Finally, after many years I managed to make it to a Nationals event this year for the first time. Overall, it was a great experience! Columbia was a really good venue and the area around the convention center was very interesting. Had some history as well as some great eats! As for the event itself, I was definitely impressed. The vendor selection was ridiculous (although they didn't bring many ships 
) and it was pretty cool to see the folks from Eduard and Zoikei-Mura in person. The new Zoukei-Mura Phantom is looks pretty dang nice and I for one am looking forward to its release.
Participation I thought was pretty good and the competition in some categories was pretty stiff. There were a lot of really good ships, the armor categoring was just busting at the seams, and quarter scale aircraft were aplently! One of the highlights of the show was getting to hang out with a couple of longtime FSM regulars The Revenant....
and the doog!
As for myself I only took three kits, 1 38t and 2 Fw190's. I try to go into these things with some pretty low expectations so I was pretty stoked to find that my little 38t had actually placed 2nd in armor! Woohoo!
It was also pretty sweet to learn that a local club in Chattanooga will be hosting the Nationals in 2019! These guys put on an awesome yearly show so I have no doubt they will rock the Nats!
For anyone interested, the link below will take you to my ImageShack album where you can browse the few pics I did manage to take. If I had to guess, I probably only photographed 1/5th of the subjects that were actually there.
IPMS Nats 2016