Scale Modeling and Soccer: One Saturday in Louisville

Before dawn last Saturday (18 May), I left St. Louis by car to drive to Louisville, Kentucky. Arriving there around 10:15 am Eastern Time (9:15 am Central Time) after over a four-hour long trip, I came to KYANA Classic Car Club (https://kyanaregionaaca.org/), venue of the Military Modelers Club of Louisville (MMCL) (http://www.mmcl.org/) Invitational model contest and swap meet. I entered three models in the contest, which was located in the lower level of the venue, while the vendor room was on the upper level.

I brought flyers for the IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) show this September, which I left on the registration and admission tables. Additionally, I donated a stock car model kit to the raffle. It was very nice to see the quality models in the contest, and shopping among the vendors. I chatted with a few attendees about IPMS/Gateway's show, and they were looking forward to coming to St. Louis for that event.

After getting lunch at a food tent set up just outside the club house, I helped to judge Figure models in the contest. One of the MMCL members, Lee Fogel, joined me in judging the figures. There were some very good items in this category, and it took quite some time to evaluate the entries before determining the top three places in each of the figure categories. My Turbulent took Third Place in Submarines.

After the show ended, I drove to Scale Reproductions Hobby Shop (https://www.srihobbies.com/), where--taking advantage of a discount flyer from the show--I bought an aircraft model kit. It's a very nice shop, and I can definitely recommend it.

Next, I headed for downtown Louisville, where I paid a brief visit to the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (https://www.sluggermuseum.com/). I didn't have time to take the museum tour, but I did shop in the gift shop, buying a St. Louis Cardinals (https://www.mlb.com/cardinals) mini bat and some postcards. I also looked over the names of Major League Baseball players who used Louisville Slugger bats over the year, including quite a few members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

After that, I made my way a few blocks east to Louisville Slugger Field (https://www.milb.com/louisville/) for the USL Championship (https://www.uslchampionship.com/) match between Louisville City FC (https://www.louisvillecityfc.com/) and Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/). This derby is known as the King's Cup, as Louisville and St. Louis are named for French kings named Louis. I joined with some fellow St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/)--many of whom arrived on two chartered buses--in the tailgate with our counterparts, the Coopers (https://louisvillecoopers.com/). Louisville City and the Coopers are our "frenemies;" rivals, but ones we can have fun with at the same time.

Some minutes before kick off, we St. Louligans marched into the stadium for the match. Our section was in what is normally the left field bleachers for baseball games. (The Coopers were situated in the left field boxes.) Although Louisville City had the fun of play, Saint Louis' defense was up the the task and the match ended in a scoreless draw.

After the match, I waited in the parking lot for traffic to let up before going home. I chatted with several Coopers for about 25 minutes and we looked forward to meeting up in St. Louis for the return fixture in October.

I then got in my car and started the long drive home. I finally arrived in St. Louis just past 1:00 am, Central Time. After bringing my items in from the car, I finally got some sleep.

Later.