[Sakrison]

I entered my Uhu02 LEM and my 1/16-scale Merlin engine in the Mad City IPMS annual contest last weekend in Madison, WI. I also displayed my GPM Bismarck, though I did not enter it.

I heard a lot of the usual comments, such as, "I had no idea you could to that in paper!" or just "That's plastic, isn't it?" And I handed out a bunch of my flyers, "Getting Started in Paper Modeling."

For promoting our hobby to some dedicated scale modelers from all over the Midwest, it was a success. If nothing else, a lot of those folks will take paper modeling seriously for the first time.

I won a ribbon for my Merlin, and that was a little embarrassing, since I was the only person with models entered in the paper model category. An award seems kind of irrelevant when I'm competing against nobody. But I guess it is recognition of the model's integrity.

At least IPMS is starting to take us seriously and to include a contest category for paper. A couple of the judges admitted to me, however, that they really weren't sure how to judge paper models. Maybe I can help.

I certainly had a good time, received a lot of compliments, and spread the word.