For a couple of years Justin McCoy has suggest that I attend an IPMS event. Out of the blue I connected with Bryant Dunbar, from Grex, and he put a plug in for the Richmond even since he'd be there. So this past weekend, my wife and I drove down from DC to Richmond to see what all the fuss was about. I brought down a few models to enter into the competition. First off, the event was huge. There were around 500 models in competition, with table after table of entries to look at. Visually, it was a lot to take in. It was also a bit confusing. IPMS has lots and lots of rules. Despite that, I took home two first place awards, a second place award, and a third place award. I think I may have made a few folks jealous, when they found out it was my first event. I dutifully explained that I have been painting for more than a decade, and that I was really honored to receive awards by the military modeling folks.
1st place: Ogre bust from Roman Lappat in the fantasy bust category (this category was split out during the judging)
1st place: Mark IV Female WW1 tank by Trenchworx (tank without instructions category)
2nd place: WW2 machine gunner bust in the historical bust category
3rd place: Medusa by Forgeworld.
One of the coolest things about the event was the massive vendor area. If you've ever wondered what all the cook aftermarket kits are like, or where you can by mig products in person, this is the kind of event to attend. I managed to pick up 5 1/35 scale military scale model kits for around fifty dollars. That is a steal!
