“No”, I’m afraid I didn’t advertise this (I forgot), though I suspect it was more or less well known to UK modellers.
Romsey is an ancient market town in Hampshire, southern UK, astride the river Test, which is one of the finest trout and salmon rivers in Europe. However, it wasn’t piscatorial matters that drove us (with my modelling mate Pete Smith) there earlier today, but the lure of scale plastic. For a relatively small show it was full of some impressive kits; for better coverage of the day see Pete’s Blog here:
Pete’s Model World (petesmodelworld.blogspot.com)
As usual I tend to come away from shows both depressed and inspired in equal measure, but today certainly did the trick and has blown away the modelling mojo doldrums (mind you, that may have been the post-show lunch).
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Looked like a decent turn out for builds. Some very nice ones there 
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Some really impressive pieces there Brian, thanks for the link.
Thanks Brian (& Pete), most of all it’s good to see The Hobby is alive & well in Hants. - I know Romsey very well, a lovely town particularly pubs-wise. What struck me though was a consistent lack of wear & tear/weathering in the majority of exhibits – is this some kind of counter-revolution to the past 10-15 years preference?
Good point Tim; I wonder. Perhaps it is. I must admit I sometimes despair in espying models that represent a vehicle in a finish that would in reality consign the vehicle to the scrap heap, or be “cast” in the military vernacular. Also, modellers seem unaware of the predations and authority of say, a Platoon or Troop Sergeant, but that is unfair if they haven’t endured military service.
One of the Tank Muesuem modellers, who I know every well (and I’m sure he won’t mind my highlighting his display) produces immaculately finished models, some visible here:
but you won’t find even a hint of weathering, or even dry-brushing come to that, but he has a style all of his own and his kits are none the worse for that. His figures are also exqusitely painted (not really visible in this shot).
I’m not sure if it’s a trend or not; me? I’ll continue to slather my models in cam nets and Tamiya Buff!
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Hah I wasn’t going to single any out but seeing as you have…yeah my first thought about those four was acid-trip 1969 camo. Sigh. Each to their own but I don’t understand the point, especially if as you say his builds are A1. Unless maybe the judging (was there any judging?) rules specified clean/factory-fresh? If so, again a parallel modelling universe to mine but a part of me is willing to accept it, mainly to encourage younger modellers to participate.
I suppose there might be a school of thought that identifies a build as, literally a “model” and that could be reinforced viz “this is a model of such and such and it would have been in this finish, and looked like this whenever”, as opposed, perhaps, to “this is a model of such and such and in action/upon deployment in wherever, it would look like this”, the latter hopefully being covered in cam nets and Tamiya Buff.
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Yep that’s the crux of it. I have palpitations looking at early 20th century tin-plate toys (cars, planes etc.), mainly because they’re often (a) awesome (b) collectors’ items with sometimes major value – but are they “realistic”? Absolutely not. Do I care? Absolutely not.
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