IPMS Avon Show

Today my back played ball and although a tad tender, I was able to make the drive to the local IPMS Show. Knowing parking can be an issue as it gets very busy, I arrived an hour before the doors opened and managed to get inside to drops some books off at the bring and buy stall. As short while later they allowed early entry and so by 9.00am I was inside.

The venue is spread across 3 large sports halls, so I spent the first hour or so just having a good wander, to get my bearings and to see what is on display, which is an awful lot I can tell you! Rather like a visit to a museum, it's hard to take it all in to be honest. Some bits I skipped (modern aircraft and  modern AFV's of little interest, ditto Sci-Fi), but even then I only really skimmed all the models on offer.

The flyer our son brought home some months ago, purely becuase of the Daleks I think, but handy for sure to remind me of the date, so I didn't double book myself.

As with wargames shows, you bump into plenty of people you know, which is part and parcel of the fun of attending. So after a good chat with an old friend and colleague, it was time to wander round with the camera. Some photos (and be warned there are plenty of them!) aren't as clear and crisp as I would like as it was hard to not get in the way of other punters when taking the shots. I hope you enjoy them and I've annotated some where appropriate. 

The Models

A beautiful model with wonderful rigging and I was drawn to it by the 'turret's along the hull.

A favourite WWI plane that I had a 1/72nd model of IIRC.

One of the many mad German ideas of WWII, this one for a mine clearing tank. There were several of these on display and in different scales.

This German train was damned big and I loved the simple camo scheme.

You can't beat a bit of Dad's Army and this displayed in the tin was a real eye catcher.

Plenty of wonderful dioramas from this club that takes me back to the 1970's Tamiya magazine articles/adverts for Verlinden, which seem crude by comparison to today's offerings.

Two of my favourite WWII German aircraft and there is something lovely about the yellow engine cowling on the Bf-109.

Sheep stop play!

Hard to get good shots of these and the following displays, as it was understandably popular and all looked superb! Not sure what scale they are but the attention to detail is superb.

On all of them the water was brilliantly done and very natural looking too.

That's one big and powerful truck.

Tante Ju, another favourite German plane.

One of many, many wonderful displays of aircraft, possibly 1/72nd?

1/35th figures or thereabouts?

I loved this RCW diorama.

French & Indian Wars? Again large figures and superb terrain too.

The iconic Spitfires.

A nice Vietnam diorama.

A nice mix of ships once again.

I loved the mix of vehicles and camo schemes here.

The dazzle camo on the turrets and superstructure caught my eye.

No diea of scale but these were BIG figures.

In contrast a sample of the many 1/72nd AFV's on display.

Possibly my favourite display as not only do I love the humour, but I had this kit as a child. In fact all the local schools were invited to put on displays in 1975 at Churchill College, Cambridge, to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. I used this kit on a sand table and can remember being driven to the college. I also had the radio operator in the background, which I had completely forgotten about.

Classic Tamiya kit and figures IIRC.

A nice mix of WWI aircraft.

This just reminded me of my Dad making the Airfix Yorktown model back in the 1970's.

Presumably a matchbox kit? It completely appealed to me and am tempted to make one for my AVBCW forces!

The Crusader a perennial favourite ever since having an Airfix kit as a kid.

Another diorama that had very effective water, a bit of a theme this year or maybe I just noticed it?

More sensible mine clearing tanks than the earlier German one?

3D printed models I believe, certainly for the first US tank in the background.

Where it all started and a popular stop for many between the halls.

A really dynamic diorama!

A non-military display, very nicely done.

A model from the film.

The sort of display you would fancy having a game on.

Silver planes and float planes to boot: what's not to like?

More joy.

A very large display, with 28mm figures or possibly 1/32nd. So much going on it was hard to take it all in talk less of getting good photos. Again a popular display with lots of people having a gander.

A good mix of models.

6mm figures and vehicles, set in Stonehenge IIRC.

Inter-War aircraft.

A very, very large Stratofortress. I did wonder how does this get transported, talk less of stored. Hard to display in the house as it would need a large dining table at the very least.

Every mark of Churchill tank.

British Light Tanks. Useless by so charming.

Simply done but very effective and not too OTT.

Parachute Regiment in North Africa.

A simple and very effective way to display and transport your models.

Rather unusual by really nicely done.

Daleks to keep my son happy!

The Games

15mm Napoleonics.

ACW riverine action. Possibly Hammerin' Iron rules by Peter Pig.

Lovely models.

France 1940.

Warhammer 40K.

What A Tanker! type game?

Nice aircraft but never saw the game actually being played.

Somewhere in the Far East.

SAGA type skirmish game?

The competition games around lunchtime. MeG rules? 

At least these table appeared to be enjoying themselves.

The Loot

A nice model from Blotz that will be used for my 18thC India games. Great value at only £5.00 and I intend to add more detail and possibly another storey to it too.

A great range of brushes and good to see them in the flesh. Outstanding value to get 18 brushes for £15.00 and should keep me going for detailed painting for a few years at least.

Post Show Thoughts

Well done if you've made it this far! I really enjoyed the show and spent a good 3 hours just taking it all in. Honestly you could spend all day there as there is so much to see and I'm glad I took my time, rather than the quick dash of previous years. So a few thoughts:

• It is a great venue as there is plenty of space once inside, but you do need to take sometime to start with just to have a quick wander around to orientate yourself. One of the rooms was not as well lit as the others (indoors bowls?) but a minor quibble.
• The quality of the models on display is outstanding, as one would expect from an IPMS show. I saw a good range of scales, periods, AFV's, planes and cars too. Some Sci-Fi as well so something for everyone.
• It was busy at the start but by Midday it had quietened down so it was easier to get a good look at the models, which would have made taking photos a lot easier.
• The wargames on show were patchy and some very poor if I'm brutally honest. I'm not a fan of clutter on the table to say the least, but most had drinks cans on there and other detritus, which made it tricky to get any nice photos without the offending materiel in view. Most game had little or no info and on-one to have a chat with about the game being played.
• Not many games were ready to go from the off, with some still being set up when I left. Now I know this is mainly a model show, but still, it's not good form to be late to the party!
• I did like the ACW Riverine game and, along with the ship models on display, has piqued an interest in some form of naval gaming at some point in the future. Some research to be done for sure but more on that in another post I'm sure!
• It was lovely actually to have some quality 'me time' as we call it these days, something that is very rare, but very precious. Catching up with some friends was a nice treat too and as an exhibitor remarked, only about a month until Colours!

Right, that's more than enough me-thinks and hope you enjoyed the photos! Back to painting tomorrow and touch wood the back is slowly getting better.

TTFN.