Not to toot my own horn, but....

[dhanners]

...my 1/96th-scale Atlantis shuttle stack took home a Gold at today's Nordicon, the annual contest sponsored by the Twin City Aero Historians chapter of the IPMS, and that's "P" as in "Plastic."

I entered five models; the Atlantis stack, one of Erik's Delta IIs, Leo's Proton, a Delta 7 Studio Gemini VII and a scratchbuilt Ares 1 in 1/96th scale. There were three plastic kits entered, and two of them took the Silver and the Bronze.

My shuttle also took a Bronze in the contest's theme category. The theme this year was "A date in time," and the date for my model was May 11, 2009, the date of the launch of STS-125, Hubble Servicing Mission 4, which is the one I modeled.

I should also note that Mark Hembree, associate editor of FineScale Modeler magazine, was there with his photo equipment, and left a note by my Delta II saying he wanted to photograph it. The model I built was a Delta II 7925-9.5, the launch vehicle for the MER-A ("Spirit") mission. No idea if it'll ever show up in the magazine or on their website, but it was nice of him to ask. And if it did show up, it'd strike a blow for cardmodelers everywhere.

Here are some photos of my shuttle build. The Orbiter is a Fortezza shuttle, re-sized from 1/100th to 1/96th. I added quite a bit of detail. The External Tank and the Reusable Solid Rocket Motors are scratchbuilt.

(And I should note that before the contest -- and after the photos were taken -- I made a couple of "tweaks" to the model to make it more accurate. Since I built it, I came across a few photos that showed certain sections in better detail than what I had seen before, so I fixed the model to incorporate the more accurate additions.)

[rickstef]

That is some serious horn tooting there David, Congrats on the Gold.

[APA-168]

Congrats, it was certainly very well deserved!

[member_3]

Toot-de-doo!! Bravo and well done!

[Texman]

Well done David!

[Retired_for_now]

In this case - Toot Away. Well justified by the modelling results and the recognition!

Yogi

[Bomarc]

Hell, have the whole brass section blare away!

An outstanding accomplishment, congrats!

Mike

[Padre]

Don't mind "Tooting" here!

[John Bowden]

Damn Fine Work!!

Congratulations on being recognized for your fantastic effort(s).

[willygoat]

Excuse me. I tooted too!!!! :p For you, and that awesome Shuttle :D Nice work

[B-Manic]

Congratulations David. The model is fantastic.

[wag]

I saw it firsthand-well deserved. I wish I'd had more time to stay and enjoy the show but I had other places to go:(.
Wayne

[Dyna-Soar]

If anyone deserves such an award, it's you.

[BARX2]

You do excellent work, David! Congratulations! :)

[the hermit]

you have every right to brag,

nice job :D

[dhanners]

You folks are too kind. My production has been way too low this year. Been recording a CD, so that has taken up a bunch of time. It is almost done, though, and as the Minnesota winter settles in, I've got a project or two I hope to start on. One is Ken's X-15A-2, done in-flight, complete with fuel tanks. Still have a thing or two to think through with how I'll do it, but when I launch into it (no pun intended) I'll post photos. I already know which flight I want to do. Flight No. 2-45-81, flown by Bob Rushworth on July 1, 1966. It was the first flight with full tanks, and it also tested the MA-25S ablative. So aside from scratchbuilding the tanks, I'll also have to do the lower tail -- and I'll have to do it in the reddish color of the ablative. And since I have absolutely zero computer design skills, where most folks would simply re-color something, I'll have to come up with some other idea. But the tanks themselves will be the real bear....

[peter taft]

A beautiful build, and a very well deserved award - Sound of horns being blowed well justified ;)

[kenlwest]

David,

The entire paper modeling world is tooting for joy! A "gold" at a plastics convention - SAYS IT ALL!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I still have the information you sent me on the various flight configurations on the X-15. To celebrate this wonderful victory, I will design the external tank system for your X-15. I promised this a long time ago, but I think this needs to be done sooner than later, and you can be the beta builder if you don't mind. I'm in the middle of the Hustler, but I can squeeze this in for you.

NICE JOB!

Ken

[modelperry]

I shall join in the brass section as well! Congrats!

I had similar success at the Penncon 2009 show yesterday - 7 models, 6 medals (3 bronze, 3 silver). No gold, so your results trump mine!

Paper is starting to be taken seriously again!

Two of my models were photographed at this show to be submitted to IPMS & FineScale. Here's hoping for both of us!

Toot toot

Greg

[dansls1]

Congrats! and nice looking model ;)

[dhanners]

David,

The entire paper modeling world is tooting for joy! A "gold" at a plastics convention - SAYS IT ALL!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I still have the information you sent me on the various flight configurations on the X-15. To celebrate this wonderful victory, I will design the external tank system for your X-15. I promised this a long time ago, but I think this needs to be done sooner than later, and you can be the beta builder if you don't mind. I'm in the middle of the Hustler, but I can squeeze this in for you.

NICE JOB!

Ken

You are much too kind, Ken. If you really want to design something for me, I'd settle for the first X-15, 66670. But since your longer 'A-2 is already out there, I guess the tanks would be helpful, too. Would sure save me a bunch of design work that I'm not skilled enough for.

That said, here are a couple of color plates from the May '07 issue of Scale Aircraft Modeling of the particular X-15A-2 flight I'm talking about.

Still, that shorter, original X-15 would be kinda cool....

[Bomarc]

I've always like the first X-15 in it's '58 roll-out configuration with the "double barrelled" XLR-11's and the striped needle nose, and cool "North American Aviation X-15" graphics on the nose, and Scott Crossfield hanging around, and......

Ooops! Got carried away, sorry....don't mind me.

Mike

[Sakrison]

Toot Away!

[Ekuth]

Hot damn! Well done, dhanners!

Having built the Fortezza myself, I know what amount of work went into that... the engine bells look stunning!

You toot that horn and hard, you deserve it! :D

[Barry]

Well deserved