A DAY AT THE NATIONALS:
AN average of 5,000 visitors crowd into the exhibition hall at Castle Donnington at about this time every year for the annual two-day International Plastic Modelling Society's National Competition and exhibition. Each year the numbers increase and each year the event seems to get better and bigger. It has now become a matter of prestige for manufacturers and publishers like ourselves to be there. Apart from the weekend being devoted to the display of models and competition for the large number of trophies now available, the IPMS Nationals have become a showplace for the release of new projects, models, books and accessories. In the last few years the major manufacturers have chosen this event to release their production possibilities for the coming 12 months even before their own trade shows at the turn of the year. At the other end of the market, the cottage industry manufacturers all seem to invest in some new tooling be it in polystyrene, resin, brass or white metal whilst publishers look to produce a new book and decal manufacturers a few new sheets. One hates to think just how much money changes hands during these two days.

But for many visitors it is an opportunity to see not only what's new but to look at an item that they may have seen advertised in the columns of this magazine but are reluctant to use the facilti-ies offered by mail order. Although the mail order trade has now grown to considerable proportions there are many who prefer to look before they buy. There have been a few cases in this trade where people have parted with money and not seen the goods and people are naturally cautious.

This year there are more and more entrants into the commercial field with new ideas. You'll see many of them at Donnigton not only from the UK but the Continent and even further afield. I wonder if any other industry apart from the plastic modelling one, that has seen so many small companies trading on the products of the larger ones to produce everything from a different set of wheels, a cockpit interior, a minor modification to correct a kit error, a supplementary decal sheet to that in the kit or bits and pieces to hang under wings. This week I have even seen a set of self-adhesive pre-cut transfers that can be used to mask canopy lines on a model so that they can be airbrushed in safety and then peeled off. One tends to wonder if the real skills required to make a model, the really old fashioned methods of hand painting canopy frameworks, or even hand painting the whole model are being lost by the advent of new and better technology.

But one can still see many of the old fashioned methods that have been used on the models in the competition. Being one of the judges I have the unenvious task of deciding the winners and in a lot of cases deciding whether the competitor has hand painted his model or used air brush techniques to get some of the amazingly good finishes that so often appear on the tables. There is no doubt that I award a few extra points to those who have stated on their entry slips that the model was hand painted, especially if I cannot see the difference.

The Nationals have become something more than just a showplace for manufacturers. Even though the avergae modeller like me cannot ever hope, through frailty of eye and limb, to ever acceed to the standards that appear every year on the competition tables, it is a case of seeing and setting standards. I can look and wonder at the superbly engineered plastic masterpieces in front of me and be inspired to have a go at being able to achieve something like that myself. The fact that I doubt very much that I will ever be able to do so does not put me off. I therefore advise any aircraft modeller who has the time to visit Castle Donnington, on one or both days of the exhibition, to go and see this superb show. If you have not done so before you will be amazed at how much there is on offer and admire the many models on display not only in the competition but on the individual branch stands as well. The IPMS Nationals are surely the one event that anyone interested in modelling, even though he may make strictly from the box and maybe no more than five models a year, will find inspirational. There is litterally so much to see and to buy that the day will not be wasted.