99 BOMARC" missile he's working on. He said it demonstrates the poor
quality of a 1958 kit. He's had to remove mold seams, fill all panels and mismatched pieces. Paints he's
using include automotive primer and those from Tamiya. He says, it's a "most difficult kit, but I like the
way it's turning out."
Dan Marafino is continuing to delve into fine art. He brought in four pencil drawings of a P-63,
F4U/P-51, P-38 and a Spitfire.
Tim Grieve brought in three completed aircraft models, all in 1/72nd scale. The first is a Testors
Dornier Do-217 K-1 that's brush painted with Model Master paint. He said the canopy was a "challenge".
Second is a Heller P-47 Thunderbolt, again painted with Model Master. Tim explained that he doesn't do
well with the French language and it took him a while to find the translation of the paint colors from
the kit instruction sheet, but the decals held together well. Lastly, a F-4U Corsair painted with Model
Master paints by brush. He chose it because he "always liked the paint scheme" and unfortunately the
build was "not fun".
Tom Brown, Sr. brought in a photo of two generations of U.S. Marines - himself, and his son Tom, Jr.
The resemblance, including the poses, is striking.
Jim Greenfield showed us his progress on his current project, the 1/35 Pegasus Hunter-Killer tank from
the movie Terminator 2. It's starting to shape up.
There were a couple of other items on the tables. Please remember to make sure John has your description
sheets before the end of the meeting.
There was a club gift exchange again this year.
Once again, we had a very successful collection of donations to Toys for Tots.
The annual holiday pizza party was well received.
Finally, some around-the-room photos.
Thanks to Jim Greenfield for handling the tables, and to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.
