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.

 

[Rhino]

I'm not and "Up with the sun. Gone like the wind" kind of model show Guy. Heading East is better without the blinding July sun right in my face, so we dally just a bit. Coffee, danish. Head call. All important elements of a happy car ride!

Siniging!

YA YA YA-YA!
We're off to Madison, Wisconsin!
Fix me another drink!
Worse the the other Drink!
Waltz me around by my WALLET!

There once was man from White Oak. (WHITE OAK!)
Who loved to make models and Joke (AND JOKE!)
His X-acto knife falls, (FALLS!)
Between his thigh and his balls, (BALLS!)
Perhaps, Too much Rum in his COKE!

YA YA YA-YA!
(Jump in here anytime, guys!)

More to come!

 

[sharkman]

Perhaps too much rum in YOUR coke??

 

[moon puppy]

Or too much coke in his rum!

 

[Rhino]

Or too much coke in his rum!

To be a proper limerick, it has to rhyme, silly! For example:

The once was man from Kent. "KENT!"
Whose dick was so long it was bent. "BENT!"
To stay out of trouble, he stuck in double.
Instead of coming, he WENT!!!!

See!?

 

[Rhino]

We now return to our regularly scheduled thread.

I get all excited about going to a model show. Teresa keeps her cheerful cool. We had lunch before we crossed the mighty Mississippi river. Vacation potato cakes are the Best!
Weather was fair and partly cloudy, with light winds. Temps from the 70 to the 80's. Almost a PERFEKT day for a car-ride!
I am particularly fond of Wisconasin highway 151. The way it carves through the limestone, diving and sweeping. You aren't bored for a minute!
Arriving at the Monona Terrace Convention center mid-afternoon, we were greeted by volunteer Ann and received all the National Convention goodies I ordered.

As guests, Mark and Teresa got their cool contest shirts and pins. There were lots of goodies in the Convention package! The challenge coin was huge! I brought my special Gundam judging spectacles along, so I could be ready to assist!

After we bought our raffle tickets, the vendor walk-around began. One of Zoukei-Muira's sales kids caught me and helped me realize I could NOT continue Life without one of Yoshi san's kits. The 1/72/1/144 Ho-229 combo kit was what I picked up. The enthusiastic ZM staff takes your picture when you buy a kit. It was fun to buy from them. I got my Sprue Brothers prize. A USS Forrestal book. I had presents for Gordon and his son, but I left them in the car. They give me free model stuff every time I see them. It seems appropriate to return their generosity.
Some of my pictures say "The uploaded file is too large for the server to process." I'll get more photos tomorrow.
Cheers from Mad City!

 

[moon puppy]

"The uploaded file is too large for the server to process."

Yep, we must practice image size discipline now. 2048 KB is the max.

Good reporting, I see some familiar faces out there.

 

[Rhino]

Yep, we must practice image size discipline now. 2048 KB is the max.

Good reporting, I see some familiar faces out there.

Bummer. Many of my National's photos certainly will not fit this new limit. There are 228 pictures total to post.
I thought the I understood reason for the move to the new server was to accommodate more space for pictures.

 

[moon puppy]

That's file size per image. There's no limits in numbers in the Media. Just save the images to a lower size.

Posting images to the website.

Now we have another new home we have put in place a limit (which I thought I had in the past) of the size of the file being uploaded. That limit is 2048Kb or 2 mgs. I thought it would be a good idea to share how we all get our images compressed or reduced in size to get loaded on the website...

modelersalliance.org

Take a look at this.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Bummer. Many of my National's photos certainly will not fit this new limit. There are 228 pictures total to post.
I thought the I understood reason for the move to the new server was to accommodate more space for pictures.

Surely you have a basic editor and can resize them to like 1280x960 which ends up being about 3k to 4k. Then save a copy in a numerical order. It is fairly easy.

 

[paddy]

I dont think you mean 3-4k ? 300 -400 maybe ?

 

[paddy]

OK rhino
first pic is 338kb second is 1800kb

so file size is not going to effect the appearance on the forum however if you were to download both and enlarge them the larger file size will enlarge better ( before it starts to pixelate).

I you have a windows PC, load the pics from your phone or camera in a desktop folder on the PC
Open Paint. ( a std program on all windows PC;s)
open a picture in paint from the desk top folder and click resize by clicking the arrow below

in the resize box select pixels and click in 1000 as below

then just click file and "save as" top left

Or you can set your camera or phone to do this automatically when it takes a picture.

 

[paddy]

Have to say, i have given up with these sorts of events, If that was in the UK there would be a queue round the car park to get in then fight to see anything over peoples shoulders at every table.
the UK has too many people and not enough space now , immigration has added 10million in 20 years so now despite being the size of California we has nearly 70 million people so thats nearly double California..

 

[Rhino]

I spent all day Friday of our anniversary vacation making sure I had enough photos of National Convention stand-out models and scenery.
Do you mean to tell me, after I have already cropped and monkeyed with 212 more pictures to post, I have to dick with EVERY one of them at least 2 more times so they fit here? NOT bloody likely, Mate.
I find this a most revolting development.

 

[moon puppy]

You've said that, I'm still not understanding why you have to touch them twice again. When you were cropping and monkeying it should have been compressing also. Surely all those images are not over 2 mgs each.

 

[paddy]

Glad i could help with dicking around instructions

If you are cropping your pictures they most likely will come down to a post able size anyway

First pic 270kb. Second pic is first pic cropped now just 50kb

 

[Rhino]

IPMS USA 2024 Nationals, Madison, WI

Military and civilian vehicle walkarounds for modelers

www.svsmgallery.com

Here, try this out.
This may represent a more complete set of photos of the 2,958 entered models in the Madison National show.
During an event of this enormity, I do my best to make a decent overview for the guys that look at such a thing here. My meager effort might would pale by comparison since We missed a day for other adventures. That and this spares all y'all my rambling commentary.