The South Australian Plastic Modellers Association (SAPMA) held the 41^st South Australian Model Expo over the weekend of September 28^th & 29^th 2024.

It was an early start on the Friday, leaving home at 4:30am to travel west to Adelaide as we once again hit the road and travelled over to be a part of the show.

Rolling in to the City of Churches just after 11am, first stop was to see our friends at Hobby Habit in Melrose Park, to drop off a restock order for them and to catch up to see how everything is going.

Hobby Habit is considered to be the largest hobby store (across 2 locations) in Adelaide, stocking a wide range of hobby products including our full range of paints.

I also managed to find a couple of the new Oz Wheels 1/64 scale diecast cars that feature our logo on the rear panel!

Next stop was to Military Hobbies in Unley to catch up with new owner John Harris, to see how he is settling in. Military Hobbies is focused on miniatures and tabletop products such as Warhammer, Star Wars Legion and the like, as well as a selection of military focused model kits, King & Country Toy Soldiers, and a large selection of our paint range as well.

After I checked into the hotel, it was time to head across to the John Dunning Centre at the Prince Albert College to set up our trade stand and to enter the 14 models I took into the competition (7 cars, 6 dinosaurs, and 1 miniature).

Saturday kicked off strong with many people through the doors in the morning, dropping off entries and checking out the show. The AFL Grand Final was also happening that afternoon, and while we expected to see a dip in the crowd Saturday afternoon, it never eventuated, and the crowds stayed strong and steady all day.

Sunday then rolled around and I was pleased to see that two of my entries won prizes, with 1^st in the Animal Kingdom category with my Dimetrodon, and a Highly Commended in Gaming Miniatures for my Frank Horrigan mini from the Fallout Wasteland Warfare tabletop game.

Sunday morning was quiet at the show (as is normal for all shows) but got very busy again after lunch when everyone started coming back to grab those last-minute deals from the traders and collect their entries.

With the show wrapping up with the awards ceremony, I packed up our stand, loaded the ute, and got back on the road home at around 4:15pm.

After what felt like a long drive home, I pulled into the driveway at home at 11:55pm, greeted by my family and a very excited Border Collie who were happy to see me home safe.

The weekend was very successful for all involved by all accounts, it definitely was for us. Not only did we do a roaring trade across both days, we caught up with a lot of our great friends and met a lot of new ones too. Thank you to all of you who came by and said hello – it was great to meet all the new faces that we have only known through Facebook and Instagram. And a huge thank you to the SAPMA club for once again hosting us at the show. We look forward to being there for 2025!

One more show is left for us now for this year, with ScaleACT in Canberra coming up in early November. We will be there as usual, so please come say hello if you are coming.

I’ll leave you with a selection of some favourites from the show and remember, keep on modelling!

- Scott