For those of us who signed up to participate in the Annual Tim Hortons Challenge we have one month to go before our completed entries are due. So, if you haven't started yet, you have a few weeks to knock it off. I, for once, am more than halfway through my project - an old Hasegawa 1/72 Royal Navy Sea Harrier. I opted to go with their early two-tone paint job: Extra Dark Sea Grey for the topside and White for the bottom. I'm pleased to say that the Tamiya acrylics I used laid down flawlessly and my masking job isn't too shabby. I used a Future clear coat to prepare for the decals. I found out that Future's curing time can be accelerated if I use my wife's hair dryer (which I promptly put back in the bathroom when I was finished to maintain harmony in the household). The clear coat is rock-hard and quite smooth. I have all of the major decals on, like the roundels, code letters/numbers and aircraft "don't walk here" markings. All that's left to finish is adding the four rotating exhaust nozzles, the landing gear and ordinance - another project (nearly) finished of one of my all-time favorite planes and maybe even some Timmies coffee if my teammates get theirs done on time!

I also spent a couple of days during my vacation to thoroughly clean my modeling room. It took me two days (yes, it was that bad) and I'm very pleased with all of the real estate I gained. I took about 75 jars of Polly Scale and Model Master paints I wasn't using off of my paint rack and put them into long term storage. I don't really like them because they tend to clog my airbrush too frequently, despite the good range of colors available. I then took an equal amount of Tamiya paints out of a drawer and onto the paint rack. Now I can see all of the colors I have available in my favorite paint range. I also discovered that Tamiya paints never let me down and they perform much better if I use their own brand of thinner, too.

Back to club business - like I stated during last month's meeting, the E-Board would like to treat the club to an outing or two this year. Some of the ideas kicking around are trips to The Buffalo Naval and Serviceman's Park, the Pierce Arrow Antique Car Museum and maybe to the Buffalo Fire Historical Society Museum. I'll mention it again on Monday, but if there are any ideas you have for an outing for the club to sponsor, let me or any board member know and it'll surely be considered.

Last month, Justen Hanna demonstrated how to simulate paint chips on our models by using the hairspray method. Tom Faith also demonstrated how to use "oil pastels" to do weathering on just about any model theme. In fact, Tom's multi-prize winning landing craft was done (or the majority of it) using this technique. This month, Rich Bernecki will be showing us how to use Pledge Future floor acrylic on our models. Again, another meeting and demonstrations that you don't want to miss.

Have fun and build a model!

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

Model Table Round-up for June 2013

Paul Hines is having his pencil artwork of his cars on display at an exhibit in Niagara Falls - way to go, Paul! Paul brought in three new creations tonight: a Ford in "checkered flames"; a detailed drawing of a flathead Ford V-8 engine and a "grille-on" view of a Cobra Shelby.

Matt Klukowski proudly displayed a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach-1 as his first attempt at airbrushing a finish. He used Citadel acrylic (normally for wargaming figure painting) "Screaming Bell" which looks suspiciously like copper to me. He shot the paint through a Paasche airbrush and it's looking very snazzy. (Sorry, no photo.)

Brian McFee brought us a work in progress of a Grumman Bearcat racing plane. He's using the 1/48th scale Hobby Boss kit and is painting it in the livery of famed air racer, Mira Slovak. Brian said that he tried shooting Tamiya Gloss White onto the model and it just wasn't working despite using multiple, thin coats. He abandoned that idea and is using Tamiya Matt White followed by a semi-gloss clear coat with a most impressive result. Brian is much happier now. He also masked and sprayed the red and blue striping on the tips of the props - no decals here for Brian!

Matt Keysa spotted some N-Scale Japanese Army infantry figures and tank at a toy shop in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and thought he could do something interesting with them. The results are a nearly complete vignette of the IJA in action in China during WWII. The most impressive part is that Matt is doing very impressive work with a subject that is insanely small.

Matt also brought in another work in progress: A Luftwaffe AS-6 Circular Wing aircraft of which a prototype was built, but never flew. Matt says the only thing good about the kit is the resin cockpit; the rest of it just stinks. The parts really don't fit together and the panel lines aren't lined up. Despite these frustrations, Matt's doing a bang-up job with it. He is also replicating a wooden laminated propeller by using different shades of brown and standard masking techniques.

Vice-President Tony Gliszczynski brought us his Tim Hortons Challenge entry, the 1950 Ford F-1 Truck and he considers it "the worst kit ever". It's a 1/24th scale Revell kit and despite the problems, it looks like he's going to make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear". Tony also displayed a beautifully finished 2009 Dodge Challenger in bright yellow paint with black stripes. This beautiful effort was augmented with aftermarket decals.

Mark Gadek is continuing to impress us with his ex-Warsaw Pact aircraft subjects: This month's efforts include a really cool looking Japanese Ground Self Defence Force "Hellhound" helicopter made by a Japanese company called Kotobikura. Kotobikura is noted for modeling Japanese "anime" subjects. This particular helicopter looks like a cross between Mi-24 and Mi-28 Russian attack choppers. Mark says this is a "commission" project and his customer would like it in Russian Air Force markings and paint. Mark also showed us a 1/72nd scale Sukhoi Su-30 Russian Air Force fighter jet. He applied the "disruptive" camouflage scheme with Humbrol enamels. After about four days curing time, Mark said the paint "checked" for some unknown reason. So he stripped the model with oven cleaner and re-applied the Humbrols and you can see this most impressive result.

Jim Lewis showed all of us a very clean and detailed 1932 Ford "Rat Roaster" Stacey David (of the TV show "Gears" fame) roadster. Jim super-detailed the engine compartment with guitar string, a spring from a ball-point pen and other parts robbed from other kits. He applied a really cool bright green finish to the body work by using nail polish (in this case, "Good Luck Charm") thinned with lacquer thinner and applied in smooth coats via the airbrush. Another impressive model from Mr. Lewis!

Our website guru, Larry Osolkowski brought us a neat new release to look at - a LeMans racer kit he bought from Hobby Link Japan: a 1/24th scale Pescarolo Judd 01 limited edition kit. Larry is impressed with the beautiful decals and fine photoetched details that are included with the basic kit.

Rich Bernecki nearly got a hernia bringing his kit in - a recent acquisition in the form of the Panda Models 1/16th scale Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) kit. This kit is chock full of all kinds of neat details and will be a most impressive piece of armor when it's completed. Rich also started on a Wingnut Wings kit of a Fokker DVII 1/32nd scale kit representing the Great War on the side of the Germans. He has a nice start on the cockpit and is planning on finishing it in the "Seven Schwabians" scheme.

Bob Collignon showed us the start of his Tim Hortons Challenge entry, a Games Workshop Warhammer Mk. III Space Marine Land Raider which looks like a futuristic version of a WWI battle tank. Bob has no interest in "gaming" and says it's a fun kit but not a very good one as far as quality goes. We're impressed because it has more than three parts which is most unusual for Bob.

If we feared that Rich Bernecki would get a hernia from his huge tank kit, Dan Marafino may get a double hernia if he keeps hauling this one around. It's Trumpeter's 1/32 A-6A Grumman Intruder US Navy attack bomber kit. Again, a huge box just filled with highly detailed plastic parts, photoetch brass details and the largest set of white metal landing gear I've ever seen in a kit. Dan promised to bring in his 1/32nd Grumman "Growler" to the meeting next month. I can't wait.

Mike Butry got his hot little hands on Tamiya's Porsche Turbo 934 1/24th scale kit and brought it in to the meeting. He hasn't started it yet but he says it's a "simple" kit, but a real beauty.

Joe Vallone has three offerings for us this month. He continues the line of British modeling subjects from last month's Spitfires by showing a really clean 1/72nd scale resin MLB kit of the Fairey Gannet Anti-Submarine Warfare plane from the start of the Cold War era. He also showed an equally clean MB.5 Silver Cloud kit with metal landing gear and propeller. Lastly, he showed a work in progress of a Bell P-63 King Cobra as the "Crazy Horse" racer. He also demonstrated some of the aftermarket parts he made and acquired to convert former warplanes into racers. Joe, a machinist by trade, provided the metal spinners he made to the aftermarket company who converted them into resin... quite impressive.

Our Fearless Leader, John Zaranek, brought in a bunch of his "started and never to be finished" projects. First, he showed his Tim Hortons Challenge entry, the 1/72nd scale Hasegawa Royal Navy Sea Harrier. It has a primer coat on and also the matt white underside of the aircraft complete. He estimates that it is about 40% done and will be finished by August. He says the kit is really nice to build, being an older Hasegawa kit, but the decals were quite yellowed. He placed them in a ziploc bag and taped it to his kitchen window for a week. The exposure to the sun for this time effectively bleached the yellow out, but left the rest of the colors intact. He's also working on a Matchbox Sea Harrier in the same scale. It is a nice little kit but the engraved panel lines are way over-scale. He's filling them with Squadron Green Putty and plans on rescribing much finer lines. He also showed off the Airfix 1/72nd Buccaneer, another Royal Navy attack jet. The fuselage halves fit without much issue, but the nose cone didn't fit, the tail fin had huge gaps, the wings were thicker than the wing roots they attach to and the speed brake looks like it was designed for another kit altogether. He found a new product (to him anyway) to use as a filler. It's called "Microballoons" and when used in conjunction with Superglue (cyanoacrylate) can create a very smoothly polished, invisible finish when wet sanded right after applying it to the model.

A highly magnified view of the microballoons.

There were a few more unidentified items on the tables.

Justen Hanna gave an excellent demo on the use of the "hairspray" technique for simulated paint chipping.

Tom Faith followed that with another excellent demo, this time on the use of oil pastels, with some fine examples of the finished product.

Finally, a few around-the-room shots of the meeting.

Thanks to Bob Colignon for the photography.