Shropshire Model Show - RAF Cosford 08-04-18

[AlexBB]

Well guys have to say I had a great time at the Shropshire Model show yesterday

It was great to say a quick hello to Ivan (NorthernModeller) & Graeme (Black73Cat), sorry we did not have longer to have a chat.. It was really great to meet a couple of the guys from the Live Crew in person, I think I spotted Dan (Kingdan) too as I recognised the voice lol... but unfortunately didn't get chance to shake the mans hand who has so skillfully painted The Hulk and Hellboy and so many others, perhaps I was hoping for some of it to rub off lol.....

It has been quite a few years since I have attended this (Fairly) local to me show which is only 22 miles away from where I live, so the travel was easy. I last attended this same show with my son some 8 or 9 years ago and thought I would share my experiences.

I got to the show early-ish just about 9:20, parked easily and paid for parking which was reasonable at £4.00 for the day, there is no entry fee to this show as it is held in the RAF Museum for which entry is free so they cannot charge an entry cost, not sure how they do cover the costs though, perhaps the Traders have to pay a fee I guess!...

Anyway, though the show didn't actually formally start until 10:00 am the doors were open to the hangers as the clubs and traders were still setting up so I managed to have quiet walk around before the crowds started to descend, and I have to say it was great to have that quiet half an hour. I took a steady stroll around the various club stands which are all placed around and in and amongst the museum exhibits and planes which is a fabulous setting for a model show I managed to take just a couple of pics of items that caught my eye and there were so so many fabulous models, works of art and the skill and expertise of many many of the exhibits are just phenomenal.

I picked out a couple of personal favorites and got some pictures which were a Star Trek diorama titled 'He's dead Jim', a Polar Lights 1/144 Forbidden Planet C-57D Deluxe Edition (my all time favorite film and this model must have appeared in my modelling wilderness years) and a large diorama of the Sandcrawler from Star Wars....


It is always the one in the Red top who you have never seen before on the away party!! They should just give em a shovel and say dig a hole lol..



He's Dead Jim !!!...No Brad Pitt Sherlock!!!



Awesome piece of work this, can't imagine the hours it must have taken!!



Fantastic level of detail...



Cool details in the Jawas eyes and internal lighting



Clearly not a complicated kit, but a great subject... to me in any case



Love the light effects and it rotates... will be keeping my eyes peeled for this kit.... as long as not at a silly price!!




A little like car Boot sales I quickly realised the early bird gets the worm and noticed how the the traders stalls and Club stands who had items for sale were being flooded by the very keen modellers from clubs who had already set their stalls out and were off and about looking for the bargains, or a little like myself had wandered in looking like a stall holder, but I guess from their fervour had this planned!

Though I have to say in my humble opinion in the modelling arena one has to be very wary of the so called 'Bargains!!' as often 'One mans bargain has been another's box of pain and anguish' or as I noticed for one gent purchasing an old Airfix car kit from a Club stand who I was standing beside trying to have a peruse in the box at the same time, he was looking at a 'Bargain' price of £5 and he was tipping the contents out to check them and at first he was thinking a wheel was missing, but then he found it with the help of the stall holder, he failed to notice that 3 items had been removed from the sprue!! 2 were present but I doubt very much the 3rd was as it looked to be one section of the bonnet of the car.... I did try to advise him of this, but I quickly realised the stall holder was giving me the 'dead eyes's' so i swiftly moved on.....
I do hope his bargain turns out to be such, but think he may be either building a part from scratch or be searching for an elusive part for some time!!
I can say this from personal experience having bought what I thought was a bargain Captain Scarlet car at Telford some 9 or 10 years ago and then later found the clear parts were not in the box!!
My guess in my case was the original owner maybe bought a second kit to replace the glass after having some issue with the first! My lesson in 'Buyer Beware!'

I did find the fact there was no guide to where clubs or trade stands were a little daunting to start, but having wandered around once I managed to get at least some sense of scale and then started on a return walk around to look for my planned objectives.

I had decided before hand just to look to purchase those items I needed, and to look for certain items I had seen online to check them out and if at a good price to buy them there and then. I had set myself a max budget of £200 to cover my plans.

The one item I was searching for no one seemed to have, a replacement for the Tamiya Military Police set 35084 I started a while ago, and then found had damaged parts. This little kit seems to be my current Nemesis!! Having started 1 and found damaged parts, then ordering a second and it arriving smashed in the long distance air mail from Japan.

I spotted one on the Tombola so decided to give it a go, I didn't manage to win the Tamiya kit, but did walk away with a lovely Wingnuts Wings Sopwith Camel 1/32 and a couple of other kits. An Airfix Hawker Hunter 1/72 and a Huma Model Fieseler Fi 5 R 1/72.... a very nice Brucey Bonus as I never normally win on these things... I have to say I think the Wingnuts kit may sit on the shelf for a while as with current skill set it seems a little daunting!! I wonder if that was why it was in the Tombola as a a prize??








I was also in search of a Mac Distribution Fieseler Fi 103 kit #72042 on my 'hit list' and had no luck on that either, I had managed to find one online beforehand but was hoping to pick one up in the flesh at the show and be able to check it over before buying even if it would be a couple of quid extra.

I have to say although I did really enjoy the show and thought it was fabulous, especially all of the Sci-Fi models as well all the SIG tables and Club Tables, I was a little disappointed in some of the traders and I will explain why!

My first concern with the traders was show prices!
I have recently actually been to 3 of the traders who were there at Cosfords, physical shops and I noticed that at the show their prices were shop price + some on top!!

I was hoping to pick up some items at what used to known as 'Show Price' but it seems that no longer exists.

I fully understand that Traders have overheads to cover and if buying at a physical shop this is a given, but having priced up all of my 'hit list' before hand I now realise they had uplifted and not discounted the prices at all for the show...
One of the traders I had previously visited used to have a website, but it closed down last year. I discussed this with them when I visited their shop and he said he just couldn't compete online, it took up too much time, he had been stung with hits due to paypal claims and was now just focusing on the shop and shows, maybe this is the same for other vendors??
I know his prices at the show were exactly the same stickered price as in the shop, and at least 2 items / ranges of paints were 15% to 20% up on shop price, and these were non stickered items and had a printed price list by the side of them, I guess the price list changes where ever they are sold!...

I wonder what peoples thoughts are on this? Maybe there are some traders who frequent the forum who could enlighten me?

I know we all have a choice to buy or not and they can offer things for sale at whatever price they like, but I do feel this is a negative to the hobby in the whole.
I am sure there were many more traders at the shows at Cosford I went to 8 to 10 years ago, and I know for a fact the traders offered show prices which were a genuine saving over retail shop price.

Perhaps this is just a sign of the times and the diminishing market of the modelling community! I know for a fact I can buy products direct from 3 manufacturers in their own online shops for a much lower price than the prices they are being sold online in other UK or even EU online model stores, for example one brush set direct from the manufacturer is 18% cheaper than the lowest online retailer and 26% cheaper than the RRP!!

My other observation is the total rubbish on a couple of stalls, I fully understand and respect that there are many 'Kit Collectors' out there and their hobby is collecting and not actually building the models, each to his own which I respect. But there were a couple of stalls which had very overpriced, battered about what is effectively scrap they were trying to sell. Yes they did have some, set to one side or high up out of the way very nice collectable and quality kits in lovely period condition which to the right person would be worth perhaps what they were asking, but having had a conversation with one gentleman who was searching through the kits who enlightened me a little. he told me he goes to most of the Model events up and down the UK and has seen the same tat been peddled for some years!
I have to say the gents honesty was interesting, he said he still has a look through just in case as he knows the vendor, but what was on offer was essentially to be dumped on the unwary young or new modeller looking for a bargain or thinking they have dug up a golden nugget...I learned that everything there was what is left 'after' all the good stuff has been sorted, inspected, tagged, bagged and offered to the client list the vendors have who get first refusal, then the good stuff goes on eBay as they get higher prices with the global market...

To be honest, made me think a little!!!

As the morning passed by the show got very busy and my other little niggle's arose which was something I had forgotten about from visiting Model shows many years ago;

Ankle biters!!
Now don't get me wrong here, I have 3 children, who luckily are now almost grown up, so not totally against them lol..... but why, oh why, oh why, do some parents decide taking small children to a model show is a good idea!! OK if they are well behaved that's fine, but I watched in horror as one little monster decided to grab a plane straight off the table and proceeded to damage it!! The parent just said... oh put it back and walked off! the chaps sitting behind the stall could not react fast enough, and it was all over in a few seconds...... I can't imagine how the modeller must have felt when he got back later! Maybe this is more an issue at Cosford due to the nature of the venue, but I am not so sure!

Rivet Counters / Conversation Leeches!!!
I now realise there is a certain 'breed' of modeller who must only ever get out when there is a model show!!!

The poor Traders who stand there whilst some guy rattles on for ages & ages about some trivial idiosyncratic issue or item and stops the poor bloke or lady from selling their wares, they must really earn their corn with these types!!

I watched and listened at a distance to one guy (I do quite enjoy people watching!! lol..) who kept one trader talking for nearly 20 minutes...

"I had one of these back in the sixties, no was it the seventies, mine had a different badge on the box, does this have the early or late decals, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah"........20 minutes later!!!!

Then he just put the model box down and actually walked away saying I think I may have seen it elsewhere, I will think about it!!

I had politely waited all this time to ask quickly, do you have X or Y and would have paid whatever reasonable price...

I had waited all this time as the bloke had decided to stand right in front of the box where the 1/35th scale Tamiya kits were, and would he move or take a hint!! No Chance!!

Three times I came across them!! maybe I need to keep my eyes peeled better lol....

Not long before I left I spotted an Airfix 4 stroke engine kit A under a show table, asking £19 for it, was new and unstarted and the guy let me have it for £17. have wanted one of these for ages, just my mechanical interest I suppose. I have been told they could be motorised, but I don't think the Airfix motors are available anymore, maybe I will be lucky and come across one or can convert something else...There seems to be tons of little DC motors on ebay...

Hope this is a fun build, and will be interesting to try out some chipping techniques and metal finishes



I also picked up a cool little seam scraper from the IPMS stall, keep your eyes peeled as they said this is the first in a series of tools they are planning...
I have tested it out on a couple of pieces of scrap and seems to work well



I have to say I had a great day and really enjoyed my 4 hours at the show, I had to leave by 1:30 to collect the wife and be off to the pub so I missed the later part which was a shame, but maybe next year

I hope everyone else who went had as great a time as me

PS...Sorry about me venting my niggles... but then again I'm a Grumpy Old Modeller lol....

I have already planned to go back to Cosford with the wife on a quiet day, and enjoy the aircraft, displays and the museum...

[DikDolan]

Great write up, thank you!

[digger303]

nice one