3DStewart

Car parking is expensive, but it's not the only transport option. As many will know, the NEC is adjacent to Birmingham International Station on the West Coast Mainline. I know that might not be ideal depending on your mobility and the amount of stuff you buy, but as I live half an hour away by an easy to get train it's more attractive than driving, especially as my rail ticket is 40% less than the discounted parking and I won't have mileage on top.

If you follow the link I gave above, you'll see that the show is beginning to take shape. It looks like the majority of it will be model railways, but there are now a number of scale model clubs and SIGs that are confirmed as displaying.

Everything is beautiful in its own time. I always thought that model railways' fortunes would be linked to the number of train spotters, which was a popular activity for kids in the 50s, but much less now. My worry is that the model railway hobby is just trail-blazing plastic model making. Increasingly expensive products, increasing demands for detail and realism and an aging body of participants, at least in the UK. When I look at the visitors to model shows the mix is visibly older than it was twenty years ago.

No photos.

It's really a matter for the Competition Secretary, but certain classes seem to be repeatedly under allocated space and some over allocated. Is any record kept of the classes that are short of space so some adjustment can be made next year? I don't think encouraging (demanding?) early registration will help much. You'll then create a problem of having a lot of no-shows, as people will register things they hope to complete, not what they are confident of completing.

Given how Hornby's share price continues to languish and the current high cost of borrowing, I think the emphasis will be on cash generation from existing tools. Any new tools will be for subjects that are sure-fire sellers, so we are not going to to see 1:48 Swifts and such like. The only releases I'm tipping are 1:72 Spitfire Mk IX and 1:72 Hurricane Mk IIC, both from the existing tools of 10 years ago. These haven't been released for a while and while they aren't as good as Eduard/Armour etc, Airfix has a distribution and market reach that isn't available to specialist manufacturers, so they will sell sufficiently well. A new 1:72 P-47 or 1:72 P-38 might just be possible, but I think re-trenchment will be the reality of '24.

Replace fragile things like gun barrels and pitot tubes with brass rod. Make model storage/transport frames from polystyrene or form board to keep the completed models in. Display models in a display case. Carefully store models not on display. Alternatively, make the breakable parts out of easily replaced material held in place by weak glue. If a gun barrel gets broken, just pull it out or drill it out and put in a new one. Drilling out eight gun barrels doesn't take much time and brass rod takes some effort to break! What are you doing using your models as flying models?

With regards the OP's problem, why not have two eBay accounts, one for your trading activities (stuff you buy or make with the intention of selling) and one for your disposal of personal goods and chattels? Selling your possessions isn't normally regarded as a trading activity, so there is no tax liability (irrespective of the value), provided it is just that. If you are buying to sell, or making to sell then it's a different matter. My advice is to keep the two activities separate.

There are a number of rules I like to apply to my modelling: It's generally better to do something small well, than doing something large badly. Given that I have a limited time and patience budget for each project this means I'll probably select an OOB build and try and do it well, rather than an aftermarket project, and do it averagely. Never stop looking at how you can improve your techniques, and be prepared to try new tools and techniques, but de-risk them by trying them first on 'disposable' trial subjects. Plan your builds and anticipate where the tricky bits will be. If you hit a hard spot it may be better to put it on one side and do something else for a while. Returning six months later means you may come back with a fresh idea on how to solve the problem. Keep your workspace tidy and your tools in good condition. Raise your modelling light levels as high as possible, Never judge your past builds against your current standards. Anything you were pleased with at the time has earned a right to a permanent place in your display.

I'm not sure its telescopic sight is included. I can't see it on the frames?

I like the way people think an up or down scale isn't a new tool. Even the 3D files will need extensive re-work as wall thicknesses, clearances and part count doesn't scale. If you're thinking of producing, say, a 1:72 Gloster Javelin from an existing 1:48 product, the commercial question you ask is what medium sized 1:72 aircraft do you think will sell best?

I don't know of any member who had a stall. If you compare a stall cost with the former kit swap, you'd have to sell £2,100 of kits to have an equivalent cost per kit. Maybe if you're selling a stash of Wingnut Wings kits you might be able reach that, but I'd guess to sell that much you'd probably need £5K+ of stock to browse through, which is some stash, albeit not unknown. Would it all fit on a single minimum stall? You could of course partner up with another seller and split costs, or you could accept a higher selling cost than 10%. You'd also need to lose most if not all of your show time. These aren't insurmountable barriers, but I'd be surprised if there were many who took it up. I valued and miss the kit swap. It was a benefit of membership that's gone. I live close to Telford, so I'm probably always going to attend, but if my motivation to attend was more balanced it might make me stop coming and therefore IPMS would lose a member. One lost member by itself means nothing, but if it was more widespread it might be something that needs addressing.

The 14 years (not months) or over instruction is to evade any possibility of the product being classed as a toy and therefore being subject to toy safety requirements (The European Toy Safety Directive). I researched this when I was running 3D kits and there are some types of toys/products intended for children that are automatically exempt from toy safety requirements. Kits for assembly of scale models was one of them, as was any toy containing an internal combustion engine! I assume this meant RC model aircraft.

Doesn't this assume there is/was a standard WWII control tower? I'm no expert, but I know some were of very non-standard design. The restored one at Carew Cheriton comes to mind, which is predominately a single story structure.

Perhaps you should add the date and year to the title of this thread? You know when it is, but someone browsing the list of shows won't.

I think it's a really helpful to put a label by a displayed model with basic information such as kit origin and scale. I wish people would also do it in the Ready for Inspection sections on here. I'm amazed how often the scale is omitted from the title.

A good choice. I always thought the Me 410 has a slightly futuristic look to it, and as I live six miles from a real one this is certainly something I'll be buying. I wonder how it compares with the Fine Molds tooling, which I think is good, but hard to obtain in the UK.

Although, as said before, no Eduard kit makes money for Airfix, and Airfix is stocked in shops that would never stock Eduard; however, I agree with you it's probably not high on their priorities and there are other WWII US Navy types waiting re-tooling.

Lewis1965, maybe you should edit the title of this thread to include the date?

I don't think the claimed clash with the Scottish Nationals is really tenable. The two events are a long distance apart. I'd be surprised if many people living south of Leeds have the Scottish Nationals in their diary, unless they've got another reason to go to Scotland at the same time.

I've always thought the Kit Swap was a lot of work for those who took part and I was always appreciative of what they did. I wonder whether some changes might make the workload a little bit more manageable. I think a change in its pricing structure to charge a fee for the display of a kit, rather than charge a fee on the sale, would encourage sensible pricing and maybe reduce the total load. I'm sure we can all remember instances of large stocks of kits at uncompetitive prices that were left largely unsold, which doesn't seem a good use of anyone's time.

It's very good, and I agree with all what the previous posters have written, but you might want to check the middle wheel on the right-hand side and see if it will press in a little bit more.

Does this have the parts to do the French DB-7s? It looks like it might, provided the clear part is correct for that type. Edit: I've just realised it doesn't have the narrow fin of the early DB-7.

Further details here: Model World Live It's a two day event that currently looks more model railway focused, but that may change in the next six months. It's cheaper than SMW. I could see myself going. Transport links are excellent from where I live.

Could it be part of the association with the large RAF (later MOD) maintenance site spread around Beaconside? There are multiple roads with an RAF theme: Douglas, Tedder, Trenchard, Portal, Javelin, Nimrod etc.