Casey Rupley (webmaster)

ASM Model Display at the 2025 Air Force Ball

By Mike Blohm

ASM conducted a model display at the 78th Anniversary Air Force Ball that was held on Saturday, September 27th at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque. This was ASM’s seventh display at the AF Ball event and this year’s display was great and record-setting. The event celebrates the anniversary of the US Air Force becoming a separate service on September 18, 1947. Our display theme was “USAF 1947 to the Present.” We also added a new section on the “Evolution of the USAF from World War I through World War II” in order to highlight significant aircraft and personnel in the U.S. Air Service and the Army Air Corps during that foundational period. We included the WW II Bombardier School at Albuquerque Army Air Base (AAB) and its associated aircraft in that section. More on these later.  

We displayed 145 total models on six large tables in two groups of three (probably 36 total feet). This was both a new record for an AF Ball event and also a new record for any ASM model display. This display beat out the previous mark at the Albuquerque Comic Expo display back in 2014. We brought 41 tubs and boxes of models that filled three vehicles. We almost used everything that we brought. Like last year, we were located in the event ballroom against the back wall facing the stage, and the attendees all passed by the display as they lined up to purchase beverages at each end of the back wall. So – we had lots of lookers and discussions with the attendees throughout the event. Pictures 1-17 show the set-up and pics 18‑22 show portions of the event.

The groupings for the display on the left set of tables included from left to right: “Evolution of the USAF” (15 models), Korean War (12), Viet Nam War (13), Strategic Air Command (SAC) including cruise missiles, intermediate range ballistic missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (20), Air Defense Command (ADC) (6), and the Military Airlift Command (MAC)/Air Mobility Command (AMC) (6). See pics 23-25. The SAC group included the B-29 “Enola Gay” in 1/144 scale that I completed just in time for the September displays. Frank Randall built a C-123 this year to use in the MAC/AMC group. We also had some newly displayed models in the WWI and ADC groups from Len Faulconer (Nieuport 28, SPAD XIII, F-89D, and RF-101A); in the Korea and MAC/AMC groups from David Epstein (B-45 and C-130J Super Hercules); and the Viet Nam group by Bob Henderson (F-105F). Mike Blohm and Peter Rechkemmer manned these tables.

The right set of tables included: space program vehicles (10) and experimental aircraft (10), “What is Scale Modeling/What’s in the Model Box,” modern aircraft post-Viet Nam and from Desert Storm through Afghanistan (22), and finally aircraft of Kirtland AFB and New Mexico (17). See pics 26-29. Newly displayed models included a F-105D by Frank Randall, an F-35 by Don Gatewood, a 1/32 F‑16C of the NM ANG “Tacos” by Adrian Montano, a 1/32 F-15C by Brian Peck, a F-84F in “Thunderbirds” scheme by David Epstein, an F-100A of the NM ANG “Tacos” by Len Faulconer that accidently shot down a B-52, and a RB-57F by Victor Maestas that was assigned at Kirtland AFB for high-altitude air sampling and radiation detection in support of nuclear test monitoring. Matt Blohm and Brian Peck manned these tables.

The new “Evolution of the USAF” section (pic 31) included signage and aircraft of 1) The U.S. Air Service in WWI: Eddie Rickenbacker’s Nieuport 28 and SPAD XIII, Frank Luke’s SPAD XIII, and Raoul Lufberry’s Nieuport 17 with the Lafayette Escadrille;
2) Aircraft of the 1920 and 30’s: P-26 and P-35; and
3) The U.S. Army Air Corps in the 1940s: P-38H, P-39, P-40N, P-47D, P-51D, and a B-25B representing the Doolittle Raiders. The P-38H model highlighted Captain Danny Roberts, “New Mexico’s Fighter Ace” who was a leading ace in the Pacific Theater with 14 victories before he was killed in action on November 19, 1943. See pic 32 showing his aircraft and biography for more details on his career. The Albuquerque AAB Bombardier School vignette (pic 33) included an AT-11 “Kansan” bombardier trainer aircraft (newly completed by me for our displays this September), a B-17F “Flying Fortress,” and a B-24 “Liberator” all in 1/72 scale. We will likely keep this new section but we may need to add two more tables (one on each side) to better display all the models.

We had a lot of conversations with the attendees, probably more than in recent years. There was a large group of young aircraft maintainers that were happy to see their aircraft and asked lots of questions. See pictures 34-41.

The display was set-up and manned by Brian Peck, Peter Reckhemmer, and Matt and Mike Blohm. As usual the display took about one and a half hours to set up–putting models into the correct grouping and lots of info tags to put out–and about one hour to take down. We did get a full dinner this year thanks to Peter. Models were provided by Frank Randall, Don Gatewood, Victor Maestas, Brian Peck, Len Faulconer, Bob Henderson, Steve Brodeur, David Epstein, and Matt and Mike Blohm. Thanks to all who participated and loaned models. Thanks to Hobby Proz for letting us stage the model tubs at the shop. Please contact me if you are interested in building models to fill out the aircraft types that we still need for the display, including the 1920-30’s period. My own priorities for the 2026 displays will be finishing my 1/144 scale B-36, MC-130J Commando II, and C-133 with a Thor IRBM.

ASM was thanked for providing the model display during the final wrap-up of the event. In summary, we had a great time and successfully promoted the hobby of scale modeling, and provided service to the community. We passed out some ASM promo sheets so perhaps we might get some new members.