Shropshire Model Show (Cosford) 8th April 2018

[Weaver]

Well that was a mixed bag. The show was as good as ever, and the company was, of course, excellent, however it started off somewhat poorly for me at least.

My brilliant plan to go down the A-roads fell victim to a string of problems, only a minority of which were self-inflicted. These included:

A couple of navigational inexactitudes on my part (I've driven this route before, but never in this direction: the signposting is less obvious going south),
Thick early-morning fog/mist that slowed things down to a crawl for safety's sake,
A diversion whose signs had been moved, thereby leading drivers into the road block instead of past it
A convoy of vintage tractors going to a show doing 15mph for five miles 

Then when I finally got to show, I was walking into Hangar 1 with my show models in their two stacks of strapped-together boxes, when one of the plastic strap buckles broke without warning, dumping half of my models onto the tarmac. About half of the models in that stack were damaged in some way. None of them are irreparable, but most of them weren't fixable on site as they'll need drilling and pinning for strength.

The SIG stand was good: plenty of variety and a long, thin shape which let lots of punters browse it for as long as they liked without getting in each others' way. Martin's perspex display stands really work well in this format too. Mike McEvoy brough a a splendid selection of the Freightdog Supermarine 327 kits built up, and bought a few more at the show too: he'd better be on Colin's Christmas list... I didn't take my camera (deliberate decision: it takes long enough to browse Cosford once without getting bogged down in photography as well), but others did, so pics will no doubt appear. I sold quite a few kits, including the last of the thrice-damned 1/48th Merlins, which was just as well since I also spent a worrying amount of money. The buys did tick off a few things from the now very short list of projects I'm actively seeking ingredients for though, so that was a good.

At least the A-road route redeemed itself on the way home, with an enjoyable and trouble-free drive, broken only by a stop for some excellent fish and chips.

[PR19_Kit]

As Harold said, it was a good show, with a superb turn-out by 'our lot', with a good variety of models on show. We had a pretty good response too, lots of interested passers by and only a few gave us 'That Look'.

For the first time ages I spent some serious money (by my standards anyway) see the 'My Stash....' thread for details. 

I took some pics with my hashed up camera before the new one arrives tomorrow.

Our stand, from left to right :-












Not too many Whiffs elsewhere though, but I found a few.



Not a Whiffed model, but the stand was 'innovative'. 




This 'dyne was pretty good, but I didn't tell him he'd made the classic mistake modelling the 'slanted' central fin as Revell tell you to build it. 




This was nicely built, but both Howard and I decided that its aerodynamics were a tad dubious, despite its fame. 




This amazing display of all the F.155 contendors was on the SIG144 stand. Just LOOK at the size of the Saunders Roe monster, left end of the front row, compared to the York behind it. And it was meant to be a FIGHTER!

And remember, these are all 1/144 scale and scratchbuilt, superb work. 

[zenrat]

Thanks for sharing the pics Kit.

[TomZ]

Nice pics.
Thanks for sharing

TomZ

[PR19_Kit]

NP, I'd have taken more if the camera had been more reliable, but as it was its last day 'working' I kept on fiddling with it until it decided to shoot.

'New' one arrived about an hour ago, thank goodness. I feel as I've lost an arm without having a working camera within reach, and phones DON'T count for me.

[Weaver]

Thanks for your help Kit - I've got the Iron Maiden pic downloaded now, and I'm going to send it to Robbie's brewery.

[PR19_Kit]

Thanks for your help Kit - I've got the Iron Maiden pic downloaded now, and I'm going to send it to Robbie's brewery.

I've still the whole pic in hi-res if you need it Harold?

[NARSES2]

Glad you had a good time lads and thanks for the pic's Kit  The SIG 144 always put on a superb display and the F.155 display is just 

Sorry to hear about your travel travails Harold (see what I did  ). I almost commented on your plans yesterday but then thought "no, maybe it will work". Best laid plans as they say  Also I hope the damage to the kits isn't to serious 

[kitnut617]

A convoy of vintage tractors going to a show doing 15mph for five miles 

That brings back some memories -- when I made a trip back to the UK we had planned on taking in some airshows and the big 'Steam' show down in Dorset. On the way to the Steam Show, the route I'd taken (because it seemed to be the quickest) happened to be the route that a lot of the exhibitors were taking, because we came across a convoy of traction engines, must have been about twenty of them and what with them taking up most of the width of the road too, just no way to pass them. It took forever to get to where we were going, on the plus side, all we had to do was follow the traction engines so there was no way we were getting lost.

[Weaver]

Sorry to hear about your travel travails Harold (see what I did  ). I almost commented on your plans yesterday but then thought "no, maybe it will work". Best laid plans as they say  Also I hope the damage to the kits isn't to serious 

On most Sundays it WOULD have worked: the fog, tractors and screwed-up diversion are not (I hope) permanent fixtures...

I've driven the route south-to-north quite a few times, but going that way, the signposting is easy. They start signposting for Warrington almost as soon as you've crossed the M54, and if you head for Warrington, you must hit the M56 and that's 'home turf' for me. Going south, it's a guessing game of "which little town/village will they signpost from this little town/village" and I guessed wrong (and was a bit overconfident and therefore under-prepared too... ).

Kit damage is tail fins, pitot tubes, nosewheels, bay doors and weapons. All fixable, but featuring enough snapped-off pins in holes that I wanted to do a proper job by re-drilling and pinning them rather than cobble them together with superglue at the show.

[Rheged]

Kit,  thanks for the pictures

Weaver, commiserations on your mishap

All of the exhibitors,  WELL DONE

[NARSES2]

(and was a bit overconfident and therefore under-prepared too... ).

Kit damage is tail fins, pitot tubes, nosewheels, bay doors and weapons. All fixable, but featuring enough snapped-off pins in holes that I wanted to do a proper job by re-drilling and pinning them rather than cobble them together with superglue at the show.

And how often does that happen, even when travelling by public transport ?  I've learned to give myself a couple of hours even when travelling to a terminus I know well. Easier to have a cup of coffee than charge around because of a hold up on the tube or local train.

Glad the damage wasn't to great 

[PR19_Kit]

That's why I invented my 'foam in a box' method of transport.

OK, it's a right pain packing and unpacking, but I've had models survive a real world car crash without damage before now. And the car was undriveable afterward too!

[Weaver]

That's why I invented my 'foam in a box' method of transport.

OK, it's a right pain packing and unpacking, but I've had models survive a real world car crash without damage before now. And the car was undriveable afterward too!

The trouble with this accident was that all the lids came off and the boxes fell over, thus spilling the contents on the ground. The lids came off because I thread the straps through the handles, which stops them from locking the lids on properly. they'd have spilled the foam just as well as they spilled the models.

[PR19_Kit]

...... they'd have spilled the foam just as well as they spilled the models.

And made ten times as much mess to pick up too. One of the disadvantages of my foam system.