The lazy, hazy days of summer are upon us! I hope you still have time to spend on your modeling. It's slow on the local front as far as model contests go; the next close show will be in Rochester in September. Still plenty of time to complete your entries!

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - July 15, 2019

7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms - members trading kits.

We would like to encourage all club members to join the national IPMS. Help support your hobby on a national level. IPMS provides the insurance that allows us to have our events, and membership includes a nice monthly magazine. The website can be found at: IPMS, and an application form can be found HERE.

The July 2019 newsletter of the IPMS Patriot chapter is available HERE.

Any member who needs a club name tag should see Paul Hines at the meeting. We will be ordering name tags in the near future.

Members who are interested in getting a club shirt should see Tom Faith before or after the meeting, or during the break.

The minutes from the June 2019 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.

June 17th - First Vice President Ed Button led the meeting.
Ed B. recognized visitors, as there was one person. Ed brought up the recent passing of club member Frank Del Russo. There were words from various members on experiences and memories of Frank.

• Old Business:
  • Al G. motioned to accept previous meeting's minutes, there was a second motion. There were no comment so voting took place and membership accepted the minutes.
  • Ed brought up that the Tony Bartozek "I'm not a modeling loser" challenge started and hopes everyone participating is making progress.
  • Tom Faith provided an update on club shirts. The shirts are planned to be ordered in July.
  • An update on the summer picnic at club member Dave Armitage's house in Batavia is the date of Saturday July 20th starting at 10:00am. A head count was taken with 15 stating they will come. Ed B. asked members to volunteer as needed for the event.
• New Business:
  • A recent show was Anime Con in Toronto and John Allen Price, who was also a guest speaker, provided a summary.
  • The floor was open to questions and comments and Frank Blonski provided some feedback on judging at the recent AMPS show in Buffalo.
• Members' models on the tables were presented via "passing the mic".

To promote greater transparency regarding the operation of the club and the EBoard, action items from the previous month's EBoard meeting will be published in the newsletter. These will not be detailed minutes of the meetings, but highlights that the general membership should be aware of.

Note: no EBoard meeting in June.

Member Name: John Zaranek

What kind of modeling? What scale?
Armor in ALL scales! Aircraft in 1/72 and 1/48 scale, especially helos (helicopters).

Member Name: Brian Horton

What kind of modeling? What scale?
Automotive 1/24th - 1/25th.

Model tables from the June meeting:

We welcomed back Matt Keysa, who's been busy serving with the military. Matt brought in a few items for us to see, including a Rogatywka (a Polish Army Cap); assorted Foreign Unit and Exercise patches from Eastern Europe; some kits and detail sets from Eastern Europe, including Ardpol, Lukograph resin aircraft kits, a Zvesda Su-100 1/72 scale self-propelled gun, and an Aber 1/72 Napoleonic 6-pounder field gun; and a German machine gun ammo can, original, from the vicinity of Poznan, Poland.

Frank Blonski showed us a 1/35 Merkava Mk III, finished with custom-mixed Tamiya paints. Frank added antennas, and did some weathering with a wash and drybrushing. He said the kit picked him, and he was thankful that it had been half-started.

Anthony Acquisto displayed his current progress on a 1/24 Monogram helicopter. He said he modified the internal frame and transmission housing to take an electric direct drive. Anthony said he likes helicopters.

Paul Hines shared a new set of automotive paintings. The collection included a 1962 Ferrari GTO, an orange 3-window coupe in the city, and a hot rod with blower on the strip at dusk. Paul mentioned that one advantage of doing automotive art is that he can place a car in any background setting to best show off the car.

Bill Borkowski displayed a couple of automotive subjects that he's currently working on. The first was a Heller 1/43 Porsche 928, finished with various Tamiya paints for the brush painted interior and the airbrushed body. Bill said he added seat belts and interior details. He said the interior and the chassis went together OK with some modifications but the body was (is) a nightmare: its warped, and the windows are too small to fit. He couldn't get a good paint finish; the model was stripped and repainted many times, with poor results. Bill picked the subject because he wanted to practice brush painting. He thought a small scale car would be easier to brush paint; that was true of the interior but not the body. His final comments were that painting the body was an exercise in frustration: orange peel that showed up weeks after painting, and paint that never really dried. He also broke the roof pillars in the process.

Bill's second subject was a Tamiya 1/24 Porsche Boxter. Bill is using Tamiya paints: colors as per the instructions, mostly airbrushed except for the body shell which was painted with a rattle can, and some brush painting for details. He said this kit was built out-of-the-box and, unlike his previous model, there were no problems and "all the parts in this kit fit perfectly!" Bill said the interior is not done yet, and he picked this kit because he likes roadsters.

Larry Osolkowski brought in three items. The first was his progress on his Tony Bartozek Challenge entry, a 1/32 Arii '67 Fairlady 2000 GT, also known as a Datsun 2000 Roadster. The chassis and interior are mostly complete, and were finished with a combination of airbrushed and brush-painted Model Master enamels plus a Molotow pen for the chrome. He also added some junk box decals to the dashboard. The body will be finished in a pale yellow using Scale Finishes paint, tested on a spoon.

Larry also displayed a new kit, a 1/25 Classic Racing Resins multimedia model of the 2019 Dallara that won this year's Indy 500 with driver Simon Pagenaud. The kit did not come with decals, which were sourced from Indycals. Larry had a bottle of the correct neon yellow paint from an unknown source in his paint stock. He said the kit is pretty rough, and will take a lot of cleanup, but the body shape is good and it should produce a decent shelf model.

Larry's last item was a result of some recent frustration with Xacto blades. He said the last package of brand name Xacto blades were a big disappointment, with the tips easily broken and the blades getting dull very quickly. Larry ordered some alternative blades from Amazon, and the blades made by Excel are far superior. They cost a bit more than the Xacto brand, but have been lasting much longer and seem to be sharper, too. He got a small container of Excel stainless steel blades to try, but hasn't had a chance to test them yet.

Dick Schulenberg showed us a set of Anigrand 1/144 resin Experimental Century Series fighters, comprising the XF-103, XF-107, XF-108, XF-109 and F-110A (F-4C). He plans to use Tamiya spray can natural metal, clear and white for the XF-108. Dick has no intentions for weathering, since most of these planes never existed except as mockups. He said the kits look good, with only minor resin pinholes and mold shift. Dick mentioned that he loves this era and 1/144 is the perfect scale for this kind of collection. This is his Tony Bartozek Challenge entry.

Al Germann had a couple of items to show us. The first was a group of Harry Potter busts. Al said he got the molds from Tom Brown, Sr., and is trying to use them with Plaster of Paris. He said he's having trouble with air bubbles, but thought it was interesting to try something like this.

Al's second model was an Airfix 1/24 Yamaha 500cc racing motorcycle. He's building it out-of-box, and finishing it with Tamiya and Krylon paints. He said he used a black wash for the engine that you can't see, and the decals were poor quality. Al is building this because it's interesting, different, and will be a quick, fun build for the Tony Bartozek Challenge.

Maryann Germann displayed an Amazon / Kamen Rider work in progress for the Tony Bartozek Challenge. Maryann said she used Bondo auto body filler on the seams and openings, and had some issues with cutting the arms and legs to fit the sockets and gluing them in place while keeping the pose.

Dave Armitage had only two new models for us to view this month. The first was another room of a house, this one a living room that will definitely "Give You Happiness", and the second was a US Army Loader.

Mike Butry displayed a new work-in-progress, a Revell Porsche Junior 108 Tractor. He currently has it primed with Tamiya rattle can paint, with the wheels painted aged white with Testors acrylic. Mike said he's simply building it for fun, so it will be out-of-box. He mentioned that even though this is a "glue" kit, it had a snap-tite quality to it. Mike thinks that it's just a neat subject and farm tractors are cool.

Finally, some around-the-room photos.

Thanks to Ed Button for passing the microphone around for the tables, and Larry Osolkowski for the photography.