2016 KAFB Airshow
The Albuquerque Scale Modelers (ASM) conducted a fantastic model display at the Kirtland AFB Airshow on Saturday June 4th and Sunday June 5th, 2016. It was a great way to promote both the club and the hobby of scale modeling. The theme of the model display was the “75th Anniversary of Kirtland AFB (1941 – 2016)” to match the theme of the airshow. We did our best to have all the aircraft that were involved in the history of Kirtland AFB and it’s many missions over the years, plus some models to show what other subjects can be built within the hobby. We started with three tables on Saturday and increased that to four on Sunday, with a total of 70 models being on display. I think we had more planes on our tables than they had on the flight line. Model scales varied from 1/32 to 1/144. We had three huge 1/48 scale aircraft (B-17G, B-24J and B-29A) courtesy of Don Goodrich, that got a lot of attention. Additionally, we had five ASM-built nuclear bomber models on loan via Erik McIntyre from the display at the Nuclear Weapons Heritage Model Display (B-36, B-47, B-50, B-52 and B-2) at the Defense Nuclear Weapons School Museum representing that testing mission at Kirtland AFB. Some pictures of the airshow display are included with this article; more are available on the ASM Website.
ASM was located in a great spot in the center of the display hangar. We had literally thousands of visitors stop by to check out the models, talk about scale modeling, and discuss the history of the aircraft that had been stationed at Kirtland AFB. The parents loved the aircraft and armor whereas the kids loved the science fiction subjects, particularly the Star Wars models and the UFO flying saucers. Actually, most people loved the sci-fi. We had to be fast to stay ahead of the little kids who wanted to touch the models, but luckily we had only a few minor, repairable casualties. Lots of veterans enjoyed seeing their aircraft types in the display and sharing their stories of when they had flown or worked on them. We even had a few people show us cell phone pictures of their ancestors and ask us if we could identify the aircraft in the picture that they had flown or supported, as they wanted to build a model of their planes. I’m happy to say that we were successful with those requests. We also had a few requests to provide some models for additional historical displays, and I’ll talk about those at the next ASM meeting.
We passed out lots of flyers on both ASM and the upcoming New Mexico State Fair Model Contest and encouraged folks to visit our website. It sounded like we might get some attendees at a meeting to check out the club. Additionally, lots of the kids seemed excited to come enter a model at the State Fair, as well as a few adults. It was a lot of fun, and I think we succeeded very well in promoting both the club and the hobby of scale modeling. My sincere thanks to all the ASM members who participated in manning the display and/or loaned models (see alphabetical list below). We were able to have enough folks to watch over the models – a challenge with four tables – and to answer all the questions that came our way. In particular I’d like to thank Victor Maestas, Josh Pals, Matt Blohm, and Larry Glenn who assisted me in the coordination with Kirtland and the initial set-up on Saturday morning.
Matt Blohm, Mike Blohm, Theron Brawley, Jeff Frickstad, Jack Garriss, Larry Glenn, Don Goodrich, Gil Johnson, Bret Kinman, Josh Kinman, Victor Maestas, Jim Mesco, Josh Pals, Ken Piniak, Frank Randall, Andy Rogulich, Dave Tipps
