hi Timothy, only me again....!! I am now going to bed! But before I retire hereby the LAST of the Telford pics. a couple of non marine pics also; but of interest to you perhaps, the worldfamous IRONBRIDGE built in 177? of cast iron ,the russian WW1 tank just beggars belief, check out the scale figure below the turret...!! ALSO just for your interest a couple of pics of an OLD build of my Heller/Ogonek Aurora from the early 1990's... Hereby the long awaited report with some(!!!!) photo coverage..... I hope it all makes sense, I have tried to make it logical for you to lay out, the ships model photos that were NOT in the competition but were nevertheless noteworthy for their quality or generall interest I have labelled in the picture listing with the suffix n/c ( for non-competition..!) the photos with this batch pertain to the article in this mail only....!! I will send the photos in various batches as per usual. Hope it makes sense, please do not hesitate to contact me if there are any mysteries...!! 2003 IPMS( UK) Scaleworld Nationals held at TELFORD The UK Nationals were held this year(as in previous years) on the 21/22 November in the International Centre at Telford, a prestigious location in the centre of England slightly north-west of Birmingham. The international flavour of this (relatively!) huge event is comprised of competitors and visitors from as far afield as China, Canada, the USA along with Greece, France, Danmark Portugal, Spain, Malta, Tenerife, Israel, Poland, Russia, Holland,Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Spain mingling with many Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Italians; I even saw someone from IPMS Argentina chatting with someone from Norway whilst surrounded by swarms of BRITISH!! All had come to Telford to look at models, chat about models, compete with models and hunt modelkit bargains!! The model industry's health was demonstrated by the comprehensive Trade support ranging from the main Plastic kit manufacturers right through to the 'cottage/garage' industry specialsit manufacturers of obscure resin kits, acccessories, photoetch and decals for all modelling disciplines....! The show is held in two large adjacent halls <<<< photo 1169 and 1170>>>>with good parking, good catering and beverage facilities within the show. For many years modelboats have been overshadowed by the vast array of aircraft and armour models on display; this year however whilst still massivly outnumbered (!!) the presence of shipping as a modelforce to be reckoned with was unmistakable by the sheer number of shipmodels present in and out of the competition. In the UK especially there is very strong support for the Nationals from the area clubs and SIG's(Special Interest Groups) who have enormous displays of general models as well as dedicated themes( such as the COMPLETE evolution of the Spitfire<<<<<<< photo spitfire story>>>>> as well as some slightly bizarre exhibits which were very popular with young and old modellers such as the 1:1 scale HARRIER COCKPIT!!<<<< photo harrier cockpit>>> The ship competition aspect is divided into a number of classes, basically large scale, small scale, plastic derived resin/metal derived, sailing ships any material scratchbuilt as well as a ship diorama class. The actual space allocated to ship models is in my opinion never quite enough,as ships have generally a long and thin 'footprint'... and therefore can seem crowded on the tables. In the UK it is permissible to exhibit ships and for that matter any model within a glass case for protection . In the instance of shipmodels especially I find this eminently sensible as they are particularly vulnerable to heavy breathing admirers blowing at delicate rigging ..... Vladimir Yabukov came over from the USA and brought his beautiful fleet of Russian Pre-dreadnoughts( for which I offered a permanent UK mooring in my wallcases; strangely he declined....!) The photos presented herewith are mix of both of our shots, that said we hardly took any photos of our own models, these can be viewed here at modelwarships in the gallery anyhow...! THE high point of the show was when a SHIP was the OVERALL winner of the whole event. This fine model of the HMS CENTURION was scratchbuilt of PLASTIC entirely to the scale of 1/350 and was about 8 inches loa, the model demonstrated superb delicacy and depth with rigging that was near perfect! Mark Slota of the UK deservedly vanquished all tanks,figures and aircraft to become the Senior national Champion <<<<<<<<<<>>>>> Of particular note off the competition tables was the 1/400 Heller Scharnhorst built by German modeller Helmut Latoschinski who showed his model on the WEM stand<<<<<< photo 1759 nc, 1763nc1766nc, sharnhorst 400 viewn/c and helmut overall n/c>>>>> whilst wearing along with the rest of the WEM staff full naval/military/Wrens uniform which was very distinctive and certainly made the WEM people instantly identifiable...!! YS Masterpieces were there alongside L'Arsenal,<<< photo l'Arsenal>>>> both stands had much to tempt money to leave pockets!!! Adjacent were some fine ready built liner models in 1/500, metal and PE for sale for £ 1100.00 as well as a beautiful 1/100 IJN Turret flanked by a 'buildersmodel' type of G.Averoff in 1/192 for rather more ££££,s <<<>>>> RC Cammet ltd had the prototype 1/350 RMS Queen Marry Hull moulding on show, a veritable monster!! I have enclosed with this report a large number of photos showing the highlights of the show. Mr D Griffith of the UK won a Gold medal for his 1/700 USS Texas ( samek)<<< photo texas and texas 1107 and 1680)>>>>> and I received similar for my 1/350 G Averoff( YS Masterpieces)<<< photo Averrof 1101>>> There were many superb shipmodels on view, too many to list accurately here, if there are any particular photos of interest please leave message on the Forum annd I will try to remember the kit/ manufacturer/builder...!! Enjoy..... JIM BAUMANN Photos by Vladimir Yakubov and Jim Baumann