Over the weekend of May 25 and 26, 2024, the Illawarra Plastic Modellers Association (IPMA) held their annual scale model competition at the Illawarra Sports Centre in Berkely, a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales. 

We have been attending this show for a number of years now, and once again, we made the 10 hour drive to attend the show both as a trader and an entrant into the competition. 

We took a selection of our paints and products to sell with our long time retailer, Rob Starkey of Star Hobbies, also attending with our entire range, along with new retailer Andrew Fulton of Fulbore Models who had a small selection of our range also. So between the three of us, the entire SMS range was available to purchase across the two days of the show. 

ABOVE : Star Hobbies stand with our paints on show

Whilst the entry numbers were down on previous years, the quality of the entries on the tables was top tier. There were many stand outs, including this fantastic Erikson Sky Crane converted from the ICM kit : 

 

I myself took up 11 entries for the competition and was thrilled to win 10 Gold and 1 Bronze and also win overall category winner for my Dimetrodon in the Open Category, and the Mecha Bug in the Sci Fi Fantasy Vehicles Category. 

 

Overall, the show has a huge success for us at SMS. It was great to come up once again and catch up with our friends and fellow traders from NSW and the ACT and to meet a ton of lovely people who were either new to modelling or we have spoken to online before but had yet to meet in person. 

Our next show is only a short time away, with the Australian Model Expo happening in less than 2 weeks at time of writing. We hope that we will see you there!

I will leave you with a selection of models that stood out to us at the show.

For more information on the NSW Scale Model Show, check out the IPMA website here : 2024 NSW Scale Model Show (ipmamodels.net)

And for all the pictures of the show, jump onto Callum Gibson's Facebook Page, The Hamfisted Modeller, here : NSW MODEL COMP ALBUM 

We would like to take the opportunity to thank the IPMA for once again hosting us at the NSW Scale Model Show. It's always a pleasure to attend the show and catch up with all our friends! 

Until next time as always, keep on modelling! 

- Scott