SPA Modeler

I went with a friend of mine at the beginning of this month with Dora and nine other models.

Dora didn't place at all, but I did take a Second Place for my Hobby Boss 1/72 scale Br-86 Locomotive:




That was quite the surprise award for me. I am very pleased.

No disrespect to your BR (a beautiful build of its own), but Dora did nto place? Really? Are they nuts down there? Been in the sun too long?
Congrats on a well deserved 2nd place for the locomotive!

Congratulations!

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed that Dora didn't place. I was hoping for a clean sweep of all SoCal contests with Dora. Oh well, I'll be missing the Ontario show anyway. so maybe I can take her back next year.....unless she places at the Nationals in Columbus! In a way, I'm not surprised; the San Diego Model Club is the closest to Nationals-quality judging, second only to Orangecon (but I'm a bit biased) Thus I figured that San Diego was going to be the hardest to place at. I do know of several flaws on Dora that would have knocked her out of contention. Most of them were quite a few shiny spots at the base of the railings that I cannot for the life of me eliminate; no matter how much dullcoat or paint I add to them! Also, one of the P.E platforms had a spill of something (dullcoat?) that is obvious and clogs up the mesh. No matter what I did, I couldn't remove it. The uprights at the back are not fully vertical, and I have no idea how to fix that without thoroughly destroying the model. There's also the possibility, (although I did check) that some railings weren't plumb either. It is a massively impressive model, but like the old saying says, the more there is to assemble; the more there is to mess up. And with some of the very stiff competition from some real Masters in Small Scale who make the closest thing to a perfect model; I'm not surprised that I didn't place. The Br-86 was definitely a surprise, and even more impressive because that was one I never figured even had a chance. I guess I did better on that than I expected!


Thanks Lyle! It was a great day!

The unexpected wins are always a great feeling.