jcorley

IIRC.... Phoenix is July 25-28 Chattanooga is Aug 7-10 But don't quote me, there were five bids and multiple dates for 4 (I think only Las Vegas had a 2018 only bid, but San Antonio might have - it's all a sleep deprived blur after judging the night before)

Tim-san!!! So good to see you around! Are you able to get away from the airline long enough to get to Columbia later this week? I look forward to seeing you again.

I've driven from Denver to both Phoenix and Vegas. One more day is all. Loveland is 1542 miles Phoenix is 1707 miles Vegas is 1871 miles Overall, Vegas is only 5 hours more from here than Loveland (2 more for Phoenix) so I guess it really doesn't matter that much. I'd tag-team and cross the desert at night anyway. I don't know that I can stand much more than 20 hours in a car at a time anymore, tho. Omaha is only 16 hours, a long but fairly easy day for me. I just remember it seemed like an eternity from OKC to ABQ on 40, and another on to the grand canyon back in the late 70s

Even from Pensacola I could drive to Denver. Family in the OKC area make it an easy pit-stop at just past halfway. Vegas and Phoenix would be by air unless I have a ton of time off.

No. For two reasons: "Generally, only parts that are included with the kit and found in the bag or box may be used." "It is not permitted to vacuum-form, manufacture, or replace any part, or substitute parts from another kit; cut or separate canopies,surfaces, hatches, doors, etc." Adding weapons from another kit would violate both of these rules fro OOTB. The only way to add weapons to OOTB would be if they were in the instructions. I do remember a case where a Hasegawa plane was disqualified because the builder used a Hasegawa weapon set, had highlighted the bit about using the weapon set, and it was not considered for OOTB. IIRC, this was at Dallas in 2000 but could have been Chicago in 2001.... but that may not be correct.

I'd suggest we try somewhere new, like we are this year. Vegas might have a good bid, but I would fear it might have too many "distractions" for some people (I would go) Chattanooga has a fantastic facility (they have had their annual show there for years now) The biggest question about San Antonio is this: Is the basement of the Alamo big enough for us?

So.... this means it'll be ready for Columbia, right?

Does anybody still have an ALPS printer? I need a small section of decals, please.

FWIW, the kit is Lindberg - even the box art is the Lindberg 1980s box art with the Nocmis logo instead. Overall, not a bad kit, but really basic.

It seem like this happens every few years. Perhaps it is time for Airfix or Revell-Gmbh to buy them out finally. They have some great stuff, I'd hate to have it all disappear forever.

That was not our experience in 2005. We had lots of the senior builders bring things they had retired from competition because it had already won somewhere. We had over 1,000 display models in addition to the 3,000+ contest models (not entries due to collections, etc.)

Ok, now how about when the instructions say "Purchase kit # so & so for extra airplanes" (Trumpeter has "advertised" their extra plane sets in instructions before as optional purchases) IMO, these questions need to be asked and answered before I potentially have to judge this category this summer (I'm a ship judge, not a plane judge, after all)

Ed, Here is a situation that will probably come up: Some guy builds a carrier with the intention of entering it in 426. Can he add extra planes from either an extra copy of the kit he has, the same planes by the same manufacturer sold separately? All of them would be identical to what came in the kit - and the selling of extras is little more than a money grab by kit manufacturers who deliberately include between 20-40% of an airwing. And that doesn't even include skywave planes for the 1/700 guys. Could we enforce this rule without causing too much backlash if the instructions show 30 planes and the guy shows a full deck?

But how many guys would buy an old Aurora Sherman mold at $35 when the new (by comparison) Tamiya kit is $33? Guys who REALLY wanted this kit have managed to buy them up at shows or on eBay over the past few years. Plus, the 1/48 Armor range is not all that popular, as evidenced by our entry stats at the Nationals. I'd wager the ratio is 3:1 in favor of 1/35th. It's a losing scenario, IMO.... one that could kill Atlantis in the long run. What would be a winning scenario, IMO, is reissuing kits that have no modern equivalent - and there are a ton in the old Aurora catalog (if the molds weren't destroyed in the infamous train wreck) Talk to distributors about the selling strength of the newly reissued Lindberg kits at modern prices. I have heard anecdotal evidence from fellow shop owners (I cut my losses back in 2012 but still sell a limited amount) that they are tanking (at least at the local level) because the old kits are easily available at shows for little more than their original price. For instance, the Blue Devil destroyer kit now sells for $90, yet I have seen them at various local shows in the past year for as little as $20 ($50 is the norm - which is about the wholesale cost for a shop owner) so shops aren't stocking them by & large - they're only special order items. Please don't make a bad choice and join the "Aurora Club" - extinct model makers.

Hopefully there will be an option for a false engine to minimize the tail-sitting of the model - the subject is LONG overdue. I had hoped there'd be a Tamiya kit in the early 80s after their success int eh Falklands war

They look like old airliner kits from the 70s-80s. Are they Resin? Hollow Polyurethane? How much?

Garth, have you turned to the dark side? You're really doing something besides PT boats?! Keep us updated as you find kits, I've still got thousands in the storage unit. (Gotta unbox and sort them once the temps fall below 80 regularly so we don't sweat out.) I do remember seeing an F7F (monogram) and F-86E (Hasegawa w/ JASDF markings) when we packed up after our last show. Dragon made a P-38M Night Lightning in 1/72, for the P-59 you have a choice of a pair from Amodel ($30ish) and another pair from Special Hobby ($25ish) - and I would recommend the Special Hobby kits as I have seen them built and looking great.

Or invite him as a guest to do a seminar!

Your red looks pretty close to the first photo, but the second photo looks totally different. That's what happens with lighting, exposure settings, processing, etc. It also looks like a difference between gloss on the plane and flat on your model, but that could also just be the lighting & camera. Same airplane, two days and two looks. Take your model outside on a nice sunny day, snap a photo and compare.

Your red looks pretty close to the first photo, but the second photo looks totally different. That's what happens with lighting, exposure settings, processing, etc. Same airplane, two days and two looks. Take your model outside on a nice sunny day, snap a photo and compare.

There has to be a chapter first, one would think!

The population center is west of the Mississippi River in south central Missouri, by that metric Omaha is in the west. So Omaha is in the "western" half of our population - barely. It is also in the "northern" half if that matters. I enjoy heading west for the shows, I tried to talk Woody & Lindy into putting together a bid for 2018 in Oregon to no avail. I still don't have an answer for the offical rotation part of my question, tho.

Dick and I have famously disagreed about things in the past, but I can vouch for his observation, as it is an opinion I share.

Close, but not quite: ARTICLE 5 - MEETINGS Section 3. National Conventions I. The National Convention Host Chapter shall provide the most economical round trip air fare for the National President of IPMS/USA or the official designated to represent him at the National Convention. If the host chapter CHOOSES to give a comp room to the President, that is fine - it's their show. If the President DEMANDS a comp room, then it can become a very large problem if a host chapter doesn't have them written into their hotel contract.