Brazilian IPMS National Convention 2007 São Paulo, Brazil Part 1

By Rogerio "Rato" Marczak

June's first week is becoming a definite date for Brazilian IPMS Nats. This year the convention was held during June 2-3 at São Paulo, as usual. It was a great and well organized convention, following the same format of the previous years. The place was also the same: PAMA (Aircraft Maintenance Park - a division of Brazilian Air Force) hangars, not as crowded of BAF aircraft as the previous years, but still a formidable view for aviation enthusiasts. It was wonderful event. Congratulations to the IPMS/São Paulo staff for a great job.

Few local hobby shops attended the convention this time, and I found the number of entries deceptively low. The only explanation I can offer is that such things happens from times to times…

The number of large scales entries was about the same of 2006 (a report I missed to publish, BTW), but better in quality, in my opinion.

The organizing committee made again the same mistake of other years in merging both 1/32 and 1/24 scales in a single aircraft category, while some categories were left alone with just two or three entries. It doesn´t sound fair, in this editor´s opinion.

I didn’t bothered to take pics of all models, but here are a few which deserve comments. The large scale show stopper this year was this Trumpeter Rufe in 1/24. I talked a lot with the modeler, who usually builds his models out of the box, but he added the stressed skin effect on the whole model:

The stressed skin effect was quite visible on the wings, not overly exaggerated as we have seen often, but effective. On the main float, the effect was applied over the central areas of the panels to simulate the effect of the water sloshing on the panels:

The same modeler also entered with two of the venerable Revell Oscars in 1/32. This is the first one, which the modeler used as a "learning" model to master the stressed skin technique before tackling the Rufe shown above:

And since he was at it, he also entered another Revell Oscar, this time without the stressed skin, but fully riveted:

Another interesting - and somewhat rare - model was this Bandai A6M5 Type 52 Zero in 1/24 scale. Out of the box, and build (again) by the same modeler (I wish large scale modelers could always bring four models to the conventions...). All of his models were painted with automotive lacquer, and he doesn't seem to like flat varnishes:

I met a number of LSP'ers during the Sunday, and they brought some projects we have been watching on our forums. Here is the Hasegawa Bf 109G-10 by Sandro Moretti (aka "Smotti" on the forums). The work in progress of this model can be checked here and here:

Sandro got a Bronze medal with this model. Congratulations to him. I wish my pics could do justice to the masterful painting and weathering of his model:

Sandro also entered his Hasegawa Fw 190A-8/R8 in 1/32 (whose working in progress can be found in LSP forums). I'm sure wasn't for the 1/24 & 1/32 merging, his Wurger would have ranked too:

And to advertise a bit more of LSP members, here's another fine entry in 1/32. This is the Hasegawa Fw 190D-9 by Carlos "Guto" Palma (also published on LSP forums).

Guto really has achieved a very nice finish. In particular, the finesse of the exhaust stains and the quality of the mottling were superb. I wish I had taken a pic of the landing gear to show you the details he has added. Don't ask me how, but the judges decided not to rank him. Instead, they awarded the Silver medal to a way behind (in my opinion) Dora. More on that latter. Here's more of Guto's Dora:

The Hasegawa (Revell boxing) Spitfire is always present. This year was no exception:

And of course, more Hasegawa Bf 109s. The third one below was particularly well painted:

Here's a Trumpeter P-40B, sporting an open engine and overdone panel lines shading:

And that's it for now...More in Part 2.

Brazilian IPMS National Convention 2007 São Paulo, Brazil Part 1

By Rogerio "Rato" Marczak

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