‘Whatever you want to do, it’s out there’: Burnaby show celebrates scale models

More than 600 scale models were on display in Burnaby Saturday at the International Plastic Modellers Society of Vancouver‘s Scale Model Fest.

Everything from photorealistic recreations of military vehicles to real-world models of fictional anime robots – with a smattering of muscle cars, trains and dioramas in between – could be seen at the Bonsor Recreation Complex.

“You can make a model out of anything you want, anything you desire, anything you can design,” said IPMS Vancouver member Dave Rowe.

“Whatever you want to do, it’s out there. Whatever you can imagine, you can make a model of it.”

The IPMS started in the U.K. in the 1960s, according to Rowe, who said the Vancouver chapter has been active since the early 1970s and has held a show more or less annually since then.

While many scale model enthusiasts are “old guys” who’ve been involved in the hobby for decades, Rowe said, there’s also been an influx of younger people in recent years. Science fiction and fantasy models, in particular, have been an area of growth.

Rowe characterized Saturday’s turnout, with “several hundred” different modellers showcasing their work, as “fantastic,” adding that the group is always looking for new members.

“The great thing about it is you can come in at any level,” he said. “I like to say it’s like, you pick up a guitar, you can learn three chords and be perfectly happy, or you can practice 10,000 hours and be Jimi Hendrix. I’m a little more three-chord, but there’s a lot of Jimi Hendrix out here on the tables.”

In addition to providing an opportunity for modellers to show off their work, Saturday’s event was a competition, with judging categories including aircraft, armour, cars, motorcycles, trucks, dinosaurs, nautical vessels and more.

Modellers CTV News spoke to said they had spent years working on the pieces they displayed Saturday.

“Too many hours,” said Brad Johnson when CTV News asked how much time he put into his submission.

“Many, many hours, but good hours. It was inspired by a car that my father had. That’s been my model-building lately. After he passed, I started building cars we had as a family. This one I tricked out, though. It’s not the way my dad drove it, for sure.”

Rowe said he had spoken to one modeller who had spent roughly 500 hours just on the paint job for a one-25th scale model car.

“The amount of detail depends on the modeller,” he said. “Again, you can go as far as you want or you can go as simple as you want. You can do it however you like. It’s your hobby.”