Road Trip to Bondurant for Surgicon 28

Around 3:30 am yesterday (6 April), I began the long drive to Bondurant, Iowa (northeast of Des Moines) for Surgicon 28. This was the annual model contest and swap meet by IPMS/Plastic Surgeons. After a drive of 388 miles (624.4 km) and with time for fuel and food stops, I arrived at Bondurant American Legion Post #396, the show venue, around 10:00 am.

After registering my three contest entries and paying the fee, I placed the models in the proper places in the contest area. I have one aircraft entry (a 1:48 scale A6M2 Zero) and two in armor (a 1:72 Bren Gun Carrier and a 1:72 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun). I then began to work the contest and vendor areas.

I went to this show as the sole representative of IPMS/Gateway, my home chapter, and as the IPMS/USA Region 14 Coordinator. The Plastic Surgeons Chapter is one of Region 14's members and I make the effort to attend as many of my region's shows as possible, in order to see firsthand how the chapters operate and to personally connect with the members. This gesture is most appreciated by several of the members who see me frequently at these shows.

I bought some raffle tickets and took photos of the contest entries. There were some very good items on the contest tables. From the vendors, I bought two kits and a publication. I also chatted with the contacts from several of the Region 14 chapters present at Surgicon, along with representatives of the Mad City Modelers Chapter in Madison, Wisconsin, who were there to promote the IPMS/USA National Convention they are hosting this July. The latter group assured me that preparations were going well for the convention, but that rooms for the event at nearby hotels were running out.

Around Noon, contest judges began to assemble to evaluate the contest entries. I volunteered (obviously not the categories I am entered in) and headed a three-person crew to judge entries in real space, science fiction, and ships. We took care of our categories in good order and then I helped with those aircraft and armor categories that I was not entered in. After the categories were judged, I joined with other judges in determining the best models in each category as well as Best of Show.

During a break in judging, I found out I did win one prize in the raffle, an aircraft kit. Just after 3:00 pm, the contest results were announced. I later found out that 44 modelers entered 250 models in this contest. Photos of the winning modelers were projected as the winners' names were called out and the awards were presented. My 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun took Third Place in Artillery. I figured it had a chance to win something, as there were only three entries in that category. Still, I was most happy to accept my award.

After packing up my models and saying my goodbyes, I started the long drive back to St. Louis just after 4:00 pm. About two hours later, I made a stop at a convenience store in Agency, Iowa to get a light dinner to go before resuming the drive. After making a fuel stop in Canton, Missouri, I arrived home around 10:30 pm. I was tired after the long day, but happy to have gone. (Another happy thought: The car I now drive has cruise control, which I used during this journey and greatly appreciated this feature.)

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

IPMS/Plastic Surgeons: IPMS Plastic Surgeons (ipms-plasticsurgeons.com)

Bondurant American Legion Post #396: Home | Bondurant Post 396

IPMS/Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA | IPMS/USA Home Page (ipmsusa.org)

A Saturday in Maplewood and at CITYPARK with Julie

Early yesterday morning (23 March), I picked up Julie from her apartment and we went to downtown Maplewood. The city was holding its annual Coffee Crawl event, in which downtown merchants offered samples of coffee or coffee-related items to participants.

Julie and I went on the Early Riser Tour, which began at 8:30 a.m. (There was a later tour during midday. After getting our tickets, we began going to the nine establishments taking part in the tour. As we got our samples, someone at each stop would mark our ticket to prove we had visited that particular place. Additionally, the Crawl offered ticket holders discounts on merchandise from other area shops. Julie and I took advantage of this to visit five of the 12 participating merchants. I bought a candle from Maven Bath and Candle Co. and a book from The Book House using the event's discounts.

We got through the tour by approximately 10:30 a.m. and I took Julie back to her apartment before going home. I stopped by Office Depot to get some home office items and browsed at Schaefer's Hobby Shop before returning home for lunch.

Late that afternoon, I returned to Julie's place to pick her up and take her to downtown St. Louis for St. Louis CITY SC's match against DC United at CITYPARK. After parking in a lot south of Enterprise Center, we walked approximately 0.5 mile (0.8 km) to "Louligan Street" (21st Street between Locust and Olive) for the St. Louligans Pre-Match Street Party. Julie and I each got dinner from a Schlafly good tent and I got a Schlafly Supporter Session Hazy Pale Ale from a beer tent.

We also bought Schlaffle raffle tickets from the St. Louligans and also a St. Louligans button. Raffle and merchandise sales that night benefitted the St. Louligans' Charity du Jour, Colorectal Cancer Alliance. I got lucky as one of my raffle tickets was drawn. I selected one of two prize packages: two replica jerseys (Norwich City Josh Sargent replica and Inter Milan), some Fulham FC magnetic buttons, and a $50 Mission Taco Joint gift card.

Soon after the raffle, it was time for prepare for the march into CITYPARK. Julie and I joined in the chanting on Louligan Street before the supporters marched into the stadium for the match.

After arriving inside CITYPARK, Julie and I found places in the Supporter Section to watch the match. Prior to kickoff, St. Louis soccer legend Lori Chalupny brought out the kickoff ball and then walked to the Supporter Section to wave one of the giant flags there.

 

The match was uneven, with players having problems putting passes together. Fortunately, Josh Yaro connected in the 19th minute to put CITY ahead. 

However, DC United tied it up two minutes later and took the lead in the 28th minute. In the second half, both teams made efforts to score, but CITY would equalize on a Joao Klauss penalty in the 70th minute. DC United and CITY got into each other's faces in the late going, with several cautions issued. Even with over 10 minutes added to the second half, neither side could score, and the match ended drawn at 2 apiece. CITY remained undefeated in the first five games of the season.

Julie and I each picked up a team poster on the way out of CITYPARK and walked back to my car. I then took her back home before taking myself back home. It was quite a terrific day for us.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Maplewood Coffee Crawl: Coffee Crawl (cityofmaplewood.com)

Maven Bath and Candle Co.: Maven Bath & Candle Co. – Maven Bath & Candle Co. (mavenstl.com)

The Book House: The Book House - 7352 Manchester Rd., St. Louis | Located in historic downtown Maplewood, a browser's paradise - expect the unexpected (bookhousestl.com)

Office Depot: Office Depot OfficeMax | Official Online Store

Schaefer's Hobby Shop: Hobby, Beads, R.C. Cars - Schaefer's Hobby Shop - St. Louis, Missouri (schaeferhobby.com)

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

CITYPARK: CITYPARK | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Colorectal Cancer Alliance: Colorectal Cancer Alliance

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

St. Patrick's Day 2024: Dinner, Concert, Parade, and Soccer

Late Saturday afternoon (16 March), I drove to Julie and Joan's apartment for dinner. They served up corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots for St. Patrick's Day the next day.  It was a delicious meal to enjoy with my girlfriend and her apartment mate.

After dinner, we got into Julie's car and drove to the 560 Music Center in University City for Band Together's 27th Anniversary concert. The three of us were part of a good-sized crowd that took in the concert, which featured such selections as the Theme from The Muppet Show and Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie, Rhapsody in Blue, and the theme from Lawrence of Arabia. These musicians put their heart into the music and the audience greatly appreciated their efforts. Certainly, Julie, Joan and I had a good time at that show.

After returning to their apartment, I got into my car to get home and some sleep. I was up early the next morning (17 March), getting a little breakfast and packing up my things before driving back to Julie and Joan's apartment. There, we got back into Julie's car to drive to the Dogtown area of St. Louis. We were going to watch the annual St. Patrick's Day parade through that historically Irish neighborhood, which was organized by the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

After parking in garage south of the Saint Louis Zoo, we walked into Dogtown to find a place along the parade route. We found a spot along Tamm Avenue just south of Wade to watch the parade with some friends of Julie and Joan. 

Around 11:00 AM, the first units marched past us. These included several politicians, the Budweiser Clydesdales, and mascots Louie from the St. Louis Blues and Fredbird from the St. Louis Cardinals. There was rather large crowd who came to watch this parade, and they were most happy seeing these units go past them.

Compared to the larger Downtown St. Louis parade, which is held on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, the Dogtown parade is held on St. Patrick's Day and is more geared towards traditional Irish clans. What this parade lacks in size it makes up in neighborhood spirit and ethnic pride.

After the parade ended about 12:30 PM, we started off to the get back to the car. Julie had left earlier to freshen up, so I accompanied Joan to walk up towards the car. On the sidewalk in front of St. James the Greater Catholic School, Joan tripped up and fell, hitting her face on the grass-covered ground. Some bystanders and I helped her to relax and police and paramedics soon arrived on the scene. After the paramedics stabilized her, Joan was helped up to her feet.

I called Julie and she arrived on the scene to find out what happened. She then headed to the parking garage to get her car and drive to a side street, where Joan and I went to await Julie. It was around 1:10 PM when Julie came and I helped Joan into the car before I got in and we then headed to their apartment.

On arrival there, I made sure Joan was in the apartment before taking leave of them to drive to World Wide Technology Soccer Park in Fenton, where I was to referee St. Louis Youth Soccer Association matches. I arrived at the Soccer Park in plenty of time to finish getting into my uniform and getting water and a snack from the concession stand before getting to the field.

That day, I ran lines on two under-14 girls matches, with a middle on an under-14 boys match in between. The games went well, with no real issues on the pitch. My partners--a father and son--brought along communications gear normally associated with professional matches. I had only used it once, when I ran line on an under-12 tournament game nearly a year ago. It took a bit of getting used to, but using these communications devices sure helped our crew to effectively manage these matches. The real issue for everyone to deal with was the wind, which made for a cold late afternoon and early evening out there.

While tired in my legs from all the standing and running, I was happy to get the job done and came home to prepare for bed. I checked with Julie and she told me Joan is fine. I was so glad to hear that as the day ended.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

560 Music Center: Welcome to the 560 Music Center | 560 Music Center | Washington University in St. Louis (wustl.edu)

Band Together St. Louis: BandTogether – St. Louis' LGBT+ Band and Colorguard since 1997 (bandtogetherstl.com)

Dogtown: About St Louis Missouri - Information on Attractions, Shopping, Dining, Schools and more

Ancient Order of Hibernians: The Ancient Order of Hibernians – The Oldest and Largest Irish-Catholic Organization in the United States. Established 1836 (aoh.com)

World Wide Technology Soccer Park: St. Louis Scott Gallagher — Club Soccer in Saint Louis (slsgsoccer.com)

St. Louis Youth Soccer Association: Home - St Louis Youth Soccer (slysa.org)

Road Trip to Kansas City for 2024 KC CON

Early yesterday morning (9 March), my IPMS/Gateway colleague Don Will arrived at my house. He got in my car, and we drove to Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. The three of us, plus Dave Thomas, got into Morris' minivan and we drove to St. Peters to pick up Jim Triola and Tom Aldred before we headed west to Kansas City, Missouri. We were bound for KC CON, a scale modeling contest hosted by IPMS/Great Plains.

Our westbound trip included a stop at McDonald's in Boonville to get breakfast to go. We arrived in mid-morning at First Church of the Nazarene, the show venue. I brought along two entries in the model contest; Will, Thomas, and Triola also entered models. My entries were in Armor: a Bren Gun Carrier and a 6 pounder Anti-Tank Gun, both in 1:72 scale. These models were built for last month's IPMS/Gateway Modeler of the Year Contest.

After placing my contest entries, I began to walk among the contest tables to see what was also entered to that point. I also bought some raffle tickets and browsed among the vendors. Among the latter was another IPMS/Gateway mate, Gary Chambers. Additionally, I said hello and chatted briefly with fellow scale modelers I know. Seeing fellow scale modelers and admiring their work is one of the great attractions to these shows for me.

I got lucky in the raffle, winning two kits (one of which had photo etched metal detail parts included). Shopping among the vendors yielded another kit from one vendor and some finishing supplies from another.

Late in the morning, I attended the contest judges meeting, where pizza was served for lunch. They had plenty of judges, which is always good. I joined four others in helping judge aircraft entries, with Bill Pettyjohn and I forming one of two teams to help judge the categories more efficiently. The teams judged all the aircraft entries in good time. I was then asked to help judge entries in mecha (science fiction giant walking machines or robots). Although I have had a little experience with these models, it's not something I have built yet. Fortunately, my two fellow judges were more familiar with mecha, and we got these entries judged.

I took some more photos of contest entries for the IPMS/Gateway Facebook page and chatted with IPMS/USA Second Vice President Scott Hackney for a while before the contest results were announced. Both my entries took Third Place in their respective categories: The Bren Gun Carrier in 1:72 Allied tracked vehicles to 1945, the 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun in 1:72 Ordnance. Neither was a terrific model, but it was entered in categories with little competition.

Triola took a First Place for his F-4C Phantom II, and Will's Joker and Harley Quinn placed Second in Fantasy Figures. I was happy for them.

After the show ended, I packed up my things and got into Morris' minivan. Our party then began the journey home, stopping for dinner at a Culver's in Columbia. After we got back to Morris' house, Will and I entered my car and I drove home, where I let Will out to get back into his truck to return home. It was definitely a good day.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

IPMS/Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

IPMS/Great Plains: IPMS Great Plains

McDonald's: McDonald's: Burgers, Fries & More. Quality Ingredients. (mcdonalds.com)

First Church of the Nazarene: KC First Church of the Nazarene | Welcome (kcfc.org)

IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA | IPMS/USA Home Page (ipmsusa.org)

Culver's: Culver's Restaurant | Frozen Custard, Butterburgers & Cheese Curds (culvers.com)

Round 2 for CITY SC: 2024 Season Opener

Late yesterday afternoon (24 February), I picked up Julie at her place and drove us to a reserved parking lot in downtown St. Louis. We then walked about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the Schlafly Tap Room for the St. Louligans pre-match party. St. Louis CITY SC was opening its second Major League Soccer season by hosting Real Salt Lake.

(CITY SC actually played its first match the previous Tuesday night, hosting Houston Dynamo in the first leg of the First Round CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament. CITY won 2-1 and the second leg will be in Houston this Tuesday night.)

Julie and I made our way down Louligan Street (21st Street north of Olive) and bought dinner from the Cluck Oink Moo Sliders food truck. I had two pork slides with french fries and they were very tasty. I then bought a Pale Ale from a Schlafly beer tent and Schlaffle tickets from the St. Louligans tent. Julie bought Schlaffle tickets and a t-shirt from the St. Louligans. We were having fun.

Just over an hour before kickoff, Julie and I joined with other supporters to sing and dance for a few minutes on Louligan Street before beginning the march into CITYPARK. It was rather cold and a big windy last night, but we were not going to let that stop us from showing our devotion to CITY SC. 

After entering CITYPARK, we went to look for a standing place in the Supporter Section in the stadium's North End. However, we found it a fruitless search; it seemed every standing place in the section was occupied. We ended up in the area behind some seats in the northwest breezeway facing the pitch. Not the greatest experience, but it worked out for Julie and I.

After a scoreless first half, Real Salt Lake tallied in the 74th minute. Undaunted, CITY SC fought back and leveled it on Sam Adeniran's goal in the 79th minute. That's how the match ended, a 1-1 draw. I'm sure we would have preferred a CITY win on the season opener, but it still was good in that we got a point in MLS play.

After the match, Julie and I walked back to my car. Our legs were tired from all the standing, but we got to my car in the lot safe and sound. I then drove Julie home after yet another great date. 

CITY SC returns home this Saturday to host New York City FC. It should be fun.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Schlafly Tap Room: Tap Room Brewpub - Schlafly Beer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Major League Soccer: MLSsoccer.com - The Official Site of Major League Soccer

Cluck Oink Moo Sliders: (4) Facebook

CITYPARK: CITYPARK | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

IPMS Gateway February 2024 Meeting

Right after work this past Tuesday (20 February), I headed to Affton Elks Lodge #2635 for this month's Gateway Chapter IPMS meeting. I helped set up some items for the meeting, including flyers for upcoming shows, and prepared to assume my Treasurer's duties taking down the meeting minutes.

I also entered two models in this month's Modeler of the Year (MOY) Contest, the first of four this year. Per custom, the February Contest is all Out of the Box (OOB); that is, no modifications to the kits. Kit instructions were required to be included with each entry. The night before, I just finished two Airfix 1:72 scale armor kits that were packaged together: the Bren Gun Carrier and the 6pdr Anti-Tank Gun. Both kits should have been easy to do, but each had fit issues that made them harder than I bargained for. Nevertheless, I had two kits to enter and to earn MOY points.

I had some pretty tough competition in Armor this night and I did not place. Still, it was good to pick up two points per entry: one each for entering and one for the month's Special Category (OOB). There were 21 total contest entries this night from nine members. That sounds like a good start for the year.

This meeting also had the usual announcements of upcoming events and Show & Tell, where members bring in their latest projects (complete and in progress) and other items of interest.

Our featured program was a demo by Jim Triola on detailing and finishing aircraft bombs. He demonstrated his techniques, which include: assembling bomb halves using tube glue; painting bomb tail fins a darker shade than the bomb bodies; adding jewelry wire to the bombs for arming wires; and weathering bombs using oil paint in a dot filter process. It was quite an informative demo from Jim.

The next IPMS/Gateway meeting is Tuesday, 19 March at 7:00 PM at the Affton Elks Lodge.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Affton Elks Lodge #2635: Lodge #2635 Welcome (elks.org)

IPMS Gateway Chapter: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

Airfix: Plastic Model Kits | Hornby Hobbies USA