Greetings and salutations to one and all! Summertime is finally upon us. The grills are grilling, everyone is enjoying the great outdoors and our benches are a bit more lonely these days. Well, I can't speak for everyone but with the weather being so nice (except for the last week or so), I've been spending more time outside with the family than at my bench.

Our upcoming meeting (July 20th) will be another build and bull session, so please make sure to bring your current project and I'll see you on Tuesday!

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - July 20, 2021

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

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 monthly general club meeting will be on Tuesday, July 20th, starting at the usual 7:00pm at the usual meeting room in the rear building. Here are the safety guidelines we will be following:

1. Masks are not required for fully vaccinated individuals.

A link to the current Sprue and Glue News has been added in recent months to the Newsletter Blast emails provided by National IPMS. For those readers from other chapters, and anyone else who might be interested, our website has a Newsletter page with buttons to select any of the newsletters from the current year. There is also a button on that page to access the Archive page, which has links to all of the newsletters published since September 2007.

The Links page on the club website has recently been updated with information contributed by members. If you have a favorite website for modeling info, forums, etc., email the information to larryo@ipmsniagarafrontier.com.

A NOTE TO NON-MEMBERS

There are no minutes from the June 2021 general meeting, since our Secretary, Al Germann, was unable to attend.

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.

The EBoard is on summer hiatus, so there was no July meeting.

John Zaranek sent in some photos of his current projects. Both are RAF machines in 1/72 scale. The first is a Sepecat Jaguar by Revell Germany (former Italeri). The second one is a Tornado by Hasegawa. John said he's going to source new decals from the aftermarket because they're in poor condition.

We'll now continue with the models on the tables at last month's live, in-person meeting.

Dick Schulenberg brought in several collections of aircraft. The first group comprised Heller 1/72 Dewoitine D500, D501 and D510 mid-to-late 1930's fighters. He used Tamiya spray-can primer and Silver Leaf, along with brushed Vallejo Model Color paints, with top coats of Tamiya spray-can Semi-Gloss Clear. Dick said he built them out of the box except for Printscale decals, which he said worked well. He added that there were no issues with the kits: "Heller made well fitting kits. Those were old enough kits that the molds weren't worn, so no flash." Dick picked the subject as part of his "French Connection" collection, and he mentioned that the models were previously presented in the newsletter while we weren't having meetings. Additional details: the D500 has a 2-blade metal prop, no underwing cannons, nose guns only; the D501 has a 2-blade wood prop, nose guns and wing cannons; the D510 has a 3-blade metal prop, a bigger fin, nose gun and wing cannons.

Dick's second group included 1/72 Heller and Azur (Special Hobby) Nieuport-Delage NiD622 French 1930's fighters. Vallejo Model Color paints were applied over Tamiya gray spray-can primer with a Tamiya spray-can Semi Gloss Clear finish. He built these models out of the box with kit decals. Dick said the Heller kit was easy and clicked together, but the Azur kit was more finicky and he had to replace some struts to make things fit. These subjects continue Dick's "French Connection" collection, and these were also presented in a prior newsletter before meetings resumed.

Dick's last model was a 1/72 Azur (Special Hobby) Breguet 27 1930's French Army cooperation plane. He used Vallejo Model Color brushed over Tamiya spray-can gray primer with Tamiya spray-can Semi Gloss Clear for the finish coat along with the kit decals. Dick had some additional comments: "the vacuform windscreen is intended to support the back of the wing. I couldn't make that work and ended up installing a wire post to align and support the wing. Fussy assembly." He picked the subject as part of his "French Connection" collection, and because it's a funky-looking airplane that actually served in combat in early WW II.

Ron Mikol brought in his latest effort, a 1941 Willys finished in custom mixed Raspberry and Purple Metallic paints with a PPG Clear coat. He tubbed the rear end, pancaked the hood, and opened the doors and trunk. He picked the subject because he wanted a nice looking street rod.

Bob Butry displayed his completed Accurate Miniatures 1/48 TBM-3 Avenger. He used Tamiya White paint along with Aeromaster Dark Sea Blue and Intermediate Blue, with weathered panel lines. Bob said he used Montex window masks, which left a glue residue on the windows when the masks were removed. He mentioned that this was a different use of this aircraft as an Air Sea Rescue based out of Kaneohe, Hawaii. As such, the plane did not use turret or ventral guns, which were removed.

Jim Greenfield brought in two models. The first was a Bandai 1/48 Gary Anderson's UFO Space Fighter. He used Tamiya, Citadel and Mission paints, with washes, pigments, tints and dry-brushing for weathering. Jim said it was a simple space kit so he did a lot of scratch-building and kit-bashing, included adding a full interior and engine bay, and replacing a missile with a railgun. The subject was inspired by the TV series from his childhood.

Jim's second model was a Bandai Zeon Gundam Hover Bike in 1/35 scale. It's a work-in-progress, with no paint applied yet and some kit-bashing and weight removal to accommodate a second figure. Jim said it went together smoothly, and he picked it because it's weird.

Bill Borkowski brought in two subjects this month. The first was a Tamiya 1/24 BMW Z3 Roadster. Bill used Tamiya lacquer spray paint, along with Tamiya acrylic paint both brushed and airbrushed. He said that most of the clear plastic parts were a poor fit; the windshield was a fraction too small leaving a gap at the top. He also said that many of the part locator points or pins were small making alignment while gluing tedious. Bill added that he found 3M Micropore tape, used in medical settings, makes a fairly realistic passenger compartment carpet when painted. He picked the subject because he likes roadsters.

Bill's second model is a work-in-progress Revell Porsche 914/6 in 1/25 scale. He's using Tamiya lacquer spray paint and Tamiya acrylics, brushed and airbrushed. Bill had some strong comments: "this kit is terrible! Sprues had a lot of flash. Many pieces are ill-formed and don't fit. The chassis is warped. I don't know if there will be any problems marrying the body to the chassis or if the 'glass' will fit." Come on Bill, tell us how you really feel! He said he picked the subject because of nostalgia - his brother owned this car, and it is a mid-engined sports car that was novel at the time he owned it. Bill also mentioned that the worst part of the kit is that the engine compartment is detailed, but when the car is fully assembled the engine compartment cannot be seen.

Jeff Keenan showed us his Dragon 1/144 WZ-10 Modern Chinese Attack Helicopter. It was finished with Vallejo and cheap acrylic craft paints, with light washes for weathering (it hasn't been in combat yet). Jeff scratch-built an air data sensor, used a hypodermic needle for the cannon, and fixed the tail rotor to the correct orientation. He said that the shape is off, and he tried using metallics on the windshield since there's no cockpit, but that didn't produce the desired effect so he's going to redo it with gloss black. Jeff said that he likes modern helicopters, and 1/144 is a great way to take a break from more detail-oriented projects. Jeff also showed us some new sanding tools he recently procured.

John Doerr had a couple of new projects for us to see. The first was a Crown 1/144 Bf-110C. He's using Mig RLM-02 and Mr. Color RLM-65 paints.

John's second kit was an Avia 1/72 S-199. It's being finished in Tamiya RLM-66 and Mig RLM-02.

Eugene Paveljack had a recently completed War Hammer figure, finished with Citadel paints.

Ilya Grinberg brought in two models in his usual 1/72 scale. The first was a URAL-4320. He used the cab and frame from a Hobby Boss kit, resin parts for the bed with canvas and wheels, and added lots of photo-etch bits. The second was a Zil-157, built with "not a single part from the kit". He used a resin cab, the body is resin from Balaton Models, the wheels are resin, the frame is scratch-built, and more PE was added. Both models were finished with AKAN paints. Ilya said the Zil was the truck of his childhood.

Tim Grieve displayed his Academy 1/72 B-17F Memphis Bell. He used Model Color Light Sea Gray, Black, Leather, Interior Green and Gunmetal paints, along with Model Masters Red, Green, Yellow, Olive Drab and Medium Green. Weathering was added with a #2 pencil and Testors Dullcoat. He picked the subject because the kit was on sale and he needed it to complete a diorama. Tim also mentioned that the decals were great.

Brian McFee showed us his recently completed Revell 1/48 F-102A Delta Dagger. It was finished with Vallejo FS-36622 light gray, FS-34102 US dark green, FS-34079 US forest green and USAF brown paints using Camouflage Masking putty from Mig. Brian added F-102A ejection seats from Quick Boost, and weathering with a black wash from Chromatemp water-based paints for the panel lines. His list of problems with the kit was short and sweet: "a lot". He picked the subject because he likes the F-102A.

The next model was a joint project between Bob Conshafter and John Doerr: an Airfix 1/48 Spitfire L.F. Mk16e. Paints used include Tamiya XF-81, XF-82 and XF-83, with a Microscale Satin Clear finish coat. Silly Putty was used for the camouflage masking. Added modifications included Ultracast resin props from Canada, Boost resin exhausts from Eduard and an Eduard cockpit detail set. No weathering was done yet, but the green camo was lightened with XF-3 yellow. The decals were aging and had to be repaired in spots using spare decal pieces that were not otherwise needed. The subject was picked after it generating increasing interest over time.

Paul Hines had more aircraft artwork this month, with three new paintings: an F-16 jet "On Patrol"; two F-22 Raptors "Bogies 20 Miles Out"; and an F-15 and pilot "Wingman". Paul said that the advantage of being an aviation artist is that he can paint the planes in their natural element - the sky.

Dan Marafino also brought in some new artwork to continue his theme from last month. His first painting was a P-51D Lou IV. He said he didn't want to take away from Lou by adding more. The painting was done in acrylics, and Dan said it took him 7-8 days with around 2 hours of painting each evening.

Dan's second painting was a P-40E in the valley dropping a bomb on a power plant. Dan said he used acrylics again, and this one took a similar amount of effort.

Dan's last painting was a B-17G returning from a bombing raid in Deutchland - first the flak, then the 109's. He used acrylics, and this was a quicker project at about 3 weeks.

Larry Osolkowski showed some progress on his AMT 1/25 Penske PC-6 Norton Spirit Indycar as driven by Bobby Unser. He got some filling, sanding and priming done on the replacement resin tires, along with the kit wheels, front wing assembly, gearbox and some engine bits.

Larry also got some masking and painting done on his 1/43 Benetton F1 car.

He also brought in a couple of new detail items. The first was a set of resin hose joints for detailing race cars from a company called Decalcas. A section of braided hose material is also included. The second item was a set of replacement decals for the Trumpeter 1/12 Ford GT-40 dashboard, also from Decalcas. They are a huge improvement over the kit decals. Both items came from Spotmodel, an online shop located in Spain.

Larry's last item was a 1/43 Provence Moulage kit of the Belmondo Racing Chrysler Viper GTS from Le Mans 2000. He said he always liked the Viper race cars, and the kit came from Grand Prix Models in the UK and was too cheap to pass up. It looks like a nice resin kit with lots of decals.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks to the members who sent in photos and updates on their current projects, and thanks to Jeff Keenan for handling the model tables.