I didn't do too well in the contest, taking a sole bronze in Armor Conversions with my Sherman Crab mine flail. I entered 8 models in 5 categories, but just couldn't get it done. It doesn't matter, because the models that beat me were truly beautiful. My contest peak was back in the early-90s -- I'm just building to keep myself happy these days.
I had a great time visiting with Rob Erwin from Formations Models. I spent what little cash I had on one of his early .50 cal MG sets (beautiful resin castings!) and a few other small things from other vendors. Rob had some new kits on the table that were wonderful and I'll have to put together a mail order. If you're a Sherman fan, you need to check out this guy's stuff. Some of his latest kits are replacement pressed idler wheels for Tamiya and DML VVSS Sherms (that have open backs on the kit parts), a detail set for the DML Firefly VC (the commander's copula is a masterpiece), round air cleaners for early Sherm variants, and a set of straight return roller brackets for Tamiya bogies. ALL VERY NICE and reasonably priced.
Check out his website: http://www.formationsmodels.com/
He also had a sample of his limited edition Tarawa USMC M4A2. The decal sheet has two versions of the elephant, plus the names of most (if not all) of the documented M4A2s on Tarawa. If you wonder what tanks I'm talking about, check out this website: http://www.tarawaontheweb.org/usmctank.htm
Rob said the Tarawa M4A2 will be on his site in a few days. He only has 100 sets of decals and many pre-orders, so this kit shouldn't last long.
FYI, I have no connection to Formations Models other than satisfied customer.
Once again, I was lucky in the raffle. Last year, I bought six tickets and won five prizes. This year, I had seven tickets and won two prizes. The first was the Trumpeter Challenger II, which I was excited about until I opened the box. The kit is started (and not very well), plus it's missing the instructions and decals. If anyone wants this, drop me a PM -- the trade will be pretty painless.
The luck started with my second raffle prize: a Tom's Modelworks 1/350th Arizona multi-media battleship kit (a $250 list kit) I don't build ships, so I was keen to trade or sell it. After running around for about a half-hour, I found a vendor that was willing to make a trade. Apparently, there is an injection-molded kit out in 1/350 of the Arizona out now that is much easier to build, so the value of the kit has dropped somewhat. Anyway, he agreed to $100 trade value (what I was asking) and I picked up a Tamiya M26 Pershing, a new-tool DML Firefly VC and a Real Model GMC CCKW 352 (short wheel base deuce-and-a-half) resin conversion kit. I think I got a pretty good deal, considering I spent $5 on raffle tickets!
