Well, Soonercon 2018 was this past weekend and it was a very enjoyable show. I got to meet Paul W and several guys from his club and got to see some of my friends from Fort Sill. My friend Jon Bernstein who is also the Director of the Air Defense Artillery Museum brought his two sons who entered some armor models into the show. They actually did very well for their age in regards to their workmanship. It was good to see their enthusiasm about modeling. His youngest son even started building a car model that he had won in the raffle there at the show and got it completed. That was awesome.
I judged armor models for the AMPS side of the show. There were a lot of good models of all sorts at this show although it is one of the smaller shows I have attended. My wife even enjoyed herself at the show. Normally she is bored at them, but this one was different. That makes it better for me so I can get more stuff in the vendor area
How did I do? Fairly well. I entered 5 figures, 2 dioramas, 1 armored car, and 1 open top/interior armor piece. I won Third Place for my "Walking to the Battalion Aid Station, France 1944" figure, Second Place for my "We almost got overrun! Vietnam 1967" figure, and First Place and Best Figure for my "Air Defenders in Afghanistan 2014" figures. In the diorama category, I won Second Place for my "House to House" diorama and First Place for my "Young Entrepreneurs" diorama. I earned a Gold in Armored Cars for my Panhard 178 and a Gold for my M113 in the open top/Interiors category. This year my skill level was intermediate and now that I won gold, I get to advance to Advanced for next year. All in all, even if I did not win so many things it would have still been a great show.
In talking with Paul QW, I will be attending next year's Tulsa IPMS show as it will be just as fun.
Cheers,
James
