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The meeting in the bar at 12 never
happened! Well, I was there but of course don't know anyone else and as it was
packed with people and absolutely FULL of smoke I didn't hang around. That was
another thing that spoilt the day- all the smoking drifted into the hall as
the day wore on and I got sore eyes, especially if you went to the front
toilets or got a drink. It was a fog from about 11 am onwards.
Met Charlie Hugo from SA and he says
Hi! Met Don Junis from Chicago and his lovely wife and that was a real
pleasure as we had 'met' through ARC. Spent a good 30 mins with him pouring
over a 1/48 Sunderland flying boat, injection moulded, out in the Spring.
| A
1/48 Sunderland - a forerunner of the 1/48 injection kit coming out in
the Spring at around £60.00 - other examples were there on the
manufacturers stand and it looks GORGEOUS |
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A
close-up. |
Whilst on the 'gripes' the lighting in
both the halls was very poor, dull and orange in tone, which made it very
difficult to see some of the stands well. You couldn't really read stuff too
well in some areas of the stands. The digicamera worked well though and
'sucked in' all the available light and if the pics are half as good as the tv
screen suggests then I will be well pleased.
No great big releases for the show, saw
the Ju52 floats conversion kit by MDC and they are superb.
| 1/72
vac-form Fairey III by Hugh Beyts - the one featured in SAM a little
while ago |
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The
new MDC conversion in 1/48 for the Ju52 on floats. |
Accurate miniatures
were there, but their stand was empty save for a small pile of B-25's going
cheap, about four or so, and they were still there at the end of the day. A
few boxes of Avenger wingfolds were there, and that was it. It looked
embarrasing with these two guys sitting behind the table, bare one at that,
and nothing else. Other tables around them were packed and that made it stand
out even more.
Trade seemed to be very brisk and
continuous throughout the day at certain stands, Paragon resin conversions
being one and Hannants being another.
The club stands were well supported and a
bunch of guys from Israel came over for the first time and they were joined by
Isradecals and a very polished performance they put up. The stand was well
laid out with professional signs and pictures that looked very good.
There were a few good bargains to be had,
but on the whole I thought prices in general were holding close to the
published prices. Airfix showed the latest incarnation of the 1/24 Harrier,
the GR4 with the long snoot, but the mockups of the Sea Harrier FRS1 and the
bulbous nosed latest version of the SH looks superb with a 2001 and 2002
release date on them. They really looked the part in this scale.
On the whole worth the trip and the
entrance price of £7.00. BUT, the organisers MUST do something to protect
those models more. Be interesting to have a chat with them and see if they had
any problems. Watch this space.
Best Wishes to everyone at ARC!!!
Bryan
| Pammy
in all her glory. It was at this point that I realised why my mother
gave me an AIRCRAFT all those years ago to make and not one of
these..... |
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 |
Bugger,
I wish I could get MY wife to model for me like this. I think we are
building the wrong stuff. (Come to think of it I don't think I could
paint this anyway - too much hand shake....) |
 |
Shots
of the crowds |
 |
| A
collection of every mark of Spitfire in 1/72 - awesome |
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 |
Every
aces aircraft out of the Osprey book series - awesome |
| A
scratchbuilt halifax to 1/36 by Allan Clark (a Brit)- superb in EVERY
detail |
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 |
Unknown
beauty of a model. |
| A
vac or scratchbuilt UHU and this was stunning |
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 |
A
1/72 Felixstowe - possibly from the Aeroclub kit |
| The 1/32 Hunter from Revell and
this finish is better and smoother than my car!!!
|
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Highly
detail Fw 190 |
| 1/24 Airfix Spitfire with lots
of detail - lovely if a
little over weathered
|
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Ukraine
fighter. |
| One of the stars for me-
simply stunning 1/48 Me110 -
|
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a years work???
|
| The collection of 1/48
scratbuilt engines which I think
won the US Nats recently.
|
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The 1/72 scratchbuilt Ekranoplan
by Ken Duffy and looked superb
|
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A
1/48 Catalina |
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Scratchbuilt(?) model of
the Curtiss HC1 - lovely |
 |
| This
was my star of the show - the BR
award for the nicest model and setting I think I have ever seen - just superb
in 1/35 of a docked U-boat and I don't think it even placed in the competition.
I just stared at it finding all the details-magnificent
|
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| This
was enough to nearly make me give up
- Academys Kc-97 in 1/72 with a finish to die for!
|
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This
was spotted on a stand and is in
1/72 and exquisite-wrecked Zero from WWII
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