December 2023

Our December meeting is always a special one as it closes out the year for us. We take the opportunity to have a bit of a competition where members can submit a model from the year they have entered into any club competition.

We also take the opportunity to present club perpetual trophies for various club build competition during the year.

For our end of year competition we had 3 categories:

Large scale Plane (1/35 and above)
Medium Scale Planes (1/48)
Small Scale Planes (1/72)

Large Scale Planes

There was only a single entry in this category but it was still won by Martin Reid with an exquisite example of modeling in the form of a Wingnut Wings Pfalz D.XII in 1/32 scale.

Medium Scale Planes

This was a very tough category with many excellent models submitted for judging by the club. There were a lot of sighs and groans as people grappled to find the smallest of faults to find something…..ANYTHING!….to make the judging easier.

The subjects ranged from modern jets, to WW2 warbirds, Vietnam era planes and Cold War planes.

This really could have gone several different ways but eventually a strong winner came out in Gary Storr with his Monogram B-58 Hustler in 1/48 scale.

Small Scale Planes

Finally our small scale planes were presented. This scale is one that is gaining a lot of momentum with modellers as the quality of the kits get better and people search for space in their house to display all their models.

Also tough to judge, with a eclectic mix of countries and airframes represented.

The winner was Mike Dawkins with a Tamiya Tornado F3 in 1/72

Members Choice

The members choice was the model that everyone enjoyed in any scale. With the all the tough competition there was a chance someone who didn’t get a place might win this but pretty convincingly the winner was Gary Storr with his Monogram B-58 Hustler in 1/48 scale.

Club Shield Awards

Our meeting closed out with the presentation of the Club Annual Shield Awards.

The Warbirds AMG Theme Build shield went Jason van Lint for a Hasegawa F-16N 1/48 scale in Marines livery.

Finally here is a pic of all the place getters and winners of the end of year competition.

That’s it for 2023. It’s a been a great year for the Warbirds with some new club members and some great wins in various comps throughout the year including several place getters in the Nation Model Expo this year. We’re looking forward to seeing what kits everyone gets for Xmas and get building again in 2024.

Our November meeting saw the judging process for one of the club’s time honored traditions. We have a yearly competition called Build a B*tch, which is a collection of kits kindly donated by Mark Bujega from Sprue Finders (also a club member). As per name sake these kits are chosen for their flaws or perhaps the amount of work required to build them into something as the box art suggests.

Some club members (I am definitely not one of them) like to ~~torture themselves~~ challenge themselves and showcase their modeling skills to turn a really bad kit into something passable. All club members judge the winner and generally have a laugh about how crappy these kits are.

A sample of some of the kits that were submitted.