Rob and Steve watch as John Zizolfo and 1Zero exchange salutes.

Jay Adan, relaxing in the Lizard Lounge

1Zero's reaction to meeting Rob face-to-face for the first time.

Kirk Schermerhorn and Steve "CultTVMan" Iverson prowling the dealers room.

Terry "TER-OR" Miesle.

Paparazzi stalk Jay (left) and Rob through the dealers room.

The Federation Models' table.

John Douglass' scratchbuilt "Blighty Fighter"

Evelio Mora's gold award-winning Krote.

Marc King's Podracer Diorama.

Close-up of another fine pod (Edward Bagwell's bronze winner).

ISS dreadnaught based on Enterprise-A.

Contrasting metallic panels and unique base made John Pattison's Glencoe UFO an eyecatcher.

John Larson's extensively re-painted Estes Trade Federation Battleship.

Golem, up close.

This ship, by John Douglass, was inspired by the Son'a ships in ST:Insurrection.

John's "SJS Sobol" Attack Carrier - looks Star Wars-esque, no?

John won a Silver for this ship, the "Sea Turtle" Cruiser.

Another Douglass design, with Starfury.

Erin Lantz's scratchbuilt Vorlon Fighter.

Erin's scratchbuilt Centauri Vorchan.

Jay Chladek's J2 (movie) and Terry Miesle's Starfury.

Silver award-winning Fledermaus (SF3D).

Marc King's scratchbuilt Chariot.

Larry Strickland's TOS Scout.

John McEnroe on a good day.

Excellent use of metallic blue finish on this Judge Anderson figure.

Terry Miesle's AoG "Army of Light".

Steven Harris' Time Machine from a silver award-winning diorama.

Another gold winner - look at the work put into her base!

Steven Riojas' bronze-winning Parasauralophus.

Matt Johnson's Proteus inside a blood vessel.

Wonderfest, held every year in the late spring in Louisville, KY, is considered by many to be the premiere sci-fi and fantasy model show in the US. Each year for the past decade, Lee Stanton and crew have been putting on a fantastic convention that draws people from around the world to talk, eat, sleep, and dream models for three days. And it's a sci-fi dream come true - where airplanes, tanks and cars are marginalized and contest judges actually know what they're looking at!

This year's event was held in the now-familiar digs of the Executive West Hotel on the outskirts of Louisville from June 4-6, 1999. The hotel provides the perfect ambience for a show that has traditionally focused more on figures and horror subjects (though sci-fi and fantasy vehicles and hardware have been growing in popularity over the past couple years). The hotel's interior was dark and brooding, with the antiquated air-conditioning system barely able to do anything about the heat, let alone the humidity. This year's show saw an increase in dealers, and a much better arrangement with more space for the model contest. Good thing too - there were at least double the sci-fi vehicles and hardware entries as last year, and dramatic increases in all other categories (save "Adult Subjects") as well.

The best part of the show - of any model show, really - is meeting other modelers. Wonderfest is where I met a number of people I know as e-mail buddies for the first time - including my partner in crime, Rob Caswell (can you believe we've been running Starship Modeler™ for three years together and never met face to face until now?). Last year it was Steve "CultTVMan" Iverson, Erin "Das Phule" Lantz, Jay Chladek, Marc King, and Kirk Schermerhorn; this year so many more I lost track (Rob, Jay Adan, Jay Aycock, Joe Brown, Phil Connor, John "Zathras" Douglass, John Zizolfo ... the list goes on). From the Friday night "meet-and-greet" in the Lizard Lounge (where we all stayed up waaaaaay past our bedtimes), to the Saturday night CultTVMan/Starship Modeler/Polar Lights party (how many times did security come down?) to the bitter end (when folks were packing their models up and heading home), it was a whirl of faces and total immersion in a subject near and dear to our hearts: sci-fi modeling.

I won't bore you with the gory details; I'll just hit the highlights. The dealers room was packed - more dealers than last year, though it seemed there was fewer new starship-type models. Federation Models made a splash with a large selection of kits, and they were kind enough to give us a sneak peek on some of their projects which will (hopefully) someday see the light of day. Starcrafts were represented in force, and the Stellar Models' Deadalus-class ship was displayed for the first time anywhere. Be sure to talk to Jay Adan at Tangents about some exciting new products he hopes to carry - including Bender and Dr. Zoidburg figures from Futurama, as well as the Alien/Aliens insignia plaques. Elsewhere, there were the usual highly expensive resin kits - and surprisingly good deals on out-of-production kits (you can ask Jay about the Buck Rogers Starfighter he nabbed - honestly, I've never seen a grown man clutch a kit box like a teddy bear as he slept ....).

The Saturday night party was worthy of note - and not just for the amount of heat forty people crammed in one room can generate while sitting still. Steve "CultTVMan showed his new video. Pictures and works-in-progress flowed freely around the room. Erin Lantz is working on a couple of killer B5 projects, including the "flower" ship from "Thirdspace" and an "Omega-class cruiser". Joe Brown showed off a nearly life size (well, it seemed that way) Enterprise-E. Jay Aycock showed off is unfinished Enterprise-C, probably the finest Star Trek ship model I have ever seen anywhere. Larry "My Kingdom for a Spoon!" Strickland showed off his Battlestar Galactica project. And, like all good parties, the cops (ok, hotel security) were called out when the neighbors complained.

The ultimate highlight, however, was the model contest. Seeing all the fine work on display was inspiring, to say the least. There were so many great models, judging was difficult. I know firsthand, because Rob, Steve, Carol Bauman (ILM sculptor and modelmaker, just finished work on SW:TPM) and I were asked to judge the vehicles and hardware. Wonderfest's awards system made things easier, somewhat - unlike IPMS shows, there are no infinitely split categories with 1st/2nd/3rd prizes. Wonderfest uses an open judging system where models are evaluated on their own merits (IPMS - take a freaking hint!). Every model on the table showed a lot of effort by the builder. Especially noteworthy were Dave Conover's "Dragspeeder" and the other Gold awards winners (sorry - I'm horrible with names and my notes got rained on. I know the models, but not the modelers. So if you see your work here, and not your name, e-mail me!). For me, a special treat was seeing John Douglass' work "in the flesh" (so to speak). Gems such as the Winking Frog and Golem were even better seen close up than in the pictures, and they really inspired me to start building my own designs. Also eneterd were other models familiar to our readers, including Chris Monteleon's Thunderbolt.

One thing that stands out with Wonderfest, as opposed to other model contests, is that bigger models - and especially dioramas - seem to garner higher awards. No doubt this is due, in part or in whole, to how hard it is to make a big diorama or figure look "right". I also noted the relative lack of Trek subjects. Most contests I've seen with any sci-fi representation are flooded with Enterprises and shuttles and Klingons (oh my!). Not so with this year's Wonderfest - there were more Star Wars kits than Trek, and very respectable B5 and LiS showings as well. Notes for next year ....

Was the show worth the six hour drive there and back (even with The Great Chili Escapade on the way back)? Heck, yes. Will I be there next year? Heck yes - with more and better models. This is a trip that I recommend to any sci-fi modeler, no matter how hot Kentucky gets.

Of special note - Bruce Byerly displayed a diorama made with ERTL's upcoming "Battle Droid with STAP" release. It's big, it's well detailed .... looks like this one will be worth every penny. Buy one when they first hit the shelves, then buy ten more when TrU discounts them to $5.99! The kit, along with the 1/35 Trade Federation Tank, should be available later this summer.