KC Slammers

This last July, the KC Slammers and the modeling community lost our good friend Steve Barnes. He has served our club for many years as vice president and would always be at the front of the line to volunteer for whatever needed to be done. Steve has spent many a long day and worked well into the night helping with our annual Heartland model show and contest. He was a long-time model builder and frequent visitor to model shows. Steve loved talking with fellow modelers and vendors at our show and countless other model shows around the Midwest. He also enjoyed rock and roll music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and could go into great detail on that subject as well.

His models focused on subjects from the early days of hot-rodding and custom car building in the 50’s and he enjoyed custom painting techniques. Steve could talk for hours about the old customizers and the cars they were famous for building. Many modelers will know him for his Ed Roth Tweedy Pie and other Roth creations, his George Barris/Alexander Brothers Little Deuce Coupe and numerous custom cars with Gene Winfield style paint fades.

I have always admired Steve’s dedication to caring for his daughter Kara, his pleasant demeanor, willingness to help others, knowledge and friendship. Steve was a longtime friend and will be greatly missed.

Steven Wayne Barnes, November 14, 1952 – July 11, 2024

It’s getting down to the wire. Less than a month to go. Here comes another Heartland Nationals Model Contest; June 8th & 9th at the Overland Park Convention Center.

All of us at the KC Slammers clubhouse hope you’re getting the final touches done on your latest modeling masterpiece. We’ve been planning for months and making sure all the zillions of details are taken care of. Early in the morning of June 8th, we start with an empty exhibit hall. By early afternoon and massive effort by KC Slammers volunteers we unfold and neatly place hundreds of chairs and tables, arrange the area, photo booth, raffles, trophies, presentation area and other details in order to create a venue suitable for the Midwest’s best model car show.

Then it’s up to our fellow modelers and vendors to fill it up with some of the best models out there.

This year’s theme is “What the …?”; as in, What the heck is that! We’ve seen some strange ones through the years. Hopefully those creative juices have been flowing and the plastic flying.

We can’t wait to see you all again and hope you enjoy the show.

Donn Yost – 3/33/1957 – 8/30/2023

The modeling world lost a very well-known and respected member recently. Donn Yost lost his battle with cancer at the end of August and will be greatly missed by family, friends and a huge following of fellow modelers including KC Slammers members.

Donn was well known for his modeling skills, most notably his ability to lay down beautiful airbrush enamel paint jobs. Few names are better known in the modeling community. Donn’s DVDs “The Art of Airbrushing Show Quality Model Cars” and “Tips & Tricks for Building Show Quality Model Cars” were used by countless modelers as a key tool in their quest for painting perfection. It is not uncommon to overhear discussions of Donn’s DVD at model contests and other gatherings. Not only did his models have beautiful, glossy finishes, they were great examples of his overall modeling skills. Donn’s work always has a neat, precise and cleanly built appearance.

Donn loved his family and pets, sang in church and played softball. He taught himself guitar and played in a band with his buddies. The KC Slammers wish his family and friends the best in their journey to cope with his passing.

The 2022 Heartland Model Car Nationals is wrapped up and in the books. We want to thank all those who participated including entrants, vendors, visitors and our club members working behind the scenes. You all allow us to present a fun, friendly and enjoyable place to display your artistry and skills, meet up with like minds, share techniques and stock up on parts and pieces for your next unique idea.

We can’t thank you all enough.

This year was our 30th show with the last 20 being held at the Overland Park Convention Center. We started holding the Heartland Nationals there when they first opened the building. In fact, we held our first show there while the building was still under construction. A building is a necessity for a model contest and show, but the most important thing are the model cars and you guys show up with one masterpiece after another to create the core of our show.

This year we tried something different with the Master Modeler hat. Unlike the trophies, this is awarded to the model builder, not the model. With only 5 handed out this year, it’s not easy to get one. Congratulations to this year’s recipients; Clay Kemp, Rod Maskiw, Fonzell Brown, AJ Wasmer and Ken Leslie. We also applaud all our class and specialty award winners as well as those that brought their A-Game, but missed it by a fraction.

We can’t thank you all enough.

Our club photographer, Ken Sweeney took a bunch of pictures of your work for submission to the Model Car and FineScale magazine contest issues. We all look forward to grabbing a copy when the issues are released.  We also have at least once shot of each of the models on the contest tables. Those are posted on our Fotki site that can be accessed via the Photo Gallery selection on our website menu.

Now as a new year begins, we are gearing up for this years 2023 Heartland; same great venue, a long list of classes and master awards, and hopefully some familar faces and also some new talent. Hope to see you all in June.

The 2022 Heartland Model Car Nationals will be the 30th consecutive (except for the 2020 Covid break) show put on by the KC Slammers Model Car Club based in Kansas City. Ours is a model car show that averages between 450 and 500 models entered each year. We have 29 separate classes and 16 Master Awards, including the Heartland Champion award. In 2021 our Heartland show had 85 vendor tables with tons of kits, aftermarket parts, etc.

The Overland Park Convention Center is a great venue with plenty of parking, nearby restaurants and lodging. We put together a PowerPoint awards show with photos of the class winners and Master Awards along with the entrant’s name and class sponsor. It is simply a great show put on by fellow car modelers for modelers. For our military minded friends, we even have a class called “Military (automotive related)…any non-track, automotive-style vehicle used by any military force from any nation”. You need to join us and, hey, we’re almost dead center in the middle of our country.

Our 2022 theme is “Droptop” which means If you can put it down, take it off, open it up, fold the top and stick it in the trunk…or if it’s a hard top with a retractable roof such as a ’59 Ford Sunliner or BMW Z4 you’ve got a “Drop Top” and you are THEME ELIGIBLE! See you there!

We’re down to the last week before Heartland Model Car Nationals contest time. As you may already know, this year we will be moving upstairs at the Overland Park Convention Center to a much larger space. This will allow plenty of elbow room for social distancing.

The north side building doors used in previous years are still the preferred method of entry. This will allow for a convenient path from the 110th Street parking lot into the building. Once inside, you will need to go up the escalator and then circle to your left to our larger Exhibit Hall A. You can also enter from the south side of the building (College Blvd), but this does not provide as good a path to parking.

Vendors will need to switch to the dock area on the east side of the building, upper level for loading and unloading. Once finished vehicles should use the parking on the lower north side as in previous years. No parking is allowed in the loading dock area.

For contest entrants, we will be locking the doors to the contest tables precisely at 7:00pm. We need the time from 7:00pm on for a long night of judging. With this in mind,

Please try to arrive no later than 6:30pm to sign up and turn in entry forms.

This will allow for sufficient time to complete the entry process and place your models on the tables. This has been a problem in past years, so please respect our need to get started on the judging at a reasonable hour.

After over a year of Covid-19 lockdowns, we are looking forward to a great model car show. We hope you are to. We look forward to seeing you all at this year’s Heartland Model Car Nationals; one of, if not the largest model car contest in the Central USA.

It’s On ! – June 12th -13th 2021

Planning is underway for this years Heartland Model Car Nationals. After almost a year with next to no model car shows across the country due to the Covid-19 virus, we are able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, the worst is behind us, especially considering that here in Johnson County, Ks we are now in phase two of the vaccine rollout.

The big news is that we will be making a temporary move upstairs at the Overland Park Convention Center this year. This year only we’ll be in one of two main exhibit halls where we will have roughly three times our normal space to accommodate social distancing. We will be providing more information and details as we work through the planning process.

Where were you in ’62 ? – Where will you be in June 2021 ?

Unfortunately our meeting venue, The Matt Ross Community Center will not be available in time for our May & June meeting. Considering this, and the current limit on gatherings of 15 or more people, we will be cancelling these two meeting. We look forward to the situation improving in time to hold our next meeting on the first Tuesday in August.