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Stash Binging
Posted on July 4, 2023
One for my modelling colleagues. The modeling stash. We’ve all got one, haven’t we?
Remember when we came home from concorsos with this much gear? This was then. Before the crash of 2008 when money rained down like spring thunderstorms in England. We hoarded for our ever increasing stashes. So. Here I present you three different binges from three different concorsos. From three different modeling epochs.
Below is the haul from AMPS International 2004 in Havre de Grace, Maryland. This was my first epoch and my first large concorso. I went bananas in the trader hall. It’s how we did things in those days. This was before e-commerce and mail order was often arduous and patience was involved when awaiting for order fulfillment. Concorsos then were better than most hobby shops for the vast amount of product available to the modeller. It’s still that way. Add to it there are virtually no hobby shops existent these days and concorsos offer the humble modeler a level of instant gratification unlike anywhere else.
As you can see I collected up quite a pile. It pretty much covers the entirety of the queen sized bed in my 2004 Manhattan apartment. All of this was stuffed into my suitcases and shuttered back to Sherman Oaks on the next United flight. AMPS was where the best of the best could be found in the United States. I found rare CD Yoshi figurines on offer as well as back issues of Armour Modeling and Military Modeling Manual from Japan. Steel Masters Magazine from Paris was available as was R & J Miniatures resin detail sets. The latest issue of Military Miniatures in Review (now gone these many years). Piles of Hudson & Allen finery. Ah, those were the days.
An interesting mention and a true sign-of-the-times is the fax machine upper right, which had a nasty habit of receiving Rock & Republic order requests from EU distributors in the middle of the night!
At left is from my second epoch. Euro Militaire 2010. Not as grand a haul as in 2004, but none-the-less and impressive selection. E-Commerce was a thing by 2010, but Euro-Militaire had the advantage of row upon row of traders where instant satisfaction was on offer. I was living in England again by this time and my EU modeling stash was still quite small. That would quickly change. In this new epoch were upstarts such as Lion Roar and Great Wall were delivering new state-of-the-art BMW and Zundapp motorbikes allowing us to finally replace the old (but very good in detail) Italeri motorbikes from the early 1970’s. Black Dog resin detail sets were a new cool thing in 201o as well as Mantis resin figurines and animals. MMiR was still holding its own then. But for how long was anyone’s guess.
Lastly is, by comparison, a humble looking haul from my latest modeling epoch. World Expo 2022 in Veldhoven, Holland. Post Los Angeles. Post Crisis of ’08. Post Covid Pandemic. A new and now it appears shiny epoch emerges. And if you look closely, a new Golden Age of Modeling. 3D printing now gone mainstream. RT Diorama accessories and gorgeous ARTO and Panzer Art figurines. An exciting time. And the traders were out in full force after being locked out and locked down for the better part of two years. Some very lovely Stalingrad figurines and new Royal Model on offer.
A new year brings another opportunity to go berserker in the trader hall. Scale Model Challenge 2023 is right round the corner when Spanish summer ends and Daiana and I will be there, credit card in hand.
See you at the NH in October.
The journey is everything.