Show Report: Scale Model World, Telford, 2019

Under cover of buying opportunities for xmas and birthday goodies, I was able to persuade Teresa to accompany me to Scale Model World in Telford. I first learned of the show, IPMS' flagship event, via model-making pals at the Wisbech IPMS branch. 

I booked us a night in an AirBnB place, near Wenlock Edge, in a very beautiful spot (and at a bargain price!), which turned out, having just had the car washed, to be down a muddy potholed lane. The weather, which had started sunny and turned rainy, had been an almost biblical deluge for most if the latter half of the journey.

We didn't get to see the countryside, or the local historical attraction - the world's first Iron Bridge, built by Abraham Darby III  - due to the poor weather and lack of sufficient spare time. The first day we barely saw anything through the heavy rains and eerie mists! The view across the valleys from the picture window of our B&B, on waking on Sunday, was magnificent in the sunshine. My photos don't really convey the splendour, alas.

The view from our AirB&B bed.

And up by the window itself.

Day One

Having dropped our gear at our accommodation, we headed to the show for the last hour or two of the opening Saturday. A fairly rapid tour of the three enormous main rooms at the Telford International Centre revealed the enormity of the event. Apparently it's the largest model show of its type in Europe, possibly even the world? And there's a strong International presence that tends to back that idea up.

In the end I didn't even look around either the competition area, or the 'kit swap' room. Doh! Nor did I take many, or in fact any, photos of the hundreds, possibly thousands, of models on display. I did briefly say hi to the Peterborough IPMS group, who are local (but I haven't visited), and the Wisbech group, who are even more local, and who I regularly attend.

One item I was very interested in beforehand was the Horton Ho-229, in 1/72 (also available in 1/144, 1/48 and 1/35), by Japanese co. Zoukei-Mura. Sadly for me, at £40 this was way too dear. It's a splendid looking kit, however, and a fascinating modelling subject. But I reckon I'll get a Revell one for now! Some pictures from the show follow.

Two 1/72 examples, and the dinky 1/144 version.

A very funky 1/35 version of the model.

Also available in 1/48! Note very cool wood textures (decals?).

Another view of the 1/72 kit: in both skeletal and skinned form.

The stall that stood out for me on my first dash around was Collect-a-Kit, on account of their vast stock of 1/76 and 1/72 kits, including lots of old Esci, which I feel peculiarly nostalgic about. Almost all of these kits were priced up at £8, which seemed quite reasonable and attractive. In the end I bought quite a few. But, and rather strangely, no Esci kits.

We rounded off our first day at SMW with a delicious Italian meal at Wildwood, followed by a trip to the pictures to see Roland Enmerich's Midway movie, which we both thoroughly enjoyed. After the ordeal of the overly long and foot to the floor oddysey of getting there, this was a great way to complete our first day.

Day Two

The Sunday allowed me to spend more time checking the entire show out more thoroughly. Sometimes I was accompanied by Teresa. But more often she was off doing her own thing. She showed most interest in bigger shinier models, and even suggested I buy her a lunar lander kit as we perused the very impressive NASA SIG stand.

Fool that I am I overspent on both days. And what with fuel, food, cinema and accommodation this proved to be a very expensive weekend. I'm going to have to find some stuff I can flog, to get money back into my haemorrhaging bank account. Pictured below, my haul from the show; all 1/72 or 1/76, except for the 1/35 Tamiya 88mm. The latter, something I always lusted after as skid, Teresa bought me as a b'day or Xmas gift. Bless her!

I do love these old kits; beautiful box art paintings!

More 88mm guns for a battery, and some IBG models (new to me).

Preiser figures, IBG mags (!), and the Tamiya 88mm.

I really love Preiser's 1/72 WWII German figures. I don't often see them on sale anywhere in the UK. A pity, as they're amongst the best for WWII Germans in 1/72. . The set I acquired at the show, whilst rather pricey, are beautifully sculpted. And come in kit form on numerous sprues, giving many assembly options. The Preiser boxes are also jam packed with info, inc 'Gestaltung- und Bemalvorschläge', or design and painting suggestions!

These figures, the IBG Stug, and the Hasegawa Mercedes G4 (inc. saluting Hitler and entourage!) were the first things from the show I unboxed and started working on. I'll be posting on these soon..

Misc: Solo vs Social?

One thing I omitted in my cogitations as featured in my recent 100th post was to reflect on having recently joined the local Wisbech IPMS. Undoubtedly this has been a relatively novel development for me, as I'm generally s bit of a lone wolf, always flying solo, to mix my metaphors.

Prior to this I had made the odd individual friendship based around my mini-military hobbies. Interestingly all the social developments have been on the modelmaking not the wargaming front. The IPMS development is unique however in its group nature. I've never been much of a joiner, and, to be frank, groups have pretty much always freaked me out.

As a musician this has made my life tricky, and especially so as a drummer, whose role is almost always to support others. Me being an ornery ol' mule, and possibly something of a perfectionist control freak. Albeit admittedly a somewhat unfocused one inclined to lazily abandoning my own supposed high standards.

Joining the IPMS community has been a challenge for me. And one I'm still not entirely comfortable with. But it has also bought all sorts of unexpected benefits. For example, recently Sean - an ex-serviceman whose legacy from his time serving includes advancing blindness - has sold me some kits, and even given me some, some of which I've then gone on to build fairly rapidly.

This connects also to a form of motivation: the IPMS group has a 'show and tell' segment on the first of their twice monthly meetings. This has definitely motivated me to finish stuff, such as the recent 54mm Napoleonics (some of which were also, incidentally, amongst the models I got from Sean). And not finishing stuff has been a long-term bugbear of mine.

Joining this group has even had non-hobby related benefits that were entirely unforeseen. On one occasion I was showing John (Mayfield, another ex-army chap) around our house and garden, having invited him round for tea and a chat, resulting in him seeing that we had large sections of fencing missing. He was having new fencing put in, and very generously offered to pass on his old fencing to us. In due course I collected and then installed said fence panels. 

Now that really wasn't the sort of thing I had anticipated happening on joining the group! I think it nicely illustrates, however, the possibly unforeeen benefits simply getting out and connecting with people can have. And in a way that's what this blog does, allowing me to make 'virtual' connections worldwide through these interests. Once again that provides both information and inspiration.

And perhaps the best thing is that it can help drive motivation towards completing things. Starting stuff but not seeing it through is, I guess, one of my chief failings. My bète noire, if you will. But, to end on a positive note, to all the talented and motivated folk out there, both those who also blog and those who don't, thanks for the inspiration and motivation!

Kit Build/Review: 54mm Airfix Napoleonics, Pt I - Line Infantryman, 1815

Bagged these cool kits!

At last mondays Wisbech IPMS my pal Sean very kindly gave me four old Airfix 54mm Napoleonic figures. I made a start on the Line Infantryman today. I have a yen to do this figure as a soldier from one of the Swiss regiments in French service. I'm even thinking of perhaps doing him as a drummer. But I'm not sure that that might not be a bit too much for me right now?

The box art kind of suggests many figures!

The instructions, showing the two pose options the kit offers.

Laying out the parts, for prepping/cleaning up.

Note Milliput moustache and shako badges pressed into Milliput.

Major body assembly completed. Not sure what to do with his arms?

I've been tidying the figure up a little; removing mould lines, filling in a dimple in the left crotch - some sort of casting defect? - with Milliput. I even added a Milliput moustache. Just like lots of other stuff, superglue, decals, etc, I found the Milliput would adhere to anything and everything except what I wanted, in this case the figures' upper lip!

Going to leave him now, and let the Milliput set. Tomorrow I'll start doing the plastic card straps and equipment. What fun!

Fully assembled, gun slung over shoulder, and holding a pipe.

As ever, things got pretty tough at various points. Scratch-building a more detailed musket strap was in order. But it turned out to be very tricky. In the end I opted to have his musket sling over his right shoulder, and a scratch-built pipe in his left hand. I guess this makes him a southpaw!? I reckon I'll start painting him today.

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Having built the figure, and in a converted pose of my own design, I decided to crack on with painting. After a Halfords matt gray undercoat, I could see a few bits needed filling or sanding. Then it was on to blocking in the colours. And after that came the slow and painstaking work of detailing, and even a bit of shading.

The gray undercoat revealed areas that needed filling.

Starting to block-in colours.

I got so engrossed in the painting I forgot to take any pictures of the various stages. Below are a number of photos showing him as he looks now, at close of play today. I've painted him up as a soldier of the 4th Swiss regiment. I used several reference sources, but chiefly this Carle Vernet. 1812 image, below.

A beautiful Carle Vernet plate depicting the 4th Swiss Regt.

I have to confess I'm actually quite pleased with how he's turned out.

I'm leaving the painting quite basic, not going mad with shading, etc.

I like this angle, 'cause you can see the shape of his pipe.

A slightly closer frontal view.

A change of lighting to add shade/contrast.

Rear view in second lighting scenario.

I'm going to let him dry overnight, then apply a couple of coats of varnish (matt). And then it's a question of deciding how to base him. But that's another challenge for another day.

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Cloudy varnish, most obvious on figure's footwear!

Almost looks like shading. 

Bugger! Just sprayed matt varnish on my Airfix 54mm Infantryman, and gloss varnish on a Revell Sopwith triplane. Both have gone 'cloudy'. Its ludicrously hot and humid right now. Plus I didn't shake the cans enough. And it's also very humid. So a 'perfect storm' of causes concatenate and all my hard work painting is jiggered. I've read online and watched some YouTube vids, mostly suggesting either a gloss coat and then another matt coat (if required), or... olive oil! Anyway, I think I'll try gloss coat first, applied with a brush this time... fingers crossed!

Gloss overpainting didn't do the job.

Hmm? Sadly the extra coat of gloss varnish didn't do the trick. The picture above was taken after a hand painted application of gloss varnish to the most affected areas. The shako and shoes/gaiters still look awful. So I'll be overpainting them in black, to remedy this. Hopefully this experience will teach me to be more patient when applying varnish?