BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting Report: 02/24/2026

Featured Discussion: PAINT CONVERSIONS - What do you do when all your paint is from Tamiya and the instructions call for Humbrol's Beige Green? What charts, apps, etc. do you use? Or do you just eyeball it? 

 

Fourteen people attended, including Lee, who attended his first in person meeting last Friday. Welcome aboard, Lee.

Lou reported Trumpeter's 1/700 HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and Border's 1/35 75mm PAK  40 are available. 

We talked about the difference between Vallejo Model Color and Model Air paints. Basically, Model Air is for airbrushing, Model color is for brush painting. 

 

Frank C commented on the availability and cost of Mr. Surfacer 500, a product he finds useful for filling seams. Can anyone suggest a source or equivalent product? Vaughn asked about stripping paint from a resin kit, and Gil suggested soaking it in a tub of Simple Green.  Frank G asked about rigging for his Wright Flyer. Chuck suggested thread run thru beeswax, Russ suggested fly fishing line, and Simon suggested 5-0 or 6-0 surgical sutures. 

 

We saw Vaughn's repainted F-105, Michael C's SR-71 Blackbird and a cutaway, motorized, RD-33 engine for a Mig-29, Kevin's Ekranoplan (the Micro-Mir/AMT kit has been a headache, to put it mildly), Gil's 3D printed pin up inspired Paratrooper (painted with airbrushed inks), Frank C's  AH 64A Apache and Harrier and Russ' Bell Huey Cobra.  Acquisitions included: M4A1 (76) W VVSS and M51 Degem Alef (Takom's latest Big Box offering) and Sd. Kfz. 250/3 "Greif".

The tool of the week was the Mix Paint app Gil has on his iPhone.  It can match colors from an uploaded photo and provide exact mixing ratios. A similar app for android phones was said to be available. 

It turns out we each approach paint conversions differently. Some guys are comfortable mixing their own colors, some buy the colors/brands specified on the instructions, and some use any paints that match Federal Standard colors, color profiles or color photos.  Companies, such as Mech9.com, have paint conversion tables online. Urban's Color Reference, Parts 1 and 2 can be found on the IPMS Stockholm website. Model Shade.com is very helpful for matching Federal Standard colors. Scalemates. com has a color search feature. At the larger shows, vendors often hand out hard copies of conversion tables. And if you get confused, just remember, if it looks right, it is right. 

 

The next meeting is Tuesday, 3/3/26 at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow.  Hope to see you there. 

 

~Russ 

 

 

  

February Meeting Minutes

 

February Meeting Minutes

 

Date: February 20

Attendance: 34 Members (!), 2 Guests

Models on Tables: 26

Meeting called to order at 7:45PM

 

Tonight’s Agenda –Show and Tell of your favorite hobby tool. It’s also the first contest of the new year.

Outreach Group Build Resumes – March 14^th will be the first date for 2026. The meeting spot is once again Japan Village, 934 3^rd Ave., Brooklyn 11232.

Prize for MosquitoCon – Motion was made and adopted for the club to sponsor MosquitoCon with a prize package. The following members donated toward the prize – Kevin K., Frank C., Bobby P. Tony M., Jeff I., Mark M., Angelo T. Thanks guys!

 BPMS was pleased to welcome a new guest, Lee, to the meeting. He builds mostly WW2 aircraft. Hope you enjoyed the get together!

 Next Month – will be Green Night. And also Decal Swap Night. See Bobby P’s article in this issue.  

 BPMS Apparel – The club is happy to be able to offer BPMS T-shirts. The shirt will have the club logo embroidered on the left chest, and is being offered in a number of colors. The prices are as follows: T-shirts - $35, Polo shirts - $45, Crew Neck Sweatshirts - $45, and Hoodies - $65. Contact Bobby P.  His email is on the back page.

 

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM

Schedule Of Events: 2025

January

Kit Sale Night

Declare Model Pledge

February

Show Us Your Tool

Contest Night 1Q26

March

Decal Swap Night

Green Model Night

April

Work In Progress Night

May

Parts Box Night

Contest Night 2Q26

June

Vertical Take Off Theme Contest

Summer Picnic Night

July

Theme night

August

Pizza Night

Contest Night 3Q26

September

Swap Night

Theme Night / Clinic

TBA

October

Model Pledge Night

Nominations

November

Contest Night: 4Q26

Super Raffle

December

TBA Theme Contest

Holiday Dinner / Desserts

BPMS - Ware

  

 

 

  

We should be discussing this during a meeting very soon. A local business that I am familiar with pitched an assortment of shirts with BPMS logos on them. Prices will be as follows: 

• $35 t-shirt
• $45 polo
• $45 crew-neck sweatshirt 
• $65 hoodies

BPMS Group Build at Japan Village! 3/21/26 1-5 PM

 

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting: Feb 10, 2026

Featured Discussion: Dealing with dust! 

 

Twelve people attended. There's no Tuesday Zoom next week; the in-person meeting is Friday,  the 20th, at the Community Center in Brooklyn. It's the first Quarterly Contest and Show Us Your Tool night. 

Lou reported AFV Club's 1/35 M51A2 Gun Truck and Academy's 1/144 Boeing 737 E7 are available. 

We saw Erasmo's Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet and English Electric Lightning, Mr. K's 29 Ford Woody, Wildcat crop sprayer conversion,  P-51 air racer, B-25, and 3 Soviet submarines, Simon's HP 52 Hadley Page Hamden, Kevin's Ekranoplan and Yak-36 and Gil's 3D printed hubless 3-wheel motorcycle. 

 

The acquisitions keep coming: F-101C, Z-37A Cemelak crop duster, M 2128 Bradley, MS-06 Zaku 2 Thunderbolt, A4 E & A4 M Skyhawks, books and too many aftermarket sets to mention here (see the BPMS Facebook page) and Battledroid Valkyrie VF-1S (with more aftermarket stuff).

This week's tool was a wire bending jig. Gil uses the simple tool to bend coat hanger wire into pretty much any shape he needs. Doesn't take up much room in the toolbox, either. Michael C showed us some tools he uses for dust control, a blower/vacuum, and a dust collector designed for manicurists but useful for modelers. He sent links to these, and other, products to everyone on the group email. Thanks, Michael. Gil warned us that "Dust Off" is too highly pressurized to use on models. He has a refillable aluminum cannister that he can fill to a pressure suitable for delicate cleaning. I'll forward the link. Thanks, Gil.

Fortunate modelers have cabinets to keep dust away. Slightly less fortunate ones use any (preferably) transparent containers they can get. Joe likes the scrapbook boxes at Michael's. You can repurpose containers, too. Russ likes the ones Ferrero Rocher uses for the holidays; Kevin recommends the lidded, plastic containers restaurants use for leftovers. Purpose built (not cheap) dust covers are also available commercially. 

 

If your models are kept in the open, do like Mr. K and spray them with a 50/50 mix of water and Murphy's Oil Soap, let sit for a few minutes, and rinse with water. Jimmy does something similar, putting a model in sink, running water with a little dish soap through his hands and over the model and letting it dry.

 

Lou had the most interesting method of the night. He recalled a story in FSM where a guy said he used dust mites to clean his fully rigged USS Constitution. I don't know, maybe it was their April edition?

 

The next meeting is Friday, 2/20/26, in Brooklyn. Doors open around 5pm and the meeting starts around 7:30. 

 

Bring your tool, your contest entry, your pledge model, and, most importantly, your 2026 dues. Hope to see you there. 

 

~Russ

  

 

  

BPMS In-house Meeting: February 20, 2026

We have a fun night planned for February!

Show Us Your Tool: This activity may sound vulgar but has been a fun tradition for decades. Do you have a favorite tool that you like to use? Have you found a new tool the members might want to know about? Do you have a method to get things done that is really helpful? Bring it in and show the group!

 

Contest Night 1Q: The first quarterly contest is upon us. Feel free to bring in models that you haven’t previously brought in for a quarterly contest.  If you built something new for the December theme contest, you are invited to bring it back for competition.

 

Model Pledges: I am still making the list for this year’s Pledges. Speak with Bobby for details!

 

June’s Theme Contest: The Vertical Take Off Theme Contest is off and running! Build something that can have a CONTROLLED vertical take-off AND landing. Think helicopters and harriers, but not V2 rockets.

Meeting Date: FEBRUARY 20, 2026
Members start showing up by 5PM to set up.
Feel free to come early and hang-out!

 

BPMS Bulletin in PDF format 2026 02  

BPMS ZOOM MINI MEETING REPORT: February 3rd, 2026

Fifteen people attended. We met Al L, a sci-fi and WW2 ship modeler from Brooklyn who found us on Facebook. Welcome Al, you have two weeks to figure out how to get to Bergen Beach for the February in-person meeting.

Bobby was part of an IPMS Region One meeting about June's Noreastcon in Rochester. They're looking for people to give clinics, also looking for sponsors. 

Lou reports Airfix's 1/35 Alvis FV 662, 1/72 Westland Wessex HC 2, 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire PR XIX, and 1/144 SLS Artemis are available. 

We saw Vaughn's F-105 G (he liked the Trumpeter kit but was disappointed with the generic color callouts), Michael C's AT AT (the MPC kit has major fit issues), Chuck's 1/48 Jeep (part of the P-47 kit - the best part, according to Chuck), Gil's 3D printed hubless bagger motorcycle with rider, Kevin's Salome figure, and Frank C's AH-64A Apache and F-104.

 

Acquisitions included: Serenair compressor with airbrush, Dora Railway Gun, Ki-64 Hein, and Victory 357 Hawk Ekranoplan.

Gil created this week's tool by using a W440 tap to thread a metal BBQ skewer to accept two nuts to secure an item for painting.

Fixing or not fixing mistakes was our topic. We heard about shattered decals, reversed decals, incorrect decals, incorrect colors, rushed paint jobs, blemished paint jobs, parts ruined while being "corrected", parts not installed before the canopy was glued in place,  and parts inadvertently thrown away.  Some mistakes are easily corrected if you have a spare kit to replace the broken/missing part. Some could have been avoided if you thought ahead or didn't work when you were rushed and/or tired. Having good lighting at the workbench and painting a prime coat will find mistakes when they're relatively easy to fix. Two former judges said judging made them better builders. And, sometimes, trying to fix a mistake only makes things worse. So, make the best of it, learn from your mistake, and get back to work. 

The next meeting is on Tuesday, 2/10/26 at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. Enjoy your Super Bowl Party leftovers as we talk about America's real favorite pastime, building models. 

 

~Russ 

  

 

  

Bulletin Archive in PDF Format

All links should be updated to MEGA at this time.

Please comment and let me  know if you find bad links! ~Editor

 

 

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Joe B - Fleshtones and Eyeballs.pdf
Spotlights [old] - Holcomb Alvarado Kasza[x2] Ferrara Gertner Reinert Keegan Rosati Maroney Batterman Pokorny Eng.pdf
Weathering Models by Eric Reinert.pdf
Spotlight - Rob Garitta.pdf
Spraying Gloss Finishes by Bobby Kasza.pdf
That 50s Display.pdf 

SPOTLIGHT - Rosati - Maroney - Batterman - Pokorny - Eng.pdf
BPMS By Laws V2.pdf  

BPMS By Laws.pdf

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting: 01/27/2026

Thirteen people attended. There's another group build at Japan Village, in Brooklyn, on March 21. Thanks, Julio, for setting it up. See the club's Facebook page for details. And while you're there, click the link the 2026 Nuremberg Toy Fair.

We saw Vaughn's F-105 and T-34, Erasmo's Corsairs, Gil's Hover tank, Simon's Mosquito, Chuck's F-106, P-38 and P-47, and Frank C's A64-A Apache and Angolan Mig-23. Kevin will be acquiring a 3D printed Saab LX from Gil. 

This week's tool was mentioned in passing last week, a spring tube bender for bending (Duh!) soft metal hollow tubes. In the real world they're used for industrial machinery, but sets come in sizes that modelers may find useful.

The topic was kit bashing which can mean anything from swapping weapons or equipment from different kits to replacing/rebuilding major components of kits to literally bashing a troublesome kit into the wall. Simon is reluctant to cut up newer, expensive, kits but old kits, if you can find them, aren't always cheap. Erasmo accepted the idea that you need three poor kits of the same aircraft from different manufacturers to build one good model. Michael C has swiped parts to repair original parts, but he prefers incorporating household objects into his models when he can. Same for Gil. The hull of his Hover Tank was a vintage desk telephone base, the engines, asthma inhalers. Frank C thinks it wouldn't be too hard to kitbash a Mirage 5COA, but...

 

The next meeting is on Tuesday, 2/3/26, at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. It's the day after Groundhog Day, so you won't have that Bill Murray movie marathon to distract you. 

 

~Russ 

 

  

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting - 01/20/2026

Featured Discussion: There are lots of reasons to bend plastic: fabricating parts, fixing warped pieces, vacuum forming, etc. Tell us how you do it and be specific. 

Twelve people attended. We met Steve G, the new Prez of the Hampton Roads Scale Modelers IPMS chapter in Virginia Beach. He wants to see how other clubs operate, especially clubs that have been around for a long time. Welcome aboard, Steve. Hope you can join us again. 

 

Lou reports Revell Germany's 1/32 Gloster Meteor F8/Fr 9 and 1/72 Me P 1099 are available. 

 

We saw Vaughn's F-105 and T-34, Chuck's P-47, Kevin's Yak-36, Simon's Fw-190 and Gil's 3D printed female figure. 

 

Acquisitions included: F-16 I, M-50 Mk2 Super Sherman, and VMFA 242 bat decals.

 

Because the topic was bending plastic, Gil's dental vacuum forming machine was the featured tool.  Angelo has one as well, no surprise there. But it was a surprise to see several people still had their Matell Vac-u-forms, even though they don't use them so much. 

 

The low-tech way to bend or de-warp (is that a word?) plastic or resin is, clamp it to a board, heat it, shape it, and let it cool before removing the clamp. The heat source will depend on the size of the piece and the complexity of the bend. We heard about hot water, steam, a heat gun, an incandescent light bulb, a coffee mug warmer, and a candle. We probably missed a few, but you get the idea. When the discussion got to stretched sprue, Kevin offered a tip for making pitot tubes. The plastic shafts on those cheap Q-tips can be heated and stretched to make very small diameter tubes.  

 

The next meeting is Tuesday, 1/27/26, at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there. And if you're getting ready for the big snow, stay safe.

 

~Russ

 

 

Message from Frank D.

I have found a home for Bert's Skyraider. It will be on display in a case within Hanger B at Floyd Bennett. I have long-range plans to conduct a guided tour there on the last Saturday in March. Please let the gang know. I will keep you updated.

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting: January 6, 2026

Eleven people attended. 

 
No Tuesday Zoom this week. The January in-person meeting is Friday, the 16th at the Community Center, in Brooklyn. Doors open around 5pm; meeting starts around 7:30. Come early to help set up and participate in our first group build, then stick around to declare your pledge model, buy or sell some kits, and pay your 2026 dues. 

 
Vaughn finished his F-102 and was pleased with the result. Kevin is reworking his Angel and Demon vignette as an OSL painting exercise. Gil is busy cranking out figures on his 3-D printer. Acquisitions included: Santa bust, Gaahleri gloss metal paint pens, TARPS pod for an F-14 and other items posted on the club's Facebook page. 

 
The tool of the week was a set of two (chisel and pointed) silicone tipped nail art tools from the dollar store. Gil likes them for bending colors and applying paint. Bobby found small, sponge tipped nail art tools at Hobby Lobby. He plans to use them with thinned out paint to get that weathered and worn look. Actually, we spoke at length on painting - tints, shades, color saturation, color modulation, post shading vs. pre shading, paint manufacturers (Angelo likes that Kaleido primer doesn't lift when masks are removed), and so on. 

 
We discussed the different techniques needed to weather large scale and small-scale models, which fit nicely with the evening's topic, what's your favorite scale. Turns out, the scale we build depends on what we build (1/48 for fighter ac and 1/144 for bombers, 1/35 for a Tiger 2 and 1/16 for a Pzkw 1), how large the finished model has to be to be seen and appreciated, how much display space you have and it's the only scale available for that kit you've been hunting for years (is that why Frank C has those Tamiya 1/100 jets?). Bobby has a different approach, one he picked up from Andy Yanchus, the finished piece has to be 8" or smaller. Maybe that's where Box Scale comes from? 

 
The next meeting is Friday the 16th at the Community Center. Invites aren't needed, but your dues are. Just kidding. Hope to see you there. Hope you pay your dues. Kidding , kidding. 

 
~Russ