This weekend finished off on a good note. First, I ended up buying a new car. Actually my first ever "new" car. Mine has been down for about 6 months and costing way more than it's worth to fix and my wife's car started having issues. I went as cheap as I could, but still got a decent car that I like.
Secondly, the Chattanooga Model on was this weekend. I had a mission this weekend. Take the Thunderbird one last time and show off first time builds. At the end of the day, I was surprised and ecstatic. I showed up and got registered around 9:30 and there were already about 100 entries across of the classes. I knew this was going to be a long day.
After walking and walking all the vendors, I spent more than I wanted to. However, I was looking for deals. Oddly, there was little supplies. A few here and there, other than Squadron Hobby who is headquartered about 45 min away. They had a good amount of their own acrylic paints.
In the end, I ended up with a good stash of auto's, armor and figures. Only thing not purchased yesterday are the 5 cars on the left and the King Tiger on the lower left.
The wife's Thunderbird took a Bronze finish last year. The judges stated that it wasn't shiny enough. So as I gathered everything friday night, I took out the wax, sprayed a dab on a cloth and wiped it down. Needless to say, maybe it's what was needed. This year it took a gold placing in the automotive category. It is a complete box stock build other than the custom plate decal that reflects the wife.
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| Two Gold finishes |
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Gold and Bronze awards
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As planned, the car will sit in it's display case with both awards. I broke down when I got home, because she wasn't here to see this.
The Lost Germans diorama was a first for me. It took a gold finish in the Diorama class. The judges stated that there was good attention to detail. I was thrilled about this because I really had no idea how I was going to do it, even after watching a load of videos. And figure painting still isn't a strong suit for me.
Both my tanks, the first one I ever built, the Panzer IV Late model and the Panther Late model took silvers. Oddly, there was no feedback on the Panzer IV, but it's fine. Both judges took points off the Panther for a few semi deep scratches on the front from when I was applying the weathering and the right drive wheel was a tad out of alignment. Both stated the camo was spot on and there was good attention to details.
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| Both tanks took a Silver finish |
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| Panzer IV Late Model |
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| Lost Germans diorama |
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| Panther Late Model |
The Panther will be part of a diorama, since that what it was built for. I just wanted to show it off for now, get feedback, etc. The amount of builds was amazing. The paint jobs, even in the JR. class was superb. I agree with the judges, that I wish there had been more JR. class builds, but they knocked it out.
Plans for the future? A lot. I still have to build a diorama for the Panther. I've researched it all, now it's time to build. Rebuild the Thunderbird. The goal is to rebuild the bird, same colors, etc, however adding all the wires and hoses. Using photo etch for handles and knobs, etc. The way it should look from the factory floor.
I also have childhood dream build that I want to do, based on a stunt show I used to go to every year as a kid. And I want to try my hand at scratch building with a custom diorama based on an Italian cafe from a screen capture from a WW2 video game, which will be A LOT of firsts for me in it's construction. And I plan on building my first ever airplane.
It's going to be a bit difficult as I get back into building, because my wife isn't here to show off my stuff, get input, etc. But my builds can and only will get better. If my eyesight doesn't go first.
Here's a link to all the photos from this years Modelcon. Enjoy!
