San Diego Model Show

[Duke Maddog]

I went with a friend of mine at the beginning of this month with Dora and nine other models.

Dora didn't place at all, but I did take a Second Place for my Hobby Boss 1/72 scale Br-86 Locomotive:




That was quite the surprise award for me. I am very pleased.

[Stikpusher]

No disrespect to your BR (a beautiful build of its own), but Dora did nto place? Really? Are they nuts down there? Been in the sun too long?
Congrats on a well deserved 2nd place for the locomotive!

[LyleW]

Congratulations!

[Duke Maddog]

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that Dora didn't place. I was hoping for a clean sweep of all SoCal contests with Dora. Oh well, I'll be missing the Ontario show anyway. so maybe I can take her back next year.....unless she places at the Nationals in Columbus! In a way, I'm not surprised; the San Diego Model Club is the closest to Nationals-quality judging, second only to Orangecon (but I'm a bit biased) Thus I figured that San Diego was going to be the hardest to place at. I do know of several flaws on Dora that would have knocked her out of contention. Most of them were quite a few shiny spots at the base of the railings that I cannot for the life of me eliminate; no matter how much dullcoat or paint I add to them! Also, one of the P.E platforms had a spill of something (dullcoat?) that is obvious and clogs up the mesh. No matter what I did, I couldn't remove it. The uprights at the back are not fully vertical, and I have no idea how to fix that without thoroughly destroying the model. There's also the possibility, (although I did check) that some railings weren't plumb either. It is a massively impressive model, but like the old saying says, the more there is to assemble; the more there is to mess up. And with some of the very stiff competition from some real Masters in Small Scale who make the closest thing to a perfect model; I'm not surprised that I didn't place. The Br-86 was definitely a surprise, and even more impressive because that was one I never figured even had a chance. I guess I did better on that than I expected!


Thanks Lyle! It was a great day!

[Stikpusher]

The unexpected wins are always a great feeling.