The Santa Rosa IPMS chapter is holding its annual show in Petaluma, CA this Saturday. It's a one day show and both Charles Reading, Jim Lewis, and myself will be there. If anyone else is going please give a shout and let us know. It should be a fun show and will be the first time for me.

Here are the details:
http://www.ipmssantarosa.org/expo/expo.htm

Hope to see some of you CA guys there!

Jim

I attended the IPMS Santa Rosa/Mt.Diablo Scale Modelers Model Expo 2007 this past Saturday, and received some nice awards.



My TIE Interceptor, "Saber 1" as flown by Imperial ace Colonel Soontir Fel, won First Place in a well-attended Sci-Fi category that even attracted a fully-lit Fine Molds Millennium Falcon.



My M60A0 MBT 'Babs' was awarded a Second Place, close finish with the deciding factor being a Road Wheel slightly inset more than the others on one side. Easy fix, since I left them loose and neglected to check them after the rough ride up to the show.







Lastly, I was awarded and First Place and Best Armor for my miniature of the 761st TB's "Cool Studs Inc., #4". I spent two years researching "Studs #4" and spoke with several surviving 761st veterans before modeling it. I also had photos both sides of "Studs #4" as he appeared on VE Day in Europe - which is modeled here. There are photos here in the MOD section of "Studs #4" from a couple years ago.

Steve Zaloga's color plate in the Concord Book, and Dragon's modeling suggestion is wrong, in showing "Studs #4" was camoflauged. Predecessor "Studs" might have been, like several other tanks in the 761st TB - but not the fourth one the crew used in the war.

I also took the old, but venerable, Tamiya 'A3(76) and really put a lot of reworking into a better representation of the M4A3(76)W before modeling "Studs #4". I felt so proud that the judges took a serious look and noticed the effort to make these changes and improvements.

The figures are representations of Tank Commander Daniel "Club Foot" Cardell (who is slightly darker in complexion, but physically smaller) than Pvt Luther Goffe on the opposite side of the Turret. I used Dragon and Tamiya Figures, mixed and matched parts, and changed the facial features slightly using acrylic gel medium to beef up the cheeks and nose areas like they looked in photos back then.

"Studs #4" and his crew were perhaps the most flambouyant of all the colorful characters in the 761st TB. The names you see painted on the Turret are both the whole crew of the tank and their girlfriends/wives. This was the only tank photographed from the 761st so elaborately adorned. "Studs #4" and the unit commander's tank "Taffy" led Charlie Company into engagements throughout their service in WW II. In comparison, "Taffy" was understated in markings. These tankers were crack shots.

The Best Armor award given to me from IPMS Santa Rosa and Mt.Diablo is my 61st Best of Show/Best Armor award in IPMS competitions. I am very proud of that and is a personal benchmark. It is also special, as the Santa Rosa and Mt. Diablo clubs tend to do slightly different style contests and bestow unique honors to receipents.

If you can forgive the reflection caught in the photo of the Best Armor Award, you'll see inside the shadow box that they included a signature from Charles W. Lindberg, who you guys already know was one of the six Marines who reached the top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The Best Armor Award came with the Certificate of Authenticity of Mr. Lindberg's signature included. Without doubt, this is the coolest of all the special awards I've ever been awarded. I feel most humble.

I didn't set out to win it - didn't even know about it - and wasn't even present to receive it when announced. I had worked a graveyard shift that morning and was driven to the show by a couple of friends. Probably in deference to me, Jim and Charles decided to leave early, to get me back home for a couple hours sleep - I had to work graveyard that night. If not for them, I wouldn't have even gone to the show and had opportunity for such an honor.

I received the award from another friend, Randy Ray, who accepted it on my behalf - knowing he'd see me the next day at our monthly AMPS chapter meeting. Or so he thought. I was so freakin' tired, I wasn't going to go, until he sounded sad when I mailed him at 3:00 Sunday morning from work. I didn't decide to go to our meeting until 9:00 AM. When I got there, he gave me this non-descript white box and told me it was something cool he picked-up at the show yesterday and knew I'd want to see it. Thinking it had to be some awesome piece of US Armor, I opened it up to confusion - I thought he had won Best Armor - and wanted to take a closer look at his AFV Club Pak40 again. It took a couple of minutes for it to register that it was given to me for "Studs #4" and that many people who judged it appreciated the effort and work that went into it. It had been well received and I would have liked the ovation had I been there...

I know contests are not everyone's cup of tea, but I still wanted to share something special that happened to me one cold and rainy day in February as an after-show report.

Mabye members can share their experiences in after-show reports here too, beyond the announcement post.

Gunnie

Nice update, thanks

And another reason to get the Tie fighter into an MOD - it's an award winning show piece

Doh... so your saying we left a tad early then?

Congrats Jim! Couldn't have gone to a more deserving build (and person).

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks! And yes, I thought for sure they had concluded the awards presentation when we left...

Gunnie

Congratulations on the wins Jim.

oops! guess we should have stayed till the fat lady sang!
Congrats Jim, well deserved

Cheers,
Charles

Congrats Jim! Really deserving builds of Shermans.TIE fighter is awesome. Sorry to miss the show and you guys.Jerry Takahashi(The Medic) and I were gonna be there ,but we both ran into the same problem of too many co-workers calling off with the flu bug.We are now shooting for the Kick-Off Classic in April down in Santa Clara.
See you guys there?
cheers!

Rick,
Sadly my wife has scheduled our Disneyland trip for that weekend so I won't be there myself. I am sure you can count on Jim and maybe Charles to be there though.

Cheers,
Jim

Rick,

I'm planning on attending the SVSM Show.

Gunnie