BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting 10/28/2025

Ten people attended. 

 
Lou reported MiniArt's 1/48 P-47 M is available and Frank C said there was a new Chinook from Airfix .
 

The BPMS holiday party will be Saturday, 12/6/25 at Wheeler's, 1705 Sheepshead bay Road, Brooklyn, at 1 PM. $45.00 per person. Let me know if you're interested.
 

BayCon is 11/2/25 in Franklin, MA and there will be two events at the Freeport Rec Center, on Long Island, the LIARS (car) show on 11/8/25 and the LIMCS (figure) show on 11/14-15 /25.
Frank and Vaughan were wondering how to correct some rotor heads (not to be confused with the heavy metal band) and Gil offered to investigate a 3D printed option.
 

We saw Vaughn's F-100 and F-10, Kevin's Nightmare, Chuck's P-38 and Sturmovik and Simon's Yokosuka H5Y-1. Frank C acquired a reference book for the Sepecat Jaguar.
 

This week's tool was a JM Y10 ultrasonic cutter/polisher. The blades move at 40K vibrations per second, making it good for removing delicate parts from runners. It will cut plastic, fiberglass, photo etch, resin. Gil was very impressed by this tool. Just remember to order the US, not Japanese style, plug.
 

Most of us buy kits and supplies online, but we've spent time and money at these old school hobby shops:
Bayshore Hobbies, 2056 Sunrise Highway, Bayshore, NY 11706
Willis Hobbies, 300 Willis Ave, Mineola, NY 11501
Brownie's Pro & Sport Hobbies, 124 Bennett St, Staten Island , NY, 10302
AAA Hobbies &Crafts, 706 N White Horse Pike, Magnolia ,NJ 08049 (affiliated with online company Mega Hobby)
The Model Railroad Shop, 290 Vail Ave, Piscataway, NJ, 08854
Westchester Train & Hobbies, 650 Lee Blvd, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Danbury Hobby Center, 123 South Main St, Newtown, CT 06470
Burbank's House of Hobbies, 911 Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA, 91502 

Brookhurst Hobbies, in Garden Grove (Orange County) Calif 
Front Line Model Kits & Hobbies, 18 W Beverly St, Staunton, VA, 24401
 

The next meeting is Tuesday, 11/4/25 at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. Put your pumpkins away and join us. See you there.

~Russ

New BPMS Benefit

 

New BPMS Benefit

 

Beginning in January meeting, from 5 to 7PM, members can bring a model to work on or get an opinion or advice with a sticking point.

 For the past year or so the meeting room has been opened to us at 5PM for those wishing to arrive early and “hangout and talk models.”

 Thanks to an idea brought to the club by member Eric E., who asked can we work on a kit during that time? President-elect Kevin K. started putting the pieces together and Facilities Director, Vinny R., has given the OK, providing the tables are protected, to bring your and work on your current model.

 Let’s see the kit your building pre-meeting from 5 to 7PM!

 

October 21, 2025 BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting

Featured Discussion: Weathering Tires: Tell us how you show worn and weathered tires on your aircraft, armored vehicles, trucks, motorcycles, etc. 

Ten people attended. Lou reported Miniart's 1/48 P 47N is available. 

The government shutdown continues, so the 10/25/25 tour of the restoration facility at Floyd Bennett Field arranged by Frank D won't be happening.

The 2025 holiday party will be at Wheeler's, 1705 Sheepshead Bay Rd, Brooklyn, on Saturday 12/6/25 at 1pm. Price is $45 per person. A menu is attached . Wheeler's is close to the Sheepshead Bay station on the Q line. If you can't get to the Friday night meetings this is an easy way to catch up with the group. Please let me know if plan to attend. 

Last Saturday's group build at Japan Village was very well attended (Bobby estimated about 60 people were there) with hourly raffles and vendors. Photos are on the BPMS Facebook page. Thanks, Julio, for setting it up. 

We saw Kevin's Moon Hopper and Dr Copper (from The Thing), Gil's Rat Rod Girl figure, 3D printed drag bike (and 3DPrinted assembly jig), Frank C's F-4 G Wild Weasel and Bobby's TL-800. 

Chuck acquired several vintage aircraft kits (WW1 fighter set, P-40, Strumovic, Do-17) at Westchester Trains and Hobbies in Jefferson Valley NY and Jimmy got some brand-new aftermarket items for his F4J and F-18. 

Lots of tools this week. Gil introduced us to the Hubest 3 set Model Rivet Maker Tool, Bobby talked about his rechargeable COB work light (see Team Chat on Zoom for details), Chuck told us how cuticle scissors are good for cutting out small decals and Frank C showed us an 18"x11 ¾ " Modeling Mat from Hobby Lobby. Frank C is also looking into using Krylon as an alternative to Testors Decal Bonder. 

We got advice on weathering tires with pastels and fixatives (Kevin recommends the Ammo by mig products). Then we got to talking about the various speed paints out there -Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0, Citadel Contrast Paint, Vallejo Express Paint - and how to use them. 

The next meeting is Tuesday, 10/28/25 at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there. 

 ~Russ 

 

 

  

IPMS Journals and FineScale Modelers up for grabs! FREE!

Hello there! A friend of the BPMS has a collection of 154 IPMS Journals (1992-2019) and 161 FineScale Modeler Magazines (2008-2025) that he is giving away for FREE! They are located in Manhattan. DM us with your contact info so we can connect you with the owner to arrange a pick up.

UpComing Scale Model Shows !

 

 IPMS USA Northeast Region Modelers:

Fall is the perfect season to attend a model show(s). Join us to admire the impressive work of fellow modelers, reconnect with friends, make new acquaintances who share your passion, and explore the vendor tables.  Get your winter builds ready for the upcoming Spring shows.

Click the links below for nearby shows, directions, and more details.

NOTE: More spring shows will be added.


    
November 14, 2025
    
Long Island Miniature Model Show 2025
  
    
March 29, 2026
    
Valleycon 35
  
    
April 11, 2026
    
CAN-AM Con 2026
  
    
April 12, 2026
    
BuffCon 41
  
    
April 12, 2026
    
DowneastCon 2026
  
    
June 13, 2026
    
NOREASTCON 53 / IPMS Region 1 Scale Model Show & Contest


Keep up with Northeast Region events on this link...
IPMS Region 1 Northeast Facebook Page


Mark Norman
IPMS USA Northeast Region Coordinator

BPMS Inhouse Meeting: October 17, 2025

ACTIVITIES DIRECTING

By Bobby Pokorny

 

Where has the year gone? It’s already OCTOBER! So let’s see what’s cooking!

 

Model Pledges: You declared your pledge model earlier this year. Bring your model, complete or not to this meeting. Of course, completed pledges earn an additional FIVE Super Raffle Tickets.

 

Spooky Model Night: It IS October. So if you don’t have a pledge, why not bring in something that can be considered spooky.  

Eg: Obvious -  Dracula or The Mummy. Less Obvious – F-4 Phantom

 

Officer Nominations: Two years are up for the guys at the top seats. Who will we select next?

Meeting Date:
OCTOBER 17, 2025
Members start showing up by 5PM to set up.
Feel free to come early and hang-out!

UPCOMING: JAPAN VILLAGE GROUP BUILD: 10/18/2025

 

 

 

Zoom Meeting Report for Oct. 7th.

 

 Zoom Meeting Report for Oct. 7th.

Twelve modelers generally content with the variety of currently available kits attended the Oct. 7 BPMS Zoom Meeting.  The meeting theme asked what desirable models had been announced but never released.

Lou cautioned that some kits just remain in development for a very long time. The 1/32 scale A-6 Intruder from Trumpeter took 10 years to come to market.  However, the 1/700 scale USS Enterprise announced long ago in the DML catalog never appeared. “That is the kingpin of missing kit announcements. “ Lou reported no new kits released this week and observed the annual Tamiya holiday announcement promised only cars, without new aircraft, armor, or naval releases.  “This is the first time it’s ever happened.” 

Tom K now awaits the 1/35 scale Heinkel 111 from Border Models. Test shots of the big, new bomber with realistically wrinkled ‘tin-can’ skins have appeared on Facebook. However, our grizzled former president concluded,  “I’ve been promised a lot of things. I’m still waiting.”

Vaughan’s work on his 1/72-scale F-100 Super Sabre and RF-101 Voodoo has been stalled by “one decal disaster after another.”  Vaughan over-sprayed one sheet of decals with Testor’s Glosscote and found some of the markings curled in water while others refused to come off their paper backing. Replacement decals proved so fragile that the uncoated markings just disintegrated in water. Vaughan’s list of wished-for but never-announced kits includes early Cessna light aircraft and a 1/48 model of Sikorsky’s S-67 Blackhawk gunship.

Jimmy T noted that sprues in Tamiya’s F-4B Navy Phantom are marked for an F-4C/D Air Force version  still to be announced. Exciting plans for 1/35 scale Star Wars Walkers from DML never came to be. Jimmy also recalled CAD drawings of a new-mold 1/48 OA-4M Skyhawk published a decade ago by Kinetic Models though the kit itself never materialized.  “That’s the only thing I’d like to see.” 

Russell called into the BPMS Zoom meeting from California and announced that he was venturing into paper-modeling. “I’m realizing I can just make a mess, print another sheet, and take another shot at it.”  Among promised plastic kits he acknowledged, “I’m always looking for someone to do a Sherman Duplex Drive. I don’t know why they haven’t done that yet.”

Simon expressed his wish for an Avro Lincoln, the long-range  Lancaster Mk 4 bomber built for the RAF to fight the Pacific war but ultimately sold to Argentina and other post-war operators. He also wants quality kits of the Lancastrian and York airliners. Simon noted a Handley Page Hastings transport, issued by Roden in 1/144 scale, appeared in 1/72 scale only in an expensive resin kit. “That was the one I was hoping to see that never came out. Simon later showed his modeling talent with images of his neat kit-bashed Hastings conversion.

Gil continues working on the Moebius model of the Spindrift spaceship from Land of Giants, one more replica to join his Aurora and Lunar Models kits.  “You can’t have enough Spindrifts,” he said. Significantly, 3-D printing and kit-bashing has answered a lot of Gil’s kit dreams. “All the kits I ever wanted, they came out.” Gil showed his own resin-cast sculpture of Raquel Welch from Fantastic Voyage and noted heavy, expensive garage castings have been superseded by 3-D printing.

Bobby showed the fine detail captured in Gil’s 3-D printed Selene from the Underworld movies. The new technology grows more widespread with home printers and cheap or free STL files readily available on-line. Bobby P  added, “It’s pretty much killed the entire garage-kit business.” He still wishes for kits of the Gundam Zaku robots. The cool-looking Zakus were available only in Japan and sold out immediately.

Gil’s weekly tool tip was a ¼ in. square paper punch used to make sandpaper squares glued to the end of wooden dowels – End Sanders. “There are those times where you can’t get a file or a sanding stick in that one area.” Gil also showed chopsticks with an alligator clip at one end and hanging hook at the other to suspend painted parts as they dry.

Kevin K continues work on his moon-hopper from the UFO TV Series and says he finds plenty of projects to build on the current market.

Frank C showed his recently completed 1/72 scale Hasegawa F-35A in subdued Japanese markings. He also shared a boxtop image of Minicraft’s 1/144 scale LC-130J ski-Hercules, posted on the Minicraft website but never released before the company went under. Fortunately, Academy has acquired Minicraft molds and may yet produce the ski-equipped Antarctic Hercules.

There will be NO on-line Zoom next Tuesday, but the BPMS will meet in-house at the Bergen Beach Sports Complex on Friday, October 17.

The October 17 in-house meeting will feature this year’s Pledge Models. Completed Pledge Models will earn BPMS members five bonus tickets in the always-exciting Super Raffle!

The last Group Build of the year is scheduled for October 18 at Japan Village.

The announced tour of Brooklyn's historic Floyd Bennett Field on October 25 has been canceled due to the Federal Government shutdown.

2025 IPMS/USA Executive Board Election Results

 

The Executive Board would like to thank everyone who took the time to vote this year and especially to those who submitted themselves for office.

			Office & Candidate Online Mail-In Totals President John Noack 448 146 594 Alan Booth* 0 6 6 John Figueroa* 0 1 1 Abstain 39 6 45 1st Vice President David Morrissette 457 150 607 Gino Dykstra* 0 1 1 Abstain 30 8 38 2nd Vice President Scott Hackney 461 149 610 Abstain 26 10 36 Secretary Joe Terry 262 107 369 Chris King 179 43 222 Abstain 46 9 55 Director of Local Chapters Bob Delaney 455 150 605 Abstain 32 9 41 Historian/Publication Chris Bucholtz 267 91 358 Ro Annis 202 65 267 Abstain 18 3 21 Recruitment/Retention David Knights 158 65 223 Mike McFadden 177 44 221 Tim Kirkland 130 46 176 Abstain 22 4 26

*denotes write-in candidate

ANNOUNCEMENT! Japan Village, Brooklyn Group Build - 10/18/25

ANNOUNCEMENT!
Japan Village, Brooklyn Group Build - 10/18/25

Display tables! More seating! bring a model and join us for a day of building models and fun!

BPMS Zoom Mini Meeting Report: 09/30/2025

Featured Discussion: At the September meeting, we learned open super glue can be stored for long periods in a glass container. At a recent zoom meeting, we learned how a sheet of glass can diagnose an airbrush problem. Tell us what else only glass can do. 

 

Ten people attended. Lou reported MiniArt's 1/48 P-47D, Hobby Boss' 1/48 Bf-109 E4, 1/35 Pz4 J and BMD1-P, Border Model's 1/35 Stug 3G (with interior) and US WW2 tank crew are available. Lou also offered a solution for Vaughn's Paasche VL airbrush problem - try a #1 nozzle with a #3 needle. 

Bobby knows a modeler in Manhattan with many IPMS Journals and FSM magazines he wants to give away. All you have to do is pick them up. Interested? Contact Bobby before they go to the recycling pile. 

Rooms are still available for the 2026 IPMS Nationals in Fort Wayne. 

 

Armorcon is 10/3-4/25 at the Wyndham Southbury, 1284 Strongtown Rd, Southbury, CT and the Hudson Valley show is 10/11/25 at the Elks Club Hall, 29 Overocker Road, Poughkeepsie, NY. 

 

Mark shared photos from last Sunday's Patcon and mentioned a judging issue that marred the well-attended event. Gil was annoyed that his entry was damaged, and no explanation or apology was given. This led to a long discussion on judging procedures, how models are handled at different shows and the story about a model marked "Damaged in Transit" that was entered in several shows and never repaired. 

Frank C learned the tariff on two kits worth about $55 was $7 and the brokerage fee for UPS to collect the tariff was another $16. Ouch!

We saw Vaughn's F-100D and RF-101 and Kevin's Moon Hopper. Simon posted photos of his Fw-200 earlier in the day. Acquisitions included: Dr Cooper bust (from The Thing), Kettenkraftkrad, B-2 and F-18 Hornet aftermarket nose.

The featured product was Clear UV curing resin from Honcaring. Intended for jewelry it's a good way to represent vehicle headlights. 

Discussing glass as a modeling tool, we heard about magnifiers, tempered glass panes used for cutting surfaces and parts alignment and as pallets for paint, glue, and putty. Glass eyedroppers, syringes, and stirrers are good for working with acrylic paints. Glass test tubes are handy to soak files, airbrush needles, etc. in cleaning solutions. But probably the most important piece of glass is the one in your window. Nothing beats natural light for building a model. Thanks, Simon, for pointing that out. 

 

The next meeting is Tuesday, 10/7/25 at 7:30 pm. Frank C will send the invites. Hope you can attend. 

 

~Russ