Welcome!

TO PAUSE BULLETIN - PLACE MOUSE POINTER OVER THE SCROLLING MESSAGE BOX

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Schedule Of Events: 2025

January
Kit Sale Night
Declare Model Pledge

February
Show Us Your Tool
Contest Night 1Q25

March
Decal Swap Night
Green Model Night

April
Work In Progress Night

May
Parts Box Night
Contest Night 2Q25

June
Long Live the King Theme Contest
Summer Picnic Night

July
Theme night

August
Pizza Night
Contest Night 3Q25

September
Swap Night
Theme Night / Clinic
TBA

October
Model Pledge Night
Nominations

November
Contest Night: 4Q25
Super Raffle

December
TBA Theme Contest
Holiday Dinner / Desserts

A list of the BPMS Theme Contests over the years

1997 – Science Fiction
1998 – The 50s
1998 – To the Rescue

1999 – Israel
1999 – Conceptual
2000 – On Patrol
2000 – The Marines
2001 – Humor
2001 – Diorama
2002 – Space
2002 – “Old Model”
2003 – Things With Teeth
2003 - A Moment in Time
2004 – Adversaries
2004 – US Military
2005 - In the Movies
2005 - Cats
2006 – Worn, Weathered, and Working
2006 – Star Wars / Star Trek Anniversaries
2007 – Vintage 1965
2007 – We Mean Business
2008 – Warsaw Pact
2008 – NASA
2009 – A Mad, Mad, Mad Theme Contest
2009 – Size Matters
2010 – Naval Aviation
2010 – Things That Sting
2011 – Classic Monogram
2011 – The Twilight Zone
2012 – That 70s Theme
2012 – End of the World
2013 - Television

2013 - Sloppy Seconds 
2014 - Asian Invasion 
2014 - Western European Tour 1944 - 1945 
2015 - Modeling With the Stars 
2015 - New Kids on the Block 
2016 - Basic Black
2016 - Island Hopping 
2017 - Star Wars 40th Anniversary 
2017 - Peaceful Plastic 
2018 - WWII - 1946 
2018 - Rivets!
2019 - NASA: 50th Anniversary of the Moon-landing 
2019 - D-Day to The Battle of the Bulge - 75th Anniversary
2020  (no themes due to COVID-19)
2021  (no themes due to COVID-19)
2022 - 70 Years of Aurora Models
2023 - Remember The Members
2023 - Legends
2024 - Invasion of Normandy / D-Day
2024 - Build Like an 11 Year Old 
2025 - Long Live The King
 

Saturday, May 17, 2025

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting - 05/20/25

"Don't even think about it" is bad advice for model builders, but you know that. How do you maintain your concentration while building? 
 
Part 1 starts promptly at 7:30 PM EST.
Part 2 starts at 8:10 PM if we need more time.

Members and guests are cordially invited to join our group for our weekly online meeting!

All are welcome! If you would like to join, DM us your email address and name so we can include you in the email list with Zoom Meeting details (meeting numbers and passwords)!

On the agenda:

BPMS Club News.
IPMS News.
Other clubs news.
Hobby News.
What's on your workbench?
Featured Discussion

 
 

Friday, May 09, 2025

BPMS In-Person Meeting: May 16, 2025

ACTIVITIES DIRECTING

By Bobby Pokorny

Welcome to MAY! The year sure is flying by, isn’t it? Our first two group builds of the year are already in the books and this month we have our second quarterly contest.

CONTEST NIGHT 2Q25: By the model counts each month everyone has been pretty busy getting models done. So now we have our quarterly contest so that members can accumulate more votes for the annual awards in December. Feel free to bring back models that you haven’t placed in competition previously.

PARTS BOX NIGHT: We all have parts boxes. If you like, please bring yours to share with the group in case there’s something someone else has been looking for… Or you can bring extra parts to toss into the club’s communal parts box. That thing is like a treasure trove!

LONG LIVE THE KING: Reminder! You have one month to prepare for the LONG LIVE THE KING Theme Contest. 

Interested in sponsoring an upcoming theme contest? Please let Bobby know!

Meeting Date: 
May 16. 2025
Members start showing up by 5PM to set up.
Feel free to come early!

May Bulletin by Kevin K in PDF Format

MEETING UPDATE: 

An update for this Friday's Meeting.
Former BPMS VP Ed Hernandez is selling off some of his collection.
Tom Knoll will be bringing in an impressive stack to sell for him.Everything is $5! You might want to bring some extra cash in case something you've been looking for shows up!

 

 

Tuesday, May 06, 2025

Spotlight Modeler: Eric Eisenstadt

 

New Member Introduction: Eric Eisenstadt

Frank Colucci

 Park Slope resident Eric Eisenstadt attended his first Brooklyn Plastic Modelers Society meeting last Christmas and became a member in March. “I think it’s a full year since I resumed modeling,” he reflected. “I’ve just re-started, and I’m loving it. I’m learning a lot more than I ever did -- owning an airbrush, learning techniques. I’m just enjoying the whole learning process.”


Eric retired from his 25-year career teaching physics and biology at the selective Manhattan Hunter Science High school near Lincoln Center. “If we’re talking about careers, I was a farmer, a soldier, a corporate lawyer, and then a high school teacher -- that was my arc in life.” He joked, “I love the sound of my own voice, and if you’re my student, you’re trapped. I actually did enjoy the act of teaching -- being around adolescents on some level and transmitting the knowledge human beings have clawed their way to get, passing it along to the next generation. I really enjoyed it.”

The New York native grew up in up in the Bronx and Queens and discovered modeling around age 10. “I had a brother who was a year-and-a-half older than me. He was into cars. I was not, but we began building models together.” Shared table space remains a fond memory. “I probably spent more time with my brother building models together than anything else. I think about it a lot.”

The first kit Eric built was the Mercury Redstone rocket. “It came with the launching platform and a fuel truck. My brother suggested I paint everything with New York State colors – orange and blue. I was hooked.” Always interested in military history and technology, Eric continued to build mostly planes and tanks of the Second World War.

Eric put his model building on hold in high school. He graduated college from NYU and emigrated to grow cotton in Israel and serve in the Israeli Army. “I was a drill sergeant, probably one of the worst drill sergeants they ever had. Then I left Israel, returned to New York, became a corporate lawyer, hated it, and found my true calling -- teacher.”

Retirement restarted Eric’s modeling. “It was all buried in my memory, because it all came rushing back to me. I had built a Catalina, a Spitfire, the King George the 5th. All that was locked away in my memory.” Eric’s first new project was the Tamiya P-38, reigniting his interest in WWII aircraft. “I just find them to be really, really attractive. I find the Lightning to be a beautiful plane. But I also love tanks -- I have a Panther, a Tiger, and a Sherman.” Eric’s chosen BPMS Pledge Model is a WWII Liberty Ship. “God help me, but I bought the photoetch!”

Eric recently built the 1/32 scale P-51 Mustang made by Tamiya “I learned to pay close attention to what I’m doing. I test fit parts, but that kit has metal parts and screws. I had some major fit problems.” The experience was nevertheless worthwhile. “This is a Tamiya household here -- Tamiya paints, Tamiya kits.  It’s a little bewildering how many brands there are.” Eric has started to work with Vallejo and other weathering colors.

Eric’s basement still has a significant library of military history books, but his renewed modeling education comes largely from the Internet. He subscribes to YouTube channels created by Plasmo, NightShift, and Boxman. “It is amazing to see what people can do with a kit.” Rex’s Hangar notably provides details of real airplanes and cars. “If I wanted to know more about the backup hydraulic system on the P-38, I could nerd out, but I have my limits.”

An internet search brought Eric to the Brooklyn Plastic Modelers Society. “I don’t honestly recall, but as I was looking more and more through YouTube, and I found a not very-active BPMS YouTube channel. I’m happy to have found it.”