Plastic & Steel 2015

A busy life made me wonder if I would visit this show ... but I did, planning to make it a short visit   I left around 11AM for a 1 hour drive east   Taking me to the other side of Brussels   Arriving at noon   Entrance fee was 4 euro   Many club stands   From Belgium and abroad   Where you could see people at work on their latest creation   A big civilian airliners collection was on show too   Caravelle in focus   There were several visiting model clubs from the UK   And they had brought 1/72 scale Airfix Valiants with them   So I could study the cockpit area - for my never ending 1/144 scale build   Aerobatic Display Teams SIG   Modelbouw Club Willebroek   Time to check out the 4 tables of the contest area   Starting with the aircraft categories   ... and starting big I think this is the first time I saw a 1/72 scale B-52 in a contest   1/144 scale DC-10-30 in Air Zaïre markings How exotic can you get ?   1/48 scale Alpha Jet - in Belgian markings   1/48 scale Fouga Magister - in (surprise, surprise) Belgian markings   1/48 scale Me-262   Nice clean 1/48 scale F-51 Mustang   Dornier Do-X with interior lights - making a soft landing (1/144 scale) Note the spinning props - and the wing tip lights   A big model was this 1/100 scale Sabena DC-10-30CF... in a landing roll Note the flaps !   Another nice clean P-51 Mustang - this time in 1/72 scale though   1/35 scale Cobra helicopter diorama - somewhere in Iraq   "Paper Tiger" - 1/72 scale Tiger Meet Zlin Z-226   1/72 scale Breguet XIV A2 - in Belgian markings   1/72 scale Heinkel He-70 - with open doors (at the other side - barely visible)   Belgian Air Force Mirage V (1/72 scale)   1/72 scale Brewster Buffalo   1/72 scale Czech Air Force MiG-23BN   1/32 scale AEG G.IV   1/144 scale Rafale B - in a special scheme   1/48 scale Fairey Swordfish   Another exotic type - an 1/48 scale Fw-189B   Marvelous "whiffer" - Douglas Devastator floatplane - in Turkish markings (1/48 scale)   1/72 scale Short Stirling diorama In memory of BF513/AA-E from 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF - which crashed at Regnissart, Belgium on April 15th 1943   Moving over to the table with the military vehicles...   Classic 1/72 scale AMX-13 from Heller   Excellent paint work on this SdKfz 234/4 in 1/72 scale   1/72 scale Panther Zwilling Flakpanzer   I loved this World War I Latil TAR heavy tractor towing a 155mm GPF canon - in 1/35 scale   1/35 scale Hetzer diorama   1/72 scale Opel Blitz in troubles   1/72 scale Command Car in Afrika Korps markings   1/35 scale BT-7 in a colorfull diorama   "Koursk 1943" - 1/35 scale   1/35 scale Lorraine 37L with 47mm SA-37 AT-gun   "Ieper" - in 1/35 scale   1/35 scale M-47 Patton - in French markings   1/35 scale Dingo 2   "Renault 4" diorama - in 1/24 scale   1/24 scale Volvo truck - Vuylsteke transport company   1/24 scale Porsche 917L   1/32 scale Harvard - in attractive Belgian markings   1/32 scale X-15   1/32 scale Dora   "KJ"   "The Clockworks Pub"   ... with a touch of Steam Punk - note the arm !   GI soldier   Green devil Vietnam   Terminator   Viking   The Offering   Carmine Galante - "The Cigar"   James H Doolittle   "The Sutleress"   "The Last Survivors"   Z class destroyer on the way   "Marina Italia"   ... which was the biggest diorama in the contest   M.A.S. 568 classe "500" 4th series ... note the human torpedo   1/700 scale Liberty ship   RAF rescue boat and a Me-263 in troubles (1/72 scale)   "The stud & the stud muffin"   "Ratte 1000" diorama... showing very well the size of this beast   "Napoleonic ambulance"   Mirage III eggplane   Time to see if there was something on the market that could meet my freshly found inspiration Special Hobby (Czech Republic) - who were for the first time in Belgium I believe   And they had brought the new Letov and Gnat kits with them   MMK from the Czech Republic   Vacs for sale - at 1 euro / piece !   New Airfix kits   One of my favorite sellers was back at this show : Classic Plane from Germany   With many rare and interesting kits   I was happy to see the Junkers Ju-90 was released again - slightly improved ... which was unresistable   Modell Trans Modellbau - also from Germany - with a lot of rare small scale (resin) armor...   Aviation bookstore from the UK   ... tempting... tempting... tempting...   Syhart Decals from France   PJ Productions from Belgium   Airdoc from the UK - with a lot of 1/48 scale jet power   The ever friendly Mel - from S and M Models - from the UK   He had his new injected Percival Provost on show (in the clear plastic bags) - though not yet for sale But I can tell you it is a very beautiful, splendid little kit   And I picked up his 144 scale VC-10 MR.1 conversion   SBS Models - from Hungary   Second hand kits for reasonable prices   I scored a vac kit which I was looking for (at a reasonable price !) - for close to 20 years ... 10 euro   Airliners for sale   And cars ... even very familiar cars !   And an 1/48 scale Douglas Devastator floatplane - wow !!!   The show usually also has some classic cars on show   This time there were also a few classic bikes   I drove home - three hours later then planned - but as a happy man   All comments, remarks, suggestions and especially corrections are welcome Thank you

William De Coster / Belgium e-mail  Last update : 4 October 2015