Scale Model Challenge 2013 – Review

What a great show!
Last week six monkeys + a cool daddy + a funky trainee made their way to the Netherlands to visit the Scale Model Challange.
Some of us have been last year to SMC 2012 where we had a booth for the first time. But this time we had a jungle! Trees, plush monkeys and bananas! It's crazy how well organized the Scale Model Factory guys are, and they never lose their happy smile.

It's a gigantic hall. No. two halls! A huge shopping area, dozens of club tables, a kids area, a large spacious competition area and for the first time the game zone.
Raffa has a new video camera, so we took opportunity to make some really funky interviews. Soon on MassiveVoodooTV!

If you have never been to a SMC you definitely missed something. So be sure to come next year!

Will the MassiveVoodoo jungle dwellers be there next year? You bet!

And now some personal impressions

Roman
When I was entering the halls of the Scale Model Challenge after a car ride that took forever, but a funny one, I never did my find so impressed by the size of an event.

Finding the Massive Voodoo both ready for preparation on Saturday night was great and speaks for the awesome organisation behind that event. The SMC Team is a crowd of madmen, when it comes to perfect organisation. I even saw yellow robots driving the halls on Sunday during the clean up. During Saturday night we went to a great dinner, played some basketball, got lost in the big complex labyrinths of the hotel several times, enjoyed some drinks at the bar, had some great talks, hunted rabbits out in the parc, got lost in the big complex labyrinths of the hotel several times and partied with nice people to the early morning. Let's say 1+ for that aspect.


Sunday Morning got me surprised again. A healthy breakfast makes you much more powerful than the usual coffee and cigarette I enjoy daily. Powerful, after that night of too many polish lady drinks, we went to see Saturday and the show. Again, Organisation was perfect and this time I did not get lost in the big complex labyrinths of the hotel several times, 1+. Entering the already crowded hall I was massively impressed again. Many clubs appeared, figures in the contest, big light armies from the top roofs, nice people all around, a cool chat here and there, meeting friends from the adventures of the big complex labyrinths of the hotel-quests we had the night before, talking about figures, judging my part, enjoying conversation, meeting old and new friends, chatting about figures, hunting painters for our interviews, recieving a bag full of bananas (YEAAAHH!!!) and much more happened! Really, really, really, really cool time we had. I was happy that many monkey brothers and sisters followed the call of the SMC and the booth was so crowded. Thanks to the SMC Team for this great offer to share our idea of painting!

I really enjoyed some nice days at the SMC, met great people, saw some great modelling and really had an awesome time. I wish there would have been even more of it!

Raffa
When I visited the SMC for the first time last year, we were invited from the organisation to make a Massive Voodoo booth. It was such a great event so we just had to come again to this show (we were also invited again, so how can you recline?).

Before and after the event we were staying at Mareike & Philip's place. No words can describe their kindness and the good feeling you have when beeing around this great couple!
I was really looking forward to this weekend and the event, in the end we were eight people at the booth, six of them from the MV crew... a big family meeting! And also the biggest thing to look forward to.

Apart from that fact, the event is just jaw-droppingly good organized (you will never see any chaos from the organisation which is very good, especially if you are a part of the event. I was judging the Fantasy Standard category and we also managed our MV-booth again and everything we needed from the organisation was there), there is soooo much to see and sooo much to do there... it's insane.
The only critique I have: one day is too short!!!

Apart from the great event, the dinner and meeting in the bar at the evening was just great! So many good talks, so much laughing and fun... It's really like a big family. It doesn't matter if you paint figures, build tanks, jets, boats, propeller planes..... everyone is happy and has a good time!
Every great achievement takes hard work and sacrifices. Ok, maybe that's a little over the top, but driving the car for around 16 hours on one weekend is exhausting. A small sacrifice for such a awesome weekend!

Oli
It was my third year at the Scale Model Challenge and I am still impressed about the size of this event. They really did a great job and a good organization. And so many visitors were there, I think it is an advantage in our hobby, if we connect the historical, fantasy, tanks and dioramas like they do it in that event. Beside that, it was really funny to meet many of my painting friends. I really enjoyed that weekend, Thanks SMC, I think it won't be my last time in Eindhoven ;)



Valérie
I've never heard about the Scale Model Challenge before, I was just basically happy to have the occasion to meet "…-finally-once again-…" my beloved monkey brothers, and was just told before leaving that we would have a big MV booth there, with banana trees and all, and even monkey stuffed animals! Anyway, those 2 only things would have convinced me to go anywhere really, ahahah!! kidding.

...What I could not imagine was how HUGE this contest would be
It would be too long to explain you the whole experience from my window, so I will just keep it in a few words: a very organized organization team that really made us feel at home, unexpected basket ball monkey moves, basing material served at table at the same time than the "buffet", never ending corridors which made any trip to the toilets look like a quest  , many "sudden death" beers (Mort Subite  ) and nice talks, some really stupid interviews with monkey petting and bananas ...so many retailers and minis, sculpting, painting…  Yeah, I definitely had a lot of fun!
Eindhoven is only a 4 hours road trip from Paris and it's really manageable by car. If any french buddy wants to join in next year, you just should not hesitate

Bene
I really enjoyed the Scale Model Challenge. For me it was very fascinating as I'm normally on events, where it is mostly about figures and not so much about scale modelling. So it was a cool new experience to see so many new stuff and aspects I´m not so familiar with in our beloved hobby. It was really a blast for me because it was also one of the bigger (may be the biggest) figure/scale model related event I entered so far. It has a huge area for all the hobby clubs and also a big sales area, where you can get many cool things for our hobby. There is also a pretty cool prepared area for the contest, with many daylight bulbs, so you have nice light when looking at the models.

Unfortunately I had not as much time as I wanted to have, to take a closer look at all the cool stuff which was offered on the SMC. So there wasn´t even really time for me to do some bigger shopping which I had planned to do, because stuff like filming and helping at the booth really kept me busy but it was definately a lot of fun and I enjoyed to do it and to be at the SMC. It was nice to meet many friends again and to meet new ones, especially the saturday evening in the bar was great. And I also have to say a big thank you to Phil and Mareike for their great hospitality in the days around the SMC, it is always nice to have a stay at yours. All in all I just can say that it was a great weekend and I am already looking forward to the next years SMC, I will be there.

Philip
I really love the SMC. It was the event I was looking most forward to this year. We had a MV booth, a super versatile competion, shops over shops and a lot of cool people. What I like most about the SMC is the perfect realisation and that it is so modern. They think of everything. Scale Modellers for tanks, planes and ships, figure painters, historic and fantasy etc etc. Even for the kids. Demos by renowned artists, funny contests and french fries!

To sum up the SMC you could say it's a huge well organized family event with a modern competition and a big nerd supermarket – everything serverd with a happy dutch smile.

Sanne – Jungle Trainee
What a lot of fun we had at the Scale Model Challenge! I couldn't believe the size of the hotel and still have no clue why it needs to be so big that roomnumbers and colours have to be combined to find your way around - which I didn't... I got lost but found some amazing art and great people instead. What a lovely crowd! Thanks for having me!

Galleries and more reviews

Phil's photos
Review on Corvus Miniatures
Report on dieVincis 

... and our video footage from that cool day!
 
If you want to see more event reviews follow this link!