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I think it matters if the complaints came from IPMS Members or not, 13,000 people belong to the IPMS/USA Facebook page, yet we have less then 5000 members, so 7000+ non-members are complaining? And IPMS should change the society for them? With no indication they will join and help with the changes? If there were plenty of emails and phone calls from members maybe the e-board could practice some of the transparency the NCC was accused of not having and prove how many, is it hundreds? Thousands? Less then a hundred? I doubt it was that many, compared to the membership, if it was then prove it.

Years ago, at a show in the Northeast which shall remain nameless, someone entered an M-113 APC. The rear troop ramp was down, and when you looked inside, there was a soldier figure flipping the bird, holding a sign saying, 'And your little flashlight too!'

The IPMS social media pages need to be run like any organization's pages. Coke doesn't allow some jag-off from Pepsi to come on their page and talk smack about them or their customers. GM has no compunction about deleting posts from the guy who insists his 1968 Camaro is haunted and it's GM's fault. Stauffers immediately deletes posts from that one person who posts about his exceptionally intimate relationship with stuffing. We are under no obligation to accommodate everyone on our own social media page, especially when the sole intent is to cause controversy and make the organization look bad.

Sorry some of you were disappointed in the way the Awards Show was run. Some of you always will be. Based on all the feedback I have received, you are not in the majority. Bill and Aris did a great job with less than 200 categories for a number of years with a show that generally lasted four hours or longer. Most still complained the show ran too long every year, and nobody did anything to fix it. Currently there are 225 regular categories. That number is likely to increase next year. Something needed to be done about the Marathon Awards Show. San Marcos used slides over dinner in 2023 and it worked well. In 2025 we knew we had to put a fix into the Awards Show to get it organized and finished a timely manner. We concluded there was no way to read 225 categories, no matter who was reading, and finish the show in a timely manner. We choose showing the slides over dinner. The plan was to show the slides twice, but everyone was finished eating, so they only ran once. Not sure if the slides ran long or dinner ran fast. We also for the first time I know wrote a script. Everyone who had a speaking roll had written remarks that we walked through prior to the show. FYI, we did cut back on the amount of time we spent thanking everyone, but understand, these folks have put two years of their life into a convention for IPMS and deserve some recognition. The result was an organized show that was completed in two hours. By the time everyone had picked up their models, the slide show was posted online in multiple places so everyone could see who won. Even then, we had people pounding on the Contest Room doors and yelling at volunteers demanding their models. I can't see where we are going back to a four hour show where we announce all the winners. We have received a lot more positive feedback than negative. That doesn't mean we are not looking to improve in 2026 and make some changes to make it easier for people to see the winners. We are always doing our best to improve the convention experience. That does not mean we are going to please everyone. We look at all the feedback and try to create the best convention we can. Scott Hackney 2nd Vice President, IPMS/USA

This is the ID/Combat vacuform kit of the EC-121 Constellation built instead as the Connie used by the Blue Angels in the late 1960s. Everything except the basic airframe had to be scratchbuilt or grabbed from spare parts or repurposed aftermarket. There's a complete "in progress" post on building it and its components in the "build" topic area for anyone interested in the gory details. All of the small round windows were made by using UV cured clear resin that was then sanded and polished with a final coat of Future to brighten them. The model was (in the end) painted in Testors Gloss Dark Blue for the BA Blue (I was out of MM BA blue!) and the BA yellow was done using Tamyia rattle can Camel Yellow applied over flat white primer. The bare metal areas on the cowl sides are Alclad Airframe Aluminum while the prop spinners and cowl leading edges were sprayed Alclad Chrome. The Blue Angels markings came from 2 different sheets, BOTH of them 1/32 scale (to allow for the larger 1/48 aircraft lettering); a CAM A-4 BA Skyhawk sheet and a Draw Decals F7U-1 Cutlass Blue Angels sheet. I did, however, make stencils and mask and paint the yellow "8"s on the tail fins. The American flag decals on the center fin are actually ship decals from the spares box! And now on to the rest of the pics! And... just to answer the question "where would you put it'? I have a display case purposely built big enough for such models. The others currently in the case are a 1/48 B-29 and B-50, as well as a 1/32 B-24D, F-86H, and F-84G. Questions, critiques, and comments welcome, as always. Gil

From my perspective, this is unwise for a number of reasons. 1 - The conversation is going to happen regardless. Talking about IPMS on the IPMS group makes sense. Where else should it happen? Dictating that people have to go somewhere other than where they already (and become paying members if they aren't) just means they won't engage, or they'll engage in other groups, or hear about it via other pages and podcasts and youtube channels and blogs. This is the internet. You can't have smoke-filled backroom conversations. 2 - There seems to be an operating assumption that everything would just go away if it wasn't for non-members on Facebook. This is straight up untrue. Most of the people I see involved in conversations are members. A great many of them I've met at Nats. 13K members doesn't mean squat. Again...it's the internet. 90% of those never engage, comment, or even like a post. 9% comment, and along that same distribution curve. And then you have 1% driving almost all of the activity. And I'll guarantee that the most active are also mostly members. 3 - For all the talk of growing the hobby and making IPMS more inclusive and welcoming, this is slamming the door on that intention. You don't win hearts and minds with members only signs and locked doors. 4 - Respectfully, the problem is not the where. A controversy arises that people are understandably upset about. And instead of any official voice saying "eesh, yeah, that looks bad, and I understand why you'd be upset, but that picture isn't telling the whole story" it's instant defensiveness and dismissal. It's ad hominem attacks. It puts a sour taste in people's mouths. So does attacking whistleblowers. Pitchforks are raised because people are pissed, and at every turn they've been given reason to be. And when you have the (now former) head of the NCC calling what from the outside reads like an extremely thorough, level-headed report "that McLain bull!", well...yeah that's just another thing that's going to keep the era of bad feelings rolling.

Ian (and all): As a well known and bonified enemy of the NCC for the last decade (despite my position as a senior Nats judge), I can unequivocally state that your view of the NCC is dead wrong. As someone who has publicly railed against their past lack of transparency and resistance to change (here, on this forum) I can state that they STILL put IPMSUSA and the Nats Contest first, above their own personal interests. Their decades of contest experience, even if it does lead to their complacency, should NOT be discounted and ignored; which is exactly what this Eboard has decided to do. And it was a CHOICE to do so by the Eboard. They could have tried to change the "touching" rules, or taken further action against the Sci-fi judges THROUGH the NCC, instead of handing down edicts. They have purposely decided to bypass the NCC making them impotent, at first unconstitutionally, and now with the voting in; constitutionally from here on. Most all of the criticism of them has come from people who have little to no experience or knowledge of how judging is done or even how to organize a show and contest. It's easy to say and support a "changing of the guard" and to throw the NCC into a waste basket of disgruntled judges when you haven't had the experience nor the opportunity to work with them, know them, and even personally butt heads with them. The ignorance in some of the statements above is staggering. But.... it's water under the bridge. Whether they resigned or not the Eboard is forming a "new NCC". They're calling it a different name, but it's a committee to review, reform, and run the Nats contest. However, they don't specify what will be reviewed, nor what reforms will be made, nor who these people are who will do this. Will they have the same experience at running a contest with 2000-3000+ models that need judging? Will they be able to call on the same number of experienced judges going forward in order to get the job done? Will they be able to get all of the judges in Madison, the old ones who continue out of a sense of duty and any new ones who volunteer to support the changes made, all on the same page and trained to implement whatever they come up with, providing they can come up with the changes they want by then? The Eboard has thrown the baby out with the bath water, and we can only hope that the consequences are less dire than they seem at this time. Most of the NCC may have quit, but it wasn't because they're "not getting their way" anymore. It's because they've been spit on by the current Eboard. It's because despite offering some compromises to the Eboard they've had that hand slapped away and been handed edicts instead. It's because they've essentially been told their experience and knowledge is no longer needed or wanted AND that their years of past service to IPMS (in some case DECADES of service) doesn't count for anything with this current Eboard. They're not getting mad and quitting because they're in a snit. They're washing their hands of a situation where they no longer have any say. I've always said the NCC needed to be changed, if only to be more open to change itself. I've never been stupid enough to think they should be disbanded or overruled by a group who themselves will be out of power in 2 years. If you're glad to see them go, you're just displaying your ignorance. Gil

Your example about the judges getting overruled is exactly how it should be handled. Everyone straight up admitted that is NOT how it was handled. I have a conversation with Kaliste himself saying he wishes he did it like you had happen in 2019, not how they handled it which created this issue. If everyone did it properly there would be no need for this. But here we are. and you’re right about this being about power but not how you think you’re right. You see, the NCC by all accounts had no oversight, and now that a little is being applied, everyone is quitting. You guys are upset you don’t have the unlimited power you once had, and I get it; that’s hard to take. But really as you said, you resigned over this, so it’s up to the rest of the membership that is still in to carry on and figure it out. You had a great many years of service, and for that we thank you.

I bet you numbers are the same if not better. That’s exactly why things are happening now after 50 years. More people are joining, more people are attending, more people are competing. And now that they’re members all the same as us, they want to make things better. If a change such as “head judges can’t arbitrarily override the volunteer judges’ decision with 0 oversight” makes you want to leave… maybe it’s for the best, as that seems awkward for a head judge to be upset about.

I'm on the side of I like being more informed than less informed. I also look at these early updates as an encouraging sign of what is (hopefully) an extremely well organized, communicative, and motivated host committee for 2024. I have two concrete requests/suggestions for when the 2024 hotel reservations do finally open up: First: ONLY ALLOW ONE ROOM RESERVATION PER PERSON MAKING A RESERVATION! One of the reasons that these hotel room blocks are selling out so fast is that there are members booking 2 and 3 (or more) hotel rooms at one time. I certainly realize that there could be a reason for that, being it either a larger party planning to travel together or a friend doing a friend a favor because they cannot be on the computer or phone the day/time when the reservations open. The problem is, that short changes those who can and ARE trying to make reservations at that time. Save the multiple room reservations for their SECOND time they get on-line or on the phone. Second: OPEN UP TO IPMSUSA MEMBERS ONLY FOR RESERVATIONS THE FIRST DAY, AND TO EVERYONE ELSE THE SECOND DAY. It's the IPMSUSA National Convention and IPMSUSA members ought to have this PERK as a part of their membership. If you want to include vendors on the first day, you could do so, but with a special code or ID that allows them. I don't know IF this can be done since it'd have to be tied into somehow being able to verify who's a current member and who's not, but it would seem with computer abilities, it's just a matter of adding a current list into the hotel's data base which then cross checks the person making the reservation against that list before letting the reservation even start to be made. Or, perhaps the "early" date and time would only be emailed to the membership by the Wild Apricot system so that only they would have that info to begin with, with regular reservations opened up a day or even a week later. Would it be fool proof? No, as there's always people looking to game any system. But it might help! More importantly, it would show IPMSUSA is trying to give something more of value for their membership money. Other than that, I'd like to repeat my request from early 2022 for the '23 show which went unheeded by the San Marcos committee: Please, Please, PLEASE "beta check" the hotel reservation "system" before opening it up to the membership. Be sure the membership KNOWS of any possible snafus inherent in the system (like trying to add a Tuesday to the preset Wed-Sat computer reservation, which the computer page would allow, but the "system" would then reject and not allow it to go through). It will help immensely if we know of any specific things to do or don't do when we log on to get a room. Thanks! Gil

I had some damage to my Monogram P-40 in my Pearl Harbor collection so I decided to Replace with Airfix P-40 in 1/48. This is one very nice Kit. Built mostly out of box except Gun Sight,Uschi Antenna and Eduard Seatbelt. Really enjoyed this kit and fit was mostly great with a few areas only needing a little sanding and dry fitting. Painted with Vallejo Air colors OD and Neutral Grey. Over-coated with Future for Gloss and decanted Dullcoat for final finish. Used some Tamiya weathering powders to "dirty her up". Kit decals were great and no problems. I used gloss black on Props and buffed with Uschi Chrome powder. Hollowed out exhaust and gun barrels with no issues . Thanks for Looking and Comments Welcome Cheers Bill D

The simple answer to this issue is to stop booking these events in way undersized venues. We need 100,000 square feet and 700 plus room venues. Embassy suites have nice facilities but will never be large enough. Have you all forgotten about our vendors who have to pull out early on Saturday so we can convert the vendor room to a banquet room. We need to grow up folks and realize these facilities may seem priced right but DO NOT meet the needs of our convention. And I will say it $55 for convention registration is like the national minimum wage. It is not keeping up with the times and severely hampers our ability to enter other larger convention markets.

I wanted to see if I could build a broken relic into something presentable. I learned about the P-38 when I build this kit as a child and I would fly it around outside shooting down me109s and what have you. The copy I had at that time was molded in glossy OD plastic. I decided to find a copy and I did. I found some busted up kits for sale on eBay. The P-38 was one of them and is molded in metallic blue. It was missing the tail plane, props and spinners and balance weights. I asked for parts from the club membership and a member sent me a complete Monogram P-38 kit for parts. So here are photos showing the progress. It is one of Aurora's more accurate 1/48 models and I wanted a simple stand build; but, there was lots and lots of sanding and filling. To my surprise the Monogram replacement parts fit perfectly. I carefully removed the yellowed canopy and polished it. There is no cockpit just a molded on pilot, and rudimentary instrument panel and radio. The canopy is more like a helmet in that it sits atop the cockpit and is oversized. The only thing I could do at this point was adding putty and sanding down the sides so that it fitted properly. I glued the canopy with clear Gorilla Glue and it made a good bond without crazing the plastic. The clear canopy is missing some frame lines so I used decal strips to create those missing frames. None of the intakes are open so I just used a large sharpie to paint them black. I painted the model with Tamiya Green Drab and Mission Models Neutral Gray. The markings are from an Aeromaster sheet on OD P-38s. The props are held in place with blue-tac putty. Thanks for looking. 12 additional images. Click to enlarge.

I purchased both of these kits from a vendor at our clubs annual invitational. Both kits are from Meng. This was my first time building Meng kits, and I must tell you, they were a joy to build. I was very impressed with the level of detail, and how well everything fit together. The base was covered with Stucco repair from Lowe’s. While it was still wet, I pressed the tracks, and mine roller wheels into the mixture. I painted the base with several shades of brown, and sand. Once dry, I applied a wash of Tamiya brown, and black. After it dried, I dry brushed Naples yellow hue for highlights. While trying to simulate the nonslip surface on the top of the turret and hull, I ran into some issues. After talking with some of the armor experts in our club, they pointed me in the right direction. Chris

These circular discussions are entertaining, but I’m waiting to see how it will be run, which depends, I’m sure, on local rules, CDC guidance, and best practices in play at the time. I’ll likely make my decision about two weeks out based on knowns at that time. I feel for the organizers, have paid my registration including the banquet, and bought a trophy package. I don’t want a refund if it cancels, just hoping it helps in some small way. If it doesn’t cancel, it’s just a choice we all have to make based on what we think the level of risk is for ourselves and others. I have my own ideas, and each person should evaluate their own risk tolerance. My profession is all about risk management, so I look at this the same way. joe

Here is my latest aircraft completed this month. This is the ancient Matchbox kit of the Swedish SAAB J-29 in 1/72 scale. I used the kit's original decals to complete it. Sprayed with a rattle can of metallic aluminum: Thank you all for looking in, comments are welcome!

Sorry to be late to the party- I just found out about this question. The answer is pretty simple. We have two people who do a huge amount of work for IPMS/USA, Nancy Kennedy-Hackney and Marie Van Schoonhoven. Nancy and Marie are our consultants- our Member & Event System Admin and our Office Manager, respectively. Nancy is our MyIPMSUSA.org (Wild Apricot) guru, manages convention registration and vendor registration, and handles our email blasts for the convention and other contests around the country. Marie handles all things membership related and our special products like name badges. We are very lucky to have two such dedicated consultants taking care of our needs! It works out better for us and for them to have them as consultants rather than employees.

I received my copy today and I can't say I'm impressed by what I showed up. I can't read in. Who's idea was it to print the text in light gray? I feel bad for the people that spent so much time writing the articles. All that work and it can't be read. Are there plans to reprint it with the correct color ink, or are we stuck with a non-readable issue? If so, where do I get in line for a refund? What do you mean you can't read this?

I am attempting to stay out of this because I do not wish to bring harm or discredit on the society or anyone who volunteers to work on its behalf, but Gil is extrapolating some stuff and I want to tamp it down before it gets a bit out of hand. "In this particular case, Chris did not "retire".... he QUIT due to "demands from the Eboard he could not abide". I FEEL THAT THE EBOARD SHOULD HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THOSE DEMANDS WERE THAT CAUSED A DEDICATED 18YR EDITOR TO QUIT." The E-board made no demands on me - that was not the reason I resigned. The E-board, on the whole, made few demands on me over the entire 18-year time I was editor. "Could those demands have been be legitimate? Sure! They may have INSISTED and needed more timely work from him to get the Journal back on schedule and due to personal and business reasons Chris could not meet those demands, so he quit. That's quite understandable." Nope - never heard a peep of pressure from anyone. "However, the past Eboard also tried to make Chris have his own Editorial Column "pre-approved by the Eboard" and Chris refused to do that that. If THIS Eboard demanded he do so, then I want to know why? He's run the Journal without such oversight for 18yrs so I think they should have to tell us why THEY suddenly need to control his material (and his opinion) for publication." I submitted the last three editorials I wrote for review - no problem! That did not bug me at all. In fact, I believe the supposedly controversial editorial I wrote last year would have been approved by the majority of those who were then on the E-board. This was not a problem for me. I resigned because the process for building the Journal was altered without my input in such a way that I could not exert a positive impact on any aspect of it - timeliness, quality, or content. I was not shy in my suggestions or timid about my cautions. I've been doing magazines for almost 35 years, so I like to think I know at least the basics. Anyhow, there will be a suggestion email address in the next issue. The address is contained in Ro Annis' message. You should use it.

In attending the Madison convention I noticed small and large changes in how the Convention was run. Almost all of them were from the current E-board and whoever they designated to the task for the National Convention. I'm sure others were involved. First off the Registration process was the smoothest I'd have ever seen computer based and individualized for each member either entering models or just to get a t shirt and a decal sheet. Totally customized to cater to the membership. In my mind it was a eye opening experience. Second Judging with the NCC changes since the San Marcos Convention was a big question mark . I think it went very well. That being said I'm sure other clubs may have considered bidding but before you commit 2 yrs of your life the clubs wanted to make sure what they are committing to. That in itself may have dampened enthusiasm to make a bid at this time. Third going into the future I feel in my opinion the operations are being streamlined to enhance the member experience. Systems shouldn't change year to year at every National going forward. No more Chiseling a new wheel for the National Convention. Also this is the first year that the National E-board has opened access to the membership in a social setting a nice way for members to discuss concerns and criticisms and what members think what IPMS is doing right. And another meet and greet session was held with club officers and RC's to hear concerns and to exchange questions and share ideas and suggestions. I'm definitely seeing a trend towards transparency and seeking member input. Fourth volunteers the lifeblood of any organization. In my opinion that is what the host club will provide in hosting a National Convention. If you saw a red t shirt in the Madison Convention, you could get directions to where to go from registration to vendors to help unload into the vendor area and help them at the end of the Convention. And many clubs outside of the Madison club stepped up and helped the Convention run as smoothly as humanly possible, adding to the experience and providing value by them being there. In conclusion IPMS will see other bidders in the future in my opinion. I think we're in a wait and see period. Like anything, new clubs and modelers want to see how this goes. Local clubs are the lifeblood of the Society. Ron Thorne Jr RC 5

I finished this baby January 2, after staring it in... 2002? It's a Hasegawa/Mister Kit mashup in 1:72 to depict a Serie VIII Macchi-built machine; the cockpit is Mister Kit and True Details resin with a Pavla seat with Eduard belts, and the wheel wells are mostly scratch-built. Mister Kit's photoetched gear doors were a pain to work with but ended up looking good. Missing details inside and outside the radiator were made with mesh, styrene strip and sheet and a lot of patience. The plane was painted with True North Africa mustard and light grey (matches for the Italian colors) and the camouflage was made with Mike Grant's "smoke ring" decals, which performed great (although they can be fragile). The markings for "Dai Banana!" came from a Sky Decals sheet and they were more persnickety than the smoke rings - Solvaset was my friend. The real secret weapon was the Valiant Wings monograph on the C.202, which answered many questions (questions that led it to go to the Shelf of Doom, perhaps?).

Hi. My last racer, Polish PZL P6, made from scratch in 1/32 scale, from National Air Racers in Cleveland 1931 More on the topic here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/84035-pzl-p6-1931-from-scratch-scale-132/ Best regards, Marcin IPMS Polska

This is one of the later (1957) entries into the Aurora 1/48 biplane series and is actually a pretty nice kit. This is a later release that supposedly has some "new parts" which I suspect are the cabane and interplane struts in the common "U" configuration as the box top says there is "new easier wing assembly" so maybe the original had individual struts which are fiddly to get in place in correct alignment. If you were a super-detailer it is a pretty good starting point. The kit freaked me out while I was building/painting it as nothing went wrong and everything fit. The guy in the pilot seat is an enigma. He's not really in flying gear as he has no helmet nor googles and I have no idea what he's waving at. Like all these kits, there was almost no interior so I "imagineered" some stuff just to fill the space. No windscreen is provided oddly, so I made one out of my spares box. Also, the real aircraft had thos long exhaust extensions and they are not provided in the kit, so I made them out of plastic tubing. Even the decals went on like a treat. However, after dull coating I noticed there was was some silvering which was not there beforehand. But, it's only bound for my shelf so that's ok. Normally these kits came with a little base and one or two figures as a sort of ground crew, but not in this case but I wanted something to set it off a bit so I scratched up a little cart with some mail bags and a satchel in it However, so some reason, even though it's not all that complicated, the rigging on this stressed me out a bit. But, it's done now and I'm moving on.

I appreciate Doug joining the conversation here, although I see it differently. 1- The problem I see is there has not been constructive conversation on Facebook about these issues, something is posted and it is a dogpile of fire starters and pot stirrers, the few that tried to add thoughtful comments were basically shouted down, insulted and/or bullied, so they left, leaving it to the mob. This forum is not a smoke-filled back room, it is available to all members, the society has a constitution and by-laws, that basically dictates how members will operate while they are IPMS members, I realize in this day and age people might think everything should be open to everyone, especially on social media, that is not reality. I see no problem with requiring people to go to a members forum to discuss member issues. By looking at the comments on Facebook posts, IPMS related or not, there are plenty of people that would not be missed if they did not engage. If anyone thinks backroom conversations do not go on, or they can or have been stopped, they are fooling themselves. 2 - That’s not the assumption I have heard from anyone I know, it is that non-members should not be the driving force behind knee-jerk reactions and major changes to the society, and that is what I believe is happening. By your math 130 of the 13K people that follow the IPMS Facebook page are responsible for almost all of the activity on issues, and I don’t believe that all of them are IPMS members, being generous I would say 80 of them are, so do I understand correctly that less then 1% of the membership should be driving the decisions for major change? 3 - In my opinion IPMS is not responsible for growing the hobby, and it HAS and continues to be more inclusive and welcoming, it will never be what every last person wants, or do exactly what everyone wants, and it should not have too, or even try. It should be common knowledge that you can not make everyone happy all the time. What part of membership is confusing, to be a member you need to join, and for IPMS that means a membership fee, I belong to two different chapters, they do not allow me to keep being a member without paying the club membership fee, no doors are locked, you just need to join and be a member. 4 - I disagree, the problem is where, and the tactics used to turn them into a supposed controversy. Now we have any and all complaints, valid or not, understandable or not, made out as an outrage on Facebook to rile up the mob. Case in point, a picture was posted two days ago of someone (judge?) at a contest in Spain HOLDING UP a model at eye level with one hand and using a flashlight with the other to look at it. So far it has 4-5 likes and one post, and no pitchfork and torch welding mob of angry people have turned it into a controversy, or even a joke. As for attacking the complaint, they opened themselves up to criticism, good or bad, by choosing facebook to air their grievances and should have known that.

Which is why the only PRACTICAL solution (if you want to keep the FB open to the public) is to restrict it to modeling related posts only. That way NO admin has to try to keep up with ANY non-modeling post. If others want to rant about IPMS "politics" elsewhere, let them. In fact, there are Eboard members and other IPMS members with their own podcasts where that can easily be done. I disagree that ANY non-member should have a say as to how WE run IPMS. If they want to have a say, then JOIN and become a PART OF THE PROCESS. I disagree that the vocalism of the non-members hasn't made a difference. In fact, it's their obviously inexperienced and ignorant statements about IPMS judging (especially concerning handling the models) that has caused the Eboard to react in its knee-jerk methods. Take the non-members out of the POLITICAL equation, but allow them to continue to post model builds and related posts on the FB page. Save the politics for HERE, and for members only! Gil

If I might suggest then...... simply make the IPMS FB NON-POLITICAL, PERIOD! Any non model building post is automatically deleted by any admin immediately with instructions that ALL IPMSUSA political debate be sent HERE. HERE, all of the politics should be moved by admins to the THIRD, MEMBERS ONLY AREA (not deleted, but moved). This will insure that ONLY members are in on these discussions. While non-members may yell about it being some sort of "non-transparency" tactic, they can yell elsewhere or JOIN and come here to participate. The model only policy is also very much in line with many other FB modeling page policies. GIL

There is not an intimidation factor, there is an arrogance factor, as Gil put it, an Elitist Reputation. At the 2019 Nats, other then the nice folks manning the entrance tables, not a single member, or an officer of this group greeted me. I was wearing both the show supplied name tag, plus my own home club hard plastic, engraved tag. Not a single, " Hello, Hi, thanks for coming.." nothing. On the flip side, my girlfriend was allowed in free of charge, and they printed up a name tag for her ! She was sadly verbally assaulted by a women in the ladies room out side the display room because how she was dressed. Which was very conservative and nice, being a long skirt and a blouse and flat dress shoes. Weird that.... Now, I did reach out to several people, including Barry Numrick, Robert Steinbrun , Joe Youngerman, Paul Boyer, and had some nice conversations about modeling. Also met Bert Kinsey at his table, plus caught up with Roy Sutherland. Made the president of Zoike Marua laugh, as I asked why the new tool 1/144th Ho-229 didn't have the same level of detail as it's 72nd counterpart ! Slapped me on the back and said I was crazy ! My girlfriend bought coffee for the Wingnut Wings guys on Saturday, as they had been up late enjoying the adult spirits... We used to make fun of the guy at the door at Walmart, but at a venue like this, it might not be a bad idea. We have a huge train show every winter, and they always have folks in train caps handing out directories to the vendors, and saying " Hi , thanks for coming " with a smile, every year. I know this doesn't pertain to the current judging/power play, but any change that will cause the IPMS to be in a better light, can't hurt. IPMS USA needs to stop assuming every one knows who is who, when most of us do not.

Hey! Please volunteer! So we can screw you when weasels scream about something on social media! This is no way to run a railroad. Absolutely pathetic.

I have today also submitted my resignation effective immediately. I can no longer effectively serve the current organization. Ed Grune (former) Head Ship Judge

Please do ME, the 2024 Nats Team, and the E-board a HUGE favor by NOT calling the 2024 Nationals venue asking for information. It is NOT their job, nor is it their responsibility, to satisfy your personal need to have information ahead of everyone else. The venue has already contacted me directly asking for the phone calls to cease. No IPMS member should be contacting the venue and demanding free parking and lower hotel rates, neither of which are the venue's responsibility. I have instructed the Monona Terrace staff and my personal POC (Point of Contact) to not field calls from anyone within IPMS EXCEPT for the 24 Nationals team and the Executive board. This behavior is unacceptable. All it does is convolute the process and spread rumors, false information, and outright fabrications pertaining to the '24 Nats, which I am already having to deal with, and we aren't even past San Marcos yet. We are more than one year out from Madison, so there are LOTS of things that haven't even been discussed yet. The Monona Terrace staff only knows what I and the E-board have told them thus far pertaining to the convention. They know nothing of the floorplan, or the menu, or the schedule of events, because none of those items have been addressed yet. The sole purpose of this forum is to address questions you have. There's already a list of things we can and cannot answer at this time. Please show the team a little trust and respect and let them do their jobs instead of running around responding to half-truths and rumors. If you have LEGITIMATE questions for the venue, such as handicapped accessibility or things of that nature, we will be HAPPY to convey those questions to them in our regularly scheduled meetings. But PLEASE, bring your questions to US, not the venue. (EDIT - This situation today, over the weekend, and then the personal attacks from IPMS members already accusing us of not doing our jobs, has put me in a not-so-friendly state of mind.) Jeff Herne 2024 IPMS National Convention Chairman IPMS/USA Region 5 Coordinator.

The following people were GOLD medal winners this year. many of them getting more than one: Ruthie Inman and Kenny Morrisey (juniors!), Don Martin, Jason Grenot, Andy Caldwell, Errol Whisler, Nick Salamunia, Danny Vazquez, David Neely, Raymond Morrisey, Brent Benore, Gary Hatherly, Lorenzo Vallebona, Luis Perez, Jim Liquori, Fred Seitz, Rick Reinert, Richard Acosta, James Jenson, Jerry Wells, Bradly Weirick, Al Voccaro, Kim Sheldon, Mathew Dillon, James Marshall, Tom White, Glen Kaesar, Fred Henry, Mathew Inman, Robert Marquinez, Paul Helfrich, Steve Arthur, Thad Robinson, David Reuce, Dave Nowinski, Wayne Stevens, and Bernard Kempensky (I apologize for any mis-spellings!). Here are pics of the Best Ofs and Special Awards..... JUDGES GRAND AWARD by Bernard Kempinsky (and they say we're the International PLANE Modeler society....) BEST JUNIOR MODEL by Ruthie Inman Best Aircraft by James Jenson Best Armor by Jason Grenot Best Automotive by Luis Perez Best Nautical by Lorenzo Vallebona Best Space/Sci-Fi by Don Martin Best Diorama by Bernard Kempensky Best Detailed by James Jenson Best Camouflage by James Jenson Best Natural Metal Finish by Jerry wells Most Popular Model by Michael Brooks Best Figure by Bernard Kempinsky Best Gloss Finish by Glenn Kaesar Gil

Finished my new display case! It took 10yrs to fill the last case of this size with 112 models. I will feel very blessed if the Lord grants me another 10yrs to fill this one! The only thing left is to buy and install the glass shelves...but that will be done as needed after the bottom of the case is filled up. I think I'll christen the case by building a 1/48 Monogram B-29! GIL

The model was painted with Tamiya rattle can Deck Tan topside and Neutral Gray underneath. The top side was then heavily post shaded with Tamiya lacquer Light Sand, and a "mist" coat of Tamiya lacquer Deck Tan was applied to tone it back down. Tamiya rattle can Gloss was used before applying the kit decals, which are quite good. That said, it did take a new bottle of Solvaset and some patience to get the fuselage roundels to suck down over the waist window wind guards. I panel lines were done with pencil, which was then smeared with a wet finger for weathering. MIG brown pigments were applied in the same way for more weathering, along with some selected silver chipping. Tamiya rattle can Flat sealed everything. This thing is HUGE.... tough to get good pics of it overall, so please excuse the background stuff! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome! Gil

Tamiya 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf-109G-6. I finished this up early last month, but didn't feel like shooting it until today. Built out of the box, with only ceramic wire antenna added. Airbrushed with MRP RLM 74/75/76.

Here's everything y'all need to know pertaining to Madison's 2024 Nats at this point. We are still a long way off, although there's much work to be done between now and then. This is, of course, Mad City's first National Convention. The clubs in the region are excited, and the team is enthusiastic and full of great ideas to make the attendee experience memorable and enjoyable. We'll do our utmost to implement whatever additional amenities we can without losing our mission focus of accomplishing all of the boiler-plated tasks required of every national convention. That being said, we're already getting negative feedback from people..."It's too far", "I hate the Wisconsin Badgers", "I got a DWI up there in 1987, so I'm never going back to Wisconsin", (yes, these are real) etc... Please keep in mind, we have a job to do, and its not an easy one. If you choose not to attend because you hate the Wisconsin Badgers (and I'm a NY transplant, so enough of that) or it's too far for you to travel, that's on YOU, not on US. We're sorry that we're way up here in the frozen tundra of the Midwest. Regardless, no matter where the National Convention happens, it inevitably becomes a very long drive for someone. If you choose to make that LONG journey from where ever you are, we will do our best to make it a wonderful experience for you and your families. Now...back to work... Jeff Herne 2024 IPMS National Convention Chairman Region 5 Coordinator IPMS 2024 Madison_Final_Ver.pptx

Just make sure you have some debonder handy. 😁

I strayed a bit from simple on this one, inspired by a really nice build of the Lindberg XFY-1 given to me by a friend who has Gone West. I built up a cockpit using some Monogram F-80 parts and a PE instrument panel for which I can't remember the source. The intakes were given some internal trunking and the belly was extensively reshaped as Aurora got that pretty wrong and it is an interesting part of the airplane. A new canopy was made so I could pose it open. Some of the casters were missing so I made some resin replacements and posed them in a more realistic fashion. Work was complicated by the fact that the kit came to me as a glue bomb and the first step was to get it apart without destroying it. Later I found an unstarted kit but what would be the fun in that? It rests in the stash.

I've had this 1/48 Missing Link resin conversion for the Monogram Me-262A for decades to turn it into an Me-262B, and finally decided to build it! The conversion is simple and straight forward, only requiring the cutting down of the kit spine and the addition of the rear seater's cockpit tub. A very nice extended vacuform canopy is included, the nose radar "C" arms, as well as the seat and details for the rear cockpit. All in all, with the exception of drilling the radar arms to accept very fine wire radar antennas, this is an easy conversion. The only other thing worth mentioning is I tried a new technique for the side splotches. Instead of fighting with my airbrush, I cut VERY small swatches of sponge, held them with tweezers, dipped them into paint, blotted them off on a paper towel, and then DABBED the splotches onto the model. I was quite pleased with the result and it was MUCH easier than trying to spray them on! The model was rescribed and a brown sludge-wash applied. The markings are all from the Monogram kit, except for the black fuselage crosses. I didn't have ANY decals small enough to fit, so I made a stencil and sprayed the black crosses onto the sides. Anyway, happy to have this one built after it's sat in the stash since the 80s! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome, as always. Cheers! GIL

11 completions this past year, about average for me. I'll run them in chronological order. Fuel tanker and Cushman trike from the Airfix 1/72 USAAF Bomber Support Set, done as post-war civvie vehicles: Airfix 1/48 Gloster Meteor F.8: Classic Airframes 1/48 Grumman Widgeon: Airfix 1/48 Spitfire XVIII (converted from the XIV kit): Airfix 1/48 Spitfire Vb: Airfix 1/72 MBB Bo105: Airfix 1/72 Lynx HAS.2: Airfix 1/72 Lynx AH.1: Revell 1/72 F-4EJ, the very basic 1965 kit! SBS Resin 1/72 Farman F.190: Tamiya 1/48 Mosquito NF.XIX, converted from the NF.XIII kit: A pleasing year, I was pretty happy with most of these completions. We'll see what 2022 brings, but I have a number of interesting builds planned. Let's see what transpires!

Well the postman brought this a few hours ago. Thank you to the gentleman from another site who found this at a local shop for a great price and offered to pick it up and send it to me! I love the “painting guide for lozenge pattern camouflage” labeling... on such a large subject that’s gonna drive me crazy! But then again, I used to parachute out of perfectly good airplanes in the middle of the night, so I have screw loose upstairs somewhere...

And keep in mind that those that participate in these forums are a small minority of the total membership, most of which just want to build models and not engage in the day to day proceedings of the organization.

I'm one of the Admins of the IPMSUSA Facebook page. This has been suggested many times, and it is not as easy as it sounds. Yes, we could have a private Facebook group, but there is no way to identify which FB members are actually IPMS members. Anyone can make a FB account with any name; some troll could make a FB account with the name "Phil Peterson" and the admin for that (hypothetical) private group would have no way of knowing if it was the real "IPMS President" or someone pretending to be who wanted to join and cause trouble. And no, IPMS numbers are not a secure way to identify members - at one time the numbers were published in the Journal, and appear on model registration forms and other places. There are ways we could manually verify identities outside of FB, but then multiply that manual process by 5000 members, where the membership is constantly changing as people join and leave (or just are slow to renew their membership). Its my understanding that the members-only group here on the Forum requires manual intervention by the Admin; it only works because there are a relatively small number of people participating here. Automating the Forum group membership is at least technically possible, but will require (non-trivial) work to connect the membership data in Wild Apricot to the message board software. Having a larger number of (IPMS-only) members in such a group will also create the need for more active moderation; IPMS has plenty of members with strong opinions, being IPMS-only does not insure well mannered debate. I believe there is also value in having a FB presence that is open to the public, as it gets the IPMS name out and helps promote the organization, including many chapters who use it to promote their own club and events. Even if we had a way to have a private FB group, I think there is value in keeping the public group too.

"Kuklinski's Principle of Appearance: A half-built scratch built kit impresses people with your skill; a completed scratch built kit looks just like any other model." I have included a picture of my in-progress scratch built 1/25 scale FWD P-2 crash fire truck. I have been working on this since March, 2020. The body is more of less complete, except for the battery compartment (the opening on the lower, center of the body). Everything is pretty much scratch built. It's about 16 inches long, 5 inches high and about 4 1/2 inches wide. The tires are resin from American Industrial Truck Models, and some parts from the AMT American LaFrance pumper kit (mainly just the seats). The next "adventure" is building the transmission, steering, and engine assemblies. I have more pictures but I can't seem to download them. I have a question for you folks: I need to scratch built two "straight six cylnder" gas engines. Any suggestions on where these can be found, or modified? I may have to scratch build these too.

The Curtiss F11C-2 Goshawk is one of my favorite biplanes, and this BFC-2 was an upgraded version with a raised spine and half canopy. This is the Lone Star 1/32 resin conversion that backdates the classic Hasagawa BF2C with the retractable landing gear back to the earlier Goshawk. While the conversion is pretty straightforward, it's not a matter of only simple parts substitution. Lone Star supplies new resin fuselage halves, a new upper fuselage panel, lower wings, and the landing gear legs (which are assembled in this pic). They also supply a seat and a new floor, but both required some sanding to get them to fit into the narrower cockpit. The Hasagawa kit rudder pedals also needed to be cut to fit into the narrower space. One major adjustment was the need to remove the cabanes from the Hasagawa upper fuselage panel so they could be added to the resin replacement part. However, IF you simply cut them off, you'd lose their molded in alignment. Too remedy that, I made sheet plastic "scab plates" in order to glue them together BEFORE I cut them off, resulting in the cabanes you see here. That meant I only had to worry about their outward angles when I glued them back on, and not the angles of the individual struts. Also pictured is the Has. kit engine (gloss black in prep for the NMF) and the Has. kit cowling, which had to be sanded so its cord was shorter. This paid a benefit in that once the cowling was shorter, the engine could be put in and taken back out from the rear, making both much easier to paint. Screening was added inside the bottom of the nose to close off the openings. I also added some scrap plastic and tubing to the underside just so if you peered into the rear of the opening it looked like some sort of "stuff" was in there. Some major assembly and priming has been done here and the tail wheel support added. The scoop on the top front of the nose had to be scratchbuilt, as it was missing from my kit. Also note that plastic tubing was used to scratchbuild the earlier Goshawk's exhaust system. Some more priming has been done with Tamiya rattle can Aluminum to start checking on the surfaces, and the tail planes have been painted gloss white. The Has. kit drop tank needed to have its nose filled with ApoxySculp and its gas cap relocated. I also added a support strap using 3M plastic tape. The drop tank supports were made from thin aluminum strip and plastic rod and a small metal U bracket put under the nose as the attachment point for the bomb yoke when used. They're hard to see, but flanking each fuselage side midway are two PE circles that locate and define the flare ports. I was able to use the Hasagawa kit half canopy, but had to scratchbuild the windscreen seen here because the kit one was way too wide for the narrower early Goshawk. On to the finished pics! The flying wires were done with floral wire, taking care not to kink them while installing them. All of the stripes were painted. The markings themselves came from the Lone Star supplied decal sheet, except for the US Navy and the stars which are from various aftermarket sets. Although this build wasn't as easy as I originally thought it'd be, it was relatively easy compared to the last couple of conversions I built! I now have my favorite biplane on the shelf in 1/32 to accompany its 1/48 little brother I built a few years ago! Gil

HI ! Here another project I have done in the past , it's an SCRATCH SETAMPUNK LAWNMORE in 1/48 .. If you like to view more pic of it, I have set up a page for this project just this GOOGLE link : https://goo.gl/photos/LWy4CKWhnS7GEmDD9 Enjoy ! Jmarc

I built this model with 3 purposes.... the first was to have a B-29 in my collection; the second was to christen my new display case I finished recently, and the third was as "practice" because I plan to cut one up to make a B-50 using a resin conversion set I have. I put the full interior into it as part of this process, just to see what can be seen in the end and what can be skipped in the future. This was a project that took longer than expected, considering it's OOTB for the most part. It was a case of 2 steps forward and then one back; especially when painting time arrived. The fault was entirely mine. I sanded and polished the canopy and nose glass, using some of the Novus polishing compounds. I failed to remove all of the residue and had repeated problems with the paint around the canopy and nose as a result. Repeated filling and sanding finally overcame things. The only correction I tried to make to the kit was the exhausts. Monogram gives you one large piece for the exhaust when it should actually have two, one larger for the engine and one smaller for the supercharger on each side of each nacelle. I drilled and shaped new holes and used plastic tubing to replicate them. I also added clear plastic wing tip lights. Another mod was I sawed the cowl flaps apart so I could flare them to a more open position. This not only looked better, it helped the cowlings fit the nacelles easier. I chose to do a black bottomed Korean War B-29. I've always like that scheme, and by painting the entire model black, it also served as the base coat for the Alclad and AK Metallics paints used on the top. I used the Alclad gloss black primer for the black. Alclad had some bad batches of this product that doesn't dry properly, but my bottle worked perfectly, drying hard in 24hrs. I used various metallic colors to get the varying panel tones and the anodized wing spar center section. Since I'd lost so many raised panel lines in sanding, I decided to go retro and "ghost" panel lines on the top. This also served to give it the more weathered look of a Korean War B-29 years older than its WWII counterparts. Enough of the in-progress stuff...on to the finished model! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome! Gil

Here's what I completed in 2022...9 pieces (1.3/month). Certainly not as prolific as my years in the 2000s, but I've learned to slow down and address the minutia more closely. Still, I feel like the older I get, and the more experience I gain (20+ years not counting the 10+ as a kid) the worse I get. I suppose with my busy work schedule and Homelife, 9 is pretty damned good. Goals for 2023 include mastering the Cameo Silhouette 4 plotter/cutter, as the plan is to mask/paint as many markings as possible. Also, a 1/32 Bf-109 extravaganza with all the Barracuda Cast resin detail parts made for this particular kit. Cheers!

Here is one I picked up at an antique mall near Milton, FL a couple of weeks ago, never heard of it before, $18.00, looks complete! Chip Naples, FL

Hi All, I'm pleased to report a bid for the 2024 National Convention was submitted. It will be evaluated by the Eboard and details will be shared at the National Convention in Omaha. Thank you all who have reached out and supported the current bid cycle. See you in Omaha! Cheers, John

Hi to all, I present my latest work performed with the MWP technique (Metal Work Panels) or with the complete covering of the model with aluminum panels (self-adhesive tape). This is the Hong Kong Models kit for the 1/32 scale B-25 J Mitchell 'The Strafer' model: the kit has been further improved with the following optional accessories: The version chosen (optional Zotz Decals) is the following: North American B-25 J Mitchell "Lady Lil" (correct nose for this version ) Hong Kong Models kit 1/32 scale model - version: 498thBs "Falcons", 345bth Bomber Group " Air Apaches" 5th AF in Philippines, May 1945 image posted for exclusive technical and historical reference for this thread this is the technique (sample from the wip) used to cover the model with ultra-thin and self-adhesive aluminum panels (MWP technique) : Happy surfing: cockpit interior (extracted from wip): below you can better appreciate the metal oxidation process on the engine nacelles (extracted from the wip): internal bomb compartment (extracted from the wip): Thanks for the attention. for more info & pics :http://www.adventurephotomodels.com George