SEMMEX 2026 returns to St. Clair Shores with figures category and vendor support

SEMMEX 2026 put miniature painters and scale builders under the same roof at the Walter F. Bruce VFW Post 1146 in St. Clair Shores, where the figures category shared the floor with aircraft, armor, automotive, ships, space subjects, dioramas and scratch-built projects. The contest ran Saturday, April 25, 2026, at 28404 Jefferson Ave., with the kind of structured judging day that gives serious painters a clear read on how their work stacks up in an IPMS setting.

IPMS/USA listed the show as a Region 4 - Great Lakes event hosted by IPMS Warren, and the chapter’s own history gave the gathering extra weight. IPMS Warren said it was formed in 1989, calls itself Michigan’s biggest east-side IPMS club and averages 25+ members at meetings. That makes SEMMEX more than a one-off contest. It is part of a long-running club culture where builders from beginner level to IPMS National award winners share the same room and the same judging standards.

The schedule followed a familiar all-day pattern. Vendors unloaded and set up at 7:00 a.m., doors opened at 9:00 a.m., registration started at 9:00 a.m., judging began at noon and awards were set for about 3:00 p.m. Adult contest entry was $10 for the first three models and $1 for each additional model, while junior registration for ages 16 and under was $8 with unlimited entries. General admission was $5, and children 13 and under were free.

For painters, the most interesting part was the way SEMMEX bridged traditional model building and figure work. The figures category put painted subjects into the same competitive field as aircraft and armor, which is exactly where weathering, realism and display craft become part of the argument. The show theme, Tails and Fins, was broad enough to invite clever interpretation across automotive styling, aircraft tail treatment and more abstract presentation choices, while the Colonel Robert Voce Memorial Award, with its Vietnam theme, added another layer of subject-specific recognition.

Vendor support gave the event practical value as well. The flyer listed 8-foot by 30-inch vendor tables at $30 each, with Ron Harris handling vendor contact at 586-944-5924 and harrisron1991@gmail.com. Set in the Walter F. Bruce VFW Post 1146, a hall that dates to 1934 and is named for Corporal Walter F. Bruce, SEMMEX landed in a venue with its own local history. For miniature painters watching the overlap between figure painting and IPMS judging, that mix of competition, commerce and category depth was the real draw.