2024 IPMS National Convention. Madison Wisconasin.

[Rhino]

One of your wordiest, nerdiest, " M/A Roving Reporters" will be sallying forth to "America's Dairyland" to bring highlights, anecdotes, industry insider information and impressions of what, for model making folk, may be the greatest gathering of Model Miscreants of the year. That's right Guys and Dolls! Prepare to be amazed! (or bored out of your skull) All y'all know how I bang on about such things.

Texas or Las Vegas in August? Only the most devoted modeler braves those summer temperatures! If you did, my hat is off to you!

Wisconasin in August? Mild temps and breezes from off Lake Michigan sounds like paradise without tiki-bars and palm trees!
Maintenance on Boat Tail 712 is near complete.

Club colors and website decals; properly installed. It's a 310 mile ride to our destination A little less than 5 hours, unless my Sweetie drives. She doesn't look like a Fighter Pilot, but there's one in there! Our car-ride will be unhurried. Dairy Queen, hobby shops and potty stops are included in our itinerary.
Will we make Jimmy's Diner in Dodgeville, WI in time for a leisurely lunch? Could be.

A double handful of Cap-Holder-O-Matic packages and perhaps a few New Rick Raccoon kits will be on board to reward returning TLAR customers and to introduce us to new friends. I made a list of needed model materials and sought after kits to peruse the vendor room for.

I never cheaap-out on my Sweetheart or my hobby. We have saved for the Mad City Modeler's first go at a National show for a long time.
Given the quality of their regular shows and their pioneering in IPMS contest procedures, I expect nothing short of excellence.

There is an added bonus feature in the works. Very hush-hush, of course. Usually I'm blabby. I'm sitting on this one nonetheless.

The shocking pink Surgeons will soon sally forth, ( well,Thursday morning.) stay tuned. You will not get hobby narrative of this kind anywhere else.

 

[moon puppy]

Looking forward to lots of pictures. Is TLAR Models setting up a booth or will this be the Man in the Aisles reporting?

 

[Rhino]

The International Plastic Modelers' Society USA

National Convention 2024 July 17-20, 2024 Monona Terrace, Madison, WI

nats2024.com

The Mad City Modelers have devised a system of registering your completed builds with an electronic footprint. Register each model once in the IPMS database and enter it in any IPMS Show, with ease, anywhere. No more filling out registration forms. No more misspelled titles or names of entrants. Such are the innovations of our Wisconasin brethren. Kinda cool.

We have a couple of days planned. I do not consider myself a National Contest caliber modeler, so I won't be entering. That, and when you enter, you have to be there for all the days of the convention to receive whatever award you may. Then the long drive home Sunday in darkness.
You can expect highlights and pictures of eye-catching builds. The usual "Man in the Aisles" missive.

Those of you that know me, may not be too surprised to hear that much of my time at any show is spent b/s-ing with the many old friends I have been blessed with over the years. A more diligent reporter might better focus on the event. I am quite obviously a better friend than I am a journalist.

Wisconasin requires special State sales tax reporting form for out-of-town vendors specifically for this convention. This is quite a discouragement to the regular guy selling his collection to plastic-hungry model enthusiasts and American small business owners.

Mark Karolus and I were planning a joint booth. He would sell much of his massive collection for a pittance, and I would display finished TLAR Models, pedal a select few kits and invite people to visit the website to view the blog and purchase from my range of products, supplies and tools. It would have been fun, but we decided against discriminatory bureaucracy.

As it is, you may find Mark's armour (not a heathen after all! ) model kits on tlarmodels.com after we return from the wilds of America's DairyLand. (NO apologies to CA)

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Had considered going, but life and other needs made the $$ to go vanish. I have several lean months ahead to catch back up. Not hurting or in a bad place, just not where I like being. So spending on needs only means no kits or kit parts. Food, gas, and utilities only and needed things like a dental appointment coming up Monday.