Dumbest guy in the room
When I retired from PHINUG two years ago, my attention gradually shifted to the plastic scale modeling community. That wasn't as dramatic a shift as one might imagine—I first joined IPMS Philippines Bert Anido 23 years ago, and I've been part of the scale modeling community, on and off, for more than two decades. I've had years when I didn't attend and nearly a decade when I didn't build scale models at all, but I always kept in touch with my friends from the club.
Things took a drastic turn when, in 2024, I decided to help out with the very first Philippine Scale Model Show (PSMS) by handling social media and photography. It was a massive show with no less than 600 scale model entries, held in one of the largest malls in Manila. I was pulled into the organizing committee by friends who are internationally recognized in the community: three of them had been judges in international competitions in Malaysia and Hong Kong, two have models displayed in the Tamiya factory museum in Japan, and the rest have won multiple awards in scale model competitions both local and foreign.
In contrast, I had never won an award in a scale model competition. In fact, I didn't even have a scale model entry during the first year. I was perfectly happy handling the event's social media, realizing that unlike my previous tech community where I was the lead and the mentor, here I was the "n00b." I was learning something new all the time, and it felt amazing.
Still, a nagging feeling overcame me whenever someone asked, "Where is your entry?"
I didn't have one.
