Mike Dobrzelecki

Mosquitocon 33 Show Flyer

All Car Modelers are invited to attend New Jersey IPMS's Mosquitocon 33 Model Contest & Flea Market on Saturday April 5, 2025. Fees: Adult Registraton - $20 Junior registration (under 16 years old) - $5 Adult Walk-In - $10 Kids Under 16 - $5 Kids Under 12 - free Active Members of the Military - Free! (Please - No Bills larger than $50) Show Theme – “CLASSIC RIVALS” Special Award Category: “Classic Rivals” – This category covers any pair that would be classically considered "rivals": Think Ford vs Ferrari, Wildcat vs Zero, Spitfire vs BF 109, HMS Hood vs DKM Bismark, Chevy vs Ford, Lakers vs Celtics, toothpaste vs cavities; ANYTHING that can be proved to be in opposition. Contestants entering this contest will be required to enter both models in the separate special category, and provide references and documentation with the models that prove the entries strong tie to the theme. For all other Special Awards - An important note is to make sure the entrant checks any of the appropriate boxes on your Entry Form – if the boxe(s) are not checked, it’s not judged for this, or any of the other Special Awards at Mosquitocon – “ Best Tailhook”(USN Aircraft, only), “Best New Jersey Subject”, “Best Vietnam Subject”. Why come to Mosquitocon, you ask? Well, here's just a few reasons: It's one ofthe largest annual model hobby event in Jersey, and one of largest on the east coast. Think of it as a warm-up to the NNL held at the same location in late April. Attendees state that it's the most fun model show they have ever been to. NJIPMS's show staff (basically the entire membership) are seasoned professionals, with 32 annual Mosquitocon shows and 3 IPMS USA Regionals under their belts Mosquitocon boasts more vendors and better vendors than most IPMS USA Regional shows. Venue lighting is superb Display tables are on "risers", making viewing the models much easier. Food is very good - TRY THE BEST OF JERSEY CUISINE - TAYLOR HAM & EGG ON A HARD ROLL for Breakfast! Number of models competing meets or exceeds the amount that show up at most IPMS USA Regionals Modelers attend our show from the 4 points of the compass in America as well as from Europe, South America and Asia We have great looking award plaques We are Car Modeler friendly! NJIPMS has some of the best car modelers around!! Our Raffle Prizes are better than that offered at most IPMS USA Regional shows. For the 2025 Show details, including the Show Flyer, you can log onto our website: http://njipms.org/ Registration/Model Entry Forms and Categories can be downloaded at: http://njipms.org/?page_id=5540 Any questions? Contact: NJIPMS President, Bill Schwarz, email: whsch@optimum.net or call at 732-567-3724 (No Calls after 9PM E.T., please) Mike Dobrzelecki Minister of Propaganda & Mosquitocon Show Promotion Coordinator

And to follow-up my post of my aunt's Starmist Blue 1957 Porthole T-Bird, check out this exquisite cherry red 1955 Thunderbird, which was parked at the Tiki Bar down the shore in Jersey. It sports the so-called "Continental Kit", which was not a Ford Motor Company factory option. The kit added the spare tire extension on the back, among other things, which look great on this beautiful convertible.

You want 1950s class? I submit for your consideration this original Kodachrome of my Aunt Irene "dressed to the nines" in front of her 1957 port-hole T-Bird., painted, I believe, in Starmist Blue. When I was young Aunt Irene always seemed to me to be like a glamorous Hollywood Starlet from one of those jet-setting romantic movies in Technicolor from the 1950s. I imagined her flying off to the French Alps to ski with Cary Grant, or speeding down a street in Rome on back of an Italian scooter with Gregory Peck. And Irene was always in Technicolor - I'm pretty sure that it was invented for women like her. She did, in fact, ski. To me, at the tender, very provincial, age of 7, skiing was an exotic sport that only rich and beautiful people were able to do.Her hubby, my Uncle Paul, smoked a pipe, skied, etc., so he also cut an urbane and sophisticated picture in my 7 year old mind, too. My impression of Aunt Irene was certainly cemented in place by her choice of super cool vehicles - her 1957 Powder Blue Porthole Removable Hard-top T-Bird. You can tell it's a 57: 1. Thunderbird emblem 2. Massive 2-part curved bumper 3. Taller grill 4. Parking lights in bumper 5. Licence plate position formed in bumper 6. Tail fins 7. Fender vent 8. script on front fender 9. Windwings and sunvisors 10."Thunderbird" by hash marks My aunt was stunningly gorgeous, as the last two photos prove, and she was always the life of the party. I am happy to report that, at 93, she still is.

I managed to get one of these MRC sets at a reasonable price, but only before I saw the Baldwin choice, which I'm in the process of obtaining.

Thanks to Peteski (gotta be Polish, too) Deuces and AFX for your responses.

Continuing my research on my brother's Chevy 1956 210 Wagon racing machine, I received another set of photos from my brother, which answered some questions, but raised others. I'll limit this topic to questions on the tires he used, and what would be a good source for these in 1/ 25th scale. My brother radialized the rear wheel well fender area to allow installation of wider street tires and slicks. After showing the photos to some car modeling buddies, they appear to be similar to the Protrac Street-racing tires tires, such as a 275-60-15 with a 9.7 inch tread width, or could be 9.5 inch. My brother he's pretty sure that they were less than 10" wide - anything more than 9.7" would have been too wide for the car. You'll note that he has deep dish Cragar mags on these rear tires. My Google search did not turn up any likely after-market selections. Any kits out there with these tires?

To Force - Thanks for the scan. While I'm still looking for the early release version, this helps. I already have a Del ray kit and picked one of the re-releases of the original 56 kit in the black and white paint scheme at the NNL show in Jersey, but this re-release of the original had the universal model-building symbols on it, rather than the text. As several have pointed out, the early release included chrome trim for almost all versions of the 56 Chevy. Though I guessed right, it's better to have confirmation of the part numbers for the 210 series chrome trim, which I will be adapting for my build of my brother's 210 wagon straight-line drag car. Thanks to everyone else for their responses, as well. Interesting discussion on box art not reflecting the kit. Again, I would still like to get a scan of the original kit release instruction sheet per the box top I originally posted - just for completeness.

If anyone has a scan of the instruction sheet on this 2-door 56 Chevy, can you either send it to me or post. It has to be the earliest issue, though,specifically Kit No.H-1285. Later versions simplified the instruction sheet, and provide less info. Thanks in advance

HISTORY Designed in 1920 by Tadeusz Tanski the Ford FT-B (tfc) was based on the classic Ford Model T chassis. He used plates made from German trench armor scrounged from Polish battlefields and filled the tires with wood pulp as proof against rifle and machine gun bullets (probably a rough ride). The Ford FT-B was the first Polish armored vehicle built in series, with between 16 and 17 completed, depending on whose information you believe. All of the other armored vehicles in Polish service were either WWI vehicles captured from the Russians (Austin Pulitov Armored Cars, amongst others), Imperial Germans (Ehrhard Armored Cars, amongst others), or Austrians, furnished as war material by the French Government (Renault FT-17's, amongst others), or one-off armored conversions of civilian vehicles. The Ford FT-B acquitted itself well during the Polish-Bolshevik War of 1920 excelling in the highly mobile combat, which characterized that conflict, so unlike the static trench warfare of WWI. The Ford distinguished itself on The Raid on Kovel and saved many a Polish kiester during the retreat from the Ukraine back to Warsaw, then back again eastward, after the successful defense of Warsaw, known as "Miracle on the Wistula" (Wisla River in Polish), where Sikorski defeated the Reds, routing them in the process and sending them reeling back over the Ukranian border and beyond. Quite a few Ford FT-B's survived into the 1920's, with most retired by 1931, although some indications are that at least one survived until 1939. Tanski was exterminated in Auschwitz. To read more about the Polish Ford FTB here's a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_FT-B Fast Forward to 2009: On a Ford restoration site one guy is claiming that he's found a hull, or partial hull, in Lublin, Poland, though it remains to be verified. I doubt that the Polish government will allow him to export the hull back to the USA, given its significance to Polish military history. A group of military vehicle enthusiasts in Poland recently built a replica Polish Ford FT-B using a Ford Model T Chassis they obtained from Canada. Here's the link THE MODEL Here is my Polish Ford FT-B (tfc) Armored Car made from the 1/35th scale RPM kit. I was quite taken by the both the design and story behind this pugnacious,, bantam-weight, Polish Armored car, and moved it up on my list of builds after the RPM kit was released. The chassis was detailed with brass and plastic strip and rod, additional rivets, bolts and nuts were added, radiator made from screen mesh, MV Products lenses incorporated, the head light, tail and horn wired in addition to other misc. detail. The wheel spokes were the worse part. I replaced the kits square stock spokes by cutting them out and replacing them with nicely fluted spokes from either an Airfix or Lifelike 1/32nd scale Ford Model T. Fitting one circle inside another circle is not as easy as it sounds and trial and error ruled the day on this build. I used the hubs from the 1/32nd scale kits adding some bolt and nut detail. Make sure you splay out the stance of the front wheels of your Ford FT-B - Ford Model T's were known to have splayed-out front wheels. The other challenge was the black-outlined 4-color camouflage. I have seen various attempts at this outlined camouflage scheme, with questionable results. The black line was usually hand-painted on, after the colors were applied; and that line seemingly sat a couple of scale inches proud above the rest of the paint scheme. So, I did it the hard way. I first painted the completed hull in a scale black – Luftwaffe RLM 66 in this case, then masked off all the squiggly black lines, before application of the other colors. My fingertips were bloody and ragged after that tedious, but effective, process. The other colors were applied conventionally, working from light to dark. The Ochre, Gray and Green were acrylic colors - a combo of both Polly Scale and Tamiya - with the brown applied from a carefully preserved bottle of Pactra Dark Brown enamel - still the best dark rich brown in hobby paint history in this modeler's humble opinion. The chassis and sundry attachments, such as the springs, rear axle, tie bars, etc., were painted in the same RLM 66, following Henry Ford's maxim that, "You can have any color you want, as long as it's black". The washes are done with classic Windsor & Newton oil paints thinned in Humbrol thinner. Vehicle was lightly dry brushed to simulate the dusty conditions from the sandy soil of Poland. The base is finished with ground cover made from a mix of paper mache, powdered Palmer Paint Products Dry Temp brown tempera water color paint, white glue, fine grained sand and granules from Model Railroad supplies and kitty litter for rocks. This was applied with an artist spatula carefully to ensure a nice clean line with the wood base. That's another pet peeve of mine concerning ground-cover on bases and dioramas. Why do some modelers leave ragged edges between the transition of the ground cover to the base, or, worse, yet, fail to fully paint every nook and cranny of the ground cover leaving unpainted gray paper mache or foam board exposed? I don’t get it. Static grass and florist moss was added for scrub. Wheels from a spare RPM kit were mounted in a makeshift frame duplicating the wheel spread of the Ford Armored Car and pressed into the ground-cover prior to drying. The ground cover was then painted, “washed” and “dry brushed” - including the static grass. It won a First Place in the Armored Car Category at an IPMS USA Nationals in the 1990's and Silver at an AMPS Show.

NJIPMS Presents Mosquitocon 28 Wayne PAL Hall Wayne NJ April 6, 2019 All car modelers are invited to attend New Jersey IPMS's Mosquitocon 28 Model Contest & Flea Market on Saturday April 6, 2019. The Wayne PAL Hall is located on PAL Drive which is accessible just off of Route 23, about a mile or so north of Route 80-take the 1st exit as you head north on Rt.23 from Rt.80. It's the sane venue as the NNL East, who liked our location so much they moved the show from Parsippany. Fees: Adult Registraton - $15 (Unlimited Model Entries) Junior registration (under 16 years old) - $5 Adult Walk-In - $10 Under 12 - free Show Theme – “75th Anniversary D-DAY” Why come to Mosquitocon, you ask ? Well, here's just a few reasons: *It's the largest annual model hobby event in Jersey and one of largest on the east coast. *Attendees state that it's the most fun model show they have ever been to. *NJIPMS's show staff (basically the entire membership) are seasoned professionals, with 26 annual Mosquitocon shows and 3 IPMS USA Regionals under their belts *Mosquitocon boasts more vendors and better vendors than most IPMS USA Regional shows. *Venue lighting is superb *Food is very good - TRY THE BEST OF JERSEY CUISINE - TAYLOR HAM & EGG ON A HARD ROLL for Breakfast! *Number of models competing meets or exceeds the amount that show up at most IPMS USA Regionals *Modelers attend our show from the 4 points of the compass in America as well as from Europe, South America and Asia *We have great looking award plaques *We are "car modeler" friendly. many of our members are avid car modelers *Our Raffle Prizes are better than that offered at most IPMS USA Regional shows - we even have a couple of top of the line airbrushes this year for prizes. *We usually have a "Make and Take" for younger modelers - bring the kids! For the 2019 Show details to come, you can log onto our website: http://www.njipms.org A link to the Show Flyer, Categories, Contest Rules, Directions, etc., will follow. Any questions? Contact: NJIPMS President, Bill Schwarz, email: whsch@optimum.net or call at 732-567-3724 (No Calls after 9PM E.T.please) Mike Dobrzelecki Minister of Propaganda & Mosquitocon Show Promotion Coordinator

Yup

When I was a kid growing up in the 1960s, I built a lot of the classic model car kits available back then from Revell, Monogram, AMT and other manufacturers. The AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer Swamp Rat was in my top 5 favorites back then, and holds its place, even to this day. Legend has it that Don Garlits used to disassemble his record-breaking GMC-Blown Dodge Hemi-Powered Wynn's Jammer after every race. It took him only about 2 hours. Reassembly took 5 hours. That's seems about the same ratio it takes to disassemble and reassemble the average gun in my collection for a good cleaning.

Thanks everybody for your responses. I also found out that RMR has some after-market offerings.

Of course, I know about the Detail Master set, but that comes with a ball knob. Are there any after-market, or kits which include the T-Handle version with the button to hold the brakes on the front tires, while you heat up the rear set just before getting a "greenie" on the line?

Jantrix, Some people enjoy the journey, others not so much, they just wan to get there. To each his own. Me? I build both complicated models and others right out of the box. Mike

To Muncie, Håkan and everybody helping with this research project - again , a BIG THANK YOU!

Hi, High Oct, Jersey Mike's Sandwich's? Not my circus - not my monkey. Mike

Snake, Yeah, that's a common problem that cuts across modeling genres, and I certainly have a couple of those packages sitting on a shelf, since I am primarily a military modeler, whose hobby somehow got me into building museum exhibits for outfits like the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City from 1981-2004, The Museum of Polish Military Heritage in Manhattan 2002 -Current, and several other institutions, Armed Forces Bases, Veterans Groups, etc. I love this work, and it's pretty gratifying for me to pay tribute to our vets and those of our Allies. I donate my time, gratis, to the museums. Just seeing the vets light-up because someone cares is payment enough. My dad and most of my uncles served in WWII. They provided great male role models for me growing up in the 1960s. I'm less than 2 years away from retiring, so I hope to be able to get more time to devote to building models, shortly, including building car models again. My brother, Dan, a USAF vet and Purple Heart Recipient, who is also a life-long modeler, is in ill health these days. Engaging his help on this 56 Wagon Project is giving him a spiritual boost, so I aim to keep pursuing it. He's getting a real kick out of remembering everything about his hot rod build, and helping to figure out the pieces and parts. I lost my other brother, Ron, a year and a half ago, so I want to cherish and enjoy the time I have left with Dan. I posted an intro on this forum, if you're interested. Again, thanks for your help. Regards, Mike Photo: Dobrzelecki Brothers - Ron, Mike & Dan at Dan's retirement October 2013

I grew up in the 1960s in the "Land of the Sopranos", building every kind of model back then - cars, aircraft, ships, tanks - everything. I cut my teeth building car models by Revell, AMT, Monogram, etc. Ed Roth, George Barris and other custom-car designers were some of my faves. My two elder brothers were into hot rods and drag racing, so naturally that got into my blood, too. Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, was a regular destination for us back in the summer. If not Raceway Park, it was hanging out on the unofficial drag strip that was (and is) Avenue P down in the industrialized area of the Ironbound section of Newark NJ. In the 1970s my mom's driveway was always full of cars that my eldest brother, Dan, was working on for extra cash, and when that work was done he would be building one of his hot rods. Dan, now in his 70s, also builds models to this day. For the past 4 decades I've concentrated mostly on military models. Over those years my humble hobby has led me to building models and supervising exhibits for various museums, such as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City. Google my name for examples - just don't get me confused with the guy with the bad Elvis hairdo down in Tennessee who's into horror movie make-up! Hard to believe there's 2 guys with my moniker in the USA, But I have never lost my interest in building car models, and have reanimated that interest lately, with the intent to build many of the car models I built when I was a kid. Photo: Me in a Batmobile replica built by a guy from Jersey. Photo taken in Asbury Park, NJ.

ScottH454, I was not able to use the link for some reason. Is Action Modeler what you're referring to?

Great! Don't miss NJIPMS's show - Mosquitocon on April 6th - same venue. The NNL East organizers apparently loved our venue, so they shifted over the the Parsippany PAL to the Wayne PAL.

To Snake, Casey, MeatMan, Muncie & Daddy Mack, Thanks everybody for the great info. I'll be checking out the products suggested on-line, but check with my brother again by showing him photos to make sure I'm getting the right stuff. Having suggestions like those offered by you guys is going to facilitate the next round of questions and answers with my brother. Other comments: Get Body ready first.... Snake, My process for planning a build is to get the all parts and supplies needed first before I commence. I learned from previous experience, It's the best, if not the only way, to be sure that everything fits, while the body is raw resin/plastic, plus it negates the dreaded abrupt halt in a build, which sometimes saps my enthusiasm. In any event,thanks for your suggestions on the possible paint choice. Tires & Wheels The photos show the car before all the major work was done, so the tires could have been changed. Photos of my brother's finished car I'm awaiting other photos from my brother to get the details correct. I have seen these photos before, and even have some somewhere in my vast archives, so I know that there's at least one of the motor and engine compartment, which should answer a lot of questions on the radiator, air cleaner, alternator side, revised location of various equipment in the engine compartment, final wheels & tires, flame design, etc. NNL East I'll be attending the show on April 27 in Joisy. Any responders to my posts coming?