April 28, 2026 • 46 mins
Two model shows, two very different philosophies, one shared goal: make the scale modeling hobby feel bigger than your workbench. We’re in the thick of show season, and we’re shining a light on events that are actively evolving what a great model show can be for builders, vendors, and first-timers who just want to learn and meet people.
First up is SilverCon in Sacramento, California, hosted by IPMS SilverWings. We get the full run-down on the essentials modelers actually need, including doors-open and judging times, the “Heavy Metal” theme for best natural metal finish, and how their first-year online registration works. We also talk through the vendor hall, raffle timing, parking and nearby food, and why you should plan ahead: payment is cash only and there’s no ATM on site. SilverCon is also pushing for broader participation by welcoming genres that don’t always show up at IPMS contests, plus new options like resin-only, 3D printed, all-metal, and vacform categories.
Then we head to Utah for Rocky Mountain Expo near Salt Lake City, a model exposition built on open system judging. Instead of stacking models into categories, builders display their work together under their own name so conversation becomes the point, not an afterthought. We dig into their inclusion-first approach, their upgraded venue, vendor growth, food options, and a seminar lineup that ranges from technique demos to research skills. We also get into their judging values: no touching models, no default flaw hunts, and useful feedback, capped off with a fast awards ceremony that respects everyone’s time.
If you’re into model contests, IPMS events, open system judging, scale modeling seminars, or just want a better model show experience, you’ll walk away with ideas and a couple of destinations to put on your calendar. Subscribe, share this with a modeling friend, and leave us a review with the kind of show format you want more of.
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Episode Transcript
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The Voice of Bob (00:00):
The model show spotlight is brought to you by
the World of Armor.
Communicate, share, and learnwith armor modelers worldwide at
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If armor modeling is yourthing, follow the link in the
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Kentucky Dave (00:32):
I know, I know.
We are in the midst of showseason, man.
It's hot and heavy now.
Mike (00:37):
We are.
And I think it's apparentlyNational Technical Difficulty
Day.
Kentucky Dave (00:43):
Well, we're we're getting bad storms, so I could
uh I'd blame it on that if itwas on this end.
Mike (00:50):
I don't think they're here yet, but anyway, it's the model
show spotlight for May.
May show's coming up here.
We got a couple we're gonnafeature.
Kentucky Dave (00:59):
Yep.
Two of them that we really needto get out to.
You we gotta figure a way toget get out west, man.
Mike (01:06):
I know, man.
It's just money and time, moneyand time.
Kentucky Dave (01:09):
Yep.
Mike (01:09):
Just like everything else in the world.
Kentucky Dave (01:11):
Gotta hit that big lottery.
Mike (01:13):
Well, it's interesting because both those are kind of
hosted by some longtime friendsof ours in the in the pod
community.
And the first one is SilverCon,and that is Silver Wings out in
Sacramento, California, if I'mnot mistaken.
Kentucky Dave (01:27):
Yep.
Mike (01:28):
Well, Mr.
Drew came on and gave us allins and out about SilverCon.
So let's see what uh he had tosay.
Dave, it always is a pleasurewhen we get to do one of these
model show spotlights, and it'ssomeone we've known for a long,
long time.
Coming to us again from thesunny state of California is
(01:53):
longtime listener, Drew Savage.
Drew, how are you doingtonight?
Drew Savage (01:57):
Hey, I'm doing great, Mike and Dave.
Thanks for this opportunity,and I'm looking forward to
talking about SilverCon and someof the unique things that we're
trying this year.
Mike (02:07):
Well, that sounds good.
Well, let's just hit the groundrun, and won't you tell us uh
when the show is, where the showis, and all that good stuff.
Drew Savage (02:14):
Yeah, you bet.
So the show is Saturday, May16th, and that's here in
Sacramento.
It's at the Town and CountryLutheran Church, which is at
4049 Marconi Avenue inSacramento.
The doors open at nine.
Judging begins about noon, andthen we'll try to get the awards
done in the 330-ish range tofour o'clock so that we can get
(02:38):
everybody out of there and getthem home.
And the theme this year, we'vemoved away, at least for this
year, from a very specifictheme, you know, like 50th
anniversary of the end of theVietnam War or something like
that, to the theme this year isheavy metal, the best use of
natural metal finish.
Oh nice.
(02:58):
And and that was intentional.
You know, we we really areworking hard to bring in Gundam,
mecca, warhammer, gaming,genres that typically don't
participate in in the IPMS typemodel contests.
Kentucky Dave (03:15):
Well, how long have you all been doing this
show?
Drew Savage (03:18):
IPMS Silverwings started in the early 70s, and
we've had a show every year,except I think one year during
COVID, maybe two years duringCOVID.
Right.
Um, and we uh I wasn't aroundfor this, but we actually hosted
a Nationals back in the 80s.
I remember it.
And I've been warned, you know,I've only been president of the
(03:39):
club for a couple of years, butfolks who are around in the 80s
remind me don't you volunteerus for that again?
Kentucky Dave (03:47):
Well, uh you can tell your club it is a much
different experience than it wasthen.
It is much less reliant on thelocal club to do the
backbreaking work of show prep.
So much of it has beenautomated, so much of it like
(04:09):
all when you all did it, I'msure all the money was done at
the local club level, whereasnow it's all done at the
national level, which takes thatburden off y'all.
So consider bidding again.
I'd like to go to Sacramento.
Drew Savage (04:28):
Well, we'll see.
I I I think, you know, intalking to other IPMS members at
nationals, you know, the thethe reason why we hold it in the
places we do is we can actuallyget space for the amount of
people and and models that aregoing to be there.
Yeah.
Even in Sacramento, you know,that would be hard press.
I'm not sure.
You know, we could end up inLodi or something.
Kentucky Dave (04:50):
Well, well, tell us about this local show that
you're doing.
And so let's just call it inpreparation for a future
national.
Drew Savage (05:00):
Oh, way to sell it.
Wow.
There you go.
Mike (05:02):
What's what's the uh registration process?
You're are you online,partially online?
What do you got going on there?
Drew Savage (05:09):
We do have an online registration process that
is open right now.
That'll be through May 13th, iswhen we'll close that.
And you can actually get therethrough our website, which you
know you can either google IPMSSilver Wings, and that obviously
we'll take it to the website.
But the actual website iswww.sacramento-model-club.org.
(05:38):
And they're the online, it'stheir first year for online.
So there are some things thatyou know that that will be
improved, I'll say it that way,going forward.
But uh our team did a greatjob, I think, putting together a
great first year system.
We don't accept onlinepayments.
So once you've registered,printed your forms out, bring
(06:01):
those to the contest on May16th, and then you'll pay your
registration fee, which againwill be cash only.
You can register on the day ofthe contest.
If you don't have a computer,if you don't feel comfortable
with computers and just want toshow up and fill out a form by
hand, you can still do that.
Kentucky Dave (06:20):
Good.
Drew Savage (06:20):
We'll we'll have two separate lines so that way
the folks who havepre-registered can get their
their models on the table soonerand go peruse the vendors and
get into the raffles.
Kentucky Dave (06:32):
Well, you mentioned vendors.
So what's your vendor setup?
How many tables?
Are you looking to fill a fewlast minute tables?
What's the what's the deal?
Drew Savage (06:43):
So we have 20 over 20 vendors currently, which is
40 plus tables, and that's allon the inside.
It's a church gymnasium, so theentire vendor cadre will be
inside.
And we got to the point wherepeople were saying, Hey, I know
you have a courtyard outside.
You know, it's May inSacramento.
(07:05):
I'm willing to roll the dice.
Can I pay you to put a tableoutside?
And of course, the answer wasyes.
Sure.
We're we're happy to do that ifyou know the risks.
So we do have some vendorsoutside.
So it's gonna, you know, you'llyou'll go through the vendors
on the way in.
There'll be vendors allthroughout the hall, and they'll
be there, you know, from thetime the doors open at nine all
(07:27):
the way through till the end ofuh awards at the end of the day.
Kentucky Dave (07:32):
So do you have any room left in the cart
courtyard for more tables or areyou sold out?
Drew Savage (07:38):
I believe we have room in the uh courtyard for
tables.
Uh so we can, you know, get theinformation for that.
I'll put it on our website forour vendor coordinator, but they
can always send me an email toothrough the website if uh
somebody says, Hey, I'm willingto roll the dice and and have a
table outside.
Mike (07:56):
There's something you only do in California, yeah, really.
Kentucky Dave (08:00):
Right.
Well, maybe you might be ableto get away with that in
Florida, but yeah, you're right.
Drew Savage (08:06):
Right, right.
So uh it, you know, it's anIPMS style first, second, third
contest.
You know, last year we had over400 models on the tables.
Kentucky Dave (08:16):
Wow, that's a nice turnout.
Drew Savage (08:18):
Yeah, yeah.
We've really been working to,you know, expand our reach, uh,
talking to the scouts locally,talking to different veterans
organizations, schools.
And as I mentioned, because ofthe theme we're doing this year,
we've been getting the word outthrough the local gaming stores
(08:38):
uh that normally wouldn't evenknow we exist.
And and there's now flyers upin each of the gaming stores as
well.
As far as the the cost for uhthe for adults 18 and over, it's
$12, which is the it gives youtwo entries, two model entries,
and then it's three dollars eachadditional entry.
Juniors, seven years old to 17,it's four dollars for the first
(09:03):
two entries, and then a buckeach for each additional entry.
And anyone six and under, nocharge.
Kentucky Dave (09:09):
Now, do you have general admission for people who
just want to come and look atthe models and shop at the
vendors?
Drew Savage (09:17):
We do not.
You can walk in the door andlook at the vendors and buy
raffle tickets and look at themodels, do everything except
compete in the competition, andthere's no cost for that.
Mike (09:28):
Wow, that's good.
That's nice.
Well, when does yourregistration close for the show?
Drew Savage (09:33):
The online registration closes on May 13th.
And how about on site?
Uh on site, we'll close that upjust before 12 noon on the on
the day of the contest on May16th.
Kentucky Dave (09:44):
Now, do you all have food on site?
Is there low food at thefacility or do you bring in food
trucks or do you rely on nearbylocations for because modelers
are hungry people?
Drew Savage (09:58):
Yes, yes, they are.
Uh no, we have we don't haveany food at the venue, but we do
have multiple fast foodlocations within about a
five-minute walk from the venue.
So it's pretty well located forfood if you want to, if you
don't want to bring your lunchbucket with you.
And there is there's a parkinglot, there's a free parking lot
(10:19):
that the church owns, plusthere's surrounding parking in
the neighborhoods.
Kentucky Dave (10:24):
You you keep mentioning the raffle, so I
assume you have a raffle.
Drew Savage (10:30):
Exactly.
We we have actually tworaffles.
We'll do one in the 11, 1115range, and then we'll do another
one probably in the 230 range.
We've we've done them in thepast starting at like noon, and
of course, that makes itchallenging for anybody who's
judging.
Kentucky Dave (10:48):
Right.
Drew Savage (10:48):
Uh they're they're trying to check raffle tickets
while looking at kits, andthat's that's no fun.
So uh we're gonna do it attimes where the judges can be a
part of that process as well.
Like I said, it is a an IPMSstyle first, second, third
contest, and the awards we usedto do plaques and and the uh
(11:10):
acrylic uh type awards, and werealized that not not a lot of
people hang those on the wall intheir in their build room.
So we switched last year tometal coins as awards, and and
we got really good feedback onthose.
Kentucky Dave (11:26):
Yeah, those are becoming very popular.
Drew Savage (11:28):
Yeah, so we're gonna do that again this year
with the the one side of thecoin will have the club logo on
it, and the other side of thecoin will have a themed image,
and then first, second, or thirdfor the the winners of each
category.
And and there are 50 pluscategories, so a lot of people
are gonna walk away with someintentional heavy metal.
Kentucky Dave (11:49):
Well, speaking of walking away with awards, we
know you've got the theme awardof heavy metal, the bare metal
type finish.
Do you have other than the catnormal category awards and best
to show and all that, do youhave any other theme or any
other special awards?
Drew Savage (12:08):
We do.
We do.
Again, we're we're trying totake ideas from from the
Mojovian podcast.
We're taking it from all theother podcasts and other things
that we pick up.
So this year we decided we'regonna go outside of the genre
and scale parameters.
We're still having the thethose, but we're gonna do a
(12:30):
category that's resin only.
Oh we're gonna do a 3D printedcategory, we're gonna do an
all-metal category, like the uhmetal earth kits, you know, that
come flat and you make intosomething.
We're gonna have a vacformcategory.
And then the the final one,which is actually something that
(12:51):
we talked about quite a bit forour theme this year, but we
decided to go with heavy metal.
But we're also gonna have adedicated 250th anniversary of
the USA's founding category.
Kentucky Dave (13:02):
So, and all those are special awards.
Drew Savage (13:05):
Uh, these are actual regular categories.
Categories.
Okay.
So you can choose a modeler canchoose, okay.
I've got a 3D printed model.
I can either put it in thecategory that is only 3D
printed, or I can put it in thegenre and scale-based categories
that fit whatever that printis.
(13:25):
Modelers will have a choice.
Mike (13:27):
Be curious how that works out for you.
That's interesting.
That's kind of a different takeright there for sure.
Drew Savage (13:34):
Yeah, and I've not seen that anywhere else before,
so we'll we'll report back onthat after the contest as to
whether it's worth the time oryou know, if you get one in each
category, okay.
Well, maybe, you know, maybenot.
But I I I've got some interestfrom some modelers in our our
clubs who who said, Oh, wait aminute, I do 3D printing.
Maybe I can do somethingspecial and showcase that in the
(13:56):
3D printed category.
Kentucky Dave (13:58):
Well, you don't unless you experiment, you don't
learn, you don't grow.
So I'll be interested to seehow that works.
Drew Savage (14:05):
Very true, very true.
So it's gonna be a a good day.
And and one thing that uh, youknow, it's it's either gonna
work well or it's gonna they'regonna tell me don't do it again.
Throughout the day, I won't sayhourly because it may be
different than hourly.
We're gonna have dad jokes overthe pH system.
Kentucky Dave (14:29):
That's great.
Drew Savage (14:31):
Oh man.
I I think Mike, that's aboutthe response I'm gonna get a lot
is a boy.
Really?
Kentucky Dave (14:39):
Now you gotta make them good dad jokes,
because there are good dad jokesand they're no Dave.
Mike (14:45):
There's there's only one kind of dad joke.
Kentucky Dave (14:47):
No, no, there are good, there are good dad jokes.
Mike (14:51):
But you're a dad, so you're biased.
Kentucky Dave (14:53):
Well, that's true.
Mike (14:54):
On the receiving end, there's only one kind of bad or
dad joke.
Kentucky Dave (14:57):
Okay, all right.
I understand what you'resaying.
Mike (15:00):
But I might send you a couple.
Yeah, that'd be great.
Kentucky Dave (15:04):
Mike actually Mike actually is specializes in
those.
Mike (15:07):
I do.
I like to dump them on the theyoungins at work.
Drew Savage (15:11):
Oh, nice.
Nice.
One of our club members postsonline, and it's not just our
club page, it's his own pagequite a bit.
Uh not almost almost every dayhe posts a dad joke, and you
know, some of the real groanersand you know, others just say,
okay, that that's clever.
Mike (15:30):
All right.
Well, is there any other thingunique about the show that
you're doing?
Drew Savage (15:34):
You know, I I think that about covers it between
the the unique categories andthe the metal coins.
And I was talking to one of ourclub members about it recently
about the coins, and I said,Hey, look, you know, if you win
or you know, you get a first,second, third, and for some
reason you don't want to displaythe coin with your model, I
weighed them.
They're 39 grams each.
(15:55):
So if you don't like them, youcan use them as weights in some
of your builds going forward.
Well, that's a good take.
Uh so between between theraffle and the vendors and the
registration, the answer isbring cash, bring cash, bring
cash.
Sure.
Yeah.
And there is no ATM on site.
Kentucky Dave (16:17):
Okay, that's important.
No ATM on site.
Because when we go toHeritageCon, I rely on the AT at
the museum from time to time.
So that's good to know.
So, so why don't you give usthe who, what, when, where one
more time to let everybody knowwhat's going on?
Drew Savage (16:42):
Absolutely.
Thanks, Dave.
We'll do.
So it's SilverCon, which isbrought to you by IPMS
Silverwings, uh, Saturday, May16th.
And it's at the Town andCountry Lutheran Church, which
is at 4049-4049 Marconi Avenuein uh Sacramento, California.
Doors open at nine, judging atnoon, awards in a 330th range.
(17:05):
And the theme is uh heavymetal, best use of natural metal
finish.
And there is onlineregistration, and that's open
now.
The website one more time iswww.sacramento-model-club.org.
Mike (17:24):
And we'll put that in the show notes so folks don't have
to remember it.
Yeah, great.
Always useful.
Always useful.
Well, Drew, it's always apleasure talking to you, and we
look forward to seeing you faceto face the next time, hopefully
in Fort Wayne.
I'll be there.
Kentucky Dave (17:42):
All right, that's good news.
Mike (17:44):
And in the interim, please give us the post uh show report
after all things are done andwrapped up.
And we wish you all the successlike we always do.
We want every show we freefeature to just kill it every
time.
Kentucky Dave (17:57):
Yeah.
Drew Savage (17:58):
Excellent.
I appreciate it, and thank youfor getting the word out and
helping us build this greathobby of ours.
It's not dying.
I've heard that, but it's not,it's it's growing.
Mike (18:09):
All right, sir.
Well, again, thanks for lettingus uh feature your show.
All right, you bet.
Thanks, Mike.
Thanks, Dave.
Kentucky Dave (18:19):
Well, Drew sounds excited for a show.
Yep.
And I'll tell you what, my mybrother did his initial B-52
training near near Sacramento,and he loved it.
He loved that part of thecountry.
Mike (18:33):
I'm sure it's not too bad out there, especially in this
time of year.
Kentucky Dave (18:37):
Exactly.
We got to find a way to get outto the West Coast, man.
Mike (18:41):
Well, folks, if you got a good dad joke, send them out
there.
Apparently they're gonna dothat over the PA, according to
Drew.
And check their show date.
And if you get him some reallyawful dad jokes between now and
then, uh send them on so he canannoy his crowd with them.
Or get a lot of eye rolls,maybe I should say.
Not annoy, but uh interestingthing to try.
(19:02):
Yep.
Next up, Dave, is uh ScottGentry's show out in Salt Lake
City.
Yep.
Kentucky Dave (19:09):
Our good friend Scott's got this.
Is their third year of uhreally interesting and different
concept for a show?
Mike (19:23):
Well, Dave, we got a really unique one here.
I'm excited to have these guyson.
One of them's an old friendours, Scott Gentry from the
Plastic Posse Podcast.
And he's run a show that'sgetting some good legs out in
his neck of the woods out inSalt Lake City.
Scott, how are you doingtonight?
I'm good, Mike.
Good to talk to you guys.
Well, good.
You've got one more there withyou.
Won't you introduce him or lethim introduce himself?
Shawn Earl (19:45):
Hey, fellas, I'm I'm Sean Earl, I'm president of
Rocky Mountain Expo.
Good friends with Scott forseveral years.
All right.
Mike (19:52):
Well, let's start right there.
You say you're the president ofRocky Mountain Expo.
Scott, what's your capacity?
Scott Gentry (19:57):
I'm kind of the core ideal guy and uh
relationship guy.
And you know, Sean and I foryears have kind of been uh
commiserating about the waylocal shows have kind of moved
and haven't moved, and so wedecided to quit complaining and
do something about it.
Mike (20:15):
Well, let's start with uh what the show is by title.
I think we've already said it,we say it again, and then uh
when it is and where it is.
Scott Gentry (20:22):
Yeah, you bet.
So Rocky Mountain Expo is amore of a model exposition than
a contest, and it's held in SaltLake City a yearly this year
for 2026.
It will be held on May 22nd and23rd, and you can find um all
(20:43):
the details at Rocky MountainExpo.com.
Kentucky Dave (20:47):
Scott, now how many years have you all been
doing this revised RockyMountain Expo?
Scott Gentry (20:55):
This is our third year.
We started the first two years.
Sean is a proud veteran.
I'm super proud to be hisfriend.
He's a retired uh commandsergeant major, and he was with
the Utah National Guard, and uhwe used an armory of the
National Guard for our two firstyears, and uh we're uh deeply
(21:18):
indebted uh to the NationalGuard for allowing our show to
kind of um be put on initiallyand then to grow from there.
Unfortunately, we kind of, Idon't know, Sean, we kind of
outgrew um our size there.
Kentucky Dave (21:33):
Well, that's a great sign.
Shawn Earl (21:35):
Outgrew it pretty quick.
Yeah, it it they do showsthere, or not shows, but uh they
they'll rent out the the guardfacility from time to time.
Uh there's other groups thatuse the venue, and it just well,
hey, why don't we give it ashot and see?
And it was pretty cheap.
I mean, it fit right within ourbudget for that very first
year.
And we knew right from year onethat it was gonna be too big
(21:57):
for our bridges, and thatbuilding wasn't gonna have.
Able to house us for uh morethan another year or two.
And sure enough, uh last yearwas was just wow, it was just
overly huge amount of people andnumber of models.
We barely fit everything on thetables.
But yeah, this year is gonna befantastic with the new building
(22:18):
and uh the new venue that wehave.
It's it's just gorgeous,absolutely gorgeous.
Kentucky Dave (22:23):
So the show is two days?
Scott Gentry (22:25):
Yeah, it's uh both uh kind of a day and a half,
but yeah, we start at uh 3 p.m.
on Friday and go through tilluh 6 p.m.
the first night, and then in 9a.m.
to uh 6 p.m.
on the Saturday.
And that's uh we we startedthat last year, and uh that made
the judging and also the numberof seminars that we want to do
(22:46):
and things like that much morecomfortable and much more
reasonable than a one-day show.
Kentucky Dave (22:51):
Well, that's another great sign that you're
growing, that you you you havethe ability and the demand for a
day and a half show.
Shawn Earl (23:00):
Yeah, it just seemed right out of the start that
that one day just wasn't goingto fit the needs of the the show
and what what we wanted to doand where we wanted to go with
it.
And we we tried the uh thetwo-day show last year, and it
was more of a first get thingsset up and then Saturday was the
full day.
But this year we'll be able toactually fit in a half a day of
(23:22):
showing off models and gettingpeople into the venue and
meeting people.
It'll be a little bit moreinvolved, I think, than last
year's was.
Kentucky Dave (23:30):
How do you register for the show?
Do you have onlineregistration?
Do you have the ability toregister at the show?
Scott Gentry (23:38):
We we do both.
Um, the way we prefer is to dothat online, and so you can go
to uh Rocky Mountain Expo.comforward slash registration.
We'd love you to pre-register,or you can come to the show, uh,
just show up and we'll registeryou there.
But as you guys know, as aveterans of many, many shows,
(23:59):
pre-registration is uh the wayto go and get you in and to the
good stuff a lot faster by doingit that way.
Mike (24:06):
Amen.
Well, since this show is quitedifferent than what most of our
listeners are going to beaccustomed to, I want to jump
right to that part and let youpitch what you've got going on
here.
And we can circle back and getall the other peripheral details
at the end.
But let us know why this showis special compared to others
and all the details around that.
Scott Gentry (24:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, one of the things I wantto highlight before I kind of
get into this is our show, morethan anything, we really wanted
it to be different.
We have a local IPMS club herein Salt Lake City.
They do a show every otheryear.
We have an Amps Club here, andso the more shows the better.
(24:47):
Uh, but we definitely wanted tobe a little bit different.
And so one of the things thatuh we've done is as we've gone
to other events, uh, youmentioned Mike MMSI and also
model the model mania show thatthe Northwest scale modelers Tim
Nelson and Jim Bates and thatgreat group of people put on in
(25:07):
Seattle.
And as we've gone to differentevents and sort of benchmarked
what they do, we really came upwith a vision of of kind of
maybe a little bit different wayto look at at model shows.
And you know, Mike, you and Ihave talked about sort of
there's a lot of clubs, whetherthey're IPMS clubs or just
(25:28):
independent clubs that are goingwith gold, silver, bronze.
But we actually kind of took ita little further than that.
And we're we're using a showthat's really truly based on the
open system, similar to whatthey use at MFCA or MMSI,
originally uh pioneered by ShepPayne.
So it's not just the way thatwe award, you know, the
(25:52):
recognition for the models, butuh the way that we do it is
different.
We don't have any categoriesbecause our show is about the
modelers rather than the models.
And so we want to focus on thepeople.
And what we do is we have ourguests come in and they put all
their models, ships, tanks,planes, cars, all together in
(26:14):
one display, and we give them agreat big, huge name tag that
clearly shows who that personis.
And this year we've actuallytaken an additional step of
issuing to all of our guests amandatory name tag that you have
to wear.
And the goal of all of this isto make sure that not only is
your work on the table andinspiring other people and you
(26:39):
know there to be recognized, butalso it's to initiate
collaboration and inspirationand conversation.
We want people to meet otherpeople and get ideas from other
people and ask questions aboutwhat you know what they're doing
and how their modeling hasevolved and things like that,
(27:00):
rather than just having, youknow, your P40 in a sea of other
70 second-scale aircraft.
And there's nothing wrong withthat, but our focus is um let's
talk about you and your work andhow it's evolved irregardless
of what the genre or thecategory or whatever, whatever
else that is.
Kentucky Dave (27:21):
That raises a question, Scott.
Do you all allow, like say,MMSI does, for a modeler to come
in and put on the table like amulti-level display with his
different, like you'd see at afigure show, a lot of times
covered by velvet?
Scott Gentry (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
When it comes to what isallowed, one of our core values
is really inclusion.
And so if you build a model outof paper, we'd love to have it.
If you build a model out ofwooden popsicle sticks, uh, we'd
love to have it.
You know, we we we want to bereally open to medium, to genre
(28:01):
category figures, you know,gaming miniatures, whatever.
We it's all welcome here, modelrailroad pieces.
It's all we had a guy come toour first show as a great
example.
He had never been to any kindof regular, quote unquote
traditional model show.
Well, he buys Hot Wheel carsand then he takes the body off
(28:24):
of the frame, takes the metalframe, melts it down into liquid
metal, and then makes a moldand then recasts it and gives it
a caricature similar to likewhat Tom Daniels used to do.
Get, you know, bends the frame,make you know, puts great big
giant wheels on it, but hebrought an entire display of
(28:44):
customized Hot Wheel cars.
Cool.
That was Ian Weber, wasn't it?
Yeah, that was Ian, yeah, Ian.
Yeah, stuff is great, reallygreat.
Mike (28:53):
Well, I I like the the tenets of what you're you're
doing there.
And I guess we heard last year,you know, Jake McKee.
In fact, I think he even wrotea bit on his blog about the show
last year and and uh his kindof take on it.
And then you know, we featuredthe folks out in Northern
California at the Wine CountryExpo who took your show as
(29:15):
inspiration and put their ownspin on it and and conducted a
show very similar out in uhNorthern California.
And then we got the show reportback from their their show
chairman just a couple days ago.
And it was a lot of the samekind of stuff he was saying that
Jake said.
And I think there's there'ssomething to that.
(29:36):
I think uh focusing on themodeler instead of the models is
a is a a welcome thing.
And the way you can seek outpeople and find them a lot
easier.
I think that's huge for forwhat you're trying to do.
I think this is a really, areally good idea.
And I don't know.
I wish you weren't so far away,man.
Because we've only seen it atMMSI and it's kind of limited
(29:59):
there because it's it's youknow, it's heavily skewed toward
figures there, obviously.
But yeah, um, we understand theconcept, but I think you know,
if somebody like David andmyself were more plastic modeler
focused, uh we'd be a lot morecomfortable in that environment
around stuff we're more familiarwith.
So just uh really curious howthis one goes for you.
(30:20):
I'm sure it'll go well.
Scott Gentry (30:22):
Yeah, we're really excited.
Uh Sean, you want to talk aboutmaybe some of the uh new things
that we have with our venue anddisplays and oh yeah, man.
Shawn Earl (30:31):
The uh so we're at the West Valley Cultural
Celebration Center in WestValley.
Just it's basically a suburb ofSalt Lake right here in the
Salt Lake Valley.
The uh the venue is it'sabsolutely gorgeous.
I mean, you could house uh anykind of a national level show
there easily.
The the ballroom itself wherethe the display area is will
(30:54):
have about a hundred tables inthere.
We're going with round tablesthis go, just to give it a shot,
because if there's a hundredmodelers, each modeler is gonna
be able to have their own tableto display their wares on.
And so there's just a ton ofroom in this, in this, uh, in
this ballroom area.
It's got a raised stage thatuh, you know, is uh the main
focus of you know whoever'stalking up there with two big,
(31:17):
huge screens on either side, sowe can display the uh the the
venue schedule with seminars andsuch up there, so people always
have an idea what what's goingon and where.
It's a two-level uh building.
So upstairs we'll have is wherethat ballroom is, where the the
main showroom is.
There's a a huge reception areawhere we'll have like AK
(31:39):
Interactives and and a coupleother sponsors for the show.
Kit Lynx will be there with hisuh R71 with the sidecar, you
know, for people to get uh upgood looking and ask questions
and whatnot.
Downstairs is where we have theI'm trying to remember what the
name of those rooms are.
The seminars and the vendorsand yeah, they're they're
(32:01):
basically uh it's it's a hugeseminar and vendor area.
The vendors area is separate,but it it's it's a huge area.
You could fit up to a hundredso tables in there for vendors,
and so uh we're trying to getthat filled at the moment.
Kentucky Dave (32:15):
Do you how many tables do you have left to sell?
Shawn Earl (32:18):
You know, I think we're still about 30 table
range, so we can still goupwards to at least 70 more
tables.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we've got plenty of roomdownstairs for that.
The uh the seminar rooms willbe all separated so we can have
seminars going at the same time.
Tons of guys coming in fordemonstrations, like Rick Lawler
(32:38):
will be doing one, John Bonani,Gary Baker, Jerry Moore.
I mean, and then Jake McKee.
We just got him his uhconfirmation on there.
It's just gonna be fantastic.
Lots of stuff going on.
The the outside area has got ahuge lawn area.
If you need to go out and takea walk, there's at least a
hundred yards of sidewalk thatyou can walk out of the building
(32:59):
and go out south.
Weather's been really nicelately, so it's just just a
great area, just a great spot tobe in.
We'll have vendor trucks outfront for uh food wares.
So, you know, if you gethungry, you don't have to go too
far.
And we even have like a couplejoints really close by.
What's the name of thathamburger joint?
I'm trying to remember.
Oh, yeah, we have purgatory.
Kentucky Dave (33:21):
They've got great hamburgers there.
That's a great name for aburger place.
Scott Gentry (33:25):
It's a horror-themed burger shop.
It's great.
You you guys, it would be it'dbe awesome.
But yeah, and and you know,kind of going back to our
inclusion, we have Joe Porchetcoming up from Vegas with a
massive display and a seminar onTom Daniels builds.
Tom Daniels lives here in Utah,and he's bringing 24 linear
(33:48):
feet by 30 inches deep of builtTom Daniels kits and also doing
a seminar to go with that.
And then we have the VircosVault people from Las Vegas.
If you if you haven't heardthat name, there's a collector
who's very wealthy who buys uhmostly fantasy uh figures, has
(34:08):
hundreds of thousands of them,and they also are building a
museum and a school to helppeople with figure painting and
bust painting.
And so they're coming up toparticipate in it as well.
So, you know, we've got youryour traditional, you know, sort
of plastic modeling seminars,and then we've got seminars
from, you know, other maybenon-traditional amps, IPMS
(34:31):
things like car building andfigure painting, and even some
modeling adjacent seminars, likeJim Bates is going to do a
seminar on historical andtechnical research.
So no actual modeling content,but certainly modeling adjacent
content for people.
Kentucky Dave (34:48):
Well, as you well know, Scott, I'm a huge fan of
seminars at shows.
That I think that that is anunder underutilized and
underappreciated benefit of ashow.
So I'm glad you've got so manygoing.
Scott Gentry (35:05):
Well, thank you, Dave.
Yeah, we uh what we want to dois um one of our core values
again is to make sure that wetreat the people that come
participate as guests.
We get uh feedback after eachshow and we take that feedback
very seriously.
And what we're trying to do ismake sure that if we can
convince a Dave and a Mike toget on an airplane and come to
(35:27):
our show, that when they walkout the door, they feel like it
was worth the trip.
They really enjoyed themselves.
Mike (35:34):
Sounds like a good plan.
You you've covered a lot, and Iwant to hit one more thing
since you you just mentionedcoming out there on an airplane.
You mentioned the the foodtrucks and the and the cool
restaurant there to handle allthe hungry modelers.
Is there any accommodationsthat the the show's arranged
with, or is it every man forhimself?
You got something there closethat's gonna help people who are
(35:56):
coming in from out of state tohave a place to bunk?
Scott Gentry (36:00):
We don't have a dedicated hotel attached to the
venue like a lot of shows will,but we do have a lot of hotels.
The the uh West Valley um venuethat we have is within less
than 10 miles from the Salt LakeInternational Airport.
Around the venue itself and bythe airport, there are literally
(36:21):
dozens and dozens of hotels.
And there's also a lot ofverbos and Airbnbs available in
those areas as well.
And so lots of places to getaccommodations and and pretty
price effective as well.
A lot of the hotels in the areaare in the $60 to $80 range on
the lower end and the $110, $120range on the higher end.
(36:45):
So I think pretty reasonable byyou know national standards.
Kentucky Dave (36:50):
That is, those are some good deals.
Shawn Earl (36:52):
I'm gonna say driving in on uh if you're
coming in via vehicle, I meanit's easy access from I-15 to uh
Bangater Highway, was it 3100south?
It'll take you right straightto the venue.
And even coming from theairport, it's uh pretty much a
straight shot to where you needto be.
And again, there's lots of easyaccess to the the venue itself
with hotels being close by, allpriced reasonably.
(37:14):
So it'll be a good time had byall.
Mike (37:17):
Well, all right.
We've covered a lot.
Scott, is there anything thatyou haven't touched on that
you'd like to before we wrap up?
Scott Gentry (37:25):
I think uh maybe just a little bit about the
contest and and one otherspecial feature which I'll save
for last.
But as far as the contest goes,we're we're a little bit
different, a little bit morelike the MMSIs and the MFCAs.
Judges of the Rocky MountainExpo are handpicked and invited.
There's no volunteer judges, sothere's nothing wrong with
(37:47):
that.
But we want to make sure,again, that our guests get a
fair and thorough evaluation bypeople that that know their
stuff, uh so to speak.
And so if I were to getKentucky Dave on a plane and get
out to my show, I would ask himif he would consider judging 70
second scale aircraft for us.
(38:07):
And again, it's it's all aboutsort of the experience that we
do.
And even though all of ourjudges are hand picked and hand
selected, they are required togo through Scott's judges'
training.
I'm not gonna teach KentuckyDave anything about what makes a
great 70-second scale aircraft.
But what I am gonna teachKentucky Dave about is our
(38:29):
values.
And our values are we don'ttouch models, we don't do flaw
hunts on our models.
We look at things very much,again, in the Chep Payne vein of
the open system of we look atthe entry not from a place of
what flaws are there, but howdoes the piece impact you?
What does the presentation looklike?
(38:50):
Is it unique?
You know, if there are flaws,we obviously take those into
account, but it's really kind ofmore about the overall pressure
of the piece and how thatimpacts them.
And that's how that's how we doour judging.
And so if you have an armormodeler, you're probably gonna
have that looked at by JohnBonani and people that know
(39:12):
armor.
If you have an aircraft, wehave Robbie Knoffs and Jeremy
Moore and really great aircraftmodelers and and and on and on
and on.
And so that's really kind of animportant part of what we do.
We want to make sure peoplefeel good.
And you we also providefeedback in a couple different
ways.
Number one, our judges do atriage similar to again to MMSI,
(39:36):
MFCA.
They'll look at a modeler'sdisplay, they'll pick the model
that they think gives them thebest chance for the highest
level of recognition.
And so the first piece offeedback the modeler's gonna get
is which one of their modelsthat the judges like the best,
because that's the one that willbe evaluated.
And then the second piece offeedback will be first of all,
(39:58):
was it recognized and at whatlevel?
But then we also task ourjudges, and this goes back to
the name tags we talked about,to once they're uh finished
judging a modeler's display, togo seek out that modeler and
have conversations.
And so rather than writing acomment that just says, like,
oh, there was a seam line orwhatever, we want to actually
(40:21):
give people feedback in personso that that modeler can ask
questions and get meaningfulfeedback from those judges.
Kentucky Dave (40:30):
That's just that just sounds really great and a
more much more positive view ofhow you how you judge entries.
Scott Gentry (40:42):
Yeah, well, well, thank you very much.
And our special feature is wefeature one of the shortest
award ceremonies in the nation.
Yeah.
Our target is 15 minutes, we gohard, we go fast, and we let
people go have dinner.
So that's that's a core valueas well.
Shawn Earl (41:00):
And that's about the same time that we'll do the uh
the special awards.
For instance, with Jill Porschecoming up, there I hear tell
there might be an award for uhTom Daniel Best of.
So it's like here I am, uh aRussian armor modeler busting
out my Tim Daniel Red Baron andputting it together.
So I'm hoping to get it donefor the show.
Mike (41:21):
All right.
Well, Scott, won't you give usthe the W's again about where we
can go find the show on the weband the the uh the venue and
the date and all that?
Scott Gentry (41:30):
You bet.
So May 22nd and 23rd in SaltLake City, Utah will be the 2026
uh RME.
You can find out all thedetails at Rocky Mountain
Expo.com.
We also have a Facebook pagewhich is Rocky Mountain Expo
Official on Facebook where youcan go get the details for what
(41:51):
is needed there.
Our venue is the CulturalCelebration Center, which is in
West Valley, Utah.
It's on the west side of theSalt Lake Valley.
You know, like Sean said, it'skind of a suburb uh city.
It's easy to find, butbeautiful venue.
You know, the main contest areahas two glass walls.
(42:12):
They're 40 foot high uhwindows, uh floor to ceiling.
It's a state-of-the-art uhfacility.
You're gonna be comfortable,you're gonna have a lot of great
lighting, you're gonna meet alot of great people.
We have, as I mentioned before,more than 15 seminars to choose
from.
You're gonna have Steve Munselland Rick Lawler doing demos
(42:34):
right there so you can see howto use the AK products or the
value gear resin.
It's just, it's a really,really good time.
And uh, if you can come joinus, that's great.
If not, maybe we can catch youin 2027.
Mike (42:47):
Thanks for joining us, Scott.
And we always wish this showsuccess.
And you you took a risk acouple years ago, and it's
starting to pay off now, itlooks like, and going to
multiple days.
And man, I'm not gonna say I'mnot coming ever, but I hope to
get a chance to come out theresometime and check this thing
out because I hear I'm hearingnothing but positive from folks
who've who've been to your show,and then even from folks who
(43:09):
are using it as a blueprint fortheir own show.
So keep up the good work and uhwe'll look forward to seeing
how it goes.
Scott Gentry (43:16):
Well, thank you uh for having us on, guys, and
we'd we'd be honored to hostyou.
Want to do a quick shout out ofour the rest of our board.
We have Barry, Barry and JoanBiediger, uh Josh Buck, Brandon
Mickelson, and Sean Schuler, andthey're the rest of our really
awesome, dedicated team thathave helped put this show
(43:37):
together, and we really want toexpress appreciation to eat each
one of them.
Shawn Earl (43:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
And hey, get out there andpre-register.
There's a we got a free tiltebag in it for you.
Carries up to 55 pounds ofmodels or tools.
Mike (43:50):
There you go.
All right, guys.
Well, we'll let it go.
And again, all the success inthe world.
Thanks, fellas.
Take care of you guys.
Well, I was glad Scott and uhSean Earl could join us for that
segment.
And uh I'm really curious uhwhat the new venue holds for
those guys.
(44:11):
I think his show's getting somelegs here in the third year,
and that venue change soundsabsolutely phenomenal.
And I'm glad they're they'reworking with them and they could
they could get in there becauseit sounded like uh it could
have potentially been a veryexpensive place, but it looks
like something worked out.
Kentucky Dave (44:26):
Yep.
In fact, I talked to Jim Batestoday who had just purchased his
airline ticket so that he couldfly out to Rocky Mountain.
Mike (44:35):
It sounds like they're gonna be packed with seminars
and uh a lot of good socialinteraction via their format
they're running the show in.
So we wish those guys all theluck, man.
We do, we do.
Not sure they need it, but uhsounds like a lot of the folks
uh we see regular on the regularon the uh interwebs are gonna
be out there.
So that's another one we needto get to.
(44:55):
Yep.
All right, folks.
That is the show spotlight forMay.
We always encourage you to getout to a model show or a model
event in your area if you canget to one.
It's just so much fun.
Kentucky Dave (45:06):
It is, it is.
So we are big fans of modelshows, the so the interaction,
the ability to meet friends, oldand new.
It is a really great part ofmodeling that a lot of people
miss out on if they don'tparticipate.
You don't have to enter thecontest, just go to the show.
Mike (45:28):
Yep.
Check out the vendors, checkout the models, and talk to the
modelers, man.
You're gonna have a good time.
Yes, you are.
Well, that is the model showspotlight for May.
So, folks, stay tuned for the12-minute model sphere for the
month of May coming up verysoon.
And uh, until then, Dave, happymodeling, man.
Yep, happy modeling.
The model show spotlight is brought to you by
the World of Armor.
Communicate, share, and learnwith armor modelers worldwide at
the World of Armor.
If armor modeling is yourthing, follow the link in the
show notes or at PlasticModelMojo.com and join the team.
Kentucky Dave (00:32):
I know, I know.
We are in the midst of showseason, man.
It's hot and heavy now.
Mike (00:37):
We are.
And I think it's apparentlyNational Technical Difficulty
Day.
Kentucky Dave (00:43):
Well, we're we're getting bad storms, so I could
uh I'd blame it on that if itwas on this end.
Mike (00:50):
I don't think they're here yet, but anyway, it's the model
show spotlight for May.
May show's coming up here.
We got a couple we're gonnafeature.
Kentucky Dave (00:59):
Yep.
Two of them that we really needto get out to.
You we gotta figure a way toget get out west, man.
Mike (01:06):
I know, man.
It's just money and time, moneyand time.
Kentucky Dave (01:09):
Yep.
Mike (01:09):
Just like everything else in the world.
Kentucky Dave (01:11):
Gotta hit that big lottery.
Mike (01:13):
Well, it's interesting because both those are kind of
hosted by some longtime friendsof ours in the in the pod
community.
And the first one is SilverCon,and that is Silver Wings out in
Sacramento, California, if I'mnot mistaken.
Kentucky Dave (01:27):
Yep.
Mike (01:28):
Well, Mr.
Drew came on and gave us allins and out about SilverCon.
So let's see what uh he had tosay.
Dave, it always is a pleasurewhen we get to do one of these
model show spotlights, and it'ssomeone we've known for a long,
long time.
Coming to us again from thesunny state of California is
(01:53):
longtime listener, Drew Savage.
Drew, how are you doingtonight?
Drew Savage (01:57):
Hey, I'm doing great, Mike and Dave.
Thanks for this opportunity,and I'm looking forward to
talking about SilverCon and someof the unique things that we're
trying this year.
Mike (02:07):
Well, that sounds good.
Well, let's just hit the groundrun, and won't you tell us uh
when the show is, where the showis, and all that good stuff.
Drew Savage (02:14):
Yeah, you bet.
So the show is Saturday, May16th, and that's here in
Sacramento.
It's at the Town and CountryLutheran Church, which is at
4049 Marconi Avenue inSacramento.
The doors open at nine.
Judging begins about noon, andthen we'll try to get the awards
done in the 330-ish range tofour o'clock so that we can get
(02:38):
everybody out of there and getthem home.
And the theme this year, we'vemoved away, at least for this
year, from a very specifictheme, you know, like 50th
anniversary of the end of theVietnam War or something like
that, to the theme this year isheavy metal, the best use of
natural metal finish.
Oh nice.
(02:58):
And and that was intentional.
You know, we we really areworking hard to bring in Gundam,
mecca, warhammer, gaming,genres that typically don't
participate in in the IPMS typemodel contests.
Kentucky Dave (03:15):
Well, how long have you all been doing this
show?
Drew Savage (03:18):
IPMS Silverwings started in the early 70s, and
we've had a show every year,except I think one year during
COVID, maybe two years duringCOVID.
Right.
Um, and we uh I wasn't aroundfor this, but we actually hosted
a Nationals back in the 80s.
I remember it.
And I've been warned, you know,I've only been president of the
(03:39):
club for a couple of years, butfolks who are around in the 80s
remind me don't you volunteerus for that again?
Kentucky Dave (03:47):
Well, uh you can tell your club it is a much
different experience than it wasthen.
It is much less reliant on thelocal club to do the
backbreaking work of show prep.
So much of it has beenautomated, so much of it like
(04:09):
all when you all did it, I'msure all the money was done at
the local club level, whereasnow it's all done at the
national level, which takes thatburden off y'all.
So consider bidding again.
I'd like to go to Sacramento.
Drew Savage (04:28):
Well, we'll see.
I I I think, you know, intalking to other IPMS members at
nationals, you know, the thethe reason why we hold it in the
places we do is we can actuallyget space for the amount of
people and and models that aregoing to be there.
Yeah.
Even in Sacramento, you know,that would be hard press.
I'm not sure.
You know, we could end up inLodi or something.
Kentucky Dave (04:50):
Well, well, tell us about this local show that
you're doing.
And so let's just call it inpreparation for a future
national.
Drew Savage (05:00):
Oh, way to sell it.
Wow.
There you go.
Mike (05:02):
What's what's the uh registration process?
You're are you online,partially online?
What do you got going on there?
Drew Savage (05:09):
We do have an online registration process that
is open right now.
That'll be through May 13th, iswhen we'll close that.
And you can actually get therethrough our website, which you
know you can either google IPMSSilver Wings, and that obviously
we'll take it to the website.
But the actual website iswww.sacramento-model-club.org.
(05:38):
And they're the online, it'stheir first year for online.
So there are some things thatyou know that that will be
improved, I'll say it that way,going forward.
But uh our team did a greatjob, I think, putting together a
great first year system.
We don't accept onlinepayments.
So once you've registered,printed your forms out, bring
(06:01):
those to the contest on May16th, and then you'll pay your
registration fee, which againwill be cash only.
You can register on the day ofthe contest.
If you don't have a computer,if you don't feel comfortable
with computers and just want toshow up and fill out a form by
hand, you can still do that.
Kentucky Dave (06:20):
Good.
Drew Savage (06:20):
We'll we'll have two separate lines so that way
the folks who havepre-registered can get their
their models on the table soonerand go peruse the vendors and
get into the raffles.
Kentucky Dave (06:32):
Well, you mentioned vendors.
So what's your vendor setup?
How many tables?
Are you looking to fill a fewlast minute tables?
What's the what's the deal?
Drew Savage (06:43):
So we have 20 over 20 vendors currently, which is
40 plus tables, and that's allon the inside.
It's a church gymnasium, so theentire vendor cadre will be
inside.
And we got to the point wherepeople were saying, Hey, I know
you have a courtyard outside.
You know, it's May inSacramento.
(07:05):
I'm willing to roll the dice.
Can I pay you to put a tableoutside?
And of course, the answer wasyes.
Sure.
We're we're happy to do that ifyou know the risks.
So we do have some vendorsoutside.
So it's gonna, you know, you'llyou'll go through the vendors
on the way in.
There'll be vendors allthroughout the hall, and they'll
be there, you know, from thetime the doors open at nine all
(07:27):
the way through till the end ofuh awards at the end of the day.
Kentucky Dave (07:32):
So do you have any room left in the cart
courtyard for more tables or areyou sold out?
Drew Savage (07:38):
I believe we have room in the uh courtyard for
tables.
Uh so we can, you know, get theinformation for that.
I'll put it on our website forour vendor coordinator, but they
can always send me an email toothrough the website if uh
somebody says, Hey, I'm willingto roll the dice and and have a
table outside.
Mike (07:56):
There's something you only do in California, yeah, really.
Kentucky Dave (08:00):
Right.
Well, maybe you might be ableto get away with that in
Florida, but yeah, you're right.
Drew Savage (08:06):
Right, right.
So uh it, you know, it's anIPMS style first, second, third
contest.
You know, last year we had over400 models on the tables.
Kentucky Dave (08:16):
Wow, that's a nice turnout.
Drew Savage (08:18):
Yeah, yeah.
We've really been working to,you know, expand our reach, uh,
talking to the scouts locally,talking to different veterans
organizations, schools.
And as I mentioned, because ofthe theme we're doing this year,
we've been getting the word outthrough the local gaming stores
(08:38):
uh that normally wouldn't evenknow we exist.
And and there's now flyers upin each of the gaming stores as
well.
As far as the the cost for uhthe for adults 18 and over, it's
$12, which is the it gives youtwo entries, two model entries,
and then it's three dollars eachadditional entry.
Juniors, seven years old to 17,it's four dollars for the first
(09:03):
two entries, and then a buckeach for each additional entry.
And anyone six and under, nocharge.
Kentucky Dave (09:09):
Now, do you have general admission for people who
just want to come and look atthe models and shop at the
vendors?
Drew Savage (09:17):
We do not.
You can walk in the door andlook at the vendors and buy
raffle tickets and look at themodels, do everything except
compete in the competition, andthere's no cost for that.
Mike (09:28):
Wow, that's good.
That's nice.
Well, when does yourregistration close for the show?
Drew Savage (09:33):
The online registration closes on May 13th.
And how about on site?
Uh on site, we'll close that upjust before 12 noon on the on
the day of the contest on May16th.
Kentucky Dave (09:44):
Now, do you all have food on site?
Is there low food at thefacility or do you bring in food
trucks or do you rely on nearbylocations for because modelers
are hungry people?
Drew Savage (09:58):
Yes, yes, they are.
Uh no, we have we don't haveany food at the venue, but we do
have multiple fast foodlocations within about a
five-minute walk from the venue.
So it's pretty well located forfood if you want to, if you
don't want to bring your lunchbucket with you.
And there is there's a parkinglot, there's a free parking lot
(10:19):
that the church owns, plusthere's surrounding parking in
the neighborhoods.
Kentucky Dave (10:24):
You you keep mentioning the raffle, so I
assume you have a raffle.
Drew Savage (10:30):
Exactly.
We we have actually tworaffles.
We'll do one in the 11, 1115range, and then we'll do another
one probably in the 230 range.
We've we've done them in thepast starting at like noon, and
of course, that makes itchallenging for anybody who's
judging.
Kentucky Dave (10:48):
Right.
Drew Savage (10:48):
Uh they're they're trying to check raffle tickets
while looking at kits, andthat's that's no fun.
So uh we're gonna do it attimes where the judges can be a
part of that process as well.
Like I said, it is a an IPMSstyle first, second, third
contest, and the awards we usedto do plaques and and the uh
(11:10):
acrylic uh type awards, and werealized that not not a lot of
people hang those on the wall intheir in their build room.
So we switched last year tometal coins as awards, and and
we got really good feedback onthose.
Kentucky Dave (11:26):
Yeah, those are becoming very popular.
Drew Savage (11:28):
Yeah, so we're gonna do that again this year
with the the one side of thecoin will have the club logo on
it, and the other side of thecoin will have a themed image,
and then first, second, or thirdfor the the winners of each
category.
And and there are 50 pluscategories, so a lot of people
are gonna walk away with someintentional heavy metal.
Kentucky Dave (11:49):
Well, speaking of walking away with awards, we
know you've got the theme awardof heavy metal, the bare metal
type finish.
Do you have other than the catnormal category awards and best
to show and all that, do youhave any other theme or any
other special awards?
Drew Savage (12:08):
We do.
We do.
Again, we're we're trying totake ideas from from the
Mojovian podcast.
We're taking it from all theother podcasts and other things
that we pick up.
So this year we decided we'regonna go outside of the genre
and scale parameters.
We're still having the thethose, but we're gonna do a
(12:30):
category that's resin only.
Oh we're gonna do a 3D printedcategory, we're gonna do an
all-metal category, like the uhmetal earth kits, you know, that
come flat and you make intosomething.
We're gonna have a vacformcategory.
And then the the final one,which is actually something that
(12:51):
we talked about quite a bit forour theme this year, but we
decided to go with heavy metal.
But we're also gonna have adedicated 250th anniversary of
the USA's founding category.
Kentucky Dave (13:02):
So, and all those are special awards.
Drew Savage (13:05):
Uh, these are actual regular categories.
Categories.
Okay.
So you can choose a modeler canchoose, okay.
I've got a 3D printed model.
I can either put it in thecategory that is only 3D
printed, or I can put it in thegenre and scale-based categories
that fit whatever that printis.
(13:25):
Modelers will have a choice.
Mike (13:27):
Be curious how that works out for you.
That's interesting.
That's kind of a different takeright there for sure.
Drew Savage (13:34):
Yeah, and I've not seen that anywhere else before,
so we'll we'll report back onthat after the contest as to
whether it's worth the time oryou know, if you get one in each
category, okay.
Well, maybe, you know, maybenot.
But I I I've got some interestfrom some modelers in our our
clubs who who said, Oh, wait aminute, I do 3D printing.
Maybe I can do somethingspecial and showcase that in the
(13:56):
3D printed category.
Kentucky Dave (13:58):
Well, you don't unless you experiment, you don't
learn, you don't grow.
So I'll be interested to seehow that works.
Drew Savage (14:05):
Very true, very true.
So it's gonna be a a good day.
And and one thing that uh, youknow, it's it's either gonna
work well or it's gonna they'regonna tell me don't do it again.
Throughout the day, I won't sayhourly because it may be
different than hourly.
We're gonna have dad jokes overthe pH system.
Kentucky Dave (14:29):
That's great.
Drew Savage (14:31):
Oh man.
I I think Mike, that's aboutthe response I'm gonna get a lot
is a boy.
Really?
Kentucky Dave (14:39):
Now you gotta make them good dad jokes,
because there are good dad jokesand they're no Dave.
Mike (14:45):
There's there's only one kind of dad joke.
Kentucky Dave (14:47):
No, no, there are good, there are good dad jokes.
Mike (14:51):
But you're a dad, so you're biased.
Kentucky Dave (14:53):
Well, that's true.
Mike (14:54):
On the receiving end, there's only one kind of bad or
dad joke.
Kentucky Dave (14:57):
Okay, all right.
I understand what you'resaying.
Mike (15:00):
But I might send you a couple.
Yeah, that'd be great.
Kentucky Dave (15:04):
Mike actually Mike actually is specializes in
those.
Mike (15:07):
I do.
I like to dump them on the theyoungins at work.
Drew Savage (15:11):
Oh, nice.
Nice.
One of our club members postsonline, and it's not just our
club page, it's his own pagequite a bit.
Uh not almost almost every dayhe posts a dad joke, and you
know, some of the real groanersand you know, others just say,
okay, that that's clever.
Mike (15:30):
All right.
Well, is there any other thingunique about the show that
you're doing?
Drew Savage (15:34):
You know, I I think that about covers it between
the the unique categories andthe the metal coins.
And I was talking to one of ourclub members about it recently
about the coins, and I said,Hey, look, you know, if you win
or you know, you get a first,second, third, and for some
reason you don't want to displaythe coin with your model, I
weighed them.
They're 39 grams each.
(15:55):
So if you don't like them, youcan use them as weights in some
of your builds going forward.
Well, that's a good take.
Uh so between between theraffle and the vendors and the
registration, the answer isbring cash, bring cash, bring
cash.
Sure.
Yeah.
And there is no ATM on site.
Kentucky Dave (16:17):
Okay, that's important.
No ATM on site.
Because when we go toHeritageCon, I rely on the AT at
the museum from time to time.
So that's good to know.
So, so why don't you give usthe who, what, when, where one
more time to let everybody knowwhat's going on?
Drew Savage (16:42):
Absolutely.
Thanks, Dave.
We'll do.
So it's SilverCon, which isbrought to you by IPMS
Silverwings, uh, Saturday, May16th.
And it's at the Town andCountry Lutheran Church, which
is at 4049-4049 Marconi Avenuein uh Sacramento, California.
Doors open at nine, judging atnoon, awards in a 330th range.
(17:05):
And the theme is uh heavymetal, best use of natural metal
finish.
And there is onlineregistration, and that's open
now.
The website one more time iswww.sacramento-model-club.org.
Mike (17:24):
And we'll put that in the show notes so folks don't have
to remember it.
Yeah, great.
Always useful.
Always useful.
Well, Drew, it's always apleasure talking to you, and we
look forward to seeing you faceto face the next time, hopefully
in Fort Wayne.
I'll be there.
Kentucky Dave (17:42):
All right, that's good news.
Mike (17:44):
And in the interim, please give us the post uh show report
after all things are done andwrapped up.
And we wish you all the successlike we always do.
We want every show we freefeature to just kill it every
time.
Kentucky Dave (17:57):
Yeah.
Drew Savage (17:58):
Excellent.
I appreciate it, and thank youfor getting the word out and
helping us build this greathobby of ours.
It's not dying.
I've heard that, but it's not,it's it's growing.
Mike (18:09):
All right, sir.
Well, again, thanks for lettingus uh feature your show.
All right, you bet.
Thanks, Mike.
Thanks, Dave.
Kentucky Dave (18:19):
Well, Drew sounds excited for a show.
Yep.
And I'll tell you what, my mybrother did his initial B-52
training near near Sacramento,and he loved it.
He loved that part of thecountry.
Mike (18:33):
I'm sure it's not too bad out there, especially in this
time of year.
Kentucky Dave (18:37):
Exactly.
We got to find a way to get outto the West Coast, man.
Mike (18:41):
Well, folks, if you got a good dad joke, send them out
there.
Apparently they're gonna dothat over the PA, according to
Drew.
And check their show date.
And if you get him some reallyawful dad jokes between now and
then, uh send them on so he canannoy his crowd with them.
Or get a lot of eye rolls,maybe I should say.
Not annoy, but uh interestingthing to try.
(19:02):
Yep.
Next up, Dave, is uh ScottGentry's show out in Salt Lake
City.
Yep.
Kentucky Dave (19:09):
Our good friend Scott's got this.
Is their third year of uhreally interesting and different
concept for a show?
Mike (19:23):
Well, Dave, we got a really unique one here.
I'm excited to have these guyson.
One of them's an old friendours, Scott Gentry from the
Plastic Posse Podcast.
And he's run a show that'sgetting some good legs out in
his neck of the woods out inSalt Lake City.
Scott, how are you doingtonight?
I'm good, Mike.
Good to talk to you guys.
Well, good.
You've got one more there withyou.
Won't you introduce him or lethim introduce himself?
Shawn Earl (19:45):
Hey, fellas, I'm I'm Sean Earl, I'm president of
Rocky Mountain Expo.
Good friends with Scott forseveral years.
All right.
Mike (19:52):
Well, let's start right there.
You say you're the president ofRocky Mountain Expo.
Scott, what's your capacity?
Scott Gentry (19:57):
I'm kind of the core ideal guy and uh
relationship guy.
And you know, Sean and I foryears have kind of been uh
commiserating about the waylocal shows have kind of moved
and haven't moved, and so wedecided to quit complaining and
do something about it.
Mike (20:15):
Well, let's start with uh what the show is by title.
I think we've already said it,we say it again, and then uh
when it is and where it is.
Scott Gentry (20:22):
Yeah, you bet.
So Rocky Mountain Expo is amore of a model exposition than
a contest, and it's held in SaltLake City a yearly this year
for 2026.
It will be held on May 22nd and23rd, and you can find um all
(20:43):
the details at Rocky MountainExpo.com.
Kentucky Dave (20:47):
Scott, now how many years have you all been
doing this revised RockyMountain Expo?
Scott Gentry (20:55):
This is our third year.
We started the first two years.
Sean is a proud veteran.
I'm super proud to be hisfriend.
He's a retired uh commandsergeant major, and he was with
the Utah National Guard, and uhwe used an armory of the
National Guard for our two firstyears, and uh we're uh deeply
(21:18):
indebted uh to the NationalGuard for allowing our show to
kind of um be put on initiallyand then to grow from there.
Unfortunately, we kind of, Idon't know, Sean, we kind of
outgrew um our size there.
Kentucky Dave (21:33):
Well, that's a great sign.
Shawn Earl (21:35):
Outgrew it pretty quick.
Yeah, it it they do showsthere, or not shows, but uh they
they'll rent out the the guardfacility from time to time.
Uh there's other groups thatuse the venue, and it just well,
hey, why don't we give it ashot and see?
And it was pretty cheap.
I mean, it fit right within ourbudget for that very first
year.
And we knew right from year onethat it was gonna be too big
(21:57):
for our bridges, and thatbuilding wasn't gonna have.
Able to house us for uh morethan another year or two.
And sure enough, uh last yearwas was just wow, it was just
overly huge amount of people andnumber of models.
We barely fit everything on thetables.
But yeah, this year is gonna befantastic with the new building
(22:18):
and uh the new venue that wehave.
It's it's just gorgeous,absolutely gorgeous.
Kentucky Dave (22:23):
So the show is two days?
Scott Gentry (22:25):
Yeah, it's uh both uh kind of a day and a half,
but yeah, we start at uh 3 p.m.
on Friday and go through tilluh 6 p.m.
the first night, and then in 9a.m.
to uh 6 p.m.
on the Saturday.
And that's uh we we startedthat last year, and uh that made
the judging and also the numberof seminars that we want to do
(22:46):
and things like that much morecomfortable and much more
reasonable than a one-day show.
Kentucky Dave (22:51):
Well, that's another great sign that you're
growing, that you you you havethe ability and the demand for a
day and a half show.
Shawn Earl (23:00):
Yeah, it just seemed right out of the start that
that one day just wasn't goingto fit the needs of the the show
and what what we wanted to doand where we wanted to go with
it.
And we we tried the uh thetwo-day show last year, and it
was more of a first get thingsset up and then Saturday was the
full day.
But this year we'll be able toactually fit in a half a day of
(23:22):
showing off models and gettingpeople into the venue and
meeting people.
It'll be a little bit moreinvolved, I think, than last
year's was.
Kentucky Dave (23:30):
How do you register for the show?
Do you have onlineregistration?
Do you have the ability toregister at the show?
Scott Gentry (23:38):
We we do both.
Um, the way we prefer is to dothat online, and so you can go
to uh Rocky Mountain Expo.comforward slash registration.
We'd love you to pre-register,or you can come to the show, uh,
just show up and we'll registeryou there.
But as you guys know, as aveterans of many, many shows,
(23:59):
pre-registration is uh the wayto go and get you in and to the
good stuff a lot faster by doingit that way.
Mike (24:06):
Amen.
Well, since this show is quitedifferent than what most of our
listeners are going to beaccustomed to, I want to jump
right to that part and let youpitch what you've got going on
here.
And we can circle back and getall the other peripheral details
at the end.
But let us know why this showis special compared to others
and all the details around that.
Scott Gentry (24:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, one of the things I wantto highlight before I kind of
get into this is our show, morethan anything, we really wanted
it to be different.
We have a local IPMS club herein Salt Lake City.
They do a show every otheryear.
We have an Amps Club here, andso the more shows the better.
(24:47):
Uh, but we definitely wanted tobe a little bit different.
And so one of the things thatuh we've done is as we've gone
to other events, uh, youmentioned Mike MMSI and also
model the model mania show thatthe Northwest scale modelers Tim
Nelson and Jim Bates and thatgreat group of people put on in
(25:07):
Seattle.
And as we've gone to differentevents and sort of benchmarked
what they do, we really came upwith a vision of of kind of
maybe a little bit different wayto look at at model shows.
And you know, Mike, you and Ihave talked about sort of
there's a lot of clubs, whetherthey're IPMS clubs or just
(25:28):
independent clubs that are goingwith gold, silver, bronze.
But we actually kind of took ita little further than that.
And we're we're using a showthat's really truly based on the
open system, similar to whatthey use at MFCA or MMSI,
originally uh pioneered by ShepPayne.
So it's not just the way thatwe award, you know, the
(25:52):
recognition for the models, butuh the way that we do it is
different.
We don't have any categoriesbecause our show is about the
modelers rather than the models.
And so we want to focus on thepeople.
And what we do is we have ourguests come in and they put all
their models, ships, tanks,planes, cars, all together in
(26:14):
one display, and we give them agreat big, huge name tag that
clearly shows who that personis.
And this year we've actuallytaken an additional step of
issuing to all of our guests amandatory name tag that you have
to wear.
And the goal of all of this isto make sure that not only is
your work on the table andinspiring other people and you
(26:39):
know there to be recognized, butalso it's to initiate
collaboration and inspirationand conversation.
We want people to meet otherpeople and get ideas from other
people and ask questions aboutwhat you know what they're doing
and how their modeling hasevolved and things like that,
(27:00):
rather than just having, youknow, your P40 in a sea of other
70 second-scale aircraft.
And there's nothing wrong withthat, but our focus is um let's
talk about you and your work andhow it's evolved irregardless
of what the genre or thecategory or whatever, whatever
else that is.
Kentucky Dave (27:21):
That raises a question, Scott.
Do you all allow, like say,MMSI does, for a modeler to come
in and put on the table like amulti-level display with his
different, like you'd see at afigure show, a lot of times
covered by velvet?
Scott Gentry (27:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
When it comes to what isallowed, one of our core values
is really inclusion.
And so if you build a model outof paper, we'd love to have it.
If you build a model out ofwooden popsicle sticks, uh, we'd
love to have it.
You know, we we we want to bereally open to medium, to genre
(28:01):
category figures, you know,gaming miniatures, whatever.
We it's all welcome here, modelrailroad pieces.
It's all we had a guy come toour first show as a great
example.
He had never been to any kindof regular, quote unquote
traditional model show.
Well, he buys Hot Wheel carsand then he takes the body off
(28:24):
of the frame, takes the metalframe, melts it down into liquid
metal, and then makes a moldand then recasts it and gives it
a caricature similar to likewhat Tom Daniels used to do.
Get, you know, bends the frame,make you know, puts great big
giant wheels on it, but hebrought an entire display of
(28:44):
customized Hot Wheel cars.
Cool.
That was Ian Weber, wasn't it?
Yeah, that was Ian, yeah, Ian.
Yeah, stuff is great, reallygreat.
Mike (28:53):
Well, I I like the the tenets of what you're you're
doing there.
And I guess we heard last year,you know, Jake McKee.
In fact, I think he even wrotea bit on his blog about the show
last year and and uh his kindof take on it.
And then you know, we featuredthe folks out in Northern
California at the Wine CountryExpo who took your show as
(29:15):
inspiration and put their ownspin on it and and conducted a
show very similar out in uhNorthern California.
And then we got the show reportback from their their show
chairman just a couple days ago.
And it was a lot of the samekind of stuff he was saying that
Jake said.
And I think there's there'ssomething to that.
(29:36):
I think uh focusing on themodeler instead of the models is
a is a a welcome thing.
And the way you can seek outpeople and find them a lot
easier.
I think that's huge for forwhat you're trying to do.
I think this is a really, areally good idea.
And I don't know.
I wish you weren't so far away,man.
Because we've only seen it atMMSI and it's kind of limited
(29:59):
there because it's it's youknow, it's heavily skewed toward
figures there, obviously.
But yeah, um, we understand theconcept, but I think you know,
if somebody like David andmyself were more plastic modeler
focused, uh we'd be a lot morecomfortable in that environment
around stuff we're more familiarwith.
So just uh really curious howthis one goes for you.
(30:20):
I'm sure it'll go well.
Scott Gentry (30:22):
Yeah, we're really excited.
Uh Sean, you want to talk aboutmaybe some of the uh new things
that we have with our venue anddisplays and oh yeah, man.
Shawn Earl (30:31):
The uh so we're at the West Valley Cultural
Celebration Center in WestValley.
Just it's basically a suburb ofSalt Lake right here in the
Salt Lake Valley.
The uh the venue is it'sabsolutely gorgeous.
I mean, you could house uh anykind of a national level show
there easily.
The the ballroom itself wherethe the display area is will
(30:54):
have about a hundred tables inthere.
We're going with round tablesthis go, just to give it a shot,
because if there's a hundredmodelers, each modeler is gonna
be able to have their own tableto display their wares on.
And so there's just a ton ofroom in this, in this, uh, in
this ballroom area.
It's got a raised stage thatuh, you know, is uh the main
focus of you know whoever'stalking up there with two big,
(31:17):
huge screens on either side, sowe can display the uh the the
venue schedule with seminars andsuch up there, so people always
have an idea what what's goingon and where.
It's a two-level uh building.
So upstairs we'll have is wherethat ballroom is, where the the
main showroom is.
There's a a huge reception areawhere we'll have like AK
(31:39):
Interactives and and a coupleother sponsors for the show.
Kit Lynx will be there with hisuh R71 with the sidecar, you
know, for people to get uh upgood looking and ask questions
and whatnot.
Downstairs is where we have theI'm trying to remember what the
name of those rooms are.
The seminars and the vendorsand yeah, they're they're
(32:01):
basically uh it's it's a hugeseminar and vendor area.
The vendors area is separate,but it it's it's a huge area.
You could fit up to a hundredso tables in there for vendors,
and so uh we're trying to getthat filled at the moment.
Kentucky Dave (32:15):
Do you how many tables do you have left to sell?
Shawn Earl (32:18):
You know, I think we're still about 30 table
range, so we can still goupwards to at least 70 more
tables.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we've got plenty of roomdownstairs for that.
The uh the seminar rooms willbe all separated so we can have
seminars going at the same time.
Tons of guys coming in fordemonstrations, like Rick Lawler
(32:38):
will be doing one, John Bonani,Gary Baker, Jerry Moore.
I mean, and then Jake McKee.
We just got him his uhconfirmation on there.
It's just gonna be fantastic.
Lots of stuff going on.
The the outside area has got ahuge lawn area.
If you need to go out and takea walk, there's at least a
hundred yards of sidewalk thatyou can walk out of the building
(32:59):
and go out south.
Weather's been really nicelately, so it's just just a
great area, just a great spot tobe in.
We'll have vendor trucks outfront for uh food wares.
So, you know, if you gethungry, you don't have to go too
far.
And we even have like a couplejoints really close by.
What's the name of thathamburger joint?
I'm trying to remember.
Oh, yeah, we have purgatory.
Kentucky Dave (33:21):
They've got great hamburgers there.
That's a great name for aburger place.
Scott Gentry (33:25):
It's a horror-themed burger shop.
It's great.
You you guys, it would be it'dbe awesome.
But yeah, and and you know,kind of going back to our
inclusion, we have Joe Porchetcoming up from Vegas with a
massive display and a seminar onTom Daniels builds.
Tom Daniels lives here in Utah,and he's bringing 24 linear
(33:48):
feet by 30 inches deep of builtTom Daniels kits and also doing
a seminar to go with that.
And then we have the VircosVault people from Las Vegas.
If you if you haven't heardthat name, there's a collector
who's very wealthy who buys uhmostly fantasy uh figures, has
(34:08):
hundreds of thousands of them,and they also are building a
museum and a school to helppeople with figure painting and
bust painting.
And so they're coming up toparticipate in it as well.
So, you know, we've got youryour traditional, you know, sort
of plastic modeling seminars,and then we've got seminars
from, you know, other maybenon-traditional amps, IPMS
(34:31):
things like car building andfigure painting, and even some
modeling adjacent seminars, likeJim Bates is going to do a
seminar on historical andtechnical research.
So no actual modeling content,but certainly modeling adjacent
content for people.
Kentucky Dave (34:48):
Well, as you well know, Scott, I'm a huge fan of
seminars at shows.
That I think that that is anunder underutilized and
underappreciated benefit of ashow.
So I'm glad you've got so manygoing.
Scott Gentry (35:05):
Well, thank you, Dave.
Yeah, we uh what we want to dois um one of our core values
again is to make sure that wetreat the people that come
participate as guests.
We get uh feedback after eachshow and we take that feedback
very seriously.
And what we're trying to do ismake sure that if we can
convince a Dave and a Mike toget on an airplane and come to
(35:27):
our show, that when they walkout the door, they feel like it
was worth the trip.
They really enjoyed themselves.
Mike (35:34):
Sounds like a good plan.
You you've covered a lot, and Iwant to hit one more thing
since you you just mentionedcoming out there on an airplane.
You mentioned the the foodtrucks and the and the cool
restaurant there to handle allthe hungry modelers.
Is there any accommodationsthat the the show's arranged
with, or is it every man forhimself?
You got something there closethat's gonna help people who are
(35:56):
coming in from out of state tohave a place to bunk?
Scott Gentry (36:00):
We don't have a dedicated hotel attached to the
venue like a lot of shows will,but we do have a lot of hotels.
The the uh West Valley um venuethat we have is within less
than 10 miles from the Salt LakeInternational Airport.
Around the venue itself and bythe airport, there are literally
(36:21):
dozens and dozens of hotels.
And there's also a lot ofverbos and Airbnbs available in
those areas as well.
And so lots of places to getaccommodations and and pretty
price effective as well.
A lot of the hotels in the areaare in the $60 to $80 range on
the lower end and the $110, $120range on the higher end.
(36:45):
So I think pretty reasonable byyou know national standards.
Kentucky Dave (36:50):
That is, those are some good deals.
Shawn Earl (36:52):
I'm gonna say driving in on uh if you're
coming in via vehicle, I meanit's easy access from I-15 to uh
Bangater Highway, was it 3100south?
It'll take you right straightto the venue.
And even coming from theairport, it's uh pretty much a
straight shot to where you needto be.
And again, there's lots of easyaccess to the the venue itself
with hotels being close by, allpriced reasonably.
(37:14):
So it'll be a good time had byall.
Mike (37:17):
Well, all right.
We've covered a lot.
Scott, is there anything thatyou haven't touched on that
you'd like to before we wrap up?
Scott Gentry (37:25):
I think uh maybe just a little bit about the
contest and and one otherspecial feature which I'll save
for last.
But as far as the contest goes,we're we're a little bit
different, a little bit morelike the MMSIs and the MFCAs.
Judges of the Rocky MountainExpo are handpicked and invited.
There's no volunteer judges, sothere's nothing wrong with
(37:47):
that.
But we want to make sure,again, that our guests get a
fair and thorough evaluation bypeople that that know their
stuff, uh so to speak.
And so if I were to getKentucky Dave on a plane and get
out to my show, I would ask himif he would consider judging 70
second scale aircraft for us.
(38:07):
And again, it's it's all aboutsort of the experience that we
do.
And even though all of ourjudges are hand picked and hand
selected, they are required togo through Scott's judges'
training.
I'm not gonna teach KentuckyDave anything about what makes a
great 70-second scale aircraft.
But what I am gonna teachKentucky Dave about is our
(38:29):
values.
And our values are we don'ttouch models, we don't do flaw
hunts on our models.
We look at things very much,again, in the Chep Payne vein of
the open system of we look atthe entry not from a place of
what flaws are there, but howdoes the piece impact you?
What does the presentation looklike?
(38:50):
Is it unique?
You know, if there are flaws,we obviously take those into
account, but it's really kind ofmore about the overall pressure
of the piece and how thatimpacts them.
And that's how that's how we doour judging.
And so if you have an armormodeler, you're probably gonna
have that looked at by JohnBonani and people that know
(39:12):
armor.
If you have an aircraft, wehave Robbie Knoffs and Jeremy
Moore and really great aircraftmodelers and and and on and on
and on.
And so that's really kind of animportant part of what we do.
We want to make sure peoplefeel good.
And you we also providefeedback in a couple different
ways.
Number one, our judges do atriage similar to again to MMSI,
(39:36):
MFCA.
They'll look at a modeler'sdisplay, they'll pick the model
that they think gives them thebest chance for the highest
level of recognition.
And so the first piece offeedback the modeler's gonna get
is which one of their modelsthat the judges like the best,
because that's the one that willbe evaluated.
And then the second piece offeedback will be first of all,
(39:58):
was it recognized and at whatlevel?
But then we also task ourjudges, and this goes back to
the name tags we talked about,to once they're uh finished
judging a modeler's display, togo seek out that modeler and
have conversations.
And so rather than writing acomment that just says, like,
oh, there was a seam line orwhatever, we want to actually
(40:21):
give people feedback in personso that that modeler can ask
questions and get meaningfulfeedback from those judges.
Kentucky Dave (40:30):
That's just that just sounds really great and a
more much more positive view ofhow you how you judge entries.
Scott Gentry (40:42):
Yeah, well, well, thank you very much.
And our special feature is wefeature one of the shortest
award ceremonies in the nation.
Yeah.
Our target is 15 minutes, we gohard, we go fast, and we let
people go have dinner.
So that's that's a core valueas well.
Shawn Earl (41:00):
And that's about the same time that we'll do the uh
the special awards.
For instance, with Jill Porschecoming up, there I hear tell
there might be an award for uhTom Daniel Best of.
So it's like here I am, uh aRussian armor modeler busting
out my Tim Daniel Red Baron andputting it together.
So I'm hoping to get it donefor the show.
Mike (41:21):
All right.
Well, Scott, won't you give usthe the W's again about where we
can go find the show on the weband the the uh the venue and
the date and all that?
Scott Gentry (41:30):
You bet.
So May 22nd and 23rd in SaltLake City, Utah will be the 2026
uh RME.
You can find out all thedetails at Rocky Mountain
Expo.com.
We also have a Facebook pagewhich is Rocky Mountain Expo
Official on Facebook where youcan go get the details for what
(41:51):
is needed there.
Our venue is the CulturalCelebration Center, which is in
West Valley, Utah.
It's on the west side of theSalt Lake Valley.
You know, like Sean said, it'skind of a suburb uh city.
It's easy to find, butbeautiful venue.
You know, the main contest areahas two glass walls.
(42:12):
They're 40 foot high uhwindows, uh floor to ceiling.
It's a state-of-the-art uhfacility.
You're gonna be comfortable,you're gonna have a lot of great
lighting, you're gonna meet alot of great people.
We have, as I mentioned before,more than 15 seminars to choose
from.
You're gonna have Steve Munselland Rick Lawler doing demos
(42:34):
right there so you can see howto use the AK products or the
value gear resin.
It's just, it's a really,really good time.
And uh, if you can come joinus, that's great.
If not, maybe we can catch youin 2027.
Mike (42:47):
Thanks for joining us, Scott.
And we always wish this showsuccess.
And you you took a risk acouple years ago, and it's
starting to pay off now, itlooks like, and going to
multiple days.
And man, I'm not gonna say I'mnot coming ever, but I hope to
get a chance to come out theresometime and check this thing
out because I hear I'm hearingnothing but positive from folks
who've who've been to your show,and then even from folks who
(43:09):
are using it as a blueprint fortheir own show.
So keep up the good work and uhwe'll look forward to seeing
how it goes.
Scott Gentry (43:16):
Well, thank you uh for having us on, guys, and
we'd we'd be honored to hostyou.
Want to do a quick shout out ofour the rest of our board.
We have Barry, Barry and JoanBiediger, uh Josh Buck, Brandon
Mickelson, and Sean Schuler, andthey're the rest of our really
awesome, dedicated team thathave helped put this show
(43:37):
together, and we really want toexpress appreciation to eat each
one of them.
Shawn Earl (43:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
And hey, get out there andpre-register.
There's a we got a free tiltebag in it for you.
Carries up to 55 pounds ofmodels or tools.
Mike (43:50):
There you go.
All right, guys.
Well, we'll let it go.
And again, all the success inthe world.
Thanks, fellas.
Take care of you guys.
Well, I was glad Scott and uhSean Earl could join us for that
segment.
And uh I'm really curious uhwhat the new venue holds for
those guys.
(44:11):
I think his show's getting somelegs here in the third year,
and that venue change soundsabsolutely phenomenal.
And I'm glad they're they'reworking with them and they could
they could get in there becauseit sounded like uh it could
have potentially been a veryexpensive place, but it looks
like something worked out.
Kentucky Dave (44:26):
Yep.
In fact, I talked to Jim Batestoday who had just purchased his
airline ticket so that he couldfly out to Rocky Mountain.
Mike (44:35):
It sounds like they're gonna be packed with seminars
and uh a lot of good socialinteraction via their format
they're running the show in.
So we wish those guys all theluck, man.
We do, we do.
Not sure they need it, but uhsounds like a lot of the folks
uh we see regular on the regularon the uh interwebs are gonna
be out there.
So that's another one we needto get to.
(44:55):
Yep.
All right, folks.
That is the show spotlight forMay.
We always encourage you to getout to a model show or a model
event in your area if you canget to one.
It's just so much fun.
Kentucky Dave (45:06):
It is, it is.
So we are big fans of modelshows, the so the interaction,
the ability to meet friends, oldand new.
It is a really great part ofmodeling that a lot of people
miss out on if they don'tparticipate.
You don't have to enter thecontest, just go to the show.
Mike (45:28):
Yep.
Check out the vendors, checkout the models, and talk to the
modelers, man.
You're gonna have a good time.
Yes, you are.
Well, that is the model showspotlight for May.
So, folks, stay tuned for the12-minute model sphere for the
month of May coming up verysoon.
And uh, until then, Dave, happymodeling, man.
Yep, happy modeling.
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