Taking "gaming quality" a step too far yet again :)

This year's edition was a very crowded one, it looks like SMC just keeps on growing! The layout of the main hall was improved and offered more space for clubs, there was a separate expo zone and an incorporated game zone. Last year's game zone was replaced by even more traders. Scale Model Factory, the organizing club, did another flawless job, everything was just perfect.

Just like the last editions, my friends Maartje, Gert, Pascal and myself occupied a table in the club area. We decided to put all of our models on one side of the table, which offered a more impressive showcase. But we also noticed that there were a lot less people inclined to start a chat with us, as opposed to the previous years where we displayed our miniatures right in front of us. But we also spent less time behind the table, there was simply too much to see!

The expo zone was dominated by Massive Voodoo, again with some nice models on display:

Also good to see some of my friends from Paint Your Imagination also had a nice display set up:

Also on their table, a very nostalgic figure and paintjob, the Rackham Dirz bust by Dirk Stiller, fantastic to see this one again!

But the eye catcher of the main hall was probably the huge diorama displaying the Clervaux (Luxembourg) castle during the heavy fighting of World War II. This was the final show where it was put on display, it will now be moved to a museum. The entire thing is 25 square meters!

Just behind the corner the trade area started. The nicest booth there was probably the one from Painting Buddha. I also managed to have a talk with owner and fellow blogger Michael Bartels, what a friendly guy, with a lot of devotion to the hobby.

The painting competition was also bigger this year, with more than 800 entries. The downside to this was that especially the fantasy & sf figure categories where really full, so there were a lot of figures in a small area, making it hard to quietly have a look at the figures and take pictures.

And then it was time for the super-long prize ceremony with me winning silver in the standard sf & fantasy figure category :D

All pictures are available on both Facebook and Google+, and please check below for a compilation of clips I filmed at the show. See you all next year!

Scale Model Challenge 2014 gallery on Google+
Scale Model Challenge 2014 gallery on Facebook

When last year's Scale Model Challenge was over, I thought it was hard to do any better. But it seems this event is still growing more popular! A huge show overall, with tens of clubs and traders, and a painting competition with nearly 800 entries. And now the rumour goes that this event might cover an entire weekend next year. We'll see, but it's good to see this is still growing.

It's been a fantatic day overall, I met a lot of new people and others which I haven't seen for years. The day was definitely too short :)

The painting competition went pretty well for me. It hasn't been a very productive year for me competition-pieces wise, but nonetheless one of my two entries managed to win something. My Haqqislam Remote won me a silver medal in the SF & Fantasy figures advanced category.

I planned on buying some new Infinity, or something else 28mm gaming related, but alas most traders were geared towards military modeling and larger scale figure painting. But last week I removed all my useless paints from my collection, so I had to replace some of them. I also bought a couple of plinths.



I now have more than 200 pictures and more than 50 video clips to go through, so I hope to put a picture gallery online in the next few days and a video by next weekend.

It's that time of year again (yes time flies): Scale Model Challenge is upon us! Just like the last two years I will have a table at the club area together with my regular partners in crime: Maartje, Pascal and Geert. Please don't be shy and stop by for a chat!

In case you missed it, check out my 2013 and 2012 reports and the SMC website.

And did I mention Infinity? Yes! Lately this fantastic line of figures seems to have gotten even better, so I could resist picking up some of the more recent sculpts. These guys are called the Morate Vanguard Infantry. Going for a good gaming quality paintjob here, with the emphasis on contrast. I hope you like them!