Actually- I remembered it about an hour and a half into the trip north. Dragged my wife and 1-year old daughter to the CAN/AM CON 5 in Plattsburgh today. It was my first time and I wanted to see what it was like so I didn’t enter anything this time. It was pretty cool- and there were some great displays there.
They had some pretty cool armor displays, and someone had entered a scratchbuilt 1/32 scale railgun…very impressive. I hope the person wasn’t too mad when they released those 2 versions recently. Being an aircraft freak, I loved all the great 1/48 scale stuff they had there-- including a B-29 and a Lancaster. Man is the B-29 big…
Someone had also entered 5 Dewoitine 520’s that all had different schemes from different French squadrons. The best for me though was a diorama called “Old Friends”- it showed an elderly vet visiting a beat-up decrepit B-25 that looks as though it’s sitting in the desert somewhere- with a scratchbuilt firewall where one engine was missing, and a Verlinden engine exposed on the other side. The ailerons, elevators, and rudder were damaged…it was all pretty cool.
The best part of the day however was meeting up with someone from the forums-- Placid Planes. We met he and his wife while browsing the displays and spent some time talking. It was pretty cool…
Inside the showroom, the vendor displays were so-so…but there was not much that appealed to me. However, my wife headed for the bathrooms and found a few more tables outside-- I went through and found myself an Eduard1/48 P-39Q that I plan on making into of all things a Tuskegee plane [;)]
Loads of fun though- and all for $4!!..well-- not including the $21 for the Airacobra LOL
Mike, I went to my first show today also…Tamiya Con!! It was a blast!! They had 1:1 Armor hanging around outside, along with some motorcycles and race cars. I enetered my Acura NSX, but I’m hoping that a ten year old enters, and kicks my butt!!! I got about 100 pics, and plan on getting more tomm. The best part was their sales tent!!! They were selling Bf 109 and Supermarine Spitfire CD Roms for $2.00!!! Not even kidding!! They were selling their T-shirts for $4.00!!! Let’s not even talk about the crazy prices of their kits either!!! Literally most of the kits were close to half off!!! It was truly amazing, and I even enjoyed the RC demonstrations they were putting on as well. The other cool part was the Tamiya Museum, with a whole bunch of their kits built, and in displays. It truly was an awesome day. I got the 1/48 Me262 A-2a with tug for $15.00!!! Even my brother picked up a 1/48 Glostor Meteor With V-1 Rocket for $15.00!!! Right now he’s building the V-1 to enter tomm…it’s totally cool, 'cause he’s never built a kit, let alone even think about it!!! Another one bites the dust!!! I’m glad our experiences were both exciting, and I hope to see you at some shows in the future!!!
hey I made my first show this weekend too - the IPMS Seattle Chapter spring show. I’ve seen the Spokane Chapter display stuff at the Fairchild AFB air shows when I was a kid but never actually went to a show where there was judging and vendors. So of course I made the obligatory “too-good-a-deal-to-pass-up” purchases and was inspired by the great work I saw. When I see the work some of those folks put out, it helps me improve with each model I make. I’m a long way from being competitive - which is fine because that’s not why I’m in the hobby - but not too far away from being able to put something on the table for folks to look at. [C):-)]
Yeah - shows can be a lot of fun…make sure you talk to the guys who made the models as they’ll give you lots of hints and tips. It’s usually great value.
Man Heath-- I wish I could’ve been there…the CAN/AM was just a small affair I guess-- it was basically in a conference room of a hotel-- there were maybe 100 or so models altogether…but I had fun. There is one at the end of the month in Scoharie that I might try to make…