Wings & Wheels Modelers, an IPMS affiliated scale modeling club which meets in West Springfield will present its 26th edition of Valleycon on 3 April at the Knights of Columbus Hall 460 Granby Road in Chicopee.
We will have almost 70 vendor tables. Among our well known vendors are Rare Planes Detective, The Hobby Bunker, Sentinel Miniatures, Farina Enterprises, Birch Tree Enterprises, Craftec Hobbies, Amato’s Hobbies, Tom’s Trains, B & M Miniatures, Time Machine Hobbies, and HobbyWorld.
Our contest features traditional IPMS style judging for the automotive and aircraft categories. Here, entrants vie for one of three awards in each of several classes and models are judged against each other with the best three builders taking home awards. All other categories are judge by the so called Open System wherein an entry is judged on its own merits and the builder will be rewarded with a gold, silver or bronze medal accordingly.
Classes include several categories each of military vehicles, aircraft, automotive subjects, figures, ship and boats and science fiction or fantasy machines and diorama/vignettes in which the models are set up with ground work to tell a story.
We will again feature a Wargame Figure/Army class for those interested in this fascinating side of the hobby noted for its intricately painted fantasy or science fiction figures and machines. We offer this since most models are small and the painters might feel intimidated at competing with more traditional figures. We have 14 special awards, including best Closed Wheel Competition Sports Car, Best Display, Best Groundwork, Best Female Figure and Best Auto Paint.
As this is the centennial of World War I, we will have a separate category for any subject representing that conflict. These will be judged using the open system mentioned above.
We continue with a huge raffle with models, reference material and surprise items.
We have posted our forms at www.wwmodelclub.org Those presenting prefilled from the website will receive two free raffle tickets.
General admission is $5. This allows competitors to enter their first three models. Additional entries are $2.00 each with no limit. Children under 17 get in for free and may enter up to three models at no cost. There is plenty of free parking on site.
For more information contact Al LaFleche at 413-306-1270 or ajlafleche@comcast.net.