Dick Davenport Named IPMS/USA Member of the Year

CAMS President Dick Davenport was named Member of the Year for 2023 at the IPMS/USA National Convention in Madison, Wisconsin, this month.

CAMS members had nominated Dick for his work to start and build the club, which has grown exponentially in a few short years. Dick has also encouraged members to participate in regional and national events, including having CAMS as one of the sponsoring clubs the 2026 National Convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

CAMS members also brought back some hardware from the 2024 nationals, with Chris Long taking third in unpainted Gundam for his RX 78-2 Ver 1.5. Chris originally had the kit on the CAMS table in the Tiger Meet (more on that later) but decided to put it in the competition given the few kits in that category.

Brad Shafer also entered his F-4 Phantom that earned some challenge coins, but no recognition from the judges. Brad said he had not anticipated any awards because of some build issues (that none of us saw) but said he plans to fix those for Fort Wayne if not for Hampton, Virginia, in 2025.

The 2024 convention included the first-ever Tiger Meet, a place for clubs and special interest groups to display their work without the pressure of competition. CAMS had a full table of members’ work and was joined by displays such as the Tom Daniel SIG and a group working to build every Viet Nam-era aircraft in 72nd scale.

As of this post, the convention hosts had not released the total display, but between the competition and the Tiger Meet, it was expected to be well more than 3,000 kits.

Best in Show went to a sci-fi kit, a 3D-printed and scratch-built Foundation FTL ship (from a show that apparently none of the CAMS members in attendance had seen) that included full lighting.