Greetings and salutations to one and all! One show down (ROCON40) and two more to go that're within
driving distance. For those of you that will be attending SYRCON 34 (10/16), please wear your club shirts
to show our support. Much appreciated and thank you!
I know BuffCon is not until April, but we are starting to get things rolling and so at this month's general meeting, we'll be talking about judging with possibly a twist to how we do it.
Just like with any new ideas or ways, there will always be positive and negative views, but I believe with everyone's input, we can get this judging down to a science.
- The biggest thing for me is when judging, we need room to move freely about without running into
onlookers or having them breathing down our necks or oddly staring you down as if, "you better pick mine".
- Have the contest room closed off fully when judging, or
- Have said row closed when judging.
- Now in regards to judging, our standard practice is to break up into the various groups (aircraft,
armor, auto, etc.) and then judge in those said categories.
- Tom Brown Sr. brought up the idea at this past Tuesday's eBoard meeting to judge as one group, which means it'll be a mix of aircraft, armor and car guys. This way we can do one sweep in judging in hopes to elevate groups being short handed but more importantly, use our time wisely.
- With the above thought, this is where we'd close off said row as we judge, so this way the onlookers won't interfere with our moving around as mentioned prior. So with each row, we'd block it off and so on.
Here is a list of the last remaining upcoming shows plus ours:
- SYRCON 34 - Sunday, October 16, 2022 at American Legion, 5575 Legionnaire Drive, Cicero, NY 13039
- Cleveland Model Show 25 - Sunday, November 6, 2022 at Kirkland School Complex, 9150 Chillicothe Rd. (Rt.306), Kirkland, OH 44094
- BUFFCON 38 (40th Anniversary) - Sunday, April 2, 2023 at The Knights, 2735 Union Rd. at William St., Cheektowaga (Buffalo) NY, 14227
That's all for now, and I'll see you next Tuesday (10/18) for the general meeting and hopefully I'll see most of you at SYRCON34 this Sunday (10/16). Again, this will be another build-n-bull general meeting so bring in your current projects.
Michael Butry
President
IPMS Niagara Frontier
IPMS USA No. 52196
IPMS Niagara Frontier Meeting Agenda - October 18, 2022
7:00 PM to 7:10 PM - Place models on tables with description forms.
7:10 PM - Meeting called to order.
Old Business:
- Recap of new Lego Category.
New Business:
- Buffcon.
- Judging.
- Syracuse show - your thoughts?
Questions from the floor.
Table discussion: Members tell the club about the models they have on the tables.
Break: 10 minutes.
- Members catch up on what's been going on since the last meeting.
Call for adjournment.
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, October 18th at the Knights Hall, 2735 Union Rd., Cheektowaga, NY 14227, starting at the usual 7:00pm at the usual meeting room in the rear building. There will also be a 50/50 raffle held at the meeting to help raise funds for the club.
Since judging will be a topic of discussion at the next meeting, a recent email from the national IPMS organization might be of interest. The email included a link to the paper being referenced, and is reprinted below.
A discussion/action paper was submitted to the Executive Board on August 28, 2022 by Dana Mathes, #43781.
This paper discusses the current IPMS/USA National Contest judging practices and the criteria on which they
are based. It is not a proposal for any changes to the IPMS/USA National Contest Awards system (i.e.: from
1-2-3 to G-S-B or "Open" style awards), but rather focuses on some inconsistencies within the current judging
criteria and evaluation, and the inconsistencies experienced with training our judges and application of our
current criteria during judging.
Finding no precedent for how to handle something like this, we suggested Dana treat this in the manner as if it were submitted as a proposed amendment to the Constitution and By-Laws, and that he obtain signature endorsements of it by 25 current IPMS/USA members. We have confirmed receipt of those 25 endorsements.
The paper has been submitted to the National Contest Committee for their review and comment prior to scheduling a joint meeting with the Executive Board to discuss the actions proposed by Dana in his paper.
In the spirit of open transparency to the membership firmly held by the current Executive Board, we are making this document available for review and comment by the membership prior to taking any formal action with the National Contest Committee on the proposed response actions called out for in this paper. You can read Dana's paper HERE.
Section 8 Hobbies is now holding a build night every Wednesday from 4 to 9pm. All are welcome to bring their latest projects and work on them in the company of other modelers.
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 our 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.
A NOTE TO NON-MEMBERS
IPMS Niagara Frontier is a group of people from the Western New York area who enjoy the hobby of scale model building. We have about 80 members with 30+ attending each monthly meeting. Our club meets at 7:00pm on the third Tuesday of every month at The Knights, 2375 Union Rd., Cheektowaga, NY 14225.
A typical meeting starts with a short session related to club business. This is followed by "Show & Tell" - many members bring in their current work in progress to share experiences with other members. There is usually at least one model-related demonstration by a club member at each meeting. Meetings are free to the public. If you are in the Western New York area we would love to have you drop in to one of our meetings and say hello. We welcome modelers of all skill levels - from beginner to expert.
Our annual BuffCon event held each year in April continues to be one of the largest shows in this part of the country.
As a community-oriented club we also gather toys each Christmas for the "Toys-for-Tots" program and are proud of our support of this worthwhile program.
A brochure that describes the club and its activities can be found HERE.
The minutes from the September 2022 general meeting are included below. Thanks to our Secretary, Al Germann, for the meeting minutes.
September 20th - President Mike Butry led the meeting.
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.
October 10 - President Mike Butry led the meeting, held via Zoom.
Dave Armitage sent in some photos of his latest projects. He started with a 1928 Lincoln "L" Dietrich
convertible sedan in 1/16 scale, built from an old Minicraft kit.
Dave's second model was a 1913 Mercer.
Dave's next model was an HO scale ladder truck kit from Berkshire Valley Models.
Dave also sent in photos of a 1/48 scale Dornier DO17e from a Minicraft kit.
Finally, Dave provided a seasonal scene, and a 1934 Ford V8 pickup in 1/25 scale, from an old AMT kit.
John Doerr sent in some photos of a collection of MiG 17s.
Moving to the model tables, Bob Conshafter displayed his trophy winners from the Rocon show. His
first was a 2nd place in Armor Dioramas for a 1/40 Revell (circa 1967) M-56 Scorpion with kit figures
on an old K&B (Aurora) base. The diorama theme was "M-56 On Desert Maneuvers".
Bob's second model placed 3rd in the Rocon Out-of-box Armor category. It was a 1/35 ICM Panzer 2
"Luchs".
Bob's third model took a 3rd place in OOB Aircraft, a 1/72 Monogram P-51B Mustang, "Short Fuse
Sallee".
Bob's last model placed 2nd in the Retro-modeling category; it was a Revell (1956) B-25B
Mitchell in "Doolittle Raider" markings.
John-Allen Price brought in his latest project, an Airfix 1/72 F-4B(G) Phantom II. He used a
combination of Polly-S Dark Green; Model Master Olive Drab, Field Grau (German Field Gray), and White,
and an unknown aerosol white, with no weathering. John-Allen built it out-of-box except for the
weapons which were salvaged from other kits. He said his biggest problem was trying to figure out how
much lead to put in the nose. John-Allen mentioned that he's midway through the "Jungle Cats On the
Flight Deck" series, with two more after this one, after which he's going back to Army Air Force planes.
Tom Brown, Sr. displayed GI Joe #2 in the bronzing stage, including a knife made out of a popcicle
stick and a helmet made from toilet paper and white glue. He also showed us his dueling pistol which
took a 1st at Rocon in the Miscellaneous category.
Paul Hines had three new automotive art subjects for us to see. They comprised a 1969 Pontiac
Firebird, a 1970 Mustang Mach I, and an early '70s Corvette with T-roof. Paul said he tried to
present the cars realistically, but took some artistic license with the backgrounds to make it
look more like a painting.
John Doerr brought in several aircraft models. He started with a group of retro kits, including
a 1/48 Testors (Hawk) F8F-2, and a 1/48 Lindberg twin kit of an F-80 and F-94C.
John's next model was a completed 1/48 Tamiya Buffalo, finished with Model Master Metallizer
Aluminum, RAF Dark Green and USAF Dark Tan. He used the kit decals.
John also had a 1/48 Hasegawa P-38G. He used airbrushed Model Master Faded OD and Neutral Gray.
He added weathering based on planes in North Africa in the summer of 1943, with dry-brushed Model
Master Metallizer Steel and Aluminum on leading edges. John mentioned that the wheels were so delicate,
he had a hard time removing them from the sprues.
Bob Heiss showed us his figure of Moe from the Three Stooges, built from the Polar Lights kit.
He used Vallejo Desert and Flesh Tone acrylics, weathered with oil wash and pastel drybrushing. He
said the kit had no issues, and he loves the Three Stooges. Larry is next.
Al Germann had a couple of items on display. The first was a Dodge Deora kitbash, finished with
Testors lacquer spray paint. Al extended the wheelbase, used a convertible top from a Ferrari Daytona,
a 12 cylinder engine from another Ferrari, a 1969 Shelby windshield frame, a Dodge Challenger
dashboard, parts box wheels, and added replacement side trim. He said there were no issues beyond the
usual kitbash complications. Al mentioned that he likes doing a major custom once in a while.
Al's second item was a couple of 3D-printed car bodies that he got on eBay. They included a
1/25 Volvo P1800 and a 1/35 1946 Jeep Pickup. Al said he owns a Volvo P1800, and always liked the
old Jeep Pickup. He said he's already rounded up donor kits to complete the builds.
Larry Osolkowski decided to go in a different direction after building some small scale kits,
and brought in his progress on a Meng 1/9 BMW HP4 Race motorcycle. He finished assembling and
painting the basic engine, using various Alclad paints along with Citadel Chaos Black decanted
from a spray can and airbrushed. The rear suspension is done, and the rear swingarm is partly
completed, using an aftermarket resin chain which has better detail than the kit part. The rear
fender will be getting carbon fiber decals from the kit, and the rear wheel is half covered in
kit carbon fiber decals. Larry said applying the decals to the spokes was tricky, but they
turned out well. There will be 22 decals on the rear wheel alone.
Bill Borkowski showed us his progress on a Monogram 1/24 MG-TC. He's using Tamiya acrylic
paints, both hand brushed and airbrushed. Bill mentioned that the instructions are minimal and
not very clear. He picked the subject because he likes sports cars of the MG era. He also said
he's having trouble getting the right color for the car body. He wants a subdued light yellow,
and has tried many color mixes without getting the right one yet.
Mike Butry displayed his 1/56 Revell F-94C. He said this was an original kit from 1953/54,
and cost a whopping 79 cents at the time. Mike built it out-of-box, and airbrushed Model Master
buffing aluminum and hand-painted everything else. He mentioned that his dad (Bob) built this
kit when he was in 9th grade, and Mike tried to build it like his dad did, using the same tools
and techniques (except for the airbrush). The model took 1st place at Rocon in the Retro
Modeling category.
There were a couple of unidentified items on the tables.
Finally, some around-the-room shots.
Thanks to Bob Conshafter for handling the model tables. Photos provided by Larry Osolkowski.
