Rare kit but would be an awesome thing to assemble. If anyone knows where I could find it, I'd love to hear.

Because of the change to dioramas this year, I thought I would put my two cents in on what makes a good diorama. To me, dioramas and vignettes stand on three legs. The primary model(s), the base, and the story. They are all equal. I say this because I have seen many winners over the years which tend to push only one of the three elements. A winner with a super fine model, but a poor story and base, or a poor model, but good story, a well-done base with mediocre model and story. I have been building models for 65 years and 99% of what I do could be generally called dioramic. The only things I put on a decorative base art the large-scale busts which I do. I am a student of Shep Paine and have all his books as well as his biography. I base my opinions and ideas on what I learned there. It is true my concept slides a bit due to the type of diorama/vignette. Obviously, a small ship diorama might not have a lot of figures, or a figure vignette might not have anything but the base and some figures. But a beautifully done airplane needs the fuel truck to be as well done. What I consider the "base" includes the ground, trees, walls, buildings, and sometimes the figures. The model, or models are the kits which are the core of the scene. Buildings, etc, are part of the base because they remain even if the core model is removed. The story should be clear to everyone. I title all my works. That helps focus the viewer on what I meant the story to be. Admittedly, still some don't understand things. I did a simple scene of a Fokker D.VII which I titled "Not a Messerschmitt" hopefully playing on the old joke. But at least one person didn't get it. This is why having a team of judges works best. Dioramas and vignettes seem to be increasing in numbers in recent years, but it also seems many are reluctant to participate in the judging. I can't judge dioramas often because I am primarily entered there, so the job falls to many others who aren't entered. Thoughts, anyone? Dak

This morning I received an email from “accounting@prolineds.com” asking me to confirm my membership suspension by opening and downloading something to sign-which obviously I did not. It was signed by “Assistant of Administration.” Has anyone else seen this and is our REAL website administrator aware of this? Should some warning be posted here on the Forum. Thanks. Nick

Dioramas: The Dioramas Class has been reorganized - all Diorama categories have been moved to their respective model-subject classes. (All aircraft dioramas are now in the Aircraft Class, all automotive dioramas are now in the Automotive Class, etc.) No other changes have been made to the quantity or definition of the Diorama categories. Some class or category numbers have been changed to accommodate this realignment. Per Rule IV-1D, Vignette (Small Composition) includes a single vehicle and/or no more than 5 figures; Diorama (Large Composition) includes more than one vehicle and/or more than 5 figures. Dioramas seem to be increasing in numbers the past twelve years, so I have to ask why it was decided to eliminate them as a full and separate class. Is their contest placement going to be mixed in with the other categories of the respective class? As presented, it doesn't make sense to me. Looking for information before I go into a rage and begin tearing my shirt and overturning tables. Dak

It's been over a year since I posted on this build. This is my update. The first set of pictures kind of show why it's taking so long. I'm not very neat or well organized, so 45 minutes out of each hour is used to fined something I need. My wife can't stand to look at this mess. Here are a couple of shot of the painted cannon. Still needs some touch up and weather, but it's pretty much done. Lastly some shots of most of the crew. They are far from finished very rough, they need lots of work, and need to make three or four more. Made them out of old sprue that I melt then shape.

I need some suggestions/feedback on how to complete this model. First let me give you some info. I do not own an air-brush. The spray painting was done with rattle cans. The rest is brush work. I did use some black Tamiya panel line accent, and I have the rust color on the way. I will use the rust wash to try to soften the effect of the black. The problem for me in this situation is that like most Revell kits the panel lines are raised rather than recessed. Am I headed in the right direction on this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Craig C.

Greetings everyone. As promised, we are opening convention pre-registration tomorrow, the 1st of March at 9AM central time. You can go to this link: https://www.myipmsusa.org and on the menu items on the top you will see a convention registration choice. Clicking on that will bring you to all the choices. We are also selling tour tickets, banquet tickets, T-shirts, hats, extra pins as well as tickets to 3 paid workshop/seminars: Bryant Dunbar and Grex are returning for their airbrush class. New to this year’s convention is Rick Lawler conducting two sessions of his Diorama Basics class. Also new are master figure painters Bob Bethea and Henry Nunez conducting an Andrea Figure painting class. I’m have additional descriptions of these seminars – along with all the free seminars - up on the website soon. I’ve attached to this post pics of the T-shirts and hats. I will be getting these up on the website soon as well. Two tours that we are offering are one on Thursday, August 3rd, to Fredericksburg, Texas with admission to the National Museum of the Pacific War, otherwise known as the Nimitz Museum. Then, on Friday, August 4th, we are sending a coach to San Antonio to visit the private collection of Lewis Air Legends. The hangers where these aircraft are kept are closed to the public but one of our convention team members made special arrangements to get a close-up and personal look at the aircraft in this collection of flying warbirds. Unfortunately, the Lewis Air Legend tour is limited to 40 people only. For the tour to Fredericksburg, if and when it sells out, we will add a second coach and sell more tickets. So, if the Fredericksburg tour sells out, check back to look for more tickets in the near future. Convention pre-sale will continue through June 30th. After that, if you want to attend, you’ll have to register in-person, at the convention, at a price of $65 ($10 more than pre-registration). I'll have more updates and other details in the coming weeks. -Len Pilhofer

Finished up the old Revell 1/72 A6M Zero (old kits need love too!), Airfix 1/48 Javelin (I never realized just how big this aircraft was....and I still have the 1/48 Sea Vixen to build!) and the Special Hobby 1/72 Ju 87D. (Re-pop of th Academy kit with some new parts, PE and nice decal options.

My most recent completion, the Republic XP-47F experiment with a laminar flow wing, made by converting my old hack and saw favorite, the Academy P-47 Razorback kit: For comparison sake, a shot with my XP-47B conversion, done a couple of years ago: For complete "how=to" instructions and a wing pattern, please refer to the build thread HERE Thanks for looking, Ed

For those interested, the build thread is HERE A few pictures of this odd P-47B variant, the "Double Twister": Thanks for looking. Ed

I'm Eric. Been in this hobby since childhood. Got involved with the Central Maryland Chapter for a couple years and after retiring from the Navy, I moved to Florida and joined the First Coast Chapter. I primarily build ship and airplane models. I'll be sharing pictures of various builds as I go along.

Following my early Panzer IIB and Panzer IVA, I decided to do the Bronco Panzer III A. There were only ten of them built. It seems they were all used in the invasion of Poland however, they were all withdrawn from frontline service by February 1940. The suspension was not torsion bar but swing arms on coiled springs. Nor were there any hull escape hatches. Don't confuse this kit with the Miniart B kit. The kit has simple markings for only four vehicles. There is a nice interior for the turret, but nothing much for the hull. As you can see from the comparison picture that the hull had a bit different shape. The decals go on fairly well but take some work to get them set down over the hatches and vision flaps. I use Solvaset mostly, but in the end, I used some MEK in a few spots. Dak

This was built for an IPMS/USA Reviwers' Corps article to be published soon. The kit is very detailed, and goes together well. I added some Eduard PE seatbelts, but otherwise it's OOB. The paravane blade was intended to cut the steel cables tethering the barrage balloons over London during the Battle of Britain. Those crazy Germans and their ideas....

I got this kit for my birthday in 2021, I started construction and paint last week. This is where I am so far.

A little late posting these this year. I'll try to do a little better in future! Not so many this year as last, but some that I really wanted in the collection, For those interested, the build threads offer detailed instruction about how the models were built, so that others could, if desired, build these often rare models themselves. When needed, artwork is provided for your use. The artwork part also applies to some RFI's, which are only photos of the completed model, due to reasons of simplicity, sameness, or just that documenting their build would probably not add to the general pool of knowledge. First up, the YP-80A, one of those that flew in Italy in 1945, , a modification of the 1/72 Sword P-80 A/B kit, which is only really accurate out of the box for the "B" version: Build Thread Here Next an F-8E Crusader build of the 1/72 Academy kit: Build Thread Here Next up, a modification of the 1/72 Scale Trumpeter F-100C kit into an North American F-100A Short-Tail, built for the Century Series Group Build here on Britmodeler: Build Thread Here Followed by my personal favorite, The XP-38 kitbash, using the RS Models P 322 1 Lightning and an old MPC P-38F kit, both, of course, in God's Own Scale -- 1/72: Build Thread Here Next, Anigrand's 1/72 resin model of the XP-49, a larger cousin of the P-38: RFI Here And then, RS Models plastic 1/72 XP-79B model. They also made a resin version earlier, which may be a little more detailed and I also have in the stash, but I was feeling lazy!: However, the plastic did require some modification and tricky building, as referenced in the build thread: Build Thread Here After which the Italeri/Hi-Tech models F4U-7 offerings, built as the prototype XFU-6/XAU-1 Corsair, all of which is explained in the RFI, along with needed art work: RFI Here And last, the 1/72 Revell F4U-4 Corsair, using the Hobby Boss kit decals of the same variant: RFI Here As I've said above, not as many, but some I've been wanting to add to the collection. Thanks for looking. Ed Edited January 6 by TheRealMrEd

The following people were GOLD medal winners this year. many of them getting more than one: Ruthie Inman and Kenny Morrisey (juniors!), Don Martin, Jason Grenot, Andy Caldwell, Errol Whisler, Nick Salamunia, Danny Vazquez, David Neely, Raymond Morrisey, Brent Benore, Gary Hatherly, Lorenzo Vallebona, Luis Perez, Jim Liquori, Fred Seitz, Rick Reinert, Richard Acosta, James Jenson, Jerry Wells, Bradly Weirick, Al Voccaro, Kim Sheldon, Mathew Dillon, James Marshall, Tom White, Glen Kaesar, Fred Henry, Mathew Inman, Robert Marquinez, Paul Helfrich, Steve Arthur, Thad Robinson, David Reuce, Dave Nowinski, Wayne Stevens, and Bernard Kempensky (I apologize for any mis-spellings!). Here are pics of the Best Ofs and Special Awards..... JUDGES GRAND AWARD by Bernard Kempinsky (and they say we're the International PLANE Modeler society....) BEST JUNIOR MODEL by Ruthie Inman Best Aircraft by James Jenson Best Armor by Jason Grenot Best Automotive by Luis Perez Best Nautical by Lorenzo Vallebona Best Space/Sci-Fi by Don Martin Best Diorama by Bernard Kempensky Best Detailed by James Jenson Best Camouflage by James Jenson Best Natural Metal Finish by Jerry wells Most Popular Model by Michael Brooks Best Figure by Bernard Kempinsky Best Gloss Finish by Glenn Kaesar Gil

JAXCON 2023 is in the books! It was yet another great show with 103 people putting 467 entries on the tables. Here's the Styrene Haven podcast video (7mins) that shows many of the models: Gil

All. I have a very serious question...what category would I place my 1/72 scale AVROcar VZ-9 in?

This is the Dragon kit of the Panzer II B. (#6572). The figures are from Alpine and Bravo 6. The tree was a dead bonsai with leaves from a die cutter. The kit comes with some interior, and markings for the western campaigns. The kit is not as complete as it should be and is missing tow hooks for the bow, which I had to scratch up. otherwise, the model is mostly OOB. Dak

I decantered spray paint from a Tamiya spray can and when I tried to air brush it the paint keep clogging the nozzle ?2