Greetings and salutations to one and all! I'd be the first one to say that I'm excited that it's the start of the show season, but with COVID still lingering around, the shows have either been postponed to a later date or simply canceled until next year. On the bright side, it gives me a little extra time to complete a kit or two or three.

IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - March 15, 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 Knights Hall has reopened, and that will allow us to have our monthly general club meeting for March in person again. The meeting will be on Monday, March 15th, starting at the usual 7:00pm. Please use the entrance door nearest Union Rd., since we are meeting in the front room (the BuffCon vendor room). Here are the safety guidelines we will be following:

1. We will all be required to wear masks while inside the hall and unable to keep social distance of six feet.
2. Tables will be set up in a fashion to promote social distancing.
3. The bar will be closed, so bring your own drink(s).
4. When we arrive at the meeting, we will have to fill out a health questionnaire, our temperatures will be taken at the door, and hand sanitizer will be available.

Club dues for 2021 are now due. The Eboard realizes that club activities have been greatly reduced due to the pandemic, but the club still needs revenue to cover expenses. We have been fortunate that our club meeting facility, the Knights Hall, has not been charging us for the months that we've been unable to hold general meetings, but that will change as soon as meetings can be held again. Also, the club was not able to have our annual BuffCon show, a major source of income, last year, and there is a real chance that we may not be able to hold a BuffCon in 2021. If you can afford to pay the annual dues of $20 and help support the club during difficult times, please send a check to:

Tom Faith
7381 Clinton St.
Elma, NY 14059

Make checks payable to IPMS Niagara Frontier. Thank you!

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

The club Secretary was not present at the February 2021 general meeting, so there are no minutes.

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.

March 8 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held online via Zoom.

• Old Business:
  • Tom Faith stated we have 31 paid members as of this meeting.
• New Business:
  • Mike received a list of vendors that attended BuffCon in the past. The first nine replied very positively for the next BuffCon. Mike has action item to continue contacting the balance of the list.
  • There was a discussion on vendors that paid for BuffCon tables and received a refund from the club. Other vendors that also paid have the option of asking for a refund or to continue as a credit for the next show.
• BuffCon #37, 2020:
  • The attending EBoard members agreed to hold off the next BuffCon until 2022. This ended the pursuit of a November 2021 event. The date of April 3rd, 2022 was chosen based on the availability of The Knights Hall. Tom F. has action item to contact the hall on this. Once this date is confirmed, the club will make an official announcement.
  • It was noted that interest in the next BuffCon remains very high with the vendors and other leads.
• Miscellaneous:
  • Larry lead a discussion on the admin rights for the Club's Facebook pages for BuffCon and the NorEastCon that we were planning on hosting. Mike B. has the action item to contact Frank Blonski and review admin rights in order to properly maintain these pages.
  • The March club meeting is scheduled for the 15th. This once again will be in the vendor room/front room and uses the entrance closest to Union Road. Larry has action item to stress the room and entrance in the newsletter. Current COVID protocols will be in place.

Mike Gets Distracted

It took a bit of work but the instrument panel is actually a decal that comes with the kit. The dials are set on a clear decal but once set into place, I added crystal clear for the glass bezels which really makes the decal pop!

For the engine, I used Model Master Metalizer aluminum buffing. Then using Tamiya's black wash, I started to pick out the details, then dry brushed using a mix of light grey and brown. So far, the engine is done and I'm just waiting to glue it in place once the cowl is finished.

I've chosen the Super Scales(48-658) decal sheet that represents Col. Richard Hewitt's P-47 from the 78thFG, 82ndFS. Through a friend, I was able to meet Dick about 15 years ago and we remained good friends up until his passing. It's nice to build something straightforward as it's a nice change of pace!

With the armored Jeep, nothing has changed since I brought it to the last club meeting except that I added a tarp made from tissue in-between the lowered windshield and the front armored plating. Even though I have the pintle in place, I'm just trying to figure out how I am going to set up the 0.30 cal. MG.

Happy modeling!
Mike Butry

Dick Schulenberg's March Madness

The 1/144 B-29 on a stick is coming along. Scribing didn't go so well and looked bad under paint, so the paint came off and the scribing filled with superglue and sanded smooth. Repainting the now smooth surface with Tamiya spray can Natural Metal is happening. My new plan for scribing is to scribe into the paint only with a #11 blade, then, maybe, mask and paint some panels a different shade of aluminum. I'll use Tamiya tape as a scribing guide. I've done this before and found that scribing just the paint with the knife point takes little pressure so the blade doesn't wander and dig in so much. No pictures with scribing just yet.

The stick and tissue 16" span Beech Staggerwing rubber powered flying model is just sticks yet but is now ready for tissue. Here's a bones shot with most everything in place so you can get an idea of what it looks like. I built a bunch of this kind of models when I was much younger so I'm hoping that I still remember how to cover with tissue paper.

I stopped in to Section 8 a couple of weeks ago and came out with the new 1/72 Sword TBM-3R, the post WWII Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) version of the famous wartime Navy torpedo bomber. I started it right away. It's a typical modern Sword short run kit. Moldings are sharply detailed and flash free but there are no locating pins. The instructions look good but the actual parts don't necessarily match the drawn pictures. Locations can be vague so trial fitting, always a good practice, is necessary. All that said, it goes together nicely and the decals look really good.

Dick Schulenberg

We start with current projects that members have sent in via email, and then continue with models on the tables at last month's live, in-person meeting.

Dave Armitage has been busy as usual. His submissions for this month include a Sikorski I-16, a WWI Russian fighter plane. This one has skis.

Dave's next model is a diorama of a cement mixer on a work site.

Dave described his final model this month as "just being silly".

Even though he was at the meeting last month, Steve Weller didn't have anything on the tables, so he sent an update as follows: "Well, here it is, gang: THE RFM PzlllJ. 30 years in the making - it's got over 400 pieces of single link track which a lazy modeler might replace with the Tamiya track to the right of the box. The vinyl track and turned metal barrel are stolen from el cheapo started/incomplete kits I got from shows (you remember shows, right?). Kit includes clear parts, a nice slide-mold one piece plastic barrel, p/e grills, etc., decals for 4 tanks and I rough counted five or six hundred parts beyond the track parts. I ordered it from China in November for $69 total on eBay and I still haven't seen them for sale over here. It took me over 250 hours to finish my last 800 part kit so I better get crackin'... Seeya!"

Jeff Belling sent in some photos of his latest completed project, a 1/72 Trumpeteer M26 Pershing. Jeff mentioned that the individual tracks were a real challange to put together, but other than that he thinks it looks OK.

Continuing with the model tables from the meeting, John Doerr brought in a Tamiya 1/48 Ki61. John used Model Master Metallizer and Tamiya paints, and did some light weathering and drybrushing. He added some Eduard cockpit photoetch, and a seat belt. John said he picked the subject because of the camo scheme, and he loves to airbrush.

Continuing a tradition started by Paul Hines, John has also gotten into paintings, and sent an image of his latest effort, a volcano.

Eugene Paveljack displayed two of the Warhammer gaming figures he's recently completed. They are finished with Citadel paints, along with washes and drybrushing. He picked the subjects because his son is involved in gaming with figures.

Speaking of paintings, Paul Hines brought four new ones to the meeting: a 1964 Lotus Climax 25, a 1954 Mercedes Benz W196, a 1952 Shark Nose Ferrari, and a 1950's vintage Ferrari. Paul said he always liked the open wheel 1950's racing cars.

Tom Brown, Sr. supplied a few items for our inspection. The first was a 1:1 scale model of a French Wheellock Pistol. Tom finished the model using enamel gold and silver-gold paint markers and acrylic browns. He said he thought the colors on the box were not appealing, so he went online and found a picture of one that was real close to the model. Tom mentioned that a couple of pieces were missing, but the kit went together well. Tom collects 1:1 scale firearms, and said "I am going blind, but had fun anyways."

Tom's other items were a pair of figure models, one original and one modified. They were based on a Toys for Tots Marine Stroller set, and he used acrylics for painting. Tom removed the bloodline and rank marks from the soldier figure, added Lt./Cpl. chevrons, ground off the teddy bear and replaced it with a truck. He said his daughter is a Lt./Cpl. in the Marine Corps motor pool, which provided motivation for this project. Plus, he loves changing stuff.

Tim Grieve displayed a Lindberg 1/390 USS Yorktown. Tim used Testors Red, Wood, Yellow, Navy Blue and White, and Model Color Light Sea Gray, Medium Sea Gray and Black paints. He said there were no modifications or aftermarket bits used, and no weathering. Tim mentioned that he wanted to do something different, and motivation came from a tour he took of the Bennington when he was 12 years old.

Jim Greenfield brought in a few models for us to see. The first was a Star Wars Virago, which he finished with Tamiya and Citadel paints. Tim scratch-build the interior, and applied a gloss coat to the model, but the washes have not been applied yet. He said that this was a terrible kit, the worst 18-part kit he's ever built, and he built it because it was terrible. Apparently, it's really terrible.

Jim also had two other items that hopefully were not as terrible: a 3D printed Babylon 5 Dreadnought, and a Dust German Walker Tank.

Brian McFee showed us his latest project, an Eduard F6F-3. He use Tri Color paints with water color weathering.

Larry Osolkowski brought in his 1/43 Meri kit of a Benetton-BMW TG186 Formula 1 car from the 1986 season. He got the floor pan assembled, and shot some Zero white primer on the body along with Zero Pure White on the rear half of the car which will receive fairly extensive decals. The rear wing got a coat of Zero semi-gloss black, after stripping and repainting with etching primer after the regular primer started flaking off. Larry also discovered that the front wing end plates did not match the decals that were supposed to go on them, so he cut them off and started making new end plates from brass sheet.

Larry also brought in a new kit that finally arrived from Japan after a 3-month shipping time. It's a BMW 320i DTCC race car in 1/24 scale by NuNu. He also got the related detail set, which includes photoetch parts and carbon fiber decals, and a Marlboro decal set to add the authentic sponsorship markings. He said it looks like a very nice kit.

Larry also showed his continuing progress on the 1/20 Tamiya Leyton House F1 car.

Dan Price displayed his "Invictus Warsuit Pilot Eliminating a Hitchhiker". Dan used Citadel, Mission Models and Vallejo paints, along with Vallejo earth weathering effects and weathering pencils. Modifications included adding a 3D printed grot (Ork) to the top, and a Marine from a different kit because the one that came with the kit was sitting, not standing. Dan said the kit was easy to build, and is part of his Imperial Fists 40K army. The theme of the army is Imperial Fists vs. Orks, which is why there is an Ork on top, taunting the Space Marine.

Mike Butry mentioned his 1/35 Tamiya Armored Jeep in his article above, but he also brought it to the meeting. Painting has not started yet, but he used Evergreen sheet stock for the armor plating, a Legend covered windshield, various Verlinden sets, and aluminum foil for the tarp. Mike loves Jeeps.

Jim Wolfe (welcome back, Jim!) showed us a current work-in-progress, a World War II German Soldier Shelter House Wood Cabin by 1/35 Scale Model Kits (yes, that's the brand). Jim is using various stains on the wood model, including black walnuts soaked in water, steel wool and vinegar, model railroad stains and Micro Mark wood ager. He said he sealed the wood with the stains and dullcoat, then used the hairspray technique on the painted trim. He also sprinkled kosher salt on wet wood prior to airbrushing. Jim picked the subject because it was cheap and interesing, and curtains and a stone foundation will be added.

Steve Weller brought in a new kit for our inspection, a Rye Field Sherman tank with full interior, and about 1.36 million parts.

Finally, some around-the-room shots.

Thanks to all of the members who sent in photos and updates on their current projects.