Go on then, what did you buy?

Tradition demands that after a trip to a show, everyone posts pictures of the stuff they have bought all over social media. If you don't believe me, just watch any model railway Facebook group this time next week as it fills with "I bought this at Warley" stuff. It's the hunter-gatherers returning to the tribe and showing off thier spoils. 

Anyway, I went to two big shows and didn't come away empty-handed. 

Starting with the classic car show. 

I didn't buy a car. Unless you count a Hot Wheels Baja Bug for three quid. There were plenty of stalls selling model cars, but none could furnish me with a Peugeot 206 sadly. I'd love a model of my old car. There was a possibility of a rally version, but aside from the amount of work required to turn it into a road car, the price was £40 more than I sold my real one for!

The blue box is a 1990s (I think) plastic case for a set of space light bulbs. It's a genuine VW thing and only cost me a tenner. One day, when one of my cars gets back on the road, it will be used to house the correct set of lamps that I always like to carry in the car. 

Moving on the IPMS show, things got a lot more serious. No-one treks all the way to Telford without plans to carry at least one box out with them. Looking at the crowd, it seems many were stocking up for a years worth of modelling, which makes sense as there's plenty to choose from. 

I had decided that a "proper" kit would be coming back with me. There was nothing specific in my head, a little impusle buying was in order. As you know, I like all sorts of modelling, so a railway kit wasn't on the cards, but anything else was. 

The proper purchase is a Mini-Art 1/35 scale kit for a Bulldog tractor. Lots of reasons for this - for a start, a Bulldog plays a pivotal role in my first novel. This was inspired by the prototype being part of the tractor collection on the farm my model boat and railway club are located on. Importantly, this is the sport version, as used in the book. Also, Mini-Art are based in Ukraine, and so this is a little bit of support. And many years ago, they sent me a load of building kits for mag projects. Oh, and they are really cracking kits too. 

A more random purchase is the ARII Ghost Box, and obselete (I think) operating money box kit. I've never built one, but it looks fun. There's a motor in there, so some operation is in store. 

And then there is some weird stuff. One stand had some huge boxes of Japanese Manga (I think) kits for four quid a pop. I've never built anything like this, but you know I love the unusual, so I came away with three. They are completely useless to me, but hopefully, fun. That's what it's all about. 

Interestingly, I found myself in conversation with someone who jokingly suggested that the show was responsible for vast amounts of the infamous plastic waste we are all worried about. I reasured him this isn't the case. Plastic yogurt pots are a problem - used once and they end up in the bin after a life of a few days. Plastic kits are lovinly built and displayed, generally not being thrown away. And anyway, quite a lot of them end up on lofts acting as insulation...

Apart from this, there are a couple of whitemetal kits for a mag feature, a free aeroplane card kit from a blog reader (Thank you!), several boxes of knock-off Lego models for fun Christmas presents and a pack of Non Metalic metal paints for me to try. All good fun!