BuffCon32 is nearly upon us. In one short month we will be hosting one of the best one-day modeling exhibitions in the hobby. For you seasoned veteran members, you know what to expect. For new members, we are asking that you step up and offer your services to help make the show a success. During the March meeting, there will be sign-up sheets going around where you can volunteer to agree to a job or two - working the registration desk, raffle, kitchen duties, vendor set-up, door security, etc. Whatever you can do to help is appreciated.

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

Model Table Round-up from the February meeting

Since we didn't actually have a February meeting, due to a misunderstanding with the staff at our meeting place, I asked members to submit photos and descriptions of the items they would have displayed at the meeting. Thanks to all of you who took the time to take some pics and send them to me.

Justen Hanna sent in some photos of his 1/48 Special Hobby Sopwith Schneider. Here are Justen's comments: "Since it is a short-run kit, there was plenty of body work. Thankfully it's all simple shapes. There are no locating pins, just amorphous little plastic boogers at the end of misshapen sticks that are supposed to be struts. I used my usual Lego jig to line everything up and drilled and pinned everything using 5 minute epoxy for a strong hold. I've started the rigging with monofilament and stretched Q-tip shafts for turnbuckles. It will live on a base of water and a small dock modeled after an article in the most recent Weathering Magazine." Thanks, Justen.

Cindy Klukowski worked on an HO Scale shipping and receiving yard to share at the IPMS February meeting. With use of some second-hand buildings and vehicles, this piece also includes a Citadel wash, Tamiya paints, figures and Woodland Scenics grounds materials such as trees, gravel & grass. It was easy to let imagination run wild to create a conflict of oranges that no one will "own-up to" in the argument. In addition, the second bit of trouble was a man's first day with the fork-lift, probably resulting in a call to "Celino & Barnes". All of this energy took just 5 days to complete. A second scene nearing its finish, to coincide with the shipping & receiving yard, displays a country house set back, making room for a road-side farmer's market (shown at a previous meeting). Over the past two weeks, thess parts were created specifically to be displayed next to one another.

John Zachritz provided some sci-fi material in the form of two mecha models from the show "Gurren Laggen". The kits are from Kotobukiya Models JAPAN, and the scale is somewhere around 1/48. They are articulated/pose-able, and since they are molded in three colors, he only had to paint details and add a coat of Citadel Dull-Cote from Section 8. John says he prefers the Citadel over Testors dull coat.

The unbuilt kit is a recent acquisition: Tachikoma 1/24 scale with heroine figure from the anime series: Ghost in the Shell. A Tachikoma is a futuristic tank that has artificial intelligence in order to work independently or has room for a crew of one. John says this is a rare kit and should be a fun build.

John also framed some Tarmac and carrier deck sections. They are 1/72 and 1/48 scale. He put in a ruler for scale, and is looking to sell them. Let him know if anyone is interested.

Nick Carluccio provided some nice shots of his AMT 1966 Mustang fastback. The model is painted Metallic Burgundy Red.

Matt Keysa sent along his items intended for the February meeting: a 1/35 Tamiya British QF 25 PDR with an Eduard PE set, and an Aber turned metal barrel and flash guard; a 1/72 Mirage Hobby Polish Twin Turreted 7TP tankette; and a 1/72 ACE Russian Scorpion urban assault vehicle. Matt says they're all relatively straightforward builds, and he's hoping to have these done by Buffcon.

Larry Osolkowski provided some photos of two of his current works-in-progress. The first is a 1/43 Starter Porsche 956 that will be done in the "Spirit of America" livery. The body is currently in white primer and just about ready for the gloss white finish coat. The base plate and interior have received coats of Model Master Black Chrome, which is actually a very nice matt black, somewhere between flat and satin. The kit provided headlight assemblies cast in clear resin that were rather yellowed, so he cleaned them up and made RTV molds, and Frank Blonski provided new copies along with some small lenses for taillights and side marker lights.

Larry's second item is a 1/43 Merit kit of a 1986 Benetton B-186 BMW. It's a pretty rough kit, done in white metal, and he decided to try using low-temperature solder to build up some areas rather than putty. Larry managed to get the correct paint color, an obscure Fiat paint code, mixed by Scalefinishes. A fair amount of work is left on this one.

John Zaranek sent photos of his recently completed Italeri 1/72nd scale Westland Wessex as flown by the Royal Navy off of the HMS London. John provided his comments: "The kit had very few challenges, but the decals though beautifully printed, were very difficult to get off of the backing paper. About half of them broke while I tried to apply them to the model, but I was able to nudge them into place. I finished the helicopter in overall RAF Dark Green 2 by Tamiya via the airbrush. I used a variety of acrylics to pick out details. I also used fine nylon sewing thread to represent the aerial wires going along both sides of the tail booms, secured in place with CA glue."

John also provided pictures of his current work in progress, the Italeri 1/72nd CH-149 "Cormorant" Search & Rescue helicopter currently in use by the Canadian Armed Forces. It will be finished in a very striking yellow, red and black paint scheme when completed.

Finally, some "around the room" photos, courtesy of Ed Button.

Thanks to the contributing club members for the photography.