IPMS-USA Nationals 2007 Show Report

Many Meetings

I was able to meet and speak to so many people this show that it would be hard to recount them all here (nor would you the reader likely care). But I would definitely like to thank Loic of Great Models, Danny Egan of AMPS, Nick Cortese, Tom Cockle, Ron Volstad, Brett Green and Vladimir Sulc of Eduard for their time and generosity. Of course there were many modelers I was able to speak to as well as well. These shows are great social events really. Modelers can finally meet up with their friends and rivals and share stories, ideas, or lament about how that last model was such a pain in the rear. There was a lot of socializing going on at this show. In fact if I were to compare this show to my experience at the 2002 Virginia Beach show it was worlds apart for me (having known almost no one at that time). But even thinking back on that show it seems to me there were a lot more people walking around in their solitary mode than at this show. Perhaps the Internet is truly having it's affect in that regard?

Photo-mania

KitMaker had originally approached the show organizers about a SIG table and a photo area. Based on the stated rules of the show limiting what could be displayed in the way of signage for a SIG table I decided against doing it. In hindsight it would have been nice to have a photo area, but to be honest with all the magazines and others doing them it might have been a bit of an overload for modelers. There were photo request notes on the contest tables from Fine Scale Modeler, Model X, ModelerChannel.com, and Aerospace Modeler. Perhaps next year KitMaker requests will join the fray if only because I am hoping that an east coast show (Virginia Beach) will mean more volunteers to help with this type of thing. And a SIG table and photo operation needs more than little ole me.

New faces

There were a few new faces to the scene this year. Model X was at the show as I just mentioned. I didn't get to speak with Jeff Herne for as long as I wished (the time always seems to fly by at these events) but their presence was certainly felt at the show. Everyone I spoke to seemed very impressed with the quality of the magazines available to date and were looking forward to seeing more of them. Also at the show was the crew from ModelerChannel.com. This group was news to me as I hadn't seen their site till that day. However I spent over an hour talking to Mike Sanches about his plans for the company and how they want to offer modelers a new way to learn and experience the hobby. I took a look at one of the clips they made on a review of the Dragon M1 Abrams SEP and it was very well made. Having this type of multimedia material is definitely the wave of the future. Indeed I also just happened to get some DVDs from Casemate Publishing that are produced by a UK company called Compendium Films. There Expert Model Craft series will have DVDs on subjects like Euro-Militaire, airbrushing and painting figures. Look for a review on those to appear soon here on this site.