IPMS Duneland, 5 May, 2007
When one lives where I do, there is a certain radius of action that defines where I go to attend an event. Generally, it is anything within about 250 miles of St. Louis. It means about 5 hours on the road one way as that's about it for day trips for me.
IPMS Duneland falls within that radius of travel and it is one of those events that I like to attend. This year, Duneland went all out to make the event easy to attend and thanks to the completion of road work in their area, it was a breeze to get there and return.
First stop was at their website. Here all the contest information like forms and categories was available for those of us who like to have this stuff made out ahead of time. The new forms had a background that was so intense, that being able to read what was on the form was a real challenge. I recommend getting rid of it or fading it considerably.
With forms in hand and a set of directions, we headed out. About five hours later, we arrived at the school location that Duneland uses. Parking in the large lot, we headed in for registration. This went rather smoothly. Duneland's form is such that no personal information accompanies the entry to the tables. Fee was $10.00 for all you care to bring, a fair price and one that encourages participation.
Entering the show area we found that vendors were on one side of the room and contest tables on the other. The club served both food and drinks at a most reasonable price. Since the event is held in the cafeteria, there were lots of tables and chairs. Contest tables are up on short stilts which is great for keeping small hands away. Once entries were put into place on the tables, it was time for the vendors.
There were about 8 vendors, most of them hobby shops of some sort, and most of them rather high priced as a result. Another excuse to keep my wallet closed, though I did find a few inexpensive and interesting kits (such as today's preview). I then headed for the raffle table. Tickets were 6 for $5, which pretty well seems the norm. There were a goodly selection of kits available in all ranges. For this event, tickets were put on the awards and the other half put into a drum. When one made it through the first selection process, then one pulled a ticket and got their award. This works as well as any method and while one doesn't always get something in their interest area, the option to swap is there or one could simply build something different for a change!
Lunch meant a trip to the local mall where there were lots of restaurants. Across the street there were a few sandwich shops and fast food for those who wanted to stick around.
Judging got underway after 12 and the area was left open for people to browse. The club did request judges from the gallery. The turnout was somewhat less than previous years with about 190 models on the table. This is a trend I've seen at other shows and am wondering if the cost of petrol might be the reason. Certainly few, if any, from other Chicago area clubs bothered to attend and I find that particularly odd. There was another show in Cedar Rapids on this day, but that is a considerable distance and shouldn't have pulled away the other many Chicago clubs.
Again, I was surprised that there were NO entries in 1/48 single engine prop Axis. Perhaps the Luftwaffe fad has dissipated. Lots of Spitfires and military vehicles though!
The awards ceremony was done around 4 PM or so and this year's awards were nicely done plaques. Like in Kansas City the week before, all the winners in a category were called up before any applause and that did speed things along. There were none of the usual Best categories (best aircraft, best armor, etc), but some rather unusual ones, like Best Metal Finish, which I was surprised to win.
We all thanked our hosts for a fine event and puzzled over the turn-out, hoping next year will be better, as I'm sure it will be. The people of IPMS Duneland did a superb job of running the event and they should be pleased with their efforts.
I can highly recommend this one and if you live in driving distance, you owe it to yourself to attend next year's event.
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