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IPMS Abingdon

09.10.05

This year's Abingdon show was held in its usual space within the Larks Mead School, an easy, short run from the A34 and close to Oxford in the heart of the English countryside.
The display was split into two main halls, the first being the smaller of the two that greeted the public on entrance (£2.50 on the door).

Jim Chapman was doling out IPMS memberships and tickets for the Nationals and Mike McEvoy of Scale Aircraft Modelling was on hand to peddle the latest in the excellent Warpaint series.
There was plenty to see once you'd got into the hall and it hasn't taken the modelling clubs long to get the Trumpeter 1:48 Condor out on the tables and this, on the Wallingford IPMS stand was one of three at the show.

Newbury Scale Model Club had a very broad selection on show, with an excellent Stratojet dominating the 1:72 section. It's the Hasegawa boxing of an ex-Frog mould.

Poole Vikings never fail to impress and this Revell CH124 Sea King looked good on their table.

Hall Two
Was the larger of the two halls and held not only more displays but also the trade stand areas for those of us who remembered to bring their wallets

IPMS Salisbury put on a fine display, with plenty of military vehicles, but also a good selection of aircraft, one to catch the eye was a Sopwith Baby, a tiny masterpiece of scratchbuilding.

The F-4 Phantom SIG had one of the most striking aircraft in the halls with this lovely little 1:72 Hasegawa F-4 in anniversary JASDF colours. I'm a sucker for the JASDF and this one made my day.

Farnborough IPMS had one of the larger displays and they needed the space, not only for the one-off stars such as this Kawanishi Kyofu (Tamiya 1:48), but also for their excellent display of Fleet Air Arm machines.

The Gloucester IPMS was true to it's name and fielded a fine show of Meteors of all marks, but none more striking than this 'Yellow Peril'. A combination of Tamiya and Classic Airframes kits cut and shut to perfection.

Barnett IPMS will need no introduction to those regular show goers and as usual their table was impeccable, with a good range of subjects from the classic 'Butcher Bird' (Hasegawa 1:32) and F-5 (Academy 1:48 in an awesome paint job) right up to some not so often seen models, Trumpeters 1:48 Su-15 Flagon for instance.

But it wasn't just mainstream kits on show, there was also a fine collection of between the wars racing aircraft like this Wedell Williams racer, built from the Williams Brothers kit, and even a scratchbuilt Bugatti 100, the first time I've seen this impressive looking aircraft in model form. My apologies for not getting the name of the chap that built these but he can be well proud of his work for the show.

Abingdon IPMS themselves were hidden away in the competition room and had a good display to show the visitors, but for me the most striking thing on the table was this P-51D. (Airfix 1:24) finished in Alclad II Chrome.

The competition room itself was well supplied by people chancing their luck and here's a look at some of the entries.

This much modified Italeri Sea Harrier F/A-2 looked like it was about to launch itself off the ramp whilst this AEG IV from High Tech was resplendent in a lovely colour scheme and showing off it's perfect rigging.

Trumpeters big Bf 109G certainly looks like it means business in 1:24 scale but it's always good to see the classics, and they don't come any more classic than the E.E Canberra, especially when it's the 1:72 Revell re-boxing of the Frog kit.

The show itself was a fine affair, not least because they supplied all us traders and show people with a free bacon buttie! Marvellous!

Many thanks to IPMS Abingdon for the excellent show, and thanks also to the people who came through the door helping to make it a success.

See you next year.

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