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 16th 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...

The Australian Model Expo (now in it's 41st year in 2024) was once again held over the King's Birthday long weekend in Victoria. Model Expo brings many of Australia's top modellers into one space to be a part of what is considered by many to be Australia's Premier scale modelling event.  We once again took part in the event both as a sponsor and as a trader as we have done for many years now, heading down on the Friday to set up our trade table and to enter some models into the competition.  We were setup next to our friends from Monocure 3D, the leading manufacturer of 3D printing resin in Australia. This was the first time Charlie from Monocure and Tim from Dungeon Labs had attended Model Expo and they were greeted with an overwhelmingly positive reception from everyone who spoke with them over the weekend.  There have...

Over the weekend of May 25 and 26, 2024, the Illawarra Plastic Modellers Association (IPMA) held their annual scale model competition at the Illawarra Sports Centre in Berkely, a suburb of Wollongong, New South Wales.  We have been attending this show for a number of years now, and once again, we made the 10 hour drive to attend the show both as a trader and an entrant into the competition.  We took a selection of our paints and products to sell with our long time retailer, Rob Starkey of Star Hobbies, also attending with our entire range, along with new retailer Andrew Fulton of Fulbore Models who had a small selection of our range also. So between the three of us, the entire SMS range was available to purchase across the two days of the show.  ABOVE : Star Hobbies stand with our paints on show Whilst the entry numbers...

The guys at Diecast Distributors Australia (DDA) recently sent us a sample of the new 1/24 scale XY Ford Falcon to build for promo purposes, so let's take a first look at what's in the box!  The boxart is in the same style as the first DDA kits releases (the HQ & HJ Holdens), with the built kit up front and centre with a reflection underneath it of a painted version.  The sides also feature the same styling of the wire frame design.  And the underside features the sprue layouts again also, a handy way to quickly check the kit contents without having to open the box.  And finally, the display box returns with some new internal artwork Looking at the main body, it is a well molded piece, with no flash, no seams and a flawless surface which will mean that our Auto Colours will be able to go...