Heritagecon 15 - 2023
Here are a few pics from one of Canada's larger model shows, held yesterday at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum near Hamilton, Ontario. This gathering was the largest show in the 15 year history of the event, with over 1000 models. Aircraft were the most popular entries, but there were also ships, armor, cars, figures, space, fantasy, etc. I entered 7 of my builds and was happy to take home two medals, a first place in 1/32 single engine aircraft (a very crowded category) for my N1K-2J George and a third for my G4M Betty (with plenty of stiff competition from some beautiful builds). I have put together some pics and may add more once I resize them (I never upload pics that are in original multi-megabyte size). It would be fun to hear the impressions of anyone who went. There were visitors from the US, the UK and other countries. So, onto the models (plus a few pics of the real aircraft in and around the museum). I will add some armor and more aircraft later. I added a few pics, brightened. I especially liked the Oscar and the Arado Floatplane.
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- 1. The rotary wing category was huge. My little Lynx AH-7 looked a bit lonely and small by comparison.. It didn't place but that was fine.
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- 1. This was the N1K-2J Shiden Kai (George) in 1/32 that I entered.
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- 1. This was my Buffalo. The starboard landing gear broke because of the uneven table but I fixed it on the spot with 40 minutes of surgery on the sidelines.
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- 1. This one may look familiar!
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- 1. Beautiful airbrushing on this Macchi - it won a second place, I think.
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- 1. a most impressive Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle. I would love to have this kit but it seems quite rare now.
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- 1. This was my Bf-109 G-6 in 1/32
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- 1. This very nice 32nd scale Raiden was very popular
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- 1. A HUGE 1/32 Lancaster dwarfed everything on the table
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- 1. This was a fantastic diorama of a Walrus on a gun turret catapult mount.
@coling - like many show venues, the lighting's not real "photographer friendly." When you're running pix through your graphics program, could you please hit "brighten"? If you bring the brightness up a bit - amybe 10% - it will be a lot easier to see the detail on what looks like a super show with a lot of great models.
Thanks in advance...
Feel free to do exactly the same thing yourself to whatever pictures you prefer, Tom, they are not protected. If they offend your eyes feel free to give them a pass. Preparing the images to upload through selecting and resizing and doing the write-up was a good three hours work. The pictures were taken with my ipad, which is not ideal but takes pretty good shots. None are blurry or poorly framed, IMO. Brightening 96 pics and re loading them at this point is not on the agenda no matter how much thanks I get "in advance".
They don't offend my eyes, @coling. They're just a bit dark, which I have found when photographing model shows is a "permanent problem" because the lighting is not for photography.
Thanks for sharing, I love seeing the variety of work. Some serious quality there.
Definitely great work at a great show. Glad you like what you see.
Thanks for sharing these. I can’t say I’ve ever seen the Canadian B-47 testbed modeled before. Very cool!
Agreed. I thought it was a "what-if", but it was real after all - a testbed on loan from the USAF to fit the fabulous Canadian Orenda Iroquois turbojet engine, used in the CF-105 Arrow. The model won big at the show,. I don't remember exactly how it placed. They should have all the wins posted soon.
I always miss this show even though I've wanted to go for about 10 years (mostly due to work.)
Looks good and quite a bunch of talented modelers in the GTA.
For sure, Dan. Very nice people as well. I was particularly struck by the kindness of passers-by when I was repairing my wounded Brewster Buffalo. Glad that worked out. Anyway, it was a great show. Hopefully you can make it next year. I know I will be back.
All of the builds displayed are amazing. Plus under the same roof with the real planes. That's an amazing event!
Yes, some real talent on display, Bob. The Canadian Warbird collection is also great. The Mynarski Lancaster is one of the few flying examples in the world. For anyone who doesn't know who it is named after, here is a one minute movie of a popular series in Canada (worth watching):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e86HOBMOO7c · on youtube
What a wonderful day this must have been, Colin @coling
All those excellent builds together at the warplane museum.
Congratulations with your well deserved medals.
Thanks, John. One win I felt the most was managing to fix the undercarriage on the Buffalo in the middle of the show (turning a depressing loss into a win). It broke off completely and was an awkward, delicate fit in the first place. One guy even took a picture of me fixing it, since I had to do the work at the empty end of a table. Anyway, it came out good as new, even with proper alignment since I thought to bring my visor as well as glue and a knife to clean up the joint.
Lots, lots, lots of amazing models there, Colin! What a supreme show! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for commenting, Spiros. I reached my limit in photos on the post (100). I hope there are enough.
I don’t know Tom Cleaver was moaning about, Colin, your photos seem bright enough for me. I would love to have seen some of the non-military models though.
Thanks for offering a second opinion, George. I actually tried the brightening technique on later pics but it doesn't help with detail at all - in fact it makes them grainier. They look fine on my ipad and desktop, average brightness. I didn't have the fancy special purpose flash the pros had at the show. I will post a link as soon as I find one to show non-military models. I didn't have time and charge enough to take pics of everything. Cheers.
Hey George @chinesegeorge . Here are some links to videos of the show that include more of the range of subjects, including cars, motorcycles, sci-fi/fantasty, space and figures. I hope these are what you were looking for:
Thanks very much for taking the time to post these links, Colin. Not your fault, but good old YouTube isn’t available here in mainland China.
Thanks for posting Colin, very nice pics.
Thanks, Paul. Glad the pics look good. I was quite happy with them, under the circumstances.
Indeed, lots of good models on display there. Congratulations on your 1st prize, the George is a beauty. I concur with your opinion about the perfect painted Macchi - I assume it’s the Hasegawa 1/48 kit right? Thanks for sharing, I do love these shows
Thanks, Pedro. Yes, the Macchi is the Hasegawa kit. Best Italian scheme in 1/48 I have seen, as far as airbrushing goes. Equally fine airbrush work on that Oscar, which is the Fine Molds kit. it also placed in the top three, I think. I have my work cut out for me if I want to ever compete with such builds in the future. I hope to refine my airbrushing technique on the 1/48th scale Macchi 202 I am currently working on, as well as the B5N Kate.
Thanks for sharing - some remarkable stuff on those tables!
For sure, Greg. Thanks for checking out the pics. Sorry there weren't more for 1/72 this time.
Awesome photos of awesome models. All good.
Thanks for sharing, Colin.