Seasons Greetings fellow armor modelers,
We are about to enter a new year and that means the AMPS 2026 International Convention, April 16-18, 2026, is less than 105 days away. The AMPS 2026 Show team is busy working away behind the scenes to make this the best AMPS Convention ever. We hope to see many return to South Bend and be part of another blowout show. There will be plenty of vendors, friends and top notch armor models.
Announcements to note and worth repeating:
Pre-Registration:
Show Pre-registration: Pre-registration starts on January 1, 2026, and will go through April 12, 2026. You can pre-register through the AMPS homepage (https://www.amps-armor.org) by clicking on the “Register” menu when pre-registration is active.
REMINDER: AMPS will not accept handwritten entry forms. If you don’t pre-register, you will need to register via one of two laptops that will be available on site at the registration desk. To avoid standing in line to register at the show, we highly recommend you pre-register. It’s important to note, that you don’t need to know which models you are bringing when you pre-register - you can add these to your registration and print out your forms up to the day of the show.
Online Judges Training Modules:
It’s no big secret that AMPS always needs plenty of judges at the convention to review every entry, score them and provide constructive feedback to the modeler. AMPS is always looking for more judges to help spread the work around and allow more modelers to enjoy various activities during the show. Whether you’ve been AMPS Judge certified or never judged at an AMPS show, take some time and review all the training modules. Sharing in the judging duties allows everyone to take in all parts of the show along with the added benefit of viewing very cool models up close and provide useful feedback to your modeling peers. If you thought about taking AMPS judges training but kept putting it off, this would be a great time to jump in see for yourself what all the positive vibes are all about. AMPS Judges Training modules that can be accessed on the AMPS home page (https://www.amps-armor.org).
Raffle Donations:
The ever-popular AMPS raffle continues to be supplied by generous vendors and, especially, AMPS members. Look through your stash and consider making a donation of kits, aftermarket items, conversion sets, figures, resource materials and tools to make this the best AMPS raffle yet. Items should be newer and unused. Proceeds go directly into the AMPS treasury to help finance future shows and preservation projects. If you have donations for the raffle, contact Raffle Coordinator, Georg Eyerman at zululand66@gmail.com.
Help Wanted:
AMPS needs to hear from its membership. We need articles for the Boresight, and you can help by writing a build blog with pictures of progress along the way with descriptions of how the build is going, difficulties you encountered and how you overcame them would be great. With so many modelers with various interests and talents, it would be a shame not to share them with all AMPS members who could benefit from your experience. You don’t have to be an accomplished writer; AMPS Boresight team will work with you and help get your build article published in an upcoming Boresight. And you don’t have to be an Advanced modeler. Anyone can participate. Let fellow AMPS members know what you are building and how you finished weathering and displayed your project. Just contact the Boresight team on the AMPS homepage (https://amps-armor.org).
Happy New Year to Armor Modelers everywhere.
chuck