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This Months Meeting 7.30pm,
Tuesday 15th
February.
AGM |
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The Editor's Desktop This is my last newsletter as Editor. It has been an enjoyable 2 years, but I need to step aside. New responsibilities at work, and the ever-increasing need to do work/renovations around home, have cut into the time left for putting together the newsletter. I also aim to be much more productive modelling-wise this year to try to cut into my pile of unbuilt/unfinished kits. Like Kevin, I am aiming for the one a month completed goal. I have to say that I am certainly looking forward to the Nationals this year, as Wellington look to be putting on a good party. Will be good to catch up with the lot from the Windy South and see what is being produced in the nether regions, as well as the contingent brave enough to cross "The Ditch" and mix it up with us. I’m also quite interested to see what takes the inaugural TamiyaCon prize, as there has been an interesting debate going about entries and judging. Get those entries finished and travel organised. Promises to be a good weekend all round. Thank you for the favourable feedback over the last two years and to those regular contributors, I hope you continue to support the incoming Editor. Remember that the thing that really makes the newsletter, are those articles you send in. Otherwise the Editor becomes the contributor/reviewer/critic et al, and the job is compounded, and much more time consuming. I certainly intend to contribute articles through the year and wish the new Editor well in his job. See you at the meeting, Craig. |
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AGM Agenda 1: Proposed changes to the constitution 2: Election of officers 3: Financial report 4: General business |
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The Korean Experience Click on thumbnails for large images.
After a final briefing from Shin at Auckland Airport, Steve and I left New Zealand for our Asian adventure. After a 4-hour stopover, and then a further 3-hour delay in Singapore, while the snow and ice was cleared from Kimpo, we were off again. Arrived over Seoul about 10am on the Monday morning and we were immediately amazed bythe amount of snow. The whole country was white. Average temp was -10°C.
We were met at Kimpo airport by Mr. Kang (no relation to Shin), who is Academy’s distribution manager and who was to be our host and guide for the first 1 ½ days. We found the Koreans we met to be very gracious and friendly. Neither Steve, or I, paid for any meals, drinks, transportor accommodation the whole time we were in Korea and the people we met wentout of their way to make us feel welcome.
We were given books, magazines and resin and taken topretty much all the places we wanted to see/go. The price of models in Koreais slightly higher than in NZ (about 130% more) except for Academy obviously,which are dirt-cheap. Having said that, the selection is much greater with Hasegawa and Tamiya boxings not seen in this country.
The 14th Annual Academy Pla competition was held on the third floor of a convention centre in downtown Seoul. Turnout was about on a level with the number of entries received in the Auckland Regionals. The classes were organised differently than we have over here (not unusual I guess being that this was a competition run by a manufacturernot a club). There was no distinction between armour, aircraft, figures,etc. Entries were divided into:
And the classes in each of the groups were divided into:
Being that Academy also distributes Bandai, who are manufacturers of a large Gundam range (large "Transformers"-like robots), this last class was very well represented and so no surprise it had it’s own category. There were some very well executed entries on the tables. But as far as the aircraft goes many were let down by poor finishing (i.e. seams showing, glossy decals, etc). The number of entries was spread rather evenly between figures, armour, aircraft and Gundam. Incorporated with the show was a large buy, sell, swap meet which had lots of interesting items on the tables also. There were representatives from most of the Korean aftermarket companies (SOL, Dynasty, Legend) and a large presence from Hobbist magazine, which is a monthly high quality glossy modelling magazine from Korea, with articles similar to Tamiya magazine.
Other highlights of the trip included:
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More Images From Korea Click on thumbnails for large images. |
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| Two dioramas from the talented Mr. Kim. These photos don’t begin to do them justice. These are the most realistic and complete dioramas I have ever seen. | |
