Big Surprise!

The Winnebago Auto Modelers Club held its annual Winnebago Area Modelers Classic contest and swap meet today in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I decided to take several scale paper models -- several aircraft and a couple of Apollo spacecraft that I have built from paper kits.

There was no category for paper models, so I would be competing in categories for all media -- plastic, resin, wood, whatever. Before and during the show, I told several friends that competing paper against plastic was a probably a lost cause, and I didn't expect to win any awards.

There were eight judges and each judge chose his favorite model among all the models entered. And everyone at the show voted on their five favorite models with an award to each of the top seven vote-getters. 

Much to my surprise, by 1/35-scale Lunar Excursion Model (Uhu02) received both a Judge's Award and a Top Seven Award. Uh02 released the kit in 1/48 scale; I enlarged it to 1/35. I added interior lighting (LEDs), but sometime during final assembly, the circuit broke.

And my 1/12 Apollo Command Module (Ken West) and Service Module (scratchbuilt) won "Best of Show" for the most votes from everyone in attendance.

I made a sort of acceptance speech, telling the crowd, "I hope the awards you've given me today will bring out more paper scale modelers who will outcompete me at future contests."