Here (finally) is my show report on the California Show in March of this year. There are exactly 300 photos in the events gallery but most of them are present in the report (and faster to view as well).

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

I thought the show was great this year, glad to have seen Jim and Charles. Hope to see you all again.

Great work getting this posted Jim. It makes it almost like being there. Not quite, but almost.

For those out there who are a little slow, like me, and wish for a slide show of this most of these photos will include a way to go to the next pic. Just put your mouse on the right side of the photo and a little icon will pop up for Next. It took me a while to figure this out, but once I did it really increased the fun of looking at the photos.

As usual the quality of work is fantastic. John Rosengrants gets better and better,Bill Horan as always is great.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the KKK dio, It took alot of guts to build and it took some guts for the judges to allow it to compete. In our current world of PC, I don't know if most contests would allow such a piece. I would have liked to have been there to see reactions.
Not trying to stir anything up, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong,but does anyone have a thought about this kind of work?
Thanks for the report JIm, I'll be looking forward to next years show.
Regards
Peter

Outstanding work really great to see

Jerry

Some amazing work there, the mountain trapper has goto to be the most lifelike figure I've ever seen...the face looks like it could almost come directly from a photograph.

The reaction was quite positive by the judges and the general public. This dio was awarded the "People's Choice" award which was done by ballot vote from each person who purchased admittance to the show.
On a personal note, this dio is a beautiful piece of artwork that depicts a time in that was an unfortunate reality of our history. I don't know that this piece would be comfortable in someone's living room (on a bookshelf?) but it certainly would be appropriate in a museum or a collection. This piece was done so well that even though it wasn't a "happy subject diorama" one couldn't help but be impressed with the attention to detail. I have no issues with a piece like this (or indeed other serious subject matter) when it is executed in such an artistic manner. Kudos to Bob Tavis for tackling such a grim subject and pulling it off so perfectly.
Cheers,
Charles

Thanks for the response, the piece looked quite well thought out and detailed, I'd love to see it in person.
Thanks for your input
Regards
Peter

Thanks for sharing Jim. There were some really cool items at that show. I would like to be able to attend one of them myself one of these days.

Thanks again,

HARV

who did the panther diorama in the teaser pic on the main page? and were the infantry figures used in it originals? or are they avalible from one of the manufactures?

oops, John Rosengrant is one of the answers i'm looking for...