Monday 10 October 2016

IPMS Belgium Plastic & Steel Show Report

Last Friday again saw Stonehenge Modellers make our annual pilgrimage to IPMS Belgium's annual event Plastic & Steel. After a reasonably early start and some fuel in the form of bacon and sausage sarnies at Brian's before the trip, we had a very smooth journey to the venue at Affligem and after a warm welcome from Erwin and the guys we set up in quick order.

A quick trip back down the E40 to Aalst and our hotel saw us enjoying a few early beers before a well earned rest. Saturday was a lovely sunny start and we made our way to the show before the public were admitted and had a good look around at all the displays and traders. From the start we were busy with lots of interest in our stand. 

Again the quality of the models on display at both the club stands and competition was extremely high with some really innovative dioramas on show. I was also particularly taken by a very nice Belgian M47 and a superb Heller AMX VCI, to which the builder had done a ton of work to bring the kit up to spec.

Trader wise there was plenty of choice and even with the weak pound at the moment some bargains could be found. My steal of the weekend was the AFV Club IDF Shot Centurion for 28 euro. A shrewd purchase I feel! Watch out for that one next year as it's destined for a group build on Modelworx forum. 

Sunday was also busy but did tail off in the afternoon. However as usual the show was a brilliant mix of models, friendly hosts, interesting people and general modelling bollocks! The social side of modelling there is something we really enjoy and why we go back every year, it's a very different atmosphere to UK shows. Thanks as ever to IPMS Belgium for the invite and for being the professional hosts that they always are, we will see you next year.



















   

























































































And my stash additions,








































































































































3 comments:

  1. Hi Pete. It's well known that the Belgians are very friendly ;-)
    Many thanks for these nice pics, great models on the show !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Pete
    Many thanks for your report, a lot of great models and dioramas. I love the pirate comes out of the treasure map !!!
    Thanks for your sharing.
    Philippe

    ReplyDelete