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2006 IPMS/USA National Convention - Kansas City
Latest Update:  August 14

I was fortunate to be able to attend this year's IPMS/USA National Convention being held from 2 thru 5 in Kansas City, Mo.  Here is my report.


Monday, July 31
Fly from Phoenix to KC.  Met with Mike Idacavage at the airport and we drove to Hutchinson, KS.  We pulled in about 8:30 pm after an uneventful 4 hour drive.  Checked into the luxurious Comfort Inn, where Dave Weeks was staying, who drove himself from San Diego.  The three of us got together for a cold beverage and got caught up on life.

Tuesday, Aug. 1
Toured the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.  We spent eight hours at the place, including a planetarium show (photos from Hubble!) and the "Roving Mars" IMAX show, which was pretty impressive.  (Except for the whooshing sounds as the probe zoomed off into space towards the Red Planet.)  Idacavage and I had not been there before, and we were impressed beyond our expectations.  Jay Chadlek flew in from Omaha and joined us for the day.  The museum is focused on the history of manned space flight, with almost no exhibits on unmanned spacecraft or planetary exploration, although they did have a very nice Surveyor engineering model and a Viking mock-up.  They take visitors on a historical journey starting with the German vengeance weapon programs (V-1, V-2) of WWII as the basis for most of todays space technology, and then they follow the post-war history that led to the Cold War and the further development of rocket technology leading to the race to the Moon.  Very nice, well done exhibits, better than, say the Alabama Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville and on a par with anything the Smithsonian has to offer.

We shot lots of pictures of hardware, trying to determine if we were looking at flight articles, engineering mock-ups, museum recreations, or something in between (like a sheet metal Mercury capsule with a flight worthy escape tower bolted to the front).  They have a lot of flown Apollo spacesuits and artifacts from capsules, and full sized mock-ups (or better) of every manned spacecraft including a Shuttle Orbiter mock-up in the lobby.  It was a great visit and definitely worth the side trip.  It's just amazing to have such a collection in the middle of (nowhere) Kansas.

To look at a photo, click on the link at the right and it will open in a new window.
L to R:  Mike Idacavage, David Weeks, Mike Mackowski in front of a Bob McCall mural Link to 001.JPG
Photo description Link to 002.JPG
Checking out a rocket engine Link to 003.JPG
A very nice Surveyor engineering mock up Link to 004.JPG
Dave and Mike M plot to take over Venus Link to 005.JPG
Jay Chadlek arrives Link to 006.JPG
David Weeks is sure that rivet is in the wrong place Link to 007.JPG
Honest, we didn't break it! (Mercury MA-1 capsule remains in the background) Link to 008.JPG
The boys on a real Apollo gantry white room (which featured Guenter Wendt's autograph) Link to 009.JPG

Wednesday, Aug. 2
Drove back to KC with Dave Weeks.  I came down with Idacavage, but he's an early bird and wanted to hit the road by 7 am.  I value my sleep, so Dave and I had a leisurely 10 am departure.  The Convention opened, and it looks like a good one.  Maybe not in size (it will be tough to come close to Atlanta's show last year), but it's more about the people.  I got settled in and set up the Special Interest Group (SIG) table for Space Modelers.  Hopefully Linden will set up his paper models here, otherwise it's going to be a bit barren.  We really must plan this display more in advance next time.

I made a quick look through the contest area (brightly lit, wide aisles, very nice) and huge vendor room.   It has the usual suspects and the usual assortment of cool plastic, books, and tools.  The tough part is I make my way down an aisle and run into someone I have not seen in a couple of years, so we chat for ten minutes. Repeat that process a bunch of times and that explains why it takes a couple of hours to go around the room just once.

Nothing strikes me as "must buy," and there is only a lonely X-15 and Dave Weeks stuff in the Real Space category, so I look for dinner.  I miss connections with Manny Gutsche but hook up with some buddies from Phoenix and we have a great meal at a barbecue place near the railroad yards.

I never got around to taking any pictures, but I will certainly try to do that tomorrow and post some when I can.  That will probably be late in the evening.


Thursday, Aug. 3
Today I caught a seminar (on the history of Monogram) and did some shopping.  (Got a couple of resin kits that will add to my McDonnell fighter collection.)  The contest room is filling up nicely, with some great models in all categories.  Real Space and Sci Fi are filling up, with a good showing for Real Space (over a dozen entries so far) and a lot of Star Trek stuff.

I have posted some pictures of the SIG table and Linden Sims wonderful paper models.  The Space Modelers Seminar went very well, with somewhere around 30 or 40 attendees.  I gave a picture show on my LM build, Linden gave a great show on paper models.  We also had some quick updates from Jay Chadlek (Shuttle markings) and David Weeks (construction techniques) and their latest projects.  I gave away some door prizes, and several of us went to dinner afterwards.  So it was a great day, and was capped off by the Two Bobs reception in the lobby restaurant.

I'll try to post some contest room model photos in my next update.  I'm not sure when this will be as, judging is Friday night, and that goes pretty late.  If I'm lucky, I will get this loaded in the late afternoon.

SIG table with Linden Sims paper spacecraft models Link to 010.JPG
Linden's 1/48th scale paper Surveyor.  Wow. Link to 011.JPG
Space Modelers Seminar Link to 012.JPG
The Gang (L to R:  Mike M, Manny G, Mike I, David W, ???<, + David from Omaha Link to 013.JPG

Friday - Saturday, Aug. 4-5
I hit a seminars in the morning and had meetings all afternoon (including the National Contest Committee which had few issues relevant to space modelers).  Judging occurred all evening and went very smoothly.  Category judging was done around midnight and Judges Grand award was done by 12:40 am.  We had a dozen judges in Space and Sci Fi, which made things go very quickly.  The overall quality was very high and there were a lot of tough decisions. I think the IPMS convention website will be posting the winners after they are announced tonight.  I've posted a few photos of the highlights below and will have more later.

Shot of Space and Sci Fi area.  We ended up with 16 entries, about average. Link to 014.JPG
Dave Week's 1/48 scale Mercury Atlas
 		Link to 015.JPG
Bill Engar's 1/72 Heller Test LM Link to 016.JPG
Tom Castronuova's Explorer I blast-off Link to 017.JPG
An overview of the Science Fiction area. Link to 018.JPG
Mike Idacavage checking out the SIG table Link to 019.JPG
From the aircraft category, a very impressive super-detailed B-2 bomber Link to 020.JPG

Saturday, Aug. 5
More info on the contest:   Tally of entries per category:
600.  Real Space - 16 entries  (* unofficial results, as I did not keep a copy)
  1st place - Mercury Atlas by Dave Weeks
  2nd* place - V-2 by Kevin Degenkolbe
  3rd* place - Test LM by Bill Engar
605.  Sci Fi & Fantasy from Kits.  Split three way:
605a.  Sci Fi + Star Trek - 15 entries
605b.  Armored Figures - 11
605c.  All others - 11
610.  Sci Fi & Fantasy, kit bash + scratchbuilt - 7 entries

After wrapping up judging a bit before 1 am and getting something to eat with some of the other judges until 2 am, I slept in a bit Saturday.  Went back to the contest room for more photos and to hang out and then bought some tools in the vendor room.  The banquet was fun.  I sat with some of the space modelers who happened to have a table right next to my buddies from Phoenix.  The presentations and photo software worked without a hitch.  Most popular model was the 1/72 B-2 and Judges Grand award went to the amazing USS Kidd (WWI ship).  2008 convention was awarded to Virginia Beach (Orlando also bid).

Judging one of the sci fi categories Link to 021.JPG
Judging Team, L > R: Troy Bidwell, Tom Gaston, Mike Miodowski, Mike Idacavage Link to 022.JPG
Judging Team, L > R: Dave Weeks, Dick Montgomery, Jay Andry, Tom Gardner Link to 023.JPG
Judging Team, L > R: Scott Walsh, Rick Carver, Manny Gutsche, Larry Mann Link to 024.JPG
Second Place, Category 600, Real Spacecraft Link to 025.JPG
First place in Category 605a, Sci Fi + Fantasy from Kits, Split: Star Trek - Star Wars
 Link to 026.JPG

Sunday, Aug. 6
Fly home to Phoenix.  Sat on the plane next to Manny Gutsche.

Sunday, Aug. 13
I finally found some time to post more photos.  Here are photos of all the entries in the Real Space category (#600).  There were 16 entries this year.

Explorer 1 by Tom Castronuova of Easton, PA Link to 027.JPG
V-2 by Kevin Degenkolbe of Colorado Springs, CO Link to 028.JPG
Mercury Atlas by David Weeks of Spring Valley, CA Link to 029.JPG
Mercury Redstone by Tim McLaughlin of Norman, OK Link to 030.JPG
A pair of Mercury capsules by David Weeks of Spring Valley, CA Link to 031.JPG
Another Mercury capsule by David Weeks of Spring Valley, CA Link
SA-2 Guideline by Jerry Wells of El Paso, TX Link to 033.JPG
TBD Link
Soyuz and Progress by Dick Montgomery of San Antonio, TX Link to 035.JPG
TBD Link
International Space Station by Tom Castronuova of Easton, PA Link to 037.JPG
SA-2 Guideline by Ron Hilker of Fayetteville, AR and V-2 by James Guld of Santa Fe, NM and others Link to 038.JPG
Test Lunar Module by Bill Engar of Salt Lake City, UT Link to 039.JPG
X-15A by Kevin Suddarth of Colorado Springs, CO Link to 040.JPG
Next Generation Launcher (CLV) by Tom Castronuova of Easton, PA Link to 041.JPG
STS-1 Space Shuttle by Adam Lect of Wichita, KS Link to 042.JPG



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This page updated Aug. 13, 2006