What a weekend!
I have been going to Telford since 2007, so this was my sixth weekend at the show and I can sum it up with just one sentence.
"This was bloody the best one ever!"
This year, the show had expanded into the new hall allowing more space for clubs, SIG's and traders. The kit-swap got moved into the old entrance foyer and the competition tables moved to the new hall where the lighting was so much better. We were in hall 3 and next to our stand was the nose section of a Shackleton MR1 and a Royal Navy Lynx HMA.8 helicopter along with its crew which was flown in on Friday morning. Also in the hall was a French tank courtesy of Meng (sorry Thierry, I cannot remember what type it is) and at the far end was a Daimler Dingo Scout car and a Valentine DD Tank.
My plan for the weekend was for Saturday to be spend doing my main shopping during the morning, followed by visiting other stands and catching up with friends from around the country. Sunday was to finish the last bits of shopping then continue with the wandering around the halls. Even with us arriving on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday morning, there still was not enough time to visit everyone who I wanted to see this weekend.
By the time the show came to a close on Sunday afternoon, the general opinion of everyone I spoke to was that this was the best show the IPMS(UK) had put on in their history. The thing people were wondering about was how could it be topped next year! How about a P-51 Mustang or DH Mosquito?
So, after our journey home and dropping Matt and Richard off at their homes, I arrived back at my house and was greeted by my wife and grandson who's first comments were, "I hope you didn't spend to much?" and "What did you get me?". Home sweet home and glad to be back there!
All that's left to do for now is post a few of the photographs I took over the weekend.
It's that time of year again, when hordes of model builders descend upon Telford for the IPMS(UK) Nationals.
This is my sixth year at the Nationals, all thanks to Milton Keynes SMC for encouraging me to join the IPMS and go to the show. As well as the joy of catching up with friends from around the country and overseas that visit the show, it is also a time for seeing modellers new builds on display and a chance to spend some money, again!
Yet again, I will try my hand in the competitions. Just entering three models this year, its been a slow year for completing any of my competition models. The usual things like work, family life and DIY get in the way of modelling. But that's life for you! There is always next year in which to finish them off for.
If any of you are planning to visit the show, just pop along and say hello. I will be on the Milton Keynes Scale Model Club stand in hall 3. We will be virtually opposite the nose section of the Shackleton Mk1 and Lynx helicopter. Just pop along and ask for Mick, if I am not there, someone will know where I am or give me a shout.
IPMS(UK) Scale Model World
Well, this must have been one of my quickest builds ever, done in just over two weeks. Mind you, there was only one colour to paint on the fuselage, so this saved a lot of time.
In general, a pleasing build and one that took me back to when I was a teenager when I last build a SR-71, a Revell kit I think it was. This kit, an Academy one, went together without any problems. Masking up the cockpit canopies was a bit tedious, but I pushed on to complete it. One little mistake I made was to sand off the lights on the top and bottom of the fuselage, this still needs to be rectified.
The instructions state the fuselage is Black, this is incorrect. SR-71's are actually a very, very dark Blue, nearly Black. So, after seeing the one at IWM Duxford a few times and comparing photographs, I opted to paint the fuselage with Revell's Tar Black. This seems to be one of the closest paints I have in my stock and looks okay.
The Black Bird is another model on my list to have photographs taken for my website. So for now, here is a quick one I took with my phone so you can see it.
I have just been doing a little update on my website.
The gallery page for the M2A2 Bradley has been added, I was lucky enough to have some good photos of this model to use on the website. Other pages updated include Links and Stockpile pages.
Once I have got the IPMS(UK) Nationals in Telford out of the way this weekend, I will have to crack ahead and get some photographs taken of my completed builds that have not been added to the website. There is also a couple of models that have temporary photographs on their gallery pages that need to be retaken.
I will update everyone here later when these have been done.
Mick's Modelling Website
