31 October Update:  This has been the most popular page on our site over the past few weeks.  The latest IPMS/USA Journal is just out!  Its 96 pages are crammed with the models and results from the IPMS/USA Nationals in Chattanooga.  There were a few of our pictures that didn't make it in the magazine, so we've added them in, as well as some additional favorites!

Dem Brudders have returned from the 2019 IPMS/USA Nationals (August 7-10, 2019) in Chattanooga TN!  Dick and I provided a full report in the IPMS/USA Journal.  The content is different from what you read here, so if you’re not a member, sign up and you’ll get the full story in wall-to-wall color and so much more from an IPMS/USA membership!  Don't forget to mention that Dem Brudders sent you.

​For this article, I decided to describe the nuts and bolts of an actual IPMS/USA Nationals for those who have never attended along with some photos and recollections that those who were there might enjoy (IPMS = International Plastic Modelers' Society).
 
Mike Moore and the Chattanooga Scale Modelers hosted the show at the Chattanooga Convention Center downtown.  Mike’s theme, “Was it Over When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor?” is the sort of off-kilter hook that Dem Brudders like, so we made early plans to attend.  The reference is a quote from the 1978 movie, “Animal House,” which was filmed at the University of Oregon, in Eugene.  Mike Moore attended college there not long after the movie became a hit, and couldn’t resist using the quote, by John Belushi’s character, Bluto, for the show.
 
The convention poster also subtly suggests another John Belushi character from Steven Spielberg’s “1941” flying a caricature shark-mouthed P-40.  How could we possibly resist attending a show with a poster like this.

Was it over when…WHAT??!!  This poster was first unveiled at the 2018 IPMS/USA Nationals in Phoenix, AZ.

Usually, an IPMS/USA model show and convention goes from Wednesday through Saturday, so it’s four days of fun.  I used Wednesday as a travel day to get from Salt Lake City to Chattanooga.  Model registration typically starts around noon, but the Chattanooga crew initiated registration at 11.  While I wasn’t onsite at 11, I heard that this early start helped facilitate an orderly beginning for the thousand or so modelers, some of whom are often chomping at the bit to get models registered and on the tables (have either Dick or myself ever fit into this category?).

Saturn V SA-500F at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center.  The capsule appears to be a boilerplate test unit in the same colors as seen in a Little Joe II test flight.

SA-500F has been fully restored in its newer indoor locale.  Sharp-eyed fans note that the roll pattern at the bottom of the rocket has a black ring that encircles the S-IC stage.  None of the Saturn V’s that actually flew have this.

A full-size Space Shuttle mockup.  The orbiter Pathfinder is a full-size kitbash of sorts.

The convention center was very roomy.  Mike Moore and his predecessors had actually used the venue in the past for local and regional contests and so were familiar with it.  Their selection of contest room, vendor hall, registration area, and seminar rooms was pitch-perfect.  Planning and implementation were top-notch.

Dick plays Yellow Submarine with his air guitar in front of a yellow submarine.  That's a full-size mockup of Skylab in the background.  There's another Skylab at the museum that you can walk inside!

The IPMS/USA Nationals utilized most if not all of the Chattanooga Convention Center.  The model display area and separate vendor’s area were in the part that appears to have factory windows.

When Mike sold us on attending the Nooga Nats during his presentation at the awards banquet in Phoenix last year, he promised an extensive display-only area in the contest hall.  

Many modelers don’t care to have their work in competition for awards, but wish to display their models for the public and other modelers attending the show to enjoy.  Mike made good on his promise, providing a significant area at the front of the contest hall for this purpose.  It was also done with great success at the Phoenix Nationals in 2018, and Dem Brudders hope that this practice becomes a permanent part of the IPMS/USA Nationals. 

An F-102.  Eric Engstrom (Eastover, NC) points out that the actual aircraft’s finish was aluminum paint, and he accurately portrayed this instead of natural metal or gray.

On Thursday, Dick and I took a full-day bus tour.  It’s pretty common for the contest hosts to choose tours that would interest out-of-town modelers, and Dick and I could not resist a visit to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center.  Dick’s wife Ann, who flew in with Dick a couple days earlier, even wanted to see this.

It takes quite a few dedicated individuals to pull off a Nationals in addition to a chairman like Mike Moore, and Lynn Petty planned up the Huntsville tour.  Lynn arranged to have none other than Sven Knudson from Austin, TX as our tour wrangler and he rode with us on the bus.

My guess is that a lot of you already know Sven; his website Ninfinger Productions was one of the first hobby websites in 1995, and it is still among the best out there.
 
Sitting in the back of the bus, Dick and I were tempted to start a round of “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” or maybe we would have started at 999 since the bus ride would last two hours one-way.  Probably anticipating such malfeasance, Sven ran some selections from Spacecraft Films’ excellent DVD series on the Saturn rocket boosters since the high-end travel bus was equipped with video screens.  It works with the kids in a minivan!  We watched documentaries on the Saturn V and Saturn 1B rockets on the way and nobody complained about our behavior that I heard about.

​A model from the 1964 movie, “Fate is the Hunter.”  Daniel Carey (Renton, WA) started with the Minicraft DC-6B kit and did some scratchbuilding to make it resemble the aircraft in the film.  The engines on the rear stabilizer look a bit weird, but that’s how the movie airplane was!

​Daniel also built a fictional “Rutland Reindeer” from the 1951 movie, “No Highway in the Sky.”  This story ominously predicted metal fatigue problems experienced by the early De Havilland Comet, which experienced two fatal crashes caused by the phenomenon in 1954.

I’d seen the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center a number of years ago, but since that visit, they added a full-size Saturn V replica.  By replica, I mean a 1/1 scale model that appears pretty indistinguishable from the real thing and it stands over 360 feet tall.  It was installed in 1999 and refurbished for the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and it looked great!

​Also available to see and photograph is the other Saturn V known to us Saturn rocket geeks as SA-500F.  Fans of the Saturn V know this designation as the version used to test out launch pad and ground handling facilities for the Saturn V.  It languished outdoors for many years, but a new facility has the fully-restored rocket displayed in a climate-controlled indoor environment and visitors can walk underneath and to the sides of this Saturn V to get photos and admire the sheer size of the rocket that put us on the moon.
 
The museum is huge and rates with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and Kennedy Space Center as places you should really want to see if you are a fan of spaceflight.  Also onsite is the original Space Camp, and we saw many kids excited to experience a taste of what it would be like to be trained as an astronaut.
 
On Friday (Day 3), Dick and I enjoyed the models in the model hall, and in the vendor’s area.  The aforementioned display-only area was simply spectacular; nearly 1,700 models showed up there including a collection of nearly 1,000 armor pieces in 1/72.

They're not just cartoon characters--oh wait, they really are.  Dem Brudders, Dick (L) and Bill (R ) mug for a photo taken by Rob Schorry.

The vendor’s hall is like a supermarket-sized scale modeling flea-market.  Individuals can rent a table or two and sell off some of their collection at cents-on-the-dollar, or online retailers such as Squadron and Culttvman will rent dozens of tables to sell their wares at prices discounted off their already low mail order rates.  I’ve seen R&J’s Hobby House at a few shows, and they had a fantastic selection of Revell stuff that is getting hard to find.

Mike Turco, from Thornton, PA built this hypothetical X-15D.  Mike is a "Renaissance Man" modeler, with amazing entries in many different categories at the Nooga Nats.

Speaking of Revell, it was great to see Ed Sexton back with the company; he came to the show to visit with modelers at a Revell display.  Last year, the implosion of Hobbico essentially blew up its subsidiary, Revell USA, and all Revell USA employees were suddenly out of a job, Ed included.  Revell of Germany bought up many of Revell’s remaining assets, and it was most gratifying to see that they hired back Ed Sexton to market Revell products in the USA.

Another interesting twist and turn in the history of the Revell company is the acquisition of much of the older tooling library of Revell by Atlantis Models.  Atlantis has been around for a few years, producing an eclectic array of model kits, toys, and jigsaw puzzles.  I’ve always enjoyed their series of UFO models and they are now releasing many former Revell kits!  Some of them haven’t seen the light of day in decades.  Atlantis had a booth in the vendor’s area and it was fun to see boxes of new kits and see what the near future brings (they are bringing back Aurora’s Cheyenne helicopter!!!).  Their arrangement also includes the old box art, and most Atlantis nee Revell kits utilize the vintage graphics we all love and remember.

​A Nationals always has seminars with many topics.  Many are modeling techniques, such how to use photoetched parts to enhance a ship model, to US Navy markings from a specific era, and so on.  As fans of NASA spacecraft, Dick and I were delighted to attend THREE different seminars on “Real Space” models, although one of them straddled real space and hypothetical, stillborn NASA projects.

Tim Bates didn’t come far to the contest; he’s from Chattanooga.  He brought this Independence Class carrier

Rob Schorry of Cincinnati, OH demonstrated how he built his Explorer 35 model using many 3D-printed parts.  We’ve enjoyed a number of interesting unmanned space exploration probes he’s built; most are from scratch since kits generally aren’t available for these subjects.  Rob has refined many different scratchbuilding techniques to capture the unique shapes and textures found on these historic spacecraft.  I won a model that he raffled; a 1/288 Space Shuttle/747!  Thanks, Rob!

Tom Moon from Houston, TX built this nice Panzer III.  We liked the way he rendered the turret plate welds!  

Mike Mackowski of Gilbert, AZ showed us techniques used to build his hypothetical Gemini spacecraft.  Many people may not realize that the Gemini spacecraft was actually designed later than the Apollo capsule, even though the technology was a derivative of the Mercury spacecraft.   Some interesting concepts for possible developments of the Gemini platform have come to light over the years, and Mike has built models of many of them.  He showed us how he melded Revell’s 1/48 Gemini spacecraft into models based on the concept drawings.

David Carlton from Gerogetown, TX brought a 1/35 Mercury Redstone that he entered in competition at a past convention, and in his seminar, he showed us how he made many complex parts from simple techniques.  David actually used the body tube from an Estes Mercury Redstone kit for the airframe of his booster.  The body tube is fractionally smaller than it should be for true-scale, so David built it up with layers of CYA adhesive.  Since the model had many cutaway sections including internal details of the fuel tanks, the inside of the tube had to be smoothed with CA adhesive as well.

In the model room, over 3,000 contest entries had shown up.  With a considerable number of collections with many models in each, the total number of models to view had to be in excess of 5,000-6,000!  This has to be a record, and probably by a wide margin.  If memory serves, the first Nationals we attended in Albuquerque in 1995 had about 1300 models.  So I think it is safe to say that the hobby is alive and well and growing.  Hours can be spent at a Nationals just taking in all those models!
 
The contest had around 200 categories, and some of those were split.  At Nationals, it is customary to judge the models Friday night, and we met at 6:30 to help as judges.  Dick has been a national judge for 15-16 years.

David Carlton's amazing 1/35 Mercury Redstone made a return to Nationals.  He used it as a visual aid for his seminar.  Being a previous winner and thus ineligible for competition, we were also delighted to see it again in the Display-Only section of the contest room.

I haven’t been to quite as many conventions, and next year, I might hit my ten-year threshold.  Dick likes to judge ships, and I’ll judge aircraft, which typically has the most models and the most categories.  Bill Devins, of Lancaster, PA, has been head aircraft judge a couple decades, at least as long as I’ve been judging, and he announced his retirement from this position this year.

Mark Persichetti of Louisville, CO has been the Head Judge at Nationals since 2015, and he led us through the often excruciating experience of picking first-second-third award winners in our assigned categories.  It took us about three hours to judge two categories.  The quality of the modeling is such that you really have to spend time to look closely at every model, and most of the time the final decisions come down to splitting hairs.  We were done before 11 pm, but the judging captains and staff worked into the wee hours.

Donny Bates from York, SC built this MPC Highjacker right out of the box, including decals.  This is an awesome kit with all kinds of detail and a 4X4 drivetrain.

In the old days, the model hall was closed on Saturday as the judges did their thing, but for the past 15-20 years, judging was changed to Friday night.  This leaves Saturday all day available to view the models.  By afternoon, the vendors pack up their wares and convention attendees have one last chance to enjoy all the models prior to the end of the show.
 
Since Dick and I started attending Nationals, there was always a reception and awards banquet that would begin around 6-6:30 pm Saturday night. 

In more recent years, it has required a $50.00 ticket for the meal, which is served at banquet tables.  Attendees stay at their tables for the duration of the awards presentation.  By 7:30, the banquet hall is usually open with chairs set up in the back for those wishing to see the awards presented without a banquet ticket.

For 2019, Mike Moore implemented a new idea—instead of a $50.00 banquet, he offered a $5.00 dessert reception!  He suggested that we get our own meal ahead of time at one of the restaurants within walking distance, and we tried the City Café Diner, where we found a good dinner costing much less than the customary banquet.  The $5 ticket scored us some nice seats at banquet tables, and we enjoyed the same reception we all were used to without the expensive meal served.  I considered this a nice alternative and would be perfectly content if future convention hosts plan either option in the future.

Ken Spriggs, Muncie, IN, built the Moebius Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Ken opened the pod bay doors.  The kit does not come with pods, interior, or lighting, and Ken added all that detail!

From 7:30-8:30 pm, there is IPMS business to be performed, including awards for such things as Chapter of the year, Newsletter of the Year, Regional Coordinator of the year, and so on.  ​Chairman Mike Moore thanked all those who assisted him in pulling off a huge event, and it’s customary to learn about next year’s Nationals. 

Bond, James Bond, built from a Dragon kit by Patrick Gallagher of Dallas, PA

In 2020, the IPMS/USA Nationals is to be held in San Marcos, TX.  Len Pilhofer, chairman of next year’s show, explained the Texas-related theme and provided details about the venue and accommodations.

Mike McFadden, from Arizona, used a Jeff Foxworthy theme to build this "Redneck Houseboat."  It was jammed with just about every type of redneck stereotype you can imagine!

You might be a redneck if you build a houseboat out of an old shipping container and 55-gallon drums--in 1/1 scale, of course.

Another important item of business is the announcement of the location of future IPMS/USA conventions.  Clubs interested in hosting a Nationals put together a bid.  The bid normally contains a proposed venue, accommodations, attractions, and a preview of how the host clubs plan to take care of all aspects of a major convention.  The IPMS Executive Board has to make sure that the hosting club can find enough volunteers to take care of multi-day registration and have individuals capable of arranging bus tours, dozens of seminars, and many other items not included in the typical model show.

Butch Bryan from Coconut Creek, FL went big with his 1/2500 scale model of the planet killer from the original Star Trek series episode, The Doomsday Machine.

Two bids were received at a meeting held during the convention.  For 2021, it would be time for a convention in the Western United States, and Las Vegas was selected.  Dick and I attended the “Best of the West” contest there in 2002 and had a good time; you can bet we’ll be excited for this show, which will practically be in our back yard.

In recent years, the next Nationals has been announced only two years out, but this time, they announced that the other bid for Omaha, NE has been accepted for 2022.  

Omaha has hosted Nationals a few times.  Near the geographical center of the country, it’s a convenient location for many.  Dick and I attended the two most recent conventions there in 2011 and 2017 and we’ll definitely attend again based on the good time we had at the previous events.
 
The awards show goes from 8:30-10:30.  Aris Pappas and Bill Devins, both longtime IPMS members and former officers, host the show as they have done for a long time.  They read off awards (first-second-third) for about two hundred categories, and present the big awards including best-of-category and Judge’s Grand.  This year’s winner for Judges’ Grand and People’s Choice went to a 1/24 Lunar Module built by David Carlton.  David’s Lunar Module was intricately detailed, and his workmanship was flawless.  A special award for the best model commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing was also won by David’s amazing model.  

​At the conclusion of the awards show, the modelers migrate back to the model room to pick up their awards (placed by the entries), pack up their models, and say goodbye to friends old and new.  By 11:30 PM, the contest area is devoid of models and their builders and everyone who isn’t local heads back to the hotel for the night, and a few intrepid out-of-town souls begin their drive home.
 
Sunday is a travel day for most long-distance attendees to return home, and for convention planners such as Mike Moore, Sunday is a day of badly needed rest.  

You know that good things are not going to happen to the USS Constellation in this diorama.  The kit is AMT's 1/2500 USS Enterprise.  The light effect inside is fluorescent paint and a "Gemmy" holiday light projector--the animated "flames" churned, just like in the episode!

Dem Brudders had a great time at the “Nooga Nats,” and would like to thank Mike Moore, the Chattanooga Modelers, and those from other clubs and individuals who gave of their time to make sure that all attendees enjoyed a perfect event.  

Just a handful of the 450 tables filled with scale modeling delights in the vendor's area.

Rob Schorry took this photo of brudders Dick (Seated) and Bill presenting their seminar on the models of Space: 1999.  Content of this seminar will eventually become a page on this site.

It takes a village to make a magazine, and the IPMS/USA Journal begins preparation of its biggest issue of the year once Nationals is complete.  Dem Brudders have been privileged to cover the convention in the magazine for a few years now, and we work with Journal editors Chris Bucholz and John Heck, who produce a full-color keepsake with pictures of every winning model and a report on various happenings.  Our article in the Journal is quite a bit different than what you’ve read here, so if you haven’t joined IPMS/USA or need to renew, the article covering the Chattanooga show will definitely not be a rerun or retread of what you get here!

Here's the cover of the IPMS/USA 2019 Convention Issue!  It's 96 pages crammed with modeling awesomeness!  Why not sign up today for an IPMS/USA membership!!??  The magazine itself is well worth the low membership rate!  Was this the best Nationals ever?  You'll have to subscribe to see what the Journal editors had to say about it--

Mike Moore speaks at the awards ceremony!  Mike took us to task; he chided us for using his name too many times in this page!  Of course we agree with Mike's sentiment that it was the collective effort of many unsung heroes that made for such an amazing show, we provide our sincere thanks to them.  Still, we stand in awe that anyone, Mike included, would want to host a Nationals!  You'll probably never see either of Dem Brudders do it.  We're not worthy!  We're not worthy!

November, 2019 Update:  The IPMS/USA Journal covering the 2019 Nooga Nats is just hitting mailboxes, and it is spectacular!  This edition has 96 full-color pages of models from the show.  OK, Dick and I give the editors a workout with our ramblings, and there were a few photos described in the text that didn't make it into the magazine, so we're going to include them here.

Mike Turco's "Captain Midnight" Silver Dart.  This is Revell's 1/54 D-558-II.  The USAF Thunderbirds debuted just prior to the Captain Midnight TV show (1954), which might explain the inspiration behind this color scheme.

Earl Baum with his USN Civil War picket boat.  Earl built this model from a Model Expo wood kit.

If you can’t find a kit of an obscure but interesting aircraft, why not scratchbuild it.  That’s what Nick Filippone (Fort Johnson, NY) did to make this Kokusai Ki-59.  It’s  a Japanese WWII light transport aircraft. ​

On first glance, one might suspect that this is Minicraft's 1/144 737-300 kit, but it is actually a 1/72 scale vacu-form kit requiring far more work to pull off than Minicraft's nice injection-molded version.  Tim Powell of Bishop, GA makes it look so effortless!

Kendall Brown of Plano, TX built this Cousteau Calypso from the Revell kit.  Behind it is a model of the BYMS Mark 1 Class Motor Minesweeper, a WWII British military ship on which Jacques Cousteau’s famous Calypso was based.

Here’s Ian Dow’s striking VW racing beetle.  Ian is from Livonia, MI.

Rob Schorry's scratchbuilt Explorer 35 Lunar satellite

The convention issue of the IPMS/USA Journal includes a number of pictures of David Carlton's cutaway LEM.  After the show, I got an opportunity to get this picture of David, his model, and all the awards he won!

The big award plaques were elaborate affairs; note the incandescent lamps.  It was an amusing touch to have several of the lamps "not working."  It was an appropriate nod to the theme of the show.

Here are a few additional favorites from the show--enjoy!

Paul Crawley is a prolific builder from Marietta, GA.  He brought an awesome collection of dioramas from some classic James Bond movies.  Here's one from "You Only Live Twice."

Here's another of Paul's models.  A British Viscount in classic 1960's United Airlines livery would seem to be an unlikely combination.  United inherited the Viscounts from the merger with Capital Airlines.  We loved this striking model, built in 1/72 scale from a Mach-2 kit.  These kits are injection-molded, but they're limited-release made from low-pressure tooling--and not for the faint-hearted!

Paul isn't afraid to build anything; here's his 1/77 scale Nautilus from the timeless Disney classic movie.  It's a resin kit.

Paul also built this Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar.  It's a conversion from Revell's 1/48 PV-1 Ventura.

Pete Litwinchuk shows what can be done with Metal Earth's photoetch kits!  We're impressed; Next time I can't sleep, I'll take two of these before bedtime.

BONUS-BONUS PICTURE GALLERY:  Now, it's Brudder Dick's turn to show you pictures of the models he enjoyed at the IPMS/USA Nationals in Chattanooga, TN!  There were a couple models where we couldn't get names of the builders.  If your model is one of these, contact us and we'll add your name to the picture.

(Dick:) One of my favorite things to do at Nationals is to go around and pick my Brudder’s choice models and photograph them.  Some years, there is room to have these as part of our IPMS Journal article; other years, there is not.  But with the advent of our website, we can feature our favorites within its digital cavern for all to see, read about, and enjoy.  Some tell us they are almost more happy to be featured by Dem Brudders than by the IPMS Judges.  Debate that on some forum, but don’t worry, I never bother to read those, I would rather build models and write about them.  So, roll the drums; here are my favorites:

We met David Carlton at his seminar on his “visible” Mercury model and were happy to get to know him and his supportive wife Celeste even better later.  Early on, we noticed and marveled at his large scale Apollo 11 LM kit with many innards scratch-built to perfection.

We really enjoyed the pair of Lincoln Futura models in the form of a 1956 Futura facing a 1966 Polar Lights Batmobile.  This set was built by Teddy Ladd, of Chattanooga.

Of course we had to get over our convulsive laughter as we checked out the details of our friend Mike McFadden’s Redneck Houseboat! We found miniature IPMS Journals and Testors paint bottles.  Mike had to come from quite some distance as he claims Scottsdale, AZ as home.  He is as good at building models as he is bending wires as an orthodontist!

Does anyone other than Robert Doss and me remember and enjoy Red Green?  His Canadian humor matches the wackiness of Dis Brudder, eh?!  He converted a AMT 1967 Chevrolet Impala into a Red Green Special with a porcelain carburetor outside the hood.  Robert hails from Alta Vista, VA. 

There Will be Duct Tape.

Let's hope that C-3PO is thinking, "Let the Wookie win."  Philip Daniels of Southern Shores, NC created “Checkmate” with Terminator and C-3PO.  He used a Horizon Terminator model kit and converted a Hasbro Collector Figure of C-3PO into a fantastic piece!

Blast from the Past:  I liked the Hasegawa/Leading Edge RCAF colorful 1/72 scale Avro Lancaster built by Scott Bregi from Newport News, VA.

Both Bill and Dick really enjoyed seeing the 1/72 Scale Siberian Airlines Ilyushin Il-86 – a Modelsvit kit built by Dan Dornseif of Melbourne Beach, FL.  This model was huge, taking up the entire width of the table.  Weathering was exquisite!

​This YF-12A in 1/48 scale is the Testors kit built by Eric Engstrom of Eastover, NC.  Eric's model depicts the first launch of a missile from an aircraft that is already flying supersonic.

B-45 C Tornado, the 1/72 Valom kit built by a nameless modeler because I did not want to move the model off the paper!

Grumman Widgeon in 1/48 scale from the AZ Model kit.  This was another favorite which I did not dare move to see whose name was on the paper.  Sorry, builder, whoever you are and wherever you live!

Handley Page Halifax in 1/48 scale from a Fonderie Miniatures kit built by Terry Garrard of Cincinnati, OH.

EMB Super Tucano, a 1/48 scale Hobby Boss kit.  Here's another model I did not dare move off the paper to identify the builder!  But I liked this new, light fighter model.

The Sailplane-A Model was a very clean, unique model built by Ken Mouton of Hendersonville, NC. 

The other light fighter/trainer, the Beechcraft T-6A Texan II.  This is a 1/48 scale Isra Decal kit built by Mark Stott of Cincinnati, OH.

We liked the 1/200 scale USS Hornet with sixteen B-25's on board ready to visit Tokyo.  Ed Cichocki from Wando, SC built this model.  Banzai!

Laura Adams of Bechtelsville, PA built this Atlantis American Bison 1/16 kit.  We liked the paint job!

Speaking of Buffalo, here is Pat Brown's Brewster Buffalo.  The markings depict a WWII USN aircraft after capture by the Japanese.  We wonder precisely what might have been gained by an evaluation of this aircraft.  Pat is living in Chantilly, VA.  He used to be a member of our local club.

The 9M8M “Krug-a” from the 1/35 scale Trumpeter kit built by Scot Bregi of Newport News, VA caught my eye.  It was quite a contrast from his shiny, colorful Lancaster.

We liked “Dora,” the 1/72 Scale Hobby Boss German Railroad Gun built by Gary Griffith of Williamsburg, VA.  This was a really big model for a "small scale" armor piece!

Being a child of the Sixties, I thoroughly enjoyed the complete set of Patricia Barrett’s "Silly Surfers" Models built from the original Hawk kits.  Sadly, my vintage Silly Surfers did not survive the Firecracker Purges of 1965.

​I liked the potpourri of these group-build models titled “Those Groovy ‘60s.”  I remembered seeing or building many of these myself.  The likes of Rat Fink, The Creature, and Weird-Oh's etc, were displayed by Andrew Bloom of Haughton, LA.

Matthew Olsen of New Port Richey, FL brought this awesome collection of NASA planetary probes.

1931 Cadillac V-16 Sport Phaeton, a 1/25 scale Jo-Han kit built by the very versatile Mike Turco of Thornton, PA.

This Mercedes Benz 540K is from a classic 1/24 scale Monogram kit built by Mark Tutton of Stephens City, VA.

Chris Vandergrift of Milford, OR modified Hawk's "Digger" with a WWII soldier vibe.  Actually, he's a "Big Red One" drag racer.

Lincoln Futura built by John Dress of San Antonio, TX from the vintage Revell kit.

Jim Clark Lotus 49 Racer, a 1/24 scale Ebro kit built by Robert Shaukland of Valparaiso, IN.

Carl Knable of Wheaton, IL converted a Minicraft 757-200 into a stretched 757-300 by adding plugs fore and aft of the wing.

This B-17 in-flight diorama used several models in different scales to enlarge the scene via forced perspective.  Sorry, we didn't get the modeler's name.

Robert Sienko of Woodstock, GA built this Woody Wagons Car Show.

(Bill:)  Another reason to attend the IPMS/USA Nationals is that you can often get an inside scoop on eagerly anticipated new kits, or this year, a chance to actually buy such a kit months before the rest of the modeling community, and at a discounted price!  That's exactly the offer that Tamiya extended to us for their Lockheed P-38 F/G Lightning, which was newer than new in early August, 2019.  Boxes for the official-release kits were not even ready, so a spartan white box was hastily provided for what will probably be known as the "White Box Preview Kit."  It should also be noted that Tamiya donated the proceeds from purchased kits to offset the cost of putting on the convention.  So next time you wonder if you should buy a Tamiya kit, know that they support the IPMS/USA!

Tamiya brought 300 kits to the show.  But how to give attendees a chance to purchase them when it was likely that 300 kits wouldn't be enough?  Well, have a raffle, of course!  Each registrant was given only ONE ticket.  There were no chances to buy additional tickets to improve odds!

For the sake of posterity, we decided to cut-and-paste text from the convention announcement regarding this program.  Our guess is that these white-box kits may be collectible to some degree some day.

"In late breaking news, Tamiya has made 300 of their new 1/48 scale P-38 F/G available to us to sell at the 2019 IPMS USA National Convention. ALL proceeds from the sales of these kits will go to offset the costs of the National Convention.

First off, we want to thank Tamiya for their Generosity. They easily could have sold these kits from their tables in the vendor hall and kept the proceeds. Instead, their generosity will have a direct impact on this convention. So, a huge thank you to Tamiya!

Attendees at the 2019 IPMS/USA Nationals in Chattanooga, TN gather to hear if they have a winning ticket to get the chance to buy a Tamiya pre-release 1/48 Lockheed P-38 F/G Lightning kit!  Based on the enthusiastic response to this program, I'll predict that this kit will be a big seller for Tamiya.  At time of posting, the kit is barely coming available.  We've already seen some White-Box kits for sale on eBay!

Now for the particulars about how we will go about selling these kits. We will raffle off the opportunity to buy the kits to Convention Registrants. There are several reasons we want to do it this way.

By drawing numbers throughout the show we'll be able to avoid overwhelming our volunteers with a rush of folks who want to buy the kit.

In addition to the referenced convention release, this announcement was on the Tamiya website with extra tidbits about the pre-release kits.

By doing a raffle we'll be able to make sure that all the convention registrants get equal odds to buy a kit. The guy who has to work and can just barely make it to the convention in time to get his models in the contest on Friday evening has the same chance that the guy who took the whole week off has.
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We HOPE that this will encourage some of the fence sitters who might otherwise buy General Admission wrist bands to go ahead and register for the convention.

In addition to this letter, your registration package also has a bright green claim ticket. It has a matched stub in the Tamiya P-38 raffle box.

Whatever you do, DO NOT LOSE THIS TICKET! If you lose your complimentary raffle ticket, you can buy a replacement. If you lose your Dessert ticket, you can buy a replacement. If you lose your pin or decal sheet, you can most likely buy another. But if you lose your Tamiya P-38 claim ticket... it's gone. WE WILL NOT BE SELLING THEM! We will not be giving any sobbing modelers whose wives tore them up replacements. The one in your bag is THE ONLY ONE you will get from us!

We will pick 75 tickets a day, starting on Wednesday and post the numbers. If your ticket is posted, take your claim ticket to the T-shirt sales table and the fine folks there will take your ticket and sell you a brand-spanking-bright-shiny-so-new-they-don't-even-have-real-boxes-yet 1/48 scale Tamiya P-38 F/G! You do NOT NEED TO BE PRESENT immediately to win. The numbers will stay up until Noon on Saturday. Then at noon, we'll scratch all the unclaimed numbers off the 'boards' and start pulling new numbers for the unclaimed kits. At that point, you'll have no more than ONE MINUTE after we announce the number to claim your chance to buy a kit. If you don't speak up then, we'll move on to the next number. But we really don't expect there will be too many kits left for the speed draw!"

Dem Brudders watched with great amusement at the near-hysteria present regarding the chance for too many modelers to get their hands on too few kits.  Brudder Dick generally confines his aircraft models to 1/72, and I didn't have space in my luggage to take a kit home with me.  You really didn't want to get between a modeler whose ticket number was called and the model kit waiting for that lucky winner!  What were the odds?  There were over a thousand registrants at the convention, and only 300 kits available.  So your chances of winning the opportunity to buy a kit were substantially less than 50%.

Well, Dem Brudders got lucky and came up with a winning ticket!  What did we do with it???  You probably already guessed it wasn't normal.  To find out, you'll just have to wait until the upcoming IPMS/USA Journal convention magazine!  If you haven't yet joined, why not do it now?   In addition to getting the opportunity to compete at Nationals, you get one of the best modeling magazines out there.  Heck, the Journal is worth the membership cost alone!

​Happy Modeling, and we hope to see you at a future show!

Just a little note of thanks to all those who put up with me hawking this website at the IPMS/USA Nationals in Chattanooga, TN.  I passed out cards and flyers and shamelessly plugged the site during our seminar.  We're now into the thousands of visitors per month!