ScaleACT-26 - early information

Date: ScaleACT-26 will be held on 7th & 8th November, 2026.

Location: We will be back at the fabulous Thoroughbred Park.

Special Annual Competitions

• The Kittyhawk Cup: The ARMA Hobby 1/72 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I or Mk.II. Note, also eligible are the Eduard and RedRoo boxing of the ARMA Hobby kits.

• The Sentinel Shield: The Tamiya 1/48 M5A1 light tank or M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage. Note: you may use the new CMK Stuart VI conversion set to build a late M5A1 tank as used by the US and Commonwealth armies during WW2, and by many nations post-war.

• 'The Grail' subject:  Is “Aviation in Canberra”. Enter any aircraft or helicopter, civilian or military, that has operated from Canberra Airport (built up from an old airstrip that was first laid down in the 1920s) and RAAF Base/Defence Establishment Fairbairn (established 1940). Special mention goes to the aircraft of No.34 Sqn, the RAAF VIP transport squadron. Also eligible are any known and specific aircraft or helicopters that have visited or been temporarily based at Canberra (think Air Force One, Antonov AN-124 and water bombers to name but a few!). To whet your appetite, here’s a link to illustrate some of our interesting visitors.

• Special Cars award: Best roadster or convertible. Enter any model, from any manufacturer and in any scale, which depicts an open-topped car with two or more seats. This covers things like sports cars, convertibles, spyders, and cabriolets, with plenty of variety out there in kit form from the venerable Model T to the modern Ferrari, Corvette, AC/Shelby Cobra, and Porsche.

The ScaleACT Competition

The ScaleACT competition uses a form of the International Open judging & assessment system which awards Gold, Silver or Bronze awards rather than attempting to find the single best model for each category. In this system, each model is assessed individually against set criteria (not compared to others in the competition) and the highest quality, best presented models are awarded.

A feature of the Open judging system is the adoption of Experience or Skill levels for Entrants. Senior modellers are asked to place themselves in a group that describes how experienced a modeller they believe themselves to be. The three skill levels are; Rookie, Standard & Master. 

The level of modelling standards required to be awarded a medal goes up with each level. The standards required to achieve a Gold award at the Master level must demonstrate the very highest expression of the art; showing perfect construction, a flawless finish and an overall presentation that really stands out and catches the eye. Only the very best Master level entries achieve a Gold medal. The judging team are a little less stringent when assessing entries at the Standard level, and more generous again when assessing Rookie entries.

Achieving Gold at Master level is rare occurrence and is reserved for flawless models. Achieving a Gold at Rookie level is a fabulous result that means you have got the basics right and can move up to Standard level next time! Remember, winning any award means your entry is among the very best!

We will publish a lot more detail on our judging system, skill levels and categories closer to the competition - but if you'd like to read the nitty-gritty details of our judging - here is our ScaleACT Judging Criteria.

Scale Model Competition management system

We are proud to be users of HobbyShow.org, a fabulous new Australian owned and developed software system which makes competition management a breeze. If you are looking for a modern, cloud-based software system to help you run a competition, give it a try.

ScaleACT-25

Was: 8th~9th November 2025

Well - what can we say except a very sincere THANK YOU to everyone who helped make ScaleACT-25 our biggest and funnest show yet! :-)

216 entrants contributed to our biggest ever competition with 817 entries on the competition tables - flanked by no less than 26 trader stands, 10 workshops and a half-dozen supporting clubs and associations, to say nothing of the fabulous 25th ScaleACT Anniversary display!

We are tired but very very happy - mostly because you, our modelling mates, turned up in numbers and helped celebrate this fabulous hobby with us. The show can't happen without you - thanks everyone!

And for the competitors - our fabulous new competition management system (hobbyshow.org) has produced a page of the Competition Results - it's a big page as it lists all 817 entries, so it's a bit slow - but bear with! (ps: If you are looking for your own entries: the names have been listed as initials only - so you can search the page (Control-F) for your entries - eg: to find entries for Joe Blogs, search for "J. B." ) 

If you didn't get enough ScaleACT over the weekend, you can check out the many video recordings from the show here!

Image: U.S.S. Carl Vinson (1999) by Zhuo CHEN. 1/700 Trumpeter - Best of Show & Peoples Choice - ScaleACT-25