Early yesterday morning (11 March), I drove to Marion Morris' house in Maplewood. Morris would drive me and Dave Thomas--all of us members of IPMS/Gateway--to Kansas City, Missouri for KC CON, a model contest hosted by IPMS/Great Plains and IPMS/KC AMPS. Along the way, Tom Aldred joined us, while Jim Victor and Jim Triola rode together in a second vehicle. We arrived at the First Church of the Nazarene, the show venue, just before 9:00 am.
I had my two models registered in the contest, placing a MiG-15bis in one of the Aircraft categories in the contest room, and leaving a 155mm M1 Gun in the Armor judging room. This contest has Armor entries judging using Armor Modeling and Preservation Society (AMPS) rules, while the rest of the entries were judging using International Plastic Modelers' Society/USA (IPMS/USA) rules. I also bought some raffle tickets and walked among the vendors gathered at the show. Morris was one of those vendors.
During the morning, I admired the models on the contest tables. Several tables had to be added to accommodate the large number of contest models brought to this show. I did win a few prizes in the raffle and bought a few items from the vendors.
I volunteered to be a contest judge and helped to judge entries in the three Mecha categories. There were some superb models to choose from for the three places in each category, but my partner and I got it done. The rest of the categories took more time, and it was after 3:00 pm when the awards began to be announced.
My M1 Gun took a Gold in Basic level Armor--Ordnance. This was better than I expected. Thomas took two Bronze awards in Advanced Armor for his two tank models. Going to the rest of the contest, my MiG-15 placed Third in Aircraft--1:72, Single Engine, Post-1947. Triola's battleship Bismarck got Second in Ships--All types, 1:400 and larger. (Many of us thought it would get First.)
We packed up and headed home. Marion, Dave, and I arrived in Maplewood just before 8:00 pm. (Aldred went with Victor and Triola.) After getting my things put into my car and saying goodbye, I got dinner at Penn Station East Coast Subs before getting a Macy's gift card at CVS and then going home.
The next morning, I drove to Julie's house, where I gave her a birthday card with the gift card. Yesterday was her birthday, but we celebrated it together today. Julie and I went to Machinists Hall in Bridgeton to visit the ToyMan Show of collectable toys and memorabilia. We then traveled to West County Center to browse among the stores. Julie and I shopped at Barnes & Noble (I bought two books, while she bought a board game).
After lunch at her home, we went to the Irish Festival in Florissant for a while. Then, we went to Mystic Valley in Maplewood, where Julie bought something for her home. Then, we returned to her home where we watched Juventus and Sampdoria play a Serie A match on her TV. After that, we parted but will be back together next weekend.
Later.
Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:
IPMS/Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)
IPMS/Great Plains: Untitled Page (ipmsgreatplains.org)
IPMS/KC AMPS: KCAMPS
AMPS: Home - Armor Modeling & Preservation Society (amps-armor.org)
IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA Home Page | By Modelers... For Modelers (ipmsusa.org)
ToyMan Show: ToyMan Show – "Where BIG kids go to play"
Barnes & Noble: Online Bookstore: Books, NOOK ebooks, Music, Movies & Toys | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)
Mystic Valley: Mystic Valley - Mystic Valley (mysticvalleystl.com)
