BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting Report: 08/26/2021

Fourteen people attended the meeting including a new guy. Welcome Mike, glad you decided to check us out. 

We haven't heard anything about the reopening of the Community Center. Not to worry, weekly Zoom meetings will continue. The Hudson Valley Club is meeting outdoors. They'll hold their annual show in Poughkeepsie in October. Other shows in October - Armorcon (Southbury Ct) and Replicon (Freeport NY). Any more we should know about? 

Lou reports older Kitty Hawk kits are available again. No new kits yet. Academy, however, does have a new one, a 1/35 Panzer 2F. In progress and completed work included: Tiger 1, 1990 vintage resin Robin (the Boy Wonder, not the bird), USS Susquehanna hull , Corsair XF4-U conversion (Dr. V is performing major surgery, backdating Tamiya's F4U-1), P.180 Avanti (with interior that can't be seen), Kamov (Ka-28?), 1956 Chrystler 300, French Submarine Cruiser Surcouf and Merkava 4 (aka Frank's Tank). 

This week's dollar store find, plastic domed display cases suitable for 1/24 figures. 

For the featured topic, recent model shows, Don talked about the National Convention in Las Vegas. There were 2980 models in the competition plus a large number of "display only" models. Seminars were good. Vendors were well represented. Their kits were mostly older and their prices were either low or high (questions? ask Don). I expect we'll see some of his Convention photos in future. Until then, he recommended the 5-part YouTube showing all the entries. Inspired perhaps by "My Cousin Vinny", Don served as a Judge in Las Vegas (be advised, Convention Judges can't fix parking tickets so don't even bother to ask). Discussing judging and categories, several people wondered why there are so many categories for aircraft (single engine, multi engine, WW1, WW2, Cold War, Airliner, Helicopter, etc. and in various scales, to boot) and so few for Sci Fi/Fantasy? Was that ever a problem for you? We also saw photos from the AMPS Regional in Indianna, 244 entries. Mr. K plans to attend the Cherry Point Air Show next month. If he takes pictures, our more technically gifted members will find a way to share them. Thanks in advance. 

Lastly, some painting tips. Vallejo bottles with black caps are for brush painting. Bottles with white caps are for airbrushing. A base coat of Tamiya, with a finish coat of Vallejo works well. 

The next meeting is 9/2/21 at 8 pm. Frank C will send the invites and host. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend. 

~Russ

 

Aug 19, 2021 BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting Report

Fourteen people attended the meeting. Lou reports Kitty Hawk is back although he didn't have any details. If you hear anything, let the Club know. Several new releases from Trumpeter: 1/144 H6-K Bomber, 1/700 RN Type23 Frigate, 1/350 Tirpitz and 1/35 L 4500A with Flak 37. The pizza lunch was well attended and introduced some of us to clams as a pizza topping (a Staten Island thing?). A few people actually got away from their workbenches. Frank went to a Nostalgia Show and was pleasantly surprised by a collection of vintage spacecraft models. Don and Rommel are at the IPMS National Convention (more later). Mark shared photos from a ship model show on the USS New Jersey and from the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome: Sopwith Pup, Albatros D. Va, Curtiss Pushers (A and D) , Fokker D VIII, Hanriot, Ryan NYP (Spirit of St Louis), This led to an interesting discussion on early aviation: fuel systems, rotary engines, flight characteristics, engine lubrication, the real reason WW1 pilots wore long scarves and who got parachutes and who didn't. In progress and completed work included: USS Susquehanna hull (Steve is fixing another modeler's paint job), BM 13 Katyusha, S-56 (La commedia e finita!! ), 2 T-6 Texans (Spanish and South African markings), 72 Pontiac GTO (with nail polish over Model Car World lacquer paint), P-47, Airspeed Oxford and 2 Black Falcons (Bob's is finished, mine ain't). Acquisitions included: Houndstooth (from Empire Strikes Back), 76 Chevy Sport Stepside Pickup and 77 Ford Coca Cola Delivery Van. Don's first day impressions of the Convention were positive for the most part - it's a long walk from the hotel area of the venue to the event area. The display room is big, but not as big as Chattanooga. The vendors' room is large and prices are good. Manufacturers are there, showing off new kits and collecting wish lists. Don has promised to take lots of pictures and post them using the group mailing list. Consider this a reminder, Don. That goes for you too, Rommel (but seriously, have a good time at the Convention and have a safe trip home). The next meeting is 8/27/21 at 8 pm. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there.
~Russ

Update: Bob has pointed out that the Car World Model lacquer paint is on the South African T-6 (the florescent red/orange) not under the nail polish. The nail polish is over gray automotive lacquer primer. Thanks for keeping me honest, Bob.  

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting Aug 12, 2021

Pizza lunch is TODAY, 8/14/21 at Denino's Pizzaria & Tavern, 524 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island at 12:30 pm. Hope you can attend, especially if you haven't been able to make the zoom meetings.

1803, Lewis and Clark Expedition. 1989, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. 2021, Don and Rommel at the IPMS National. Have a good trip, guys and remember- what's bought in Vegas shouldn't be left in Vegas.
Fifteen people attended the meeting. Two of them are going to Las Vegas for the National convention. Hopefully they'll be able to make a live report at next Thursday's meeting. New releases from Zvezda, TOR M2 SA15 Gauntlet (1/35), Soviet M-72 motorcycle with sidecar and crew (1/72) and WW2 British HQ figures (1/72). In progress and completed work included: Panzer 4, T-34/76, Hawker Hurricane, Swordfish, Zero, Discovery One (even in 1/350, over 40 inches long), Terminator T-800 (1/2 scale, with electronics. No body armor yet, but Joe's working on it.), F-4B Phantom ( with construction photos), MiG 25 ( look for it in Las Vegas), Saab J-21 (with a lot of weight in the nose), S-56, DUKW, Merkava 4, German Tugboat and Black Falcon. An interesting acquisition, 3D printed landing gear from a new start up. We saw a set for a Su-27. Each strut is a single piece including tire, hydraulic/electric lines. clamps, etc. Not widely available yet. The company is (maybe?) Detail Wonder. Kosta shared photos of Rhinebeck Aerodrome's replica Spirit of St Louis. He has plenty more, exterior and interior. Contact him directly if you're looking for references. Here's Gil's formula for acrylic paint thinner from last week (sorry for the delay): 1/2 cup Distilled water,1/4 cup of 91% alcohol,10 drops of Liquitex flow aid additive or Golden wetting agent,10 ml of retarder. You need to know that formula to use the tip of the evening, making liquid acrylic paint from tube acrylic paint. Use a meat injector syringe with a clear body and visible measurements to remove say, 10 ml of paint from the tube, transfer it to a small jar (back to the dollar store, 5 small screw top glass jars for $1.00) add thinner (start with a 2 to 1 ratio) and mix. Try mixing our own colors. The visible measurements make it easy to replicate results. One tube makes a lot of liquid paint. The featured topic was files. Store them separately and clean them with brass wire brushes or crepe rubber blocks (also good for cleaning sandpaper). Good files, including glass files, are available at nailcare centers and, because they don't have the word "hobby" in their name, they are reasonably priced. While you're there, look for a 7-step sanding stick, it costs $1.00. The next meeting is 8/19/27 at 8pm (5pm Las Vegas time). Invites to follow. Hope to see some of you tomorrow, more of you Thursday and all of you before long.

~Russ

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting 08/05/2021

Fifteen people attended the meeting. Several were at Mosquito Con. More on that later. Pizza lunch is 8/14/21 at Deninos, 524 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island at 12:30 pm. History of Flight Air Show is 8/7/21 at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. Three new releases reported, Meng's 1/48 F-18 F, Takom's 1/35 Panther G and M-60 A3 bulldozer. Digital STL files for Machination Studios' Krabbe Walkers are available . All you need is access to a 3 D printer. In process and completed work included: 1/48 F-4 E Phantom ll, 1/144 Tornado (no IR sensor but lots of tiny pats), 1/72 M-109 A6 Paladin (with Preiser figures), 1/72 S-56 (with stabilator), 89 Ford Taurus SHO & 57 Chevy Cameo (both in 1/25, both painted with nail polish), 1/48 Ki-79 (with sponge applied camouflage) and 1/72 DUKW. Acquisitions, some from the vendors' room (remember them?) included: SMS Lutzow, HMS Victorious, and Shadow Stormtrooper. New this week, de-acquisitions. Bob K has several Ral Partha metal dragon kits and some Disney Cars & Planes he's willing to sell. Contact him directly for details. On behalf of a coworker, Mike T is looking for someone who paints metal train cars. Contact him directly for details. Gil gave us his recipe for acrylic thinner but it will have to wait until I can read my handwriting. 

Now, back to Mosquito Con. There were lots of people (about half wearing masks) in attendance and lots of models on display. Gundam, robots, spacecraft, armor, ships, figures, aircraft (just one in 1/32), an impressive scratch built 1/72 USS Shenandoah airship and mooring tower, EVA Pod with detailed, illuminated interior (2001 A Space Odyssey), USS Intrepid with detailed, illuminated hanger deck and steampunk lowrider stagecoach to name but a few. Thanks for the pictures, guys. The vendors' room was good. Older kits, mostly. Then again so are the modelers. Some, but not all, of the regular vendors were there and by the afternoon prices got very reasonable. It was "Hard to leave without buying a model" according to Gil but somehow, he managed to do it. All in all, everyone enjoyed the contest and appreciated the efforts of the organizers. Our next meeting is 8/12/21 at 8 pm. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there.

~Russ

7/29/21 BPMS Zoom Mini-meeting Report

Fourteen people attended the meeting. If you're going to Mosquito Con tomorrow, PAL is also hosting a basketball game. Parking may be tight. Don't forget to take pictures for the guys who can't make the trip to New Jersey. Thanks in advance. We saw photos of the recent transfer of New England Air Museum's F-4D Skyray to the Intrepid and photos of Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome where, on Aug 7, there will be airshow featuring a replica Ryan NYP Spirit of St Louis. The BPMS pizza lunch is the following week, Aug 14, at 12:30 pm at Denino's, 525 Port Richmond Ave, Staten Island. Let me know who's going so we can give them a head count. Again, thanks in advance. 

 

There were two new releases: Kinetic's 1/48 AV-8A Harrier and ICM's 1/48 Q-2C Firebee drone. Kinetic may have another Intruder in the pipeline. In progress and completed work included: 1/72 Panzer 4 (with aftermarket resin tracks from OKB), 1/35 M3-A1 Scout Car (Tamiya, perfect fit, a pleasure to build), 1/72 S-56 /CH-37 ( Special Hobby, the less said, the better), 1/72 BM-13 Katyusha (major last-minute fit problem) and 1/144 Tornado (so far, so good). There were more acquisitions: Rye Field's T/34/122, AZmodels's Bell X-2, Platz's F-8 U2 Crusader and Ammo by Mig Jiminez's T 54 B. We saw how the AK Glass Fiber pencil can eliminate ejector pin marks and perform other abrasive work. Just be careful not to touch the fibers to your skin. 

Gil gave us his formula for airbrush cleaner - 3/4 cup distilled water, 1/2 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol, 10 drops glycerin, 3/4 cup Windex (without ammonia). He stores it in a dollar store condiment squeeze bottle. Mark has a similar formula and he writes it directly on the bottle so he doesn't misplace it. While you're in the dollar store, pick up a pill case/organizer to hold small parts once they're off the sprue. 

The topic was stripping paint and correcting problems as you paint. For stripping old paint people have used: Oven cleaners like Easy Off or Mr Muscle (spray the piece, leave it in a trash bag for around two hours, rinse and scrub with an old toothbrush), Poly S (or equal) paint remover (it's messy and may not be available anymore), Simple Green works on enamels, Oxy Clean works on acrylics, Super Clean will take off paint (and skin so wear gloves). Actually, you should wear gloves with all these products and work in well ventilated areas as well. Never use Purple Power (it can eat through plastic) or auto transmission degreasers (they can eat through the plastic as well as the container holding the plastic - ask Mark). Bad paint jobs have been fixed with spot applications of thinner, 1000 grit sandpaper or sanding sticks or polishing pads, vigorously used. If none of the above works, several people said that's the time to trash the kit and build a replacement. 

 

The next meeting is 8/5/21 at 8 pm. Invites to follow. When have more information on the reopening of the Community Center the BPMS newsletter will be mailed to the membership. Until then, keep reading your email. Hope to see you Thursday.

~Russ