Trip to KC CON 2023 and Julie's Birthday

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)

Saturday in Kansas City: 2022 KC CON and a Beer

Early yesterday morning (12 March), I drove to Kansas City, Missouri. This trip to was attend KC CON, a scale modeling contest co-hosted by IPMS/Great Plains and IPMS/KC AMPS. After driving for nearly 4 hours (including a fuel stop, a stop to stretch out, and a traffic slowdown in Independence, Missouri), I arrived at the show venue, the First Church of the Nazarene.

After going through registration, I placed my sole contest entry--a 1:720 scale USS Alabama--in the Naval category. I then began to make the rounds, admiring and photographing the contest models, chatting with people I know, browsing among the vendors, and buying raffle tickets.

At Noon, I attended a pizza lunch with the other contest judges, where we had a briefing from the chief judge and received our category assignments. Our judges worked all categories except Armor That category is judged by Armor Modeling and Preservation Society (AMPS) rules, which evaluates each entry by set criteria, rather than against the competition as is the case with IPMS contests. My two teammates and I judged Mecha, Space, Science-Fiction. My model did not place in Naval.

I did buy one small kit from a vendor, won a kit and a book from the raffles, and got two kits and two magazines from the free giveaway table. I don't have any figures on attendees and entries, but it looked good in both areas to me.

After saying my goodbyes, I drove to The Blue Line, a hockey themed bar by the Kansas City Public Market just north of Downtown Kansas City. It was recommended to me by my Enterprise colleague Hannah Adams, whose fiancée's family owns the place. I had a beer at the bar--Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat--while admiring the scene. It was crowded, but everyone was in good spirits. Several college basketball conference tournament games were on the televisions, a cover band was playing, and there was hockey memorabilia decorating the place. After the beer, I paid for it and began going home. I stopped in a Kansas City area McDonald's for dinner to go, then ate it in the car as I drove home, arriving later than night. I covered 539.9 miles (868.9 km) on the trip.

I slept well last night, despite losing one hour due to the changeover to Daylight Saving Time overnight. Today, I got my hair cut at Great Clips near South County Center, then died my hair with Just For Men. Back to work tomorrow morning.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

IPMS/Great Plains: Untitled Page (ipmsgreatplains.org)

IPMS/KC AMPS: KCAMPS

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

Armor Modeling and Preservation Society: Home - Armor Modeling & Preservation Society (amps-armor.org)

International Plastic Modelers' Society/USA: IPMS/USA Home Page | By Modelers... For Modelers (ipmsusa.org)

The Blue Line: Hockey Bar | Kansas City, MO | The Blue Line (thebluelinekc.com)

Great Clips: Haircuts for Men, Women, & Kids | Great Clips Hair Salons

Just For Men: Just For Men: Hair Color For Men | Beard Dye | Gray Reduction

Scale Modeling Trip to KC Despite Coronavirus

Early yesterday morning (14 March), I drove to the First Church of the Nazarene (https://kcfc.org/) in Kansas City, Missouri. I went there to attend KC CON (http://www.ipmsgreatplains.org/KCCon2020.aspx), a scale modeling contest and swap meet co-hosted by IPMS/Great Plains (http://www.ipmsgreatplains.org/Default.aspx) and IPMS/KC AMPS (http://kcamps.org/).

I arrived at the show site, registered my three model contest entries, and placed the models in their respective contest areas. This show has two different model contests, in a way. The Armor entries are judged by Armor Modeling and Preservation Society (AMPS) (http://www.amps-armor.org/SiteMain/Main.aspx) rules, while the rest of the entries are judged by International Plastic Modelers' Society/USA (IPMS/USA) (http://www.ipmsusa.org/) rules.

Don Will, one of my IPMS/Gateway (https://sites.google.com/view/ipmsgatewaychapter/home) colleagues, went separately to the show. He entered several of his fantasy figures in the contest. I brought along some flyers for IPMS/Gateway's Regional contest this September, which I also talked up with some attendees I spoke with that day.

I walked around the contest area, bought a few raffle tickets, and browsed among the vendors there. The whole show was touch-and-go, due to the current coronavirus outbreak, which was causing postponements and cancellations of various public events around the country--including sporting events, schools, and other social activities.

I really got lucky in the raffle, winning four items with four consecutive tickets. (What are the odds of this happening?) I won two aircraft model kits, one car kit, and a kit of US air-to-air missiles for aircraft kits.

I helped judge the contest, specifically working junior aircraft and miscellaneous. At the judges' meeting, I did get some pizza, so I didn't have to worry about lunch. The judging went well.

The contest results were announced at show's end, and I was happy to find that my T-34/85 model won a Bronze Award. The AMPS contests judge models based on standards, not against the field. Three judges look at each model and grade the models according on construction, finish/weathering, and difficulty. The points are tallied up and determine if the model earns a Gold, Silver, or Bronze award, with no limits on the number of either awards that could be given out at a show. The judges also offer comments on the model. Two of the judges that evaluated my T-34/85 said the running gear needed work, but also that the decals looks very good. I was happy to get this feedback, along with the award.

Will picked up two First Place awards. One was in Miscellaneous for his diorama Martian Construction Machinery, and the other was in Figures for The Everliving. I was so happy for him.

After packing up my models and saying my goodbyes, I headed home. I drove through some rain on the way to Kansas City, but barly any rain fell on the way home. I got home that night, safe and sound.

Later.