Greetings fellow IPMS Niagara Frontier members!
All thirty-two, yes thirty-two, of us who elected to participate in this years' "Tony Batrozek Memorial - I'm Not A Modeling Loser Challenge" have one month to complete your entry. The two teams and their projects are as follows:
TEAM 1 - "The SprueBalls"
- John Zaranek - Revell 1/35th British Army Scorpion
- Dave Krygier - Testors 1/6 Grey Alien
- Mike Szadek - DTR 1/25 AMC Gremlin
- Matt Krygier - Testors 1/35 Panzer IV
- Justen Hanna - Eduard 1/48 Hanriot HD1
- Samantha Hanna - Hobby Boss French VBL Armored Car
- Red Hanna - 1/35 Panzergrenadiers
- Mark Gadek - Eduard 1/48 Yak-3
- Jacob Gadek - Polar Lights Hunchback
- Al Germann - Italeri 1/35 BMW R75
- Mark Budniewski - AMT 1/25 Corvair
- Nick Carluccio - AMT/ERTL 1/25 Hogan's Heroes Jeep
- G. Paveljack - Tamiya SU-76M Self Propelled Gun
- Eric Hillebrand - Tamiya 1/35 M8 Greyhound
- Frank Blonski - Hasegawa A-37B Dragonfly
- Clint Keidel - Tamiya 1/35 M5A1 US Light Tan
- Tom Faith -
TEAM 2 - "The Acrylate Acolytes"
- Joe Szczygielski - Trumpeter 1/35 M198 Towed Howitzer
- Jim Wolfe -
- Bob Collignon - Mirage U2 Type VII Submarine
- Todd Habscheid - Hordes Circle Orboros "Stalker"
- D. Price - Dark Heaven Reaper Figure
- Josh Keenan - Testor's Ryan PT-20 Trainer
- Jeff Keenan - Revell 1/72 Saab Gripen
- Tom Brown, Jr. - Revell 1/535 USS Missouri
- Larry Osolkowski - Minicraft 1/144 DC-3
- Peter Gajowka - Tamiya 1/35 Sdkfz. 7 Half Track
- Tom Brown, Sr. - Legends 1/8 The Drill Instructor Figure
- M. Hall - 1/35 MKA Whippet Tank
- Frank DelRusso - 1/72 Special Hobby SG 38 Schulgleiter
- Anthony Gliszczynski - 1/25 Revell 2014 Mustang
- Jeff Usiak - 1/35 Tamiya Matilda Mk. III/IV
- Nigel Usiak - Polar Lights Lost In Space Robot
Let's all of us bring in our subjects to see the progress we've made so far. I find it very interesting to see a "work in progress" and then the final result. I also think people who don't share this hobby really have no idea of the amount of work it takes to produce a finished model kit.
I've built my fair share of 1/72nd scale aircraft models in my time, but lately I've had this fascination with armor kits in the same scale. I have one finished already and two more are very near the completion state. I started these "braille scale" models at about the same time as my Challenge kit (which is in 1/35th scale) and despite the much smaller size, there is still a significant amount of fine, fiddly details that need to be done in order to get a decent looking kit. I've been looking up "how-to" videos on YouTube so I can produce scenic bases to put these little guys on and those are models in and of themselves. I don't know about anyone else, but for me there is always something to learn in this hobby.
It's been a relatively quiet summer so far, so I hope you're enjoying it and I'll see everyone at the meeting on Monday, July 18 at 7pm.
John R. Zaranek
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 47993
Model Table Round-up from the June meeting
Jacob Gadek brought in his Polar Lights 1/8 scale "Creature From the Black Lagoon". He finished it with Tamiya,
Valejo, Plasticote and Clear Mica Shimmer paints, and built it straight out of the box. Jacob says he used the Shimmer
paint as a top coat to give a fish scale effect - "it kinda worked". He also mentioned a minor problem with the kit
in that the victim doesn't sit right in the creature's arms. This is a continuation of Jacob's movie monster collection.
Jacob's father, Mark, displayed a Kitty Hawk 1/32 Kingfisher float plane. Mark used Tamiya and Gunze paints, with a
Tamiya pin wash for weathering. He built the kit out of the box except for making his own engine brackets as the kit parts
would not line up or hold the engine assembly properly. Mark mentioned a few other rough spots: a lot of the parts are missing
from the instructions or are on the instructions but don't exist on the sprues, and the panel and rivet details are
inconsistent. He chose this kit to add to his collection of float planes, and just to model a different subject.
Paul Hines had a couple of new acrylic paintings in his series on the History and Beauty of Automotive Design: a 1973
BMW 3.0 CSL race car, and a 1949 Cadillac Sedanti.
A bucolic cabin in the woods was displayed by Cindy Klukowski. Cindy said she bought the cabin second hand at a train
show, cheap. She used Tamiya paints and Citadel washes, along with new Bachman static grass as well as Woodland Scenics
trees, although the trees and static grass are messy to work with, and the foliage is delicate. Cindy said the model is
still a work in progress.
Mike Butry was back with another automotive project, a Revell 1/25 1941 Willys. Tamiya rattle can NATO black paint was
used to finish the car, along with Alclad chrome and airframe aluminum, '68 Roadrunner Chrysler yellow and slight
weathering using Tamiya pastel chalks. Mike said he built the kit basically out of the box except for the windows, which
were made from thin clear Evergreen plastic sheet. There were no fit issues, but Mike mentioned that the hood attachment
doesn't work well so the clamps broke off and the hood can now be easily removed.
Clint Keidel brought in a couple of armor subjects: a Tamiya 1/35 M5A1 Stuart Light Tank, and a Trumpeter 1/72 76mm
Sherman. Both kits were finished with Tamiya and Valejo paints, and Clint is building them for the Tim Hortons Challenge.
Clint said he loves WW II history.
Dick Schulenberg had a number of aircraft to show us. The first was an Italeri 1/72 F-104C built out of the box.
Dick painted it with all Tamiya spray cans, with the addition of Valejo acrylics for detail painting. Dick mentioned
that he thought the decals were all a little overscale, so they didn't fit quite right. Dick's motivation? "Who can
resist the F-104?"
Dick's next subject was a Special Hobby 1/72 Hispano HA-1112-M-1L Buchon, the last version of the BF-109 series.
Again, Dick used Tamiya spray can grey primer, Valejo acrylics, and Testors Dullcote. He said the rockets were miserable
to clean up and attach - they were too fragile. Dick built this one because it was the last 109 in the series.
The next model in Dick's collection was an Airfix 1/72 F2H-2 Banshee from the Korean War. The kit was built out
of the box except for rescribing panel lines, and was finished with Tamiya grey primer and semi-gloss, Polly Scale
dark sea blue acrylic, and Superscale decals. He mentioned that he noticed some sink marks that he will now have to
live with, and that he started this kit many years ago and finally finished it.
A Revell 1/139 Martin P6M Seamaster, a 1956 kit, was next in the series. Dick said that the kit required a lot
of cleanup, but fits well with his growing 1950's 1/144 scale collection. He used Tamiya white primer, Polly Scale
Guilford Gray (a railroad color) for Seaplane gray, and decals from the scrap box.
Finally, Dick's last subject was a Roden 1/144 Fairchild C-119C, another entry in his growing collection of 1/144
and 1950's aircraft. He used kit parts to upgrade to late C model specs, and finished it with Tamiya AS-12 spray can
silver, Polly Scale acrylic red, and Valejo's acrylics for details.
There were a number of other items on the tables.
Finally, some around-the-room shots.
Thanks to Bill Borkowski for the photography.
