BlizzCon 2023 IPMS Columbus Model Show

Model Shows

The BlizzCon 2023 was show was put on by the Eddie Rickenbacker IPMS chapter yesterday.  It was held at the Makoy Center in Hilliard, a small town just outside Columbus, Ohio.  Fortunately, BlizzCon did not live up to its name this year, it was a sunny day with mild temperatures for Ohio in February.  The post-pandemic model show attendance remains strong, the facility was by no means small but both the show and vender areas were packed to the point it was difficult to move through and the parking lot was overflowing.  I didn’t get an entry count, but there were easily over 500 models on the tables.  The vendors’ room was great, I found four kits I didn’t know I needed and some incredible bargains on books.  Several really nice pubs were nearby, we had fish and chips at “The Old Bag of Nails” which was only a five minute walk.  Overall, a great day out and a great way to start the 2023 show season!

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Published by Jeff Groves

Scale Modeling and Military History

Published

22 thoughts on “BlizzCon 2023 IPMS Columbus Model Show”

    1. It’s the Wingnut Wings 1/32 scale kit, it was a gorgeous build. They lump all the Biplanes together in one category regardless of scale, tough category for a 1/72 scale build when you set it next to a WNW kit.

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  4. Ah, seaplanes! And now for something which won’t float, that T-28 brings memory of a scratchbuild article in late 1970s or early 80s in, I want to say, the long gone Scale Modeler magazine & not in FSM. Matilda on transport brings memory in about same era that after putting a speedometer on my bicycle I discovered how easy it was for a bicycle to outrun a Matilda’s pedal to the metal, drain the gas tank in a hurry, top speed of 15mph, 24kph.

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    2. It was at least thought about at official levels though not built. On the Secret Projects forum there is reference to a diagram of F6F on floats, without additional vertical fin area, including image of model with, in a book, R-2800 Pratt & Whitney’s Dependable Masterpiece, by Graham White, 2001, pub Airlife, 658 pages. Book references a 12 June 1943 report held in the book author’s collection.

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      2. No, Jeff, that one is not a Wildcatfish. Look again at the skinny aft fuselage, look again at low-set wings, look again at info card which references parts used from a Wildcatfish, which then explains why floats are proportionally too small for the bulk of an F6F. And finally — count the guns & note the grouping, the F4F which had 6 guns of 3/ea wing had a pair then a space, F6F has them packed together.

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      3. Look at that post of the Wildcatfish and note the crease in F4F fuselage sides running aft from canopy rails — where do the fuselage panel lines in show model here have that crease? Show model is F6F fuselage.

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  6. Well, speaking of floaty things: I do love that Italian floatplane, the Felixstowe is always a winner in my book, and that 1931 version of the Akagi is very nice IMHO.
    I’m a sucker for WWI types, so those get my vote too.

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    1. Well FWIW, I talked to the builder of the Arado in Italian colors, he said he found reference that the Germans had transferred some to the Italians but that the camo on his model was speculative. The markings are a mix of RA and ANR. A wiffer but a nicely done build, he said he built it with his son.

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