Scale Model World 2013 Show Report

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The International Plastic Modellers Society is 50 years old this year and they held their 50th UK National event at the Telford International Centre over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of November. The event is listed as Scale Model World 2013 but is also well known as the IPMS Nationals. As this was their 50th anniversary, KitMaker Network felt obligated to attend and see what this event is all about. Kevin Brant travelled over from Canada specifically to cover this event and met up with me at Wolverhampton on the Friday before the event.

Bright and early on the Saturday morning we both jumped in the car and travelled the 15 miles or so to the venue; we were in for a shock when we found out just how popular and well attended this event is as the car park at the venue was already full. Well there was no other option than to find another car park; fortunately there was another car park about 10 to 15 minute walk from the venue. Something that the British will appreciate is that all day parking cost us the grand sum of £3.oo, the natives of the UK will appreciate this information as in some places you will be lucky to get 1 or 2 hours parking for that sum and it is plus point for the venue.

When we got to the event we introduced ourselves to one of the staff who were all easy to spot in their yellow T-shirts and we were introduced to John Tapsell. John Tapsell is the Publicity Officer for the event and he had arranged press passes for Kevin and I for which we were very grateful. Now free to enter the event we were confronted by more vendors, models, and modellers in one place than either of us have ever seen before. The venue has three huge halls all of which were in use at the event, I know after walking around the halls several times I was bushed and slept like a baby both Saturday and Sunday night.

The vendors at the event were for the most part happy to talk to anyone about any aspect of their products; the vendors represented the whole of Europe but there were also vendors from as far away as Canada and Japan. The vendors represented the full gambit of model types but the reference brigade was also there in force with more books than my local library. The consumable manufacturers were also very happy to talk to us with Treemendus, Deluxe Materials, and Alclad sticking in my memory, it was also nice to be able to put some names and faces to the companies I have dealt with in the past and hopefully the future.

Regarding injection moulded plastic model manufacturers Airfix, Revell of Germany, and Zoukei-Mura had all made an effort; all three of these companies had great displays which show cased their products at their best, I also particularly liked the Airfix approach of having an area for children to assemble and paint a model which I am sure will help keep the hobby not only alive but growing. The resin manufacturers of full kits and conversions were I believe the most well represented group with Accurate Armour, Inside the Armour, and MDC to name a few in attendence. Model Master and Great North Roads were also very happy to talk, with both companies having products I just had to buy; Great North Roads would have got a lot more of it if I had it as they have a great series of products.

The various IPMS groups represented spanned the Globe I believe as with it being the 50th anniversary of the IPMS groups had come in from all over the world, obviously not all of the groups were displaying models but it was good to talk face to face with modellers from around the world. It should go without saying that the British Bulldogs were in attendance and it was good to meet up with some of the other KitMaker Network staff who are a part of that group and also Dave Oliver who I met on the Sunday.

To give you some idea of the size of this event and the support it gets, in the competition area 429 modellers from 25 countries entered 1370 models. The pictures included in this report were taken by Kevin Brant, Dave Oliver, Keith Forsyth and Darren Baker, we have also tried to include models covering all of the genres represented at the show. The pictures from the competition area are from Keith Forsyth and Dave Oliver and I thank them for their help. If you ever have the opportunity to attend this event in the future do so as it is a must; my wife who has no interest in models was delighted to have a picture of herself taken with her arm around ‘Marvin the Paranoid Android’ and my daughter was impressed with the Daleks and helicopters on show.

Armour Live links
Rotary Wing Live links
Early Flight Live links
World War II Live links
Post World War II Live links
Ships Live links
Road and Rail Live links
Sci-Fi Live links
Full Size Exhibits Live links
Competition Entries Live links
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About the Author

About Darren Baker (CMOT)
FROM: ENGLAND - SOUTH WEST, UNITED KINGDOM

I have been building model kits since the early 70’s starting with Airfix kits of mostly aircraft, then progressing to the point I am at now building predominantly armour kits from all countries and time periods. Living in the middle of Salisbury plain since the 70’s, I have had lots of opportunitie...


Comments

A very good report. Thanks Darren. Thanks for posting Jim. I really liked the B-17 being hauled off diorama. Great stuff. Cheers, C.
NOV 18, 2013 - 01:05 PM
Great report, and even greater model show. It is definately worth the trip to see this show, and Darren and had a great time.
NOV 18, 2013 - 01:49 PM
Thanks for sharing the show. Would have been great to be there. Is there a Dalek kit or are they scratch built? I have a couple of kids begging for anything of Whovian origin. I was impressed with everything.
NOV 18, 2013 - 01:55 PM
This was the best event I have attended related to modelling and I will try to make attendance a regular event from now on. I can only think of one possible downside to this event and that is how tired I was after walking around it on both days, still the exercise did me good. I should also add it was great to meet Kevin and his wife face to face as well as some of the other KitMaker Staff and members of the site. Russ there are dalek model kits available in both plastic and resin. The ones at the show were from very small to full size and included some that were on the move.
NOV 18, 2013 - 02:03 PM
its a great show and has become a high light of the modelling calendar, it really has to be seen to be believed, that they can cram so much into the halls. even having spent the best part of three days there, im still seeing thing i missed in pictures it was nice to finally catch up and meet with you Darren and Kevin, and you need to become Bulldogs so you have some where to rest during the weekend Keith
NOV 19, 2013 - 04:04 AM