About IPMS Birmingham

A branch of IPMS(UK) we are a club for modellers and those interested in modelling in Birmingham and surrounding areas, we welcome people of all abilities to attend our meetings on the third Sunday of each month - please see "About IPMS Birmingham" page for venue details and times.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Midland Air Museum Chistmas Modelling Fayre and Committee changes.

The Midland Air Museum at Coventry will be holding its annual Christmas Modelling Fayre on Sunday 4th December and IPMS Birmingham will have a display in the Argosy Centre.

Last year's show started with an early morning mist which gave the opportunity to take some atmospheric photographs of the outdoor exhibits.


The November meeting was the also the branch Annual General Meeting, with the usual election/re-election of committee members. Terry Walton had already announced his intention to stand down as Branch Secretary and the role has now been taken on by Roland Turner. The posts of Chairman, Treasurer and Newsletter Editor were unchanged with Pete Betteridge, Matt Nicholls and John Duffield receptively continuing in the rolls. George Green also retained the post of Competition Secretary but is now sharing it with Karl Robinson.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Scale Modelworld 2011, Day Two

The second day of SMW 2011 brought more members to the show and the club display.

"Biggles" Betteridge goes to Telford.

Our club Chairman Pete Betteridge lived up to his recently acquired nick-name of Biggles by briefly appearing on the Biggles SIG stand.

As always at Telford a great deal of time was spent foraging for bargains, searching for that kit for which you have been looking for ages or simply looking at the the traders' displays and discovering an item that you suddenly realise you have wanted all along!





Steve Newton's Merchant Ship





In the competition  two IPMS Birmingham members, Steve Newton and Matt Nicholls won silver medals in their classes, congratulations to them both.








Jim and John with Paul Regan.





John Kesler and Jim Marconi, our visitors from IPMS Syracuse, USA spent a couple of hours in the morning at the RAF Museum, Cosford before  coming to the show. During the course of the day they met some of the UK National committee including Paul Regan (President) and Richard Farrah (Hon. Sec.).

John and Jim with Richard Farrah.

John and Jim will be flying back to the USA tomorrow (Monday) and we wish them bonne voyage and look forward to seeing them again in the future, meanwhile many thanks to Mike and Lynn Gossage for putting them up during their stay.




Links:

IPMS Birmingham Facebook Album; John and Jim's visit.

IPMS Birmingham Facebook Album; Scale Modelworld 2011.

Saturday 12 November 2011

Scale Modelworld 2011 - Day One

The IPMS Birmingham stand manned by Pete Betteridge and Harry Newton.
The first day of Scale Modelworld 2011 saw the club's stand already and waiting for members to display their models, Pete Betteridge and Terry Walton having gone up to Telford on Friday to set it up.

1/144 scale diorama of the Boeing Dreamliner roll-out.
As always the members set about hunting down bargains, viewing the models on display on other branches stands and renewing old acquaintanceships.



Our friends from IPMS Syracuse, John Kesler and Jim Marconi enjoyed the day wandering around the show and sampling the hospitality at the Overseas Members Reception.

John Kesler and Jim Marconi in front of the IPMS Birmingham stand.
Links;

Facebook album; Scale Modelworld 2011.

Facebook Album; John Kesler and Jim Marconi's visit to SMW 2011,

Friday 11 November 2011

The Boys from Syracuse go north!

Today we took John Kesler and Jim Marconi north to Yorkshire, visiting the Royal Armouries in Leeds before continuing on to the city of York to allow John to see some Roman relics in the undercroft of the Minster.
Jim Marconi and John Kesler at the Royal Armouries.
From there we travelled back via Nottingham for a meal at England's oldest inn, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem.



Facebook album of John and Jim's visit.

Thursday 10 November 2011

The Boys from Syracuse are here!

Jim Marconi and John Kesler of IPMS Syracuse, our twin chapter in the USA arrived at Heathrow Airport this morning to attend Scale Modelworld 2011. They were met by Michael Gossage and Roland Turner and then taken to visit the Imperial War Museum's Duxford airfield followed by a brief visit to the Shuttleworth Collection.

Jim and John in front of the American Air Museum, Duxford.
 Tomorrow we will be taking to see the Royal Armouries in Leeds and the National Railway Museum in York.
To see photographs of their visit please go to the IPMS Birmingham Facebook album.

Sunday 6 November 2011

Anticipating Scale Modelworld 2011

The IPMS Birmingham stand SMW 2010
Scale Modelworld, still known to many as "The Nationals", is now less than a week away and as always IPMS Birmingham will have their display stand set up and members ready and willing to talk to anyone and everyone about our models, your models or just modelling in general.

This year we will be having two guests, John Kesler and Jim Marconi, from our twin branch/chapter, IPMS Syracuse in New York State, USA. John has been to SMW a number of times before but this will Jim's first visit to the show and the UK.



John and Jim will be flying in on Thursday morning and a few members will be taking them to selected museums and places of interest on the two days prior to the show. Thursday we plan to go to Duxford and possibly the Shuttleworth Collection and on Friday The Royal Armouries, Leeds plus the National Railway Museum at York with a brief visit to York Minster.


So if you are passing the Birmingham display please come over and say hello, we will be happy to see you.