First surprise, to me at least, my 251/10 took a gold.
Second I got to meet scratchmod who took home best in show for his Pnz IV wreck.
A lot of great builds to look at. I would have gotten more pics but I had a hard time tearing myself away from the vendor’s room. I felt like a kid in a candy store and talk about deals!
One of the things that really caught my eye though was this ‘what if’ build of an E25 Sturm panzer.
A big thank you to Al Lafleche and Wings&Wheels for putting on a great show.
And here’s a link to my pictures of some of the models.
As one of the several guys (myself as president, our head judge and a couple others) who chose Best of Show, I can say there were three major contenders, a Morane Saulnier WW I monoplane with exquisite paint and rigging, a highly modified fire engine (from a milk delivery truck, no less) with a whole bunch of scratchbuilt and working parts, and Rob’s (used to be) Pz IV.
Some of the things that put this one over the top were the scale thickness destroyed sheet metal, especially in the fighting compartement, the undamaged paint where fire would not have affected it, the overall effect of oxidized metal, the well sagged damaged track, the twisted metal of the turret basket, and, for me, the artistic placement of the mostly unburnt piece of upper hull with the balkenkreuse facing the viewer letting the viewer know this was (had been) a German tank.
Either of the other two could have taken Best of Show in a different setting, neither one having any significant flaws, but Rob’s work showed that slightly better overall presentation and workmanship.
Here are a couple more shots taken by a club member:
For me it’s not a HUGE surprise you took gold with your /10 - that’s some pretty sweet work!
Really hoped I could make it to Valleycon this year…my apologies to Al, wanted to make it this time around. Hate to say it, but there’s always next year. [V]
I’m with dupes on this one - I am truly sorry I could not make it (I was actually up that way the weekend before!) but family issues intruded on my plans.
Al, I hope to make it next year. I hear it is a great show!
Well, it is a pretty good show. We sold out the vendor room and had people on a waiting list. There were 370 model entries ono the tables (more models than that since collections count as one entry.) And 122 entrants with another 280 walk-ins, at least (kids under 16 don’t pay so it’s hard to get quite how many total people ca\me through the doors.
Next year, for our twentieth anniversay, we are doing want we’re calling a “Masters’ Challenge.” There will be a special category for the best Ford Mustang, P-51 Mustang, M4 Sherman and US Vietnam era figure. Any variant, any scale. The winners will recieve a hadnsome new large trophy for the single best in each of these four classes.
Just so you know Rob also built the Berg panzer with the flak gun and the T34/85 dio with the tall pines. That guy has some talent. Looking forward to seeing more of his work here and more than likely in FSM as well.
Dupes, Boyd I hope you two make it next year. If the vendor room is anything like it was this year you might want to bring a trailer [;)] I spent at least three hours going through PE sets alone.[:P]
Well, Marc, here are a few shots of the vendor room and the display room for good measure. Hope you lean back from the keyboard so you don’t drool over it too much!
mark your calendar for 28 March 2010 for next year’s evnet.
Part of the vendor room before the crowds arrived
The vendor room has filled up with customers
The display room as judges are hard at work. (Note: the guy withthe magnifyng glass in the last picture is NOT a judge.)
Awesome…well deserved…I like how the tables are set higher so people don’t have to stoop so low to view the models (and drop things like cameras on them)…
