Plastic & Steel 2014

The first weekend of October brings us the Belgian Nationals ... for one reason or another named Plastic & Steel   It's a one hour drive for me   Taking me to the other side of Brussels   Arriving shortly after noon   Entrance fee was 4 euro   The show usually has some military hardware thrown in   A Peugeot P4 in French army colors   A mighty Humvee   The big hall even offers space for a miniature tramway   Several R/C tanks in all scales were targetting the public, especially children   The IPMS Belgium booth promoting the hobby   Including a space display   Remembering our national carrier Sabena   There was also attention for World War I   With an interesting Timeline   And including some souvenirs   ... and models of course   There were also many clubs and vendors   A small Star Wars tribute   A large airport diorama with a lot of airliners   The R/C truck corner   One of the model clubs had a nice classic truck display   Including this fabulous Fiat 180   Mostly scratch build   Time to have a look at the contest - starting with the aircraft (tables in the front)   I liked the weathering on this 1/48 scale Shenyang Y-6   The smallest aircraft in the competition : 1/144 scale X-35B   Fascinating work on an 1/72 scale Esci F-100D   1/48 scale aggressor TA-45 Skyhawk   A very nice 1/48 scale Gloster Meteor in What If Brazilian Air Force colors   Another whiffer was this 1/48 scale Mexican Navy Rafale N   Staying with Rafales - with this clever "Buddy refueling" display in 1/48 scale   Boeing 747-800 in maiden flight colors - from Zvezda (1/144 scale)   1/144 scale KLM Boeing 747-406 in landing roll, a heavily reworked Revell kit   Another 1/144 scale airliner - but noticeably smaller - was this Boeing 737-100 from Air California   Something quite unusual - a Focke Wulf F.19a Ente (1/72 scale)   CH-46E Bull Frog - in 1/48 scale   1/72 scale Hawker Hurricane Mk.I wearing the national colors   By far the weirdest duck in the contest : the Kalinin K-12 in 1/72 scale from Classic Planes   1/48 scale Wessex HAS.3 - from Italeri, with 1980 Royal Navy Xtradecal markings   Released not that long ago - the HK Models 1/32 scale Pfeil   A big model - of a big aircraft   1/72 scale BV P208 in an inspiring camo scheme - for the Botswana Defence Force Air Wing no less   F-18C Golden Dragon Hornet coming in (1/32 scale)   1/32 scale P-51B Mustang - from Trumpeter   The Revell Me-109G-10 (1/32 scale)...   ... with the pilot racing for take off   A small 1/144 scale 2011 Tiger Meet ECR Tornado   This contest also has a category for collections, consisting of minimum 4 "themed" models This collection consisted of post war Belgian Air Force Jets   With 3 Belgian Hasegawa F-104s, including a trainer   Anoter collection of Post War Belgian Air Force aircraft   Including a Minicraft 1/48 scale Piper L-18 Super Cub   "Souvenirs du Coxyde" - 1/72 scale Seaking RS04 of the Belgian Air Force   Lockheed P-38L-5-L of the 474 Fighter Group (429FS) - when based at Florennes, a Belgian air base   "Hot Shots" - 1/72 scale Gnat   "Desert Crash" - with a Macchi Mc.202 which had seen better days (1/72 scale)   "Coquetier" (Egg cup) - with an 'unlucky' MiG-15   "Geisha Dreamings" (sic) - with an F-15   A VW Kübel collection - in 1/35 scale   Kübelwagen Typ 139 (1/35 scale) - also known as the "Holzbrenner" (Wood-burning) Kübelwagen Note the basket with wood   Kübelwagen Typ 82.1 (1/35 scale) - or the Kübelwagen Radio Car   "La derniere charge" - a diorama with a Tamiya I-400 submarine (1/700 scale)   Tamiya 1/350 scale HMS Prince of Wales - in May 1941 configuration   There were about 50 models in the military vehicles categories   "New Toy" - an interesting 1/35 scale diorama with a panther tank in allied (US) markings   "Ardennes" - with a captured SdKfz 250   AMX AUF1 with a 155mm gun (1/35 scale from Meng)   1/35 scale M-48 of the German army (Revell)   "Running Wild" by Dimitri Soultanias - or what you can do with the Airfix 1/76 scale JS-III tank Note bambi   British 8 inch Gun Mk.II WWI heavy gun (1/35 scale)   A39 Tortoise (1/35 scale) in operational What If markings   1/35 scale previously owned Whippet Mk.A   T-34/76 "Bergepanzer" in 1/35 scale   T-26-T artillery tractor & 76.2mm M1936 F22 Divisional gun (1/35 scale)   1/35 scale Jagdpanther   1/72 scale Ford GPA as an ambulance   1/72 JPK-90 - of the Belgian army   "Bitter fruit" - an 1/35 scale diorama featuring a British Bren Gun Carrier being welcomed by French troops   There was a lot of nice, small detail in this diorama   "Belle prise - Hongrie 1945" (Nice catch - Hungary 1945) - dio in 1/72 scale   1/35 scale Renault FT-17   Very colorful T-34/85 in Cuban markings (1/72 scale)   SdKfz 250/1 (1/35 scale)   1/35 scale - Asanace   "Tout rouille" (all rusty) - a 1/24 scale Mustang - hoping for better times   Never thought a bike would be one day my show favorite... But here it is - a Red Baron bike (1/12 scale I believe)... and the thing really exists !   Moving over to the figure categories   "The partisan"   Boromir bust - from Knight Models   "Le chat et la souris" (the cat and the mouse)   "1839-1876" - a 54mm figure   "Iron brigade"   After taking all these pictures - it was time for a reward   Many vendors - from Belgium...   ... and abroad - like the Czech guys from Aires   New and old kits   Maybe I should get a vac this time ?   Or maybe something to read   Many tempting promotions   I bought some WW-I literature from Osprey   I don't have the new A-Model Dornier Do-26 yet...   Hmmm... only jets...   Aha... newly released Dujin kits (as FSC Dujin now)...   And lo and behold - I discovered a Tom-M Sopwith Dolphin   ... together with a rare Pegasus Macchi M.5 kit - for a reasonable price (12 euro)   I drove home, a happy man   All comments, remarks, suggestions and especially corrections are welcome Thank you

William De Coster / Belgium e-mail  Last update : 12 October 2014