On the Road : ScaleACT 2025
ScaleACT, the yearly model show held in Canberra every November by the ACT Scale Model Society (ACTSMS), was on again over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of November 2025 and once again, we hit the road and headed up to our Nation’s capital.
Jumping in the Ute early on the Friday morning (and by early, I mean 4:30am!), I headed up to Canberra. First stop on the road was Glenrowan to top up the fuel, then second stop was at Holbrook to stretch the legs at the submarine.
There was one more stop at Gundagai to top the fuel up again, then on to Canberra, arriving at around 12:30pm. On the way into Canberra, is the National Dinosaur Museum and every time I come up, I stop in to check out the displays and see if there is anything new. As I pulled into the car park, I noticed two shifty looking characters getting out of a car – it was Dave and Ian from On The Bench podcast!
I joined them for a look around the museum and then had a chat in the car park before heading over to where I was staying for the weekend to check in.
After a quick trip to the supermarket to get some supplies, I headed over to the venue, Thoroughbred Park, to get set up. After unloading everything, I got stuck into unpacking the stock and setting everything up, finishing up at 7pm. With that final thing done for the day, I headed back to my accommodation, gave my wife and son a video call and then promptly fell asleep.
Saturday started off with a bang, literally, as a massive thunderstorm rolled in at around 4:30am, waking me up with a loud rumble and crack as lightening filled the skies. I headed over to the venue at 7:30am to do some final set up stuff then enter my models into the competition. I ended up taking 14 entries with me, 2 cars, 1 Gundam, 1 Ma.K and 10 Dinosaurs.
Saturday was busy all day. There was a constant stream of customers all day and quite a number of paints sold out before lunch time which was very encouraging to see. The Super Mystery Paint Grab returned for this show as well after a well-received launch at the SA Model Expo a month previous.
As the day went on, the venue got really hot and humid due to the stormy weather and warm temperatures outside. It was really draining but we soldiered on and things started to cool down as the day drew to a close.
I was too exhausted to go out and socialise with everyone unfortunately, so I ended up heading back to my accommodation, calling my family and going to sleep.
Here was the view from the front of where I was staying, a clear view of the Telstra Tower -
Sunday was a quieter than Saturday (it always is no matter the show), but that didn’t stop us from setting new sales records at ScaleACT. We ended up selling out of quite a number of products by lunch time, a result we were very happy with.
I also managed to squeeze in a quick interview with Dave from On The Bench about the show and what is going on with SMS at the moment. You can listen to it here : https://otbmodellerspodcast.libsyn.com/otb-225-scaleact25
The show drew to a close with the awards ceremony, and I was pleasantly surprised to have won 4 Silvers, 5 Bronzes and ‘Best Aussie Car’ awards for 9 of my 14 entries. Very happy with those results!
So as the awards were being read out, our stand was packed up, loaded into the Ute and I was on the road at 4:30pm headed for home. The trip back was good, lots of good scenery to watch as the sun dipped down below the horizon as I looked back over the weekend that just was and how it was a fantastic end cap to the 2025 show circuit for us.
I pulled into the driveway at home at 12:34am, headed inside, gave my wife a big hug, then crawled into bed only to be awakened at 5:30am as my alarm went off to signal the start of another working week at SMS.
I will take this opportunity to say a massive thank you once again to everyone who came by to see us at the show. It was great to see lots of regular faces and lots of new ones picking up our paints for the first time. And a huge thank you must also go out to the ACTSMS for putting together another great show – we will definitely be back in 2026!
Keep an eye on the ScaleACT Facebook page and ACTSMS website for all the details for next years show : https://www.actsms.asn.au/scaleact
And with that, here are a few photos of some models that caught my eye at the show :
That’s it for the show circuit this year for us – our next major show is the trade only Australian Toy Fair in March, and the next Model Show proper is the NSW Scale Model Show in Wollongong in May. Hope to see you there!
Until next time, keep on modelling!
- Scott