noelsmith

Your competition auto class definition states that the model has to have a competition number on the entry. I have recently built the late John Cobb's Brooklands Napier Railton and it is blatantly obvious that it is a competition car without having a number slapped on its side. So where do the rules determine if should be placed on the table at the nationals as it is without doubt a competition machine? Your automotive rules are far more comprehensive than over here at Telford each year and I guess that reflects that automotive modelling within IPMS is much bigger generally in the US compared to the UK.

Nice!

Another incredible creation.

Good bit of kit. I have also seen self assembly tool caddy sets made from laser cut MDF that go together by the slot and tag method.

Each to their own. Live and let live. We all have our differences of opinion, skill levels, how we want to model. Does it really matter that much whether someone wants to build straight out of the box of go the Nth degree on a model? The mainstream kit manufacturers it has to be remembered rely on sales from the out of the box modeller rather than modelling nerds to actually make a profit, survive and develop new kits. That said, they are striving to make more accurate kits as their technology develops that are affordable to most. I admit that I personally like the cut and thrust of the competition table but accept that the majority do not. The society must be all embracing to both factions to flourish it has to be said without appearing to be elitist to attract new members. Most model makers out there do not belong to any organisation no matter what genre of model they make, and do not find any reason to want to either. To most of them it is just a form of relaxation like any other hobby to take one's mind off the mundane everyday. As for myself, my personal philosophy is that I am a serious modeller who doesn't take himself too seriously !

I wish someone would tool up an ACCURATE plastic kit of the CSS Alabama in 1/192nd scale. Big enough to super detail without taking up half the house. Half the size of that huge 1/96th scale inaccurate Revell one that shared the hull mouldings with their Kearsarge. Looked up Bluejacket's wooden kit. Accurate, but again enormous in 1/96th scale.

Gowland had quite a range of model cars back in the day. Like Ron I use Plastruct' s Plastic Weld and find it good for many plastics.

Had yet another look at this diorama and seen even more! I particularly like the way the Steam Locomotive looks distressed, but then everything in the diorama looks distressed! An incredible eye for realism that's for sure. The combination of using kit items and the amount of scratch built work on this model has been done to the N'th degree. In a word 'Superb'.

I suggested many years ago that IPMS should be renamed ISMS (International Scale Modellers Society) to reflect that we should embrace all serious static scale modellers no matter what material the models are made from. As expected, my suggestion went down like a lead balloon with the die hards of IPMS. Unfortunately, like it or not having the word 'plastic' within our organisation title has stigmatized us to the uninitiated as being a bunch of perpetual adolescents who stick Airfix kits together. We know that is far from the truth, but to outsiders it is how we are perceived unfortunately. Back in the Sixties when IPMS was formed it seemed a good idea at the time to embrace a what was then a new modelling medium. However things have moved on apace since those formative years but IPMS will never get rid of that stigma as long as 'plastic' remains embedded in our title. IPMS magazines going digital? Not sure on this one. For example if the digital version was not set up so that each article could be downloaded separately I can't see the point. Apart from saving the society a lot of money and a presumption that everyone has internet access that is. And believe it or not there are many of us who still like a printed magazine. OK, there is an argument that it cannot ever remain bang up to date because of the internet, but it is the same for commercial model making magazines too.

Having read that some 'chapters' consist of about only 10 to 15 percent of IPMS members therefore does NOT make it an IPMS chapter at all. It is effectively a local area modelling club where an IPMS chapter operates within it as a guest organisation. If that local organisation was formed by IPMS members originally and retains the name IPMS whatever that club name has become a bit of a misnomer over the years. And, why have the estimated majority of non members in those clubs not joined IPMS one has to ask? Maybe the cost at attending the Convention prices many out of contention so they see no need to join because they can satisfy their modelling needs and aspirations at local club and show level.

Highlander's comments. 1. Large groups of adult males registering as a 'family'. If not, then that is really an entry control issue. 2. Would be buyers going into the vendors room before they have finished setting up to grab a bargain. Again an entry control issue. 3. Vendors come to make money,agreed. But one has to ask why the majority of vendors trade at the convention. Why? Because the IPMS 'nuance' as you term it is for many their very best annual one place sales outlet. Allowing IPMS members just first hour access to the vendors on each day would not really impact on their footfall as I would guess that probably 80 percent of attendees are members anyway. So why shouldn't members have first bite of the vendor cherry so to speak? The vendors would have enough IPMS members clamouring for their goodies within that first hour to keep them well occupied selling before Joe Public would gain entry. So I don't buy that vendors would be financially affected in any way should members have first hour access. At Telford it works well and have not heard of any traders complaining. The only difference as far as I see is your Nats has a separate vendor room whereas Telford's traders are interspersed throughout the halls along with all the other exhibitors.

Regarding 1/16th scale figures, I think that a Ukranian company possibly ICM make figures in that scale. I recently saw at a model show a skeletal Fokker DR1 model in 1/16th scale with a figure of Baron Manfred Von Richtofen stood next to it. So there may possibly be a kit of a British WW1 pilot available somewhere.

Hello Richard, That is a real bummer having to sell up your property to cover medical bills for your wife and hope that things have worked out OK. It surprises me that the US does not now have a health service available to all, being the richest country in the whole world. I thought that Obama Care was a health care system being put into place to set up something available to all. We Brits often complain about our National Health Service, but for all its problems thank goodness we have it and it is available for everybody. It sounds as though you are gradually getting back somewhere to where you were before, and wish you well in the process.

At Telford, dead easy, we have two queues. One for members and one for non members on each day of the show. When our show opens it is quite easy to control. Whilst IPMS members are queuing to get in a couple of volunteer helpers go along the queue distributing access armbands for the two days to members upon showing their membership card. Any members who only go on the Sunday get their armband issued on the day. As soon as the show opens the substantial members queue gets in very quickly. The traders do not suffer as there are more than enough IPMS members to keep them all busy before Joe Public comes in an hour later. Unlike the US convention Telford only gets set up on the Friday and is just open for two days, Saturday and Sunday only and not stretched out like the US Nationals over a few more days. So IPMS only access for the first hour on each of the 2 days does not impact the traders at our show. Also, IPMS UK deliberately prices one day's admission to be a little short of our joining fee to make considering joining worth while. A non member visiting for two days will be paying per day a lot more than the cost of an annual membership that includes two days admission to Telford, our magazine and other IPMS benefits. A no brainer really! I would imagine at the IPMS USA Nationals although it runs over a longer period than Telford has the main similarity in that the vast majority of attendees are IPMS members anyway and allowing members only in on the first hour of each day will probably not really impact financially on your vendors anyway. In my case I list the vendors at Telford that I most want to visit and make sure that I make a bee line to visit the ones that interest me most within that first hour and consider it an additional IPMS membership privilege.

Ron Bell asked the question about vendors, 'Do they run the show or us?' Well if it is the vendors coming up with the readies that virtually finance the show then to a large extent they do. If I were trading and paying for floor space for all the days at the convention I would be very annoyed at having some of my customer base taken away by restricted access for whole days. If the vendors disappeared my guess is the show would collapse as I cannot see IPMS being able to fully fund it to be realistic. What works at our show at Telford is that IPMS members get in an hour earlier than Joe Public on each day. First bite at the cherry for members on each day without upsetting the traders who largely fund the show.