There's only ONE MONTH left to go to complete your Tony Bartozek Memorial "I'm Not A Modeling Loser" Contest entry. After last month's meeting, one entrant dropped out and no one jumped up to take his place at the meeting (Patsy Schwab did via the internet a few days later - thanks, Patsy!) so I decided to "go all in" and I entered two more kits to the contest. Both of them are Airfix 1/72nd "new tool" Hawker Siddely Harrier jets (a GR.1 and a GR.3). So, now I'm up to my eyelids in contest builds this summer. The fact of the matter is I'm really enjoying them. The new Airfix kits are superb and a real treat to build. If you like to build airplanes and haven't tried out the new Airfix, I really hope you will. They are on par with Tamiya and Hasegawa, in my humble opinion. I'm building these kits simultaneously; I'm completing one assembly step on the GR.1 and the same for the GR.3 before proceeding on in the build and it's working out quite nicely. These kits are not totally without problems, but you'd have the same issues with the other leading manufacturers, too. The huge intakes for the Rolls Royce Pegasus engines which are so pronounced on the Harrier did have some minor fit problems, but they were easily sorted out with a bit of filler and sanding - nothing basic modeling skills cannot handle. As of today, the construction on them is complete and I'm waiting for the weekend to do some painting with Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green RAF camouflage.

Model Table Round-up from the June meeting

Thanks to everyone who participates in our Round Table model offerings every meeting. We are a scale modeling club and it's great to see members who do, indeed, build models!

Thanks again to Matt Keysa for directing the model table commentary.

Tom Faith starts us off with his Tony Challenge entry, the Hobby Boss "Land Wasser Schlepper" German WWII amphibious vehicle in 1/35th scale. Tom is planning on using aftermarket sets from Voyager brass, Archer transfers, Fruil tracks, Tank Workshop engine set, brass flooring, radio sets and much more. Tom was inspired for this build after reading Tony Greenland's book on the vehicle.

Paul Hines is continuing in his line of artwork with a 1937 Ford Cabriolet and a '32 Deuce with Flames. Paul's use of acrylics involve their full utility from very thin watercolor-like consistency to an opaque, thick oil-esque texture in order to achieve full blending of the colors.

Mike Butry displayed his Tamiya Porsche 911 GT3. Mike says that it is a straight-forward build, but he had some difficulty in attaching the front and rear lenses. He used Tamiya Gun Metal (TS-38) for the overall body color and Alclad Airframe Aluminum for the exhaust and side mirrors. Plastikote clear was used as a final gloss coat. Mike explains that of all the European car manufacturers, Porsche is one of his favorites.

Bill Borkowski says that sometimes accidents can turn out into something really good. After rearranging his airbrush set-up, he wanted to try it out right away and was looking for a "disposable" model to practice on. He used the partially built MPC Brewster Buffalo F2A-2 in 1/72nd scale. After spraying various tones of Alclad II lacquers, Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics, he found that he had a nearly completed model kit that looked pretty good! Bill did admit that he scratchbuilt the cockpit and that the decals were thick and required multiple applications of setting solutions to get them to bed down correctly. It just goes to show you that you never get rid of models - ever!

Daniel Sasiadek gave us all a rundown of "Wonderfest 2015" a fantasy/sci-fi convention similar to the IPMS Nationals held in Kentucky. He relates that there were lots of "how-to" demos and was especially impressed with the class he attended on paintbrush techniques. He brought in a bust of "The Demon" to show us his finishing techniques. He used mostly acrylics overall and chalks for additional details. Another member brought his interpretation of the same model, but we neglected to catch who the second person was.

Dan Marafino brought us his Tamiya German Tiger tank in 1/35th scale. Dan built it out-of-the-box without any modifications and added the crew with a set from MiniArt. All painting was done with his Paache H airbrush and he used Tamiya acrylics throughout. He used pastel powders for weathering and Testor's Dullcote to seal everything in. All that's left to complete the model is to add some landscaping to the base.

We have a "team effort" in our next subject. Cindy Klukowski and Jason Ignatjew collaborated on an HO scale representation of "Section 8 Hobbies" shop in beautiful South Buffalo, New York. It was explained that Jason built the structure from scratch and Cindy did the paint work. Cindy used a variety of paints from the Citadel and Tamiya lines and washes from Mig. Some issues (other than the obvious) were having the shop signs printed (which were done on an actual sign printer) and keeping the Hannas from seeing it as it was a business anniversary gift for them.

Larry Osolkowski shows us his progress on his entry for the Tony Challenge, the Hasegawa 1/24th scale Nissan R89C LeMans race car. Larry is building it straight from the box with no add-ons. He relates that it's going together well and there's lots of masking to be done for the detail painting. Masking the body will be difficult, but not insurmountable, says he. Larry chose this subject because of his previous success with this series of cars from Hasegawa and it's a "good looking" car.

Matt Keysa has also offered up his challenge kit, the Eduard 1/48th scale Focke Wulf FW 190 A-5. He's using some aftermarket pieces like photoetched seat belts from Eduard and Eagle Strike decals. Matt is using paints from Vallejo, primer from Tamiya and Johnson's Future for clear coats. There are small locating tabs on some of the parts and fine tolerances between the wings which are cause for some concern, but nothing he can't handle with some extra care and attention. Matt likes the FW-190 and chose it specifically because it's not his typical modeling subject matter.

Lastly, we have club president, John Zaranek bringing in three of his works in progress. First, it's his Xtrakit 1/72nd scale Gloster Meteor in the Royal Air Force "High Speed Silver" paint scheme. All that's left to finish it is to add the gear doors. The kit wasn't difficult to build, nor was it exactly a "shake the box and it's done" kind of kit either. The second is his Meng 1/35th scale AMX-30B2 French Main Battle Tank. The Meng kit is very, very nice. Excellent detail, minimal clean-up of the parts (and there's LOTS of parts in this kit) and some nice photoetch included. He plans on finishing it in a tan and brown camouflage pattern as used in Gulf War: Episode 1 in 1991. Finishing things up is one of his Tony's Challenge kits, the Italeri 1/35th scale USMC LAV-25 "Piranha" armored fighting vehicle. He's converting it into a mythical Buffalo Police Department Tactical Patrol Unit which would be deployed with a SWAT team. He's using the new BPD patrol vehicles as an inspiration for the paint scheme and lettering. He's also going to include home built details like an electric winch, forcible entry tools, barricades and maybe a few more surprises.

We had one other work-in-progress but, unfortunately, no further information.

Thanks to Larry Osolkowski for the photography.