Posts
Frank Tripoli
1939-2013
The Brooklyn Plastic Modelers lost a valued friend and
guiding member with the passing of Frank Tripoli on New Year’s Eve. Frank
joined the Brooklyn club soon after it started over 40 years ago. He remained
the warm, welcoming face of BPMS to every new member, and he was a respected
advisor to successive club officers. His calm, genuine, and generous way set a
tone that helped sustain our club with its wide mix of modeling interests and
temperaments. Frank truly enjoyed building models, and he could express honest
opinions about our hobby and our club without causing anger or hurt feelings.
Frank served two terms as BPMS President. He was a key
player in our 1975 regional convention, special exhibitions aboard the USS Intrepid
and at Floyd Bennett Field, and numerous club functions. He sponsored special
theme contests, conducted modeling clinics, and provided a friendly, consistent
presence at nearly every club meeting.
As a modeler, Frank preferred 48th-scale
aircraft, most notably WWII fighters. He later took to 48th scale
armor and did his share of science fiction and other specialty projects to
support BPMS theme contests. Frank
always built for enjoyment, and he enjoyed talking to people about modeling. He
experimented with each new tool and technique – resin and photo-etched parts,
canopy masks, single- and double-action airbrushes, etc. and shared what did
and did not work with honesty and humor.
Frank was a lifelong Brooklynite. He grew up in Bensonhurst
not far from our long-time meeting place at the Marcy Photo Studio and lived much
of his life near Marine Park with his wife Clara, daughter Laura, and son
James. As a respected New York City English teacher, Frank spent most of his
years of service at Lafayette High School. He once acknowledged some students
tested even his legendary patience, but he believed sincerely in the value of
his work. He earned two Master’s Degrees
in English and Library Sciences.
Retirement gave Frank
and Clara the time to travel extensively. Together, they explored Western
Europe, the newly-open Eastern Bloc, and parts of South America including the
Patagonia region of Argentina and Chile. They also returned every summer to their
friends on the familiar Florida Gulf Coast. At home, Frank took special delight
in his grand-daughters Nicolette and Jamie. According to his wife of 47 years,
his favorite modeling project was usually the latest one on the workbench.
Frank Tripoli touched all of us in the Brooklyn Club, and he
gave us a model of how we should all treat one another. We’ll miss him.
by Frank Colucci
2 comments:
BPMS,
Very sorry to hear about Frank, which I just read in the IPMS Journal. Frank was genuinely the nicest person you would ever meet and welcomed me with open arms to BPMS during my short time living in Brooklyn in the mid 1990's. Attending a regional in Baltimore with him and a couple of others in the club and staying overnight was a bit of a seminal moment in my model career – prior to that show, I had been in “poor grad student mode” – get up at 4 AM, drive like heck to the show, do the show, scarf down bad food, rush around to do everything, and rush back home and get in past midnight. Frank showed me the REAL way to do a non local show – go down early, get a room at the venue, take your time, have a nice dinner out, (where I first met Joe Turner who had already moved away to NC, but after that show I remained in contact with him & saw him at shows in the south until he passed away,) evening beverages and conversation, take the time to see some sites in the host city (in this case the inner harbor.) That’s the way to do a model show!
To me he was what the hobby is about. I can only imagine how he influenced people who knew him as more than a hobbyist.
-Eric Reinert
tanksnthings(at)verizon.net
BPMS,
Very sorry to hear about Frank, which I just read in the IPMS Journal. Frank was genuinely the nicest person you would ever meet and welcomed me with open arms to BPMS during my short time living in Brooklyn in the mid 1990's. Attending a regional in Baltimore with him and a couple of others in the club and staying overnight was a bit of a seminal moment in my model career – prior to that show, I had been in “poor grad student mode” – get up at 4 AM, drive like heck to the show, do the show, scarf down bad food, rush around to do everything, and rush back home and get in past midnight. Frank showed me the REAL way to do a non local show – go down early, get a room at the venue, take your time, have a nice dinner out, (where I first met Joe Turner who had already moved away to NC, but after that show I remained in contact with him & saw him at shows in the south until he passed away,) evening beverages and conversation, take the time to see some sites in the host city (in this case the inner harbor.) That’s the way to do a model show!
To me he was what the hobby is about. I can only imagine how he influenced people who knew him as more than a hobbyist.
-Eric Reinert
tanksnthings(at)verizon.net
Post a Comment