Model Award Winners

      Here are the model award winners at this years G-Fan convention. Highlighted names are linked to pictures. While I tried to canvass the model area, some models were inside acrylic cases which did not photograph well. Others may have been missed (I was trying to attend the show, in addition to take pictures for this page). If anyone has a picture of a model that is listed without a picture, I would appreciate it if you would get me a copy to scan. Thanks to Stan Hyde for this listing, as well as the comments at the end. He takes modeling very seriously and really seems to enjoy the work he puts in on this part of the show. As some of the pictures are large I have set them up to open in a new window. Just change windows or close the new window to return to this page.

BEST OF SHOW (Senior Builder 17+)
1. Larry Brackney - GAMERA VS. LEGION (On Gamera's right leg are scratch built Legion workers that did not show up well in the photo. AW)
2. Mike Wallace - RODAN VS. GODZILLA
3. Tom Tvrdik - DESTROYAH

BEST OF SHOW (Junior Builder to 16 yrs old)
1. Andrew Shields - BIOLLANTE ATTACKS
2. Marc Dunworth - DR. SERIZAWA VISITS G-CON
3. Brandon Shields - BARAGON

Ribbon Classes

DEFEND AGAINST GODZILLA (diorama class)
1. Jeff Marker - MECHA-MOTHRA
2. Brent Knoblock - GODZILLA VS THE THING
3. James Baack - GODZILLA VISITS MAUI

FANTASY KAIJU BATTLES (diorama class)
1. Mike Wallace - RODAN VS. GODZILLA
2. Brent Knoblock - GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE (Brent's kit was included as "fantasy" because of the addition of items like a TERMINATOR 2 "Hunter-Killer" et cetera)
3. William Gillian - GODZILLA AND A DAY IN THE COUNTRY

SCRATCH BUILT KITS (diorama or figure)
1. Marc Dunworth - DR. SERIZAWA AT G-CON
2. Mark Asuras - MECHANI-KONG
3. William Gillian - BARUGON VS. THE BEAR

MOST HUMOUROUS KIT (diorama or figure)
1. Greg Rappan - GODZILLA VS. BAMBI(On the right. AW)
2. Greg Rappan - GODZILLA VS. ROBERTO(Small figure, in the middle. AW)
3. William Gillian - GODZILLA AND A DAY AT THE CIRCUS

TALES OF MONSTER ISLAND (diorama)
1. Marc Dunworth - GOROSAURUS MEETS MOTHRA
(no other prizes in this category)

BEST DIORAMA (senior 17+)
1. Larry Brackney - GAMERA VS. LEGION
2. Greg Rappan - BIOLLANTE
3. Jeff Marker - BEAST FROM THE EAST

BEST DIORAMA (junior to 16 years)
1. Andrew Shields - BIOLLANTE ATTACKS

BEST FIGURE (Large scale - Adult builder)
1. Tom Tvrdik - DESTROYAH
2. Mike Acker - SPACE GODZILLA
3. Patrick J. McGrath - MECHA-GODZILLA '93

BEST FIGURE (Small scale - Adult builder)
1. John Weber - RODAN(On left. AW)
2. Mike Acker - SUPER MECHA GODZILLA(Far right. AW)
3. Mike Blackwell - GODZILLA '84(Far left. AW)

BEST FIGURE (Junior builder)
1. Brandon Shields - BARAGON
2. Joshua Shiver - GODZILLA
3. Aaron Popp - GODZILLA

Whew!

It was extremely difficult to pick "Best of Shows" and work by John Weber, Greg Rappan, and Jeff Marker clearly belonged in the "Best of Show" category - cleary "Master Class" stuff, along with the chosen works by Larry Brackney, Mike Wallace, and Tom Tvrdik. (Maybe we can work out even more prizes, trophies, whatever next year . . .)

The other great thing about this year's convention was that we finally saw a little more cross-over from the Garage Kit hobby fans to the Kaiju fans. Besides doing demos myself on Saturday, I was joined by John Weber and Larry Brackney who took over when I did panel presentations. As well, Larry Brackney covered the show for THE MODELER'S RESOURCE.

We're talking about a whole table of model making demos for next year (and a lot of other improvements as well - such as hitting the ground earlier with the convention announcement. One category that I thought would be a fan favorite - scratchbuild GODZILLA '98 - had no enteries. I think this is more the result of too little lead time annoucing the contest.

However, I think everyone who experienced G-Fan G-Con '97 is looking forward to G-Fan G-Con '98 (including JD who was- I think -kind of dubious before the events started on Friday night) So I figure there'll be more year long committment - which will really pay off when it comes to model programming.

BEST Stan