Billed as the premier scale modelling event in Queensland, the Queensland Model and Hobby Expo (QMHE) has always been on my radar to visit ever since I got into building models way back in the mid 2000s.

Over the past few years, our involvement with sponsoring QMHE has continued to expand and along with that came invitations to attend the show. Finally, in 2024, I was able to make the trip up to Brisbane to attend the show as a special guest and I must say that it was one of the more enjoyable shows I have attended yet.

The whirlwind 3 day trip began bright and early at 4am on Friday the 16^th of August when I hit the road to drive an hour and a half from home down to the Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine to jump on the 8:20am flight to Brisbane. The flight up was quite smooth and once landed, jumped on a shuttle bus to collect a hire car and then drive another hour out to Ipswich, just west of Brisbane, where the show was being held.

Whenever I head away for shows and events, I try to take the time to stop by any local retailers of our products to check out their store and to say G’day. This time, I dropped by C J Vogler & Son in Brisbane Street, Ipswich to see Leighanne and her mum Valerie.

Their store is considered the oldest hobby store in the country, and in its current form it’s a lovely traditional model shop with lots of variety packed in tight including one of our retail stands at their front counter.

After there, I headed to my motel to check in and then across to the Ipswich Showgrounds where QMHE was being held, spent some time helping people set up their stands after I set up my area as well and entered some models into the competition that I had brought with me.

During the course of the weekend, I did a variety of demonstrations at my table showing how to spray our paints on a DDA 1/24 HJ Panel Van kit and spent time chatting with heaps of people about how to get the best out of our products.

I also had the opportunity to do a quick spot on the On The Bench Podcast with David Goldfinch and then do a sit down round table with myself, Dave from On the Bench, Neil Yan from Hong Kong Models, Bruce Hay from Drake Collectibles, Brett Green from Hyperscale / Dolittle Publications, and Jesse Marios from Diecast Distributors Australia, where we chatted about various different facets of the hobby industry from models, to paint, to diecast, to publications and more.

 

The weekend came to a close on Sunday and I headed back to the airport, driving an hour to drop off the car, fly back to Melbourne and then drive an hour and a half home to crawl into bed at midnight.

QMHE was great, the entries on the tables were top notch, the club displays were excellent, the venue was bright and vibrant, and I felt very welcomed and included by both the QMHE committee and everyone in general. I’m keen to make the trip up again and be a part of Queensland’s Premier Scale Model Show!

A big thanks to the QMHE committee (Chris & David in particular) for inviting me up to attend the show and allocating some space for the demonstrations and an even bigger thanks for everyone who stopped by and had a chat.

I will leave you with some photos of a few of my favourite entries from the weekend. To see all the photos, check out Tony’s Facebook page ASAP Kustoms here : Facebook

 

Until next time, keep on modelling!

- Scott