Scale Model Challenge Model Show
NH Koningshof, Locht 117, 5504 RM Veldhoven, Netherlands.
18th and 19th October 2025
Another 500 mile drive by car across to Holland for this excellent show.
Of course there were a few museum visits on the way, and although one or two were return visits– Overloon Military Vehicle Museum, Hougoumont Farm and Waterloo - there were a few completely new ones on the itinerary as well ( Passchendale WWI Museum, Hooge Crater Museum and a couple of cemeteries to pay our respects to the fallen.
However, Scale Model Challenge is worth a visit all on it’s own, it just seems rude to pass all these museums and not call in.
The show itself is the usual two day format, with lots of entries in the competition ( 3000 was mentioned ) and a lot of traders to relieve you of that cumbersome money we all seem to have either in wallets or on cards.
My view of the show – excellent organisation for a start. I really cannot fault anything at all with how this show is run. The smooth way in which visitors have their prepaid tickets scanned makes for very little in the way of queuing, and although there is always a massed rush to get the entries for the competition sorted, I have found that going and looking around the traders until about 11am means that the queues have declined and the wait is minimal to pick up the identification stickers.
Traders – Oh boy, are there a lot, and this year there seemed to be even more 3D prints on offer and with much reduced prices too. It seemed to me that the older companies might appear a little expensive in comparison with some 1/10th scale busts for as little as 20 Euros.
The quality of merchandise hasn’t diminished though, and the variety of models on sale still allows for every modeller to be catered for.
The competition – which seems to grow every year – is still well organised, with lighting above the show benches, the models displayed on raised staging that has three tiers for the figures and a single flat area for aircraft and AFV’s. These sections are also raised to allow the viewer a comfortable angle to look at the entries.
So an admission here…… I was focussed on the competition when it came to taking pictures, but with so many entries I made the decision to take some pictures of the Juniors class and then – because of time and memory space on my camera, simply had to take pictures of the Master classes. Even then it was a push to cover all those classes, and to be honest I’m only posting up a sample of those I took.
The quality is amazing, with such stunning artistry being displayed, it’s not difficult to see why in even the standard level the medals a re so hard to come by.
So having said that; I’ll offer my congratulations to the judges for doing an excellent job, one that is time consuming and thankless.
Complaints – you must be joking. I come away from this show every time with such positive feelings regarding the hobby, the people within it and how much hard work the organisers put in to make it all happen. OK, maybe I could do with someone to carry my bags of new kits for me, but the car park’s pretty close, so a few trips gives me a little exercise back and forth.
Next year’s show is being held on the 18th and 19th of October, and it’s well worth putting those dates in your diary.
Six of us travelled in two cars this year, and all state that they’ll be going back in 2026, so positive is that feeling that we’ve already booked our hotel.
I've posted here just some of the competition entries from Juniors, Beginners, standard Flats, Master's Flats, Masters Sculpting and Masters Historical over 40mm classes.
I'll put up pictures from other classes in coming weeks
Class 1 Juniors
Class 2 - Beginners
Class 3 Standard Flat Figure
Class 4 Master's Flat Figure
Class 6 Master's Sculpting
Class 8 Master's Historical Figures over 40mm
