Brazilian IPMS Nationals, 2004

By Rogerio "Rato" Marczak

Brazilian IPMS National Convention June 5-6 2004, PAMA Facilities São Paulo, Brazil

As promised, here´s a short report on this year´s Brazilian IPMS Nats, held during June 5-6 at São Paulo. Our Nats are always held in São Paulo since its first edition (1981 I guess).

First off, it was a great, well organized convention. The organizing comitee must be congratulated again for keeping the same convention format of the last year, helding the exposition at of the PAMA (Aircraft Maintenance Park - a division of Brazilian Air Force) hangars directed to aircraft maintenance and overhauling. Currently is it full with many BAF versions of the Northrop F-5, but other types can be found as well. This year the exposition area was not so crowded with 1:1 items (race cars, motorcycles, military vehicles, and other stuff) like in 2003, but the former Brazilian Navy´s Grumman S-2 Tracker at PAMA´s main gate is becoming a landmark for modelers coming from all places of Brazil and South America.

As usual, many hobby shops attended the convention, where you could find interesting goodies from new releases to collectors items. Another high point is the good number of beginners attending the conference (not necessarily young people).

Large scales never was a strong point of our Nats, and this year was not an exception, although much better than 2003, in quality and number. Another interesting point was the surprisingly low number of 1/72 aircraft entries.

I apologize for some color changes due to camera flash, and for focusing on large scale planes (what did you expect?). I, however, added some intersting pics at the end.

Friday, June 4

This year I attended the convention with a large delegation of modelers from Southern Brazil. Just like every year, we arrived one day before the convention to visit hobby shops and clubs.

On Friday, we visited a local club. By the way, a very organized one. They have two modeling rooms fully equiped with compressors, airbrushes, paints and everything else for common use. Many members do their models there from the start to completation. I found the idea very interesting, and some guys told me that they can´t work at home due to space limitations or kids, and the club facilities is the best solution. Another member confessed to me that his wife doesn´t bother him about how many kits he get, since he stocks them all at the club!!! There are display cases, too, so a permanent exposition is always in sight for visitors. All in all, a nice example to be followed.

One of the workbenchs available to the club members.

Our club members talking about the Revell U-Boat details with IPMS - São Paulo technical director Marcelo Guerra (right). Marcelo is a very talented, multi-award winning modeler.

One of the fine models in the club display: a William Bros. Caudron in 1/32.

And another one: the Revell Bf 109G-4 trop. This model would win gold in its category two days later. More on that soon...

Saturday & Sunday, June 5-6

OK, now let´s see a bit of the convention. Everything is 1/32 unless noted.

This is your view once you enter the convention hangar. Note the F-5´s in the background.

You could almost touch F-5´s under maintenance.

Here´s the aforementioned Me-109 again. It won gold in 1/32 propeller aircraft. A very clean assembly indeed.

Another view. Note the realistic exhaust stains...

...and the cockpit. Almost out-of-the-box.

The old Hasegawa Zero in all its glory.

A Hasegawa Fi-156 out-of-the-box.

Fi-156 close-up.

There was a large number of P-47 in BAF markings, including this fine example, a Revell sample.

Nice weathering. Markings are of the 1st Braz. fighter group in Italy, 1944/45.

The venerable Revell P-40 is still around. Something is wrong with the ailerons...

Another proof that nice models can be made out of old kits. This one is the Revell Me-109G.

I love Corsairs, so I took quite a few pics of this one. It is the Revell offering only with some bits added to the cockpit. it grabbed bronze in 1/32 propeler aircraft.

Revell F4U.

Lots of paint chipping. No rescribing, though.

The Hasegawa F-5 in BAF colors.

I guess this is a Revell F-18. Interesting scheme, eh?...

Another colorful cammo, this time the Hasegawa A-4.

Trumpeter A-10.

Well, jets are not my area... I´m guessing this is a Mig-29.

This one got silver in the 1/32 jet aircraft class.

This Hasegawa F-5 won bronze in the 1/32 jet aircraft class.

A nice UH-1 Huey diorama in 1/35. I think it is the old Revell kit.

Another Huey in 1/35.

Can´t remember which kit is this (F-104 cockpit in 1/8, maybe?).

One of the aircraft tables at a glance.

More pics...

And to prove that I have walked by the other tables, here are some interesting, non aircraft related pics.

What the heck... A Gollum(?), fully scratchbuilt in 1/2 scale. The guy who made this one wins gold every year...

Something you don´t see every day: a wild west diorama. Very, very nice.

Our nats is becoming famous for large dioramas.

This one was called ´The Bluesman´. The base had a fully functional CD drive and speakers, so you could listen to the guy playing the piano.

This one was huge. A D-day diorama in 1/35. How these guys put these masterpieces in a car and travel hundreds of miles is beyond my comprehension.

Sunday morning. The models are still coming. Here is an armor table so far.

A touching moment: a Brazilian WWII P-47 veteran speaks to the crowd (right) during the convention closing. On the left, the president of IPMS-São Paulo, Guilherme de Castro.

Conclusions

I had opportunity to talk many modelers, magazine editors and cottage industry managers. Most of them I met there for the first time, and I heard nothing but good comments about LSP website.

It was wonderful event. Congratulations to the IPMS/São Paulo staff for a great job. I left São Paulo convinced that the number of large scale aircraft models entries are gradually increasing every year, as well as the level of craftsmanship. Can´t wait for the next year...

The Southern Brazil Modelers Express at Brazilian Nats, June 2004. Your editor is proudly showing LSP id card (far right).

© Rato Marczak 2004

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This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016