2022 IPMS Gateway to the West Invitational

Up early yesterday morning (10 September), I packed my car and headed to the Holiday Inn St. Louis Southwest -- Route 66 in Sunset Hills. This was the venue for the 16th annual IPMS/Gateway to the West Invitational scale modeling contest and swap meet.

I arrived at the show site 90 minutes before the Invitational opened to the public. After helping greet vendors and setting up the club display, I assumed my station at the payment desk. Working with Regina Morris, yours truly took attendees' admission and contest registration fees. I also asked attendees where they lived and how they knew of our event. The vast majority have been here before and hail from Missouri and Illinois. I counted 177 attendees.

During a short break in the morning, I entered my three models in the contest: an A6M2 Zero in Aircraft, a USS Alabama in Ships, and a 155mm M1 Gun in Armor. 

Late that morning, my girlfriend Julie came to the show, along with her daughter and son-in-law.  We all got to chat, and they had a fine time with me and with my clubmate Bill Wagner and Wagner's wife, who Julie knows. 

Soon after this, I went to a pizza lunch and a judges meeting. Dave Roeder and I were paired into a judging team, and we went on to judge cars, figures, and miscellaneous. This year's Invitational had a low turnout of contest entries, so we had categories with only one entry or even none.

I checked my raffle tickets and won three kits from it. Julie gave me her tickets before having to leave at midday, but none of them were lucky to win.

Acting for the club's treasurer who was not at the show, I accepted two IPMS/Gateway membership renewals and two new members who filled out membership forms at our club display.

My M1 took second in the Artillery subcategory--the only one of my entries to place. That made me happy, though there were only two entries in that subcategory.

The subcategory awards were placed with the winning models. A ceremony was held to present the Best of Awards. This event concluded our Invitational. After packing up my models from the contest and the club display, I said my goodbyes to people I knew and headed home. Despite the low contest turnout, the day was a success overall.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Holiday Inn St. Louis Southwest -- Route 66: Route 66 Hotels near St. Louis | Holiday Inn St. Louis SW - Route 66 (ihg.com)

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

Recent Scale Modeling Related Activities

On Saturday, 11 September, I helped my mates at IPMS/Gateway stage our club's annual Invitational model contest and swap meet. This also served as the inaugural IPMS/USA Region 14 Contest. The event was held at the Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route 66 in Sunset Hills, Missouri. I helped staff the admission desk, where Regina Morris and I took admission and contest registration fees from attendees. While doing so, I asked them where they came from and how they learned about the show; this information was used to help in planning future shows. We had at least 147 attendees from six states, and the vast majority had attended our previous shows.

I entered three models in the contest, though I had no realistic chance of winning, and provided several models for the club display at the show. During the contest judging, I helped to judge armor and automotive models. There were 252 contest entries from 54 modelers, with plenty of high-quality models on the tables. Overall, it was a very good show.

One week later (18 September), I was at Epiphany United Church of Christ in St. Louis' Benton Park neighborhood for a celebration of life service in memory of IPMS/Gateway founder Del Miller, who died from a stroke on 20 August at age 80. It was a simple yet moving service that was led by Epiphany's pastor and included words from Del's daughter Rachel. Several of my IPMS/Gateway colleagues were in attendance. After the service, there was a reception in the church's multi-purpose room. I chatted with Del's widow Chris and gave her the IPMS/USA National Convention t-shirt Del ordered before the event in Las Vegas. I also thanked Rachel for her beautiful words, and chatted with Del's son Jason, who was with his family. Jason and I got caught up with things before I left the church.

The following Tuesday night (21 September), I ran IPMS/Gateway's monthly meeting at Affton Elks Lodge 2635.  I lead the meeting in a moment of silence to honor Miller and former club member Lewis Pruneau, who had died nine days before at age 77 in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. After this tribute, I recapped the shows in Las Vegas and Sunset Hills. We also had our Show & Tell segment and began processing membership renewals for 2022. 

Early last Saturday morning (25 September), I was on the road to Louisville, Kentucky for the Military Modelers Club of Louisville (MMCL) Invitational. This was held at the Triple Crown Pavillion & Convention Center. I entered two of my models in the contest, which had nearly 500 entries in total. My club colleague Rick Keasey also attended and entered in the contest. I chatted with several people I knew there, including David Knights, co-host of the podcast Plastic Model Mojo; aviation historian Dana Bell, who autographed two books of his that I bought from him at the show; and John Fluck of IPMS/Duneland, who I had known on Facebook but not met in person until then. Additionally, I shopped among the vendors and admired the contest entries. My USS Fletcher model was the only one in its Ships category, and thus earned First Place by default. Keasey had two Firsts, two Seconds, and a Third in Figures and in Dioramas, and his vignette of two World War II German tank crewmen earned the show's Best Vignette Award.

Last night, I hosted an IPMS/Gateway business meeting. All of the other executive board (e-board) members and one guest attended. We discussed our recent Invitational, planned programs for our remaining 2021 club meetings, and talked about other club business matters. This was all done in just over one hour, and then I showed my mates my workbench and model stash. A wonderful evening for us.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

IPMS Gateway: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

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

Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route 66: Route 66 Hotels near St. Louis | Holiday Inn St. Louis SW - Route 66 (ihg.com)

Epiphany United Church of Christ: Epiphany UCC

Affton Elks Lodge 2635: Elks.org :: Lodge #2635 Home

Military Modelers Club of Louisville: MMCL Military Modelers Club Louisville

Triple Crown Pavillion: Jeffersontown | Triplecrownpavilion.org | United States

Plastic Model Mojo: Plastic Model Mojo

2019 IPMS Gateway Invitational

The Gateway Chapter of IPMS (https://sites.google.com/prod/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) hosted its 13th annual Invitational model contest and swap meet last Saturday (14 September). The event was held at the Holiday Inn St. Louis SW--Route 66 (https://www.reservationcounter.com/hotels/show/603baca/holiday-inn-st-louis-sw-route-66-st-louis-mo/?cid=sem::TPRC::BA::Reservation%20Counter%20%3E%20US%20%3E%20Midwest%20%3E%20Missouri::US%20%3E%20Missouri%20%3E%20St%20Louis%20%3E%20Holiday%20Inn%20St%20Louis%20SW%20-%20Route%2066%20%3E%20did-603baca::holiday%20inn%20st%20louis%20sw%20route%2066::e&creative=79439801789260&device=c&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=holiday%20inn%20st%20louis%20sw%20route%2066&utm_campaign=Reservation%20Counter%20%3E%20US%20%3E%20Midwest%20%3E%20Missouri&iv_=__iv_m_e_c_79439801789260_k_79439974866367_w_kwd-79439974866367:loc-4105_g_1271035803255914_n_o_e__h_89382_ii_55418_p_2_b_be_d_c_vi__&msclkid=de26eacbf18d16485679b74973e25ad00) in Sunset Hills, Missouri.

I arrived there just after 7:00 am, well before the show opened to the public at 9:00 am. I helped make sure all was in readiness with the contest and vendor rooms, and set up the admissions desk. Regina Morris (Marion's wife) and I staffed that desk, taking money from the attendees. Each received a wristband letting people know they had paid. I asked the attendees where they came from and how they learned about this show. This information was taken down to help is in planning for future shows.

I did enter two models in the contest, which I have entered in other contests this year. One was the British submarine Turbulent; the other was an alleged alien craft I did in Soviet markings.

Around 11:30 am, I and other contest judges reported to the judges meeting, organized by the contest chairman, Marion Morris. We went over judging procedures, formed up teams, and received category assignments. My team judged ships and miscellaneous, although I had to recuse myself since I had entries in two categories. There were 237 contest entries, with some superb models in competition.

I then browsed among the vendors, making a couple of small purchases, and buying raffle tickets. Late in the day, the contest results were announced and the awards given out. Yours truly took Third in Ships 1/351 scale and Smaller for my Turbulent. I was happy to win this award.

With that, the show ended. Attendees packed up and headed for home. We had 194 attendees for this show--a good turnout. We had plenty of praise from attendees for this event.

IPMS Gateway will present its next show on Saturday, 12 September 2020.

Later.