15 April 2023. Fleacon 19. Monticello, Iowa.

[Rhino]

Ladies and Gentleman! Children of all ages! Come one, Come all to the wilds of north central eastern Iowa for Model Fun!
IPMS Alexander Lippisch presents their 19th Model Contest, in picturesque Monticello, Iowa for your amusement and amazement!

Lippisch Model Club

www.lippischmodelclub.org

We left Friday night for our lodgings in Marion. We should arrive in good time at Darrell's for their awesome breakfast and then off to enjoy the company of the sponsoring club. I have 5 of my models to enter. Stay tuned as this enthralling ortello develops!

An aside;
On the way up to Marion, we made a potty-stop. I looked across the drive of the gas station and saw a 1990 Ford F-150 super cab pick-up loaded to the eyeballs with car models! It even had a trailer hitch rack stacked tall! Brian had driven his Dad's old Ford to the Hotwheels Collector's National Convention in Columbus, Ohio.
https://www.hwcollectorsnationals.com/home.html I never heard of it before. Have you?

Brian then drove from Ohio to Connecticut to buy a "collection" and was headed home to california with his load of Hotwheels and car model booty.
A pretty cool kid, headed into lousy weather with a truck stuffed with Hotwheels, slot car and model car booty.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes later on this weekend.

 

[Rhino]

Weather for FleaCon 19 proved sunny and fair. A good match for the hospitality of the sponsoring IPMS Club!
IPMS Alexander Lippisch was missing their Frank Miller and Robin and Adam Mangold.
Plastic Surgeons in attendance were Joe Lotz, Francisco Melendez, Teresa and myself. 57 entrants presented 187 models for review by Fartin' Flea Judges.
I "worked" late at TLAR tonight so pictures, show commentary and my "Along The Way" tips will be posted later.

 

[Rhino]

We drove Friday night to Marion to shorten the morning ride to the Monticello show.

I loaded my newest finished models and 2 others that got good laughs. General Eddie's Starfighter is always a hit. 1/350 TLAR Orca for the Movie Madness theme of the show. The Horrible Heinkel isn't on her base yet, so she was left behind this time. Dad's Mustang awaits 1/32 figures from Jolly Old England and I made no new progress has been made on the 1/72 P-67B Moonbat.

Registration and Raffle. Teresa considers all the possible prizes. IPMS Alexander Lippisch (aka The Fleas) raffles until ALL the prizes have been awarded, as it should be. They drew every 15 minutes. The Fartin' Flea raffle is known for it's excellence.

"Best of" awards and Club display table.

Judging was done as models appeared on tables this year. It is a first for the Fleas, and Bill Kruger commented it went quite well.
Formerly The Fleas judged every model before they were set out. I liked this system a lot.


The Berndes Center is a vast well lit and airy contest space. The concession ladies served bubbly cold soda, coffee, huge cinnamon rolls, chips,
turkey dressing sandwiches and the their signature HUGE hot-dogs. Prices were similar to last year. Not many prices are!
Our Wisconasin Brethren from Mad City Modelers were there to make sure everyone knows about the 2024 IPMS National Convention in Madison and to share in the model fun! I would MUCH rather spend time in August in Wisconasin than south Texas.

Good Ol' Mark Johnson was here. Once again I eyed Mark's Monogram 1/24 Snake & Mongoose Funny Car kit with envious eyes. I didn't buy this time. Another day perhaps.

 

[jknaus]

I love the D9 and the WWI collection.
James

 

[Rhino]

How about some models?
Once again, I took pictures of things that catch my eye. Almost every build on display is display worthy. There is every possibility I spend my time joking with our friends and meeting new ones, rather than being more diligent about my photography, such as it is.


Theme Award models are displayed on a Theme Table. The little "Sahara" diorama and the 1/35 M-47 Patton "Battle of the Bulge" movie were very interesting! I could not discern Robert Shaw as the SS tank commander. No snow?



Fleacon is customarily attended by many car model builders and last weekend was no exception. I like "The Shinies"! Blackhawk Modelers of Burlington, Iowa seem to enter most of these.

Eli Adams and his daughter Alyssa added their Wheels to the mix. Eli's rust effects are made from actual rust. He brought 10 models to enter, but Fleacon rules only allow 6 entries in any one category.

LOOKEE! Tiny Shinies!

 

[Rhino]

Airplanes and other stuff!

A nice presentation of the old-tool Revell B-24 Liberator.


Suyata's Rickenbacker SpaD and Red Baron Fokker tri-plane kits. Now I have to have the Spad and Eddie figure. Dommitt!

John Krueger's 1/700 Tamiya HMS Rodney being escorted by the Canadian Commonwealth sloop Antelope. 1/4 of TLAR Models 1/700 Canadian Maritime Set made her debut at FleaCon 19.

Plastic Surgeon Francisco Melendez excellent 1/32 German aircraft models. He also entered a 1/35 Panther that I didn't get a picture of. Francisco swept the show with not 1, not 2 but well deserved Gold awards for all 3 of his entries!!

Joachim (Jimmy) Lotz also fared well in the eyes of Fleacon 19 Judges with 5 glittering gold awards! I looked at Joe's tactical truck and realized he had built another version of this 1/72 scale model. Well done!

The Junior modeler formerly known as "Zach Sherman",( by Mad City's Jeff Barrette) Zoe Schirmann won Junior gold and Best Of Juniors for her 1/700 Hobbyboss JMSDF Submarine model.

 

[Rhino]

Eliverston Adams jr. is the master of both "Shiny" and "Beater" car models. His rust is actual rust. Eli works 60+ hours a week so Club membership is less than likely. I showcase his winning entries here, because he's a cool, funny guy!


Following in her Daddy's footsteps, young Alyssa Adams made a fine Junior Car model too!

Fleacon 19 Judges were kind to me as well! I got some static about making models that were too big.

I unearthed a Treasure from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. I lacked the ability to continue Life without a Red Baron rocks glass with a GUNSIGHT of my very own! $3.00! I didn't care it was the Iron Cross and not the Pour Le' Merite. The Gunsight sold me! Amusing me isn't overly difficult!
From the same vendor I purchased a $2.00 1973 Monogram 1/48 Spitfire IV in a crappy box to play with and a Red Baron Fokker Tri-plane fridge magnet. I spent $5.50 on models and stuff Saturday last.

We bought $40.00 worth of raffle tickets for 12 prizes. One was a started Turd, however, 2 1/72 Airplane model kits were from Tom Boyle's (God rest him) collection and contained 2 complete airplane models in each box. We bought $40.00 worth of raffle tickets for the handmade quilt raffle that benefits Vets. We didn't win that one. "Teresa? Where were ya on that one, Bay-Bee?!"

I made a cash show-special deal with Dave Lentell for a TLAR Models "The Bigger Boat You're Gonna Need" 1/350 Orca kit. We swapped Jaws quotes and had some fun! The show theme was "Movie Madness" after all!

 

[Rhino]

A New addition to my Contest Overview is this section:
"Along the Way". Tips and pitfalls for ingress and egress to the model contest.
We had breakfast at Darrell's "Tummy Heaven" in Monticello. Last year I raved about breakfast at Darrell's. This year we waited 40 minutes for our order. The waitress let my coffee cup go dry. MAJOR party foul. The longer my coffee cup is dry is directly related to the size of the tip. When breakfast finally arrived it was almost lunchtime. The food was hot and tasty and the price was reasonable. Listen, I know fast food ain't good and good food ain't fast, but this was just SILLY!

Try it out for yourself! You don't have to take my word for it. I can be grumpy when I'm hungry.

I don't know if your wife does this, but Teresa relates stories from her life based on geographic location. It is rare, indeed that we travel Iowa Highway 151 north from Marion, that she doesn't mention how good the food was and what a nice place "Mustang Sally's" is in Springville, Iowa. On the Monticello trip north, I waited............................ She said nothing about Springville. On the way back to Marion: Nuthin'!

I had had ENOUGH!
I seized the day and turned off 151 to find out for myself about this "Mustang Sally's" joint.

Springville is 8 miles from Marion and I was feeling festive. I decided to celebrate our contest good fortune and buy my sweetie a Dwinkie!
Downtown Springville is as you might expect a small town main street to be. Tidy and ornate. We parked at Post Office and made our way to Sally's.

Dining Springville » Sally's On Broadway

Local dining and spirits locally owned and operated in Springville. The best place to eat in Cedar Rapids is Sally's in Springville! Amazing breakfast lunch and dinner. Breakfast Buffet every Sunday.

sallysonbroadway.net

"Ma'am, is Mustang Sally an actual person and Is she here?"
"Of course she is. I am Mustang Sally!" She actually used to drive a Mustang. (Not the P-51.)
Sally is slim and not very tall. She has a smile makes you feel right at home and she serves a VERY fine Dwinkie! Just what "The Doctor" ordered!
Sally Deeb has owned this place since 2012. "On Broadway" is much bigger than it looks like from the outside. It was expanded in 2018 to include the building next door. Which is good, because the place was filled with hungry and thirsty happy Iowa Saturday night patrons. Sally's is bright, clean and comfy. Even the bathrooms smell good! (Amazing to a professional plumber!) 23 employees bustle about taking good care of every diner.
After a few libations we became hungry. Salad bar, Buffet or order off the generous menu. This night BBQ ribs were on the buffet.
But wait! there's more!
Chicken a la King and biscuits, fried chicken, mashy tatoes, veggies, and lots hot and cold fresh food could be had. I had ribs, garlic toast and spring salad. The spring salad is REALLY good in Springville. WHOODATHUNKIT?!

We told jokes and stories to anyone who would listen to us. We had a fine time! All y'all know how shy and reserved we can be.
Our bill with drinks was less than $60.00 for the 2 of us. We were relaxed, full and happy when we headed back to Marion.
In our sometimes cold and impersonal World, Sally's On Broadway is a JEWEL!

Now! Sally's closes at 2100 hrs. If you aren't done celebrating, American Legion Post 331 is just across the street with drinks, music and dancing.

https://m.facebook.com/events/springville-iowa/springville-legion-hall-post-331/1072824306087297/

That being said, no one has to take my word for it. Drop by Sally's and see if you are as welcomed and pleased as we were.

Thanks for enduring my lengthy narrative. Expect more of the same from your Roving Modeler's Alliance Reporter on every contest car-ride!

 

[moon puppy]

Still reading this, lots to take in, great reporting and contrags to Jimmy and Chris!