Star Trek Builds And Ice Cream: August Model Show Spotlight

Vendors sold out months early, a Star Trek 60th anniversary category on the awards table, and a full day of plastic modeling in one of the most visitor-friendly spots in north Alabama. We sit down with Tom Clark from the Huntsville Plastic Modelers Society to get the real details on their 49th annual show at the Huntsville JC’s building on Airport Road, including what to expect if you’re traveling in right after the IPMS Nationals.

We walk through the schedule step by step: when vendor setup starts, the registration window, how long judging runs, and when awards are handed out. Tom also explains how their electronic forms work, why the club prefers online paperwork, and how they keep things simple with classic IPMS 1-2-3 judging. If you’re searching for an IPMS USA model contest, a scale model show in Huntsville, or a plastic model event in Alabama with strong vendor support, this is the planning guide you want before you pack the car.

Then we get into the fun stuff: category options across aircraft, armor, automotive, dioramas, real space, sci-fi, ships, and a dedicated Gundam and giant robot section, plus a juniors category that makes it easy for younger builders to jump in. We also talk about the on-site food trucks, nearby restaurants, and why the venue is comfortable for a full-day hang. You’ll even hear what the club is previewing as they recruit volunteers for next year’s big Nationals workload.

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Transcript

Sponsor Spotlight And Community Plug

The Voice of Bob 0:00

The model show spotlight is brought to you by the World of Armor. Communicate, share, and learn with armor modelers worldwide at the World of Armor. If armor modeling is your thing, follow the link in the show notes or at PlasticmodelMojo.com and join the team.

Meet The Guest And The Club

Mike 0:32

It's mono show spotlight time again. I know, I know. And this is this one's kind of special. It is. We got a repeat defender tonight.

Kentucky Dave 0:40

Yeah. Our first repeat defender, I believe.

Mike 0:43

Uh, from the Huntsville Plastic Mauler Society, Mr. Tom Clark. Tom, how are you doing tonight? Hey guys, I'm doing great. What's going on? Uh, we're getting ready for the national convention, but you're probably doing that and getting ready for a show down in Huntsville a little later in the same month, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yes, we are.

Mike 1:01

You're gonna tell us all that. So uh tell us why you're here. Get into the W's of this, the the who and the where and the what, and uh, I guess the why, if you want. The when.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Okay. The when, yeah.

Show Basics Date Location And Theme

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Okay. The the who is Huntsville Plastic Demolage Society, which of course we're we're a chapter of the IPMS USA in Huntsville, Alabama. The what is our 49th annual show, which will be 22nd of August 2026? The where is the Huntsville JC's building in Huntsville, Alabama? That uh that's on 2180 Airport Road. The why is because I guess because we're gluttons for punishment holding this show like right after we get back from the nationals, no week. Yes, we love doing it.

Mike 1:46

It's a book end of the month and uh 49. Yeah, you're getting close to getting close to a big one, a big anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

That is, that's actually that's actually kind of a bone of contention because they're like, well, is the nationals our 50th show or not?

Kentucky Dave 1:59

And so, you know, it's uh I think I would count the nationals as your 50th show.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

We're we're kind of saying, like, this is not our show, that's the IPMS USA show. And so we're we're we're gonna just gonna probably do some fisti-cuffs, which one's 50.

Kentucky Dave 2:12

So sell tickets. Maybe you could have the fight at the nationals in 2027 and sell tickets.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

There we go.

Kentucky Dave 2:22

See, I'm thinking outside of the box for you.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

See, we when we when we propose, we actually propose things. Like we had a Friday night vendor fight for the our 20s, the 27 nationals, you know, as a as another. There you go.

Kentucky Dave 2:33

I think we're getting off top we're getting off topic there, but uh so let's start back at the beginning. The Huntsville Plastic Modelers Society is holding a show. When?

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Where when is the 22nd of August?

Kentucky Dave 2:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

All right. Where is the Huntsville JC's building, 2180 Airport Road, Huntsville, Alabama? So we've got a special category this year of to celebrate the 60th year of boldly going. Okay, so we're we're kind of like Fort Wayne. We're doing a we're doing a Star Trek special category.

The Voice of Bob 3:08

Cool.

Hours Registration And Online Forms

Kentucky Dave 3:09

When does the show open and when does judging happen and when does it close?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

We open at eight for vendor setup. Registration for the contest goes from 9 to 1 p.m. And then judging goes from 1 to 3. And then sometime between 3 and 4 o'clock, we have the awards presentation, and then 5 p.m. is the show close.

Mike 3:33

All right. Is there is there any uh online forms or full-blown online registration? What do you got going there?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, we've got online forms. I've got a link on our Facebook page. Okay, yeah, we'll put that in our show notes and get you get folks there. Matter of fact, I'll I'll send you the link. Thank you. So you can just go right to it. But we have we have all our forms are electronic. You can fill them out electronically and brand. Matter of fact, we prefer you do that because uh actually think we got rid of the multiple form requirements.

Mike 4:00

So well, it usually helps when they're not handwritten.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, yes, the only thing is just kind of be sure the only difference is we've got a form for the contest and a form

Categories Display Tables And Memorial Plans

SPEAKER_01 4:10

for display, and just make sure you're fill filling out which ones for which.

Kentucky Dave 4:13

Right. And so you're doing both display and contest. Now, have you all always done that or have you added that?

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Oh, we've always had a display off by the side. You know, it's it's usually one or two tables. This year, we're probably gonna have a blue bird more. We've had two members pass away over the past year. So when we're gonna have a memorial table outside, no, that's nice.

Mike 4:35

That's very nice. So you got their builds there?

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Some of their builds, and just some some builds that you know people are done to like to commemorate these guys. Okay. Um, you know, we're building them their memory. One guy used to do used to do eggplanes.

Kentucky Dave 4:50

Uh so I remember that.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

We're actually planning on carrying that over to the 27th when we host that as an IPMS. We feel like we're a little late for this year, so we're gonna do this next year. But yeah, it's uh you know, so we usually have a display. Categories besides the special gathering, we have Star Trek themed entries. Uh, we've got the uh the usual suspects, aircraft, armor, auto, and miscellaneous. Miscellaneous kind of includes the ships, real space, sci-fi space. We have a separate Gundam slash giant robot category dioramas, and then just if it doesn't fit anywhere else, it goes here. And a juniors category.

Mike 5:31

So, what are you gonna do for the the Star Trek 60th anniversary theme thing?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Um, well, we're gonna have a uh a separate award for that one. Okay, so yeah, so that's that's anything yeah, got Kirk fighting the Gorn, or you know, that that's a that's a contender. You know, someone builds a diorama or some figures, yeah. We're anything Star Trek related. Someone builds a really good uh phaser prop that could that could win. All right, so it's not just chips.

Food Trucks Nearby Eats And Brew Stop

Kentucky Dave 6:00

Now, as I remember it, you all don't have food on site, or do you now bring in food trucks, or what's the deal?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

This is gonna be for like the second, I think it's like the third year. We're gonna have Fast Frankie's Wicked Eats.

Kentucky Dave 6:15

Oh, okay, good.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

He's a sandwich, has killer sandwiches.

Kentucky Dave 6:19

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah, he does real good. We're also gonna have Golden Year's ice cream truck.

Kentucky Dave 6:25

Sign me up. I love that.

Mike 6:27

Especially if it's hot that day, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah. Um, we'll see how it's going. So we got that covered, and of course, where we are, there are if you don't want that, we pretty much just head out and there's lots of food options.

Kentucky Dave 6:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Nearby. You know, you go down airport road, and there's more restaurants and you can shake a stick at. And and if you want something else, if you go out and you look at about two o'clock from the front door, you'll see back 40 brew group brew company. Whoo, that's hard to say. So that's why we're probably gonna have you probably have our post-contest uh debrief at the at the back 40.

Kentucky Dave 7:02

Now your judging system is classic IPMS one two one, two, three, um with with specific categories, etc. Have you all done anything different in regard to that? I mean, you've got a display area which you've had.

Judging Format And Vendor Sellout

Kentucky Dave 7:22

So has anything changed in the judging at all?

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Nope, we're still uh running the uh the classic IPMS 123. Well, how's your vendor landscape shaping up? We've actually been sold out of tables since like February.

Kentucky Dave 7:36

Wow, that's impressive.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

So we've got like 60 vendor cables. All right. Um, I have to check, you see, bring up maybe one or two changes, but you know, people having to cancel or whatever. But yeah, we were we were really shocked how fast. And uh I have to think it had something to do with the fact that we've got the nationals.

Kentucky Dave 7:54

Well, and I would have I would have been a little concerned with it being so close to this year's nationals and not that far away, both in space and time. I would have been a little worried, but that's a that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

We've kind of had this for for years, and you know, when we do like the mid to late August, it doesn't really seem to impact us, honestly. Um I mean, I think one of our our best years ever was like the weekend after the Nats, and people just came out of the woodwork.

Mike 8:25

Yeah, I would think so. I don't think the the overlap's probably not as big as you might assume it might be.

Kentucky Dave 8:30

Well, I'll tell you, I I do have fond memories back when you all had your show the first weekend in October. Yeah. Because that was just Huntsville's weather the first weekend in October is darn near perfect. And they would open the building up, and it was just, I will tell you, I really miss that that experience.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I kind of I'm right there with you, Dave, but apparently there's somebody who's doing like Oktoberfest in October of all things, you know. So and honestly, we we kind of like this one just because this is like the last weekend before college football starts up.

Mike 9:13

Yep. And then then Saturdays get a lot more busy.

Kentucky Dave 9:17

Oh, in the South, that means a lot.

Mike 9:19

Yeah, Saturdays get busy real quick when that happens, right? For me included, so so yeah, I understand that completely.

Entry Fees Raffles And Big Prizes

SPEAKER_01 9:28

So basically to get in, so if you're just coming in, getting in is free. We don't charge admission.

Kentucky Dave 9:34

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

For uh, if you're entering, it's ten dollars for the first five models and then a dollar for each additional model. And we have a I can't remember, there is a discount for my PMS members. Good, thank you. So uh juniors, we just do a dollar per model up to three models. So you can enter as many models as you want for three bucks for a junior. Also, this year, we've really got a uh, I think I got a really good raffle. Mike, our uh our guy who's the uh who's got the Ms with the industry has been out shaking the trees. And uh he got a couple of really big boxes from a uh from a distributor that's in my storage unit. Won't let me look inside. So and some of us were were when mega hobbies was having their blowout. You know, when they were having their going out of business sale. There was a lot, we were there. I mean let's say there was a lot of impulse buying, and now you're looking at us like, what did I buy this for? So some of those may end up in the uh in the raffle.

Kentucky Dave 10:34

I feel that. I feel seen as the kids say.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

So we're so we're gonna have two raffles. We got the regular raffle, dollar ticket. For $5, you get six tickets. And then we're gonna have you know, high-end items, we're gonna have special raffle, five dollars each. $25 gets you six tickets.

Kentucky Dave 10:52

So yeah, I think more and more clubs are doing that or going to a separate higher cost, higher end item raffle, airbrushes, big expensive kits, uh, you know, the big 16 scale kits and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think we're seeing that a lot more. So is there anything else you're doing different this year that you all want to feature?

Nationals Preview Volunteer Recruiting And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 11:20

The only thing really is we're we are basically going to have our nationals preview table. So you know, we're gonna have all our our, you know, if you if you're if you've been to nationals, you'll see our table. Um you know, we're gonna have that table set up, manning it. You know, biggest thing I think from here is we're recruiting people to be volunteers next year.

Kentucky Dave 11:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Always need that. Uh one of the things I'm I'm really proud of is, you know, to reflect Huntsville's space heritage. We went to one of our guys and he built a uh one-to-one version of Explorer One. Oh, wow. He knocked it out of the park. It is it is amazing. You'll see it up at NATS.

Kentucky Dave 11:56

Well, I can't wait to see that.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

He did an amazing job on it with 3D printing, PVC pipe, and uh, and painting. He it looks awesome. It looks almost like the real thing. So uh we're real proud of him for doing that. It's gonna be we're we're looking forward to it again. So, you know, it's we're kind of you know, we kind of thought, well, we're gonna do anything in 27, and we're like, no, we're not gonna do that. You know, we're gonna be up to our to our butts and alligators enough as it is. Thank you very much. Sure. So, you know, everybody come and see what we're we're planning on when we hold our show. We if you're at the net at the nets, you can see when we have at our show. And I guess we're like I said, we're planning to be at y'all's show in September.

Kentucky Dave 12:38

Well, good.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Because I was I was looking, there's actually like four or five shows like right after our show.

Kentucky Dave 12:44

Yep. September is a really big month, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

So there's uh it's so it's like Kurt and I are looking at the schedule. It's like, man, we're gonna be on the road. You know, but we're we're trying to take advantage, we're trying to take advantage of that where we can.

Kentucky Dave 13:00

So Yep, I hear you.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Yeah.

Mike 13:03

All right. Well, won't you give us the uh the date and the location again and the and the club information and uh where they can find your your information and we can wrap it up?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

We are on we are the Huntsville Plastic Demolish Society, and we're holding our 49th annual show that is 22nd of August 2026 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Huntsville JC's building, 2180 Airport Roll Road in Huntsville, Alabama. And the special category is to boldly go celebrating 60 years of Star Trek and registration starts at 9, ends at 1, and awards are through somewhere between three and four.

Mike 13:47

All right. Sounds good, man. All right. We we wish you all the success as we always do. We don't want to see anybody fail at their show, but no being where you guys are, and you know, I think again, I don't think uh there's gonna be much Nats fatigue for you guys, and you're gonna have a good show. Yep.

Kentucky Dave 14:05

And I can't wait to see you all at the Nats.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

That's right.

Kentucky Dave 14:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

All right, man. Looking forward to seeing you guys up there.

Kentucky Dave 14:13

All right. You got it.

Mike 14:19

Well, Dave, I hope folks turn out in great numbers for uh the folks down in Huntsville. And uh man, it's it's a great place to have a show. It's it's good, it's a good location, and uh it's not like their vendor situation is really good. And hey, you could even go see the Space and Rocket Center while you're down there.

Kentucky Dave 14:34

Yep, and I will tell you, I love their facility. It's it's not the biggest building in the world, but like I said, it's a real comfortable, real open place, and it's a great place to hold a model contest.

Mike 14:49

All right, man. Well, we've got your refer nationals, don't we?

Kentucky Dave 14:52

Yeah, yeah. I've got to get stuff cleaned up and organized because I'm gonna have some house guys, man.