[StephenLawson]

If something is preposterous then we tend to overlook any of the macabre images and laugh it off as harmless. In the ‘That can’t possibly happen’ category we have model companies like Aurora or Polar Lights putting out images of our favorite Monsters and their habitats. Monogram was famous for putting 1/24 scale skeletons with some of their hot rods. ‘Lil Coffin’, ‘Boot Hill Express’ and ‘Rommel’s Rod ‘were big sellers. When I developed the idea that modeling clubs are populated by Die hard, AMS afflicted, techno-weenies the words die hard stuck. (I belong to two of them so I am pointing the finger at myself here too.} I asked myself what would happen if the members refused to go home one night. My answer was;
9. ‘The Last meeting of IPMS Ragwing.’ Here we have five die hard modelers in their club house / garage stacked with various kits, doing what they, ah...er, did best. One re-enacter is wearing his coalscuttle and hob nails working on the club transportation. They need after all something to get back and forth to the hobby store, right? One fellow seems to have ‘bought it’ putting the finishing touches on a spiral striped Fokker Dr.I. The fellow I call ‘the stone cutter’ will for ever admire his last bit of work on his partially completed ‘John Phillip Law’ sculpture. If you look closely you’ll even see his masonic ring. In the cockpit of the Sport Flyer Fokker Dr.I we see the club President ‘da Baron’ making those last minute flight checks before he takes off on his final mission. Then lastly we see the boney knees and boots of the R/C enthusiast of the club. Seems the poodle was locked in there for a longgggg time. While immensely funny to many this was just too close to being the truth for others. Having won several awards the real prize was just out of reach. Yes, sadly this diorama has never been given the coveted ‘Lopez Demente’ award by the Albuquerque chapter of the IPMS. (What in the world were they thinking when they gave it to that ‘Toe-Tractor?’) Yeah, you read it right, ‘Toe-Tractor.’ It just proves how subjective judging can really be.