About Us

The history of the Scale Modeling Club in Debrecen dates back to 1978. In this year two modelers from Debrecen (Tibor Borsody and László Buday) won the first prizes in all categories at the first national modeling competition which took place between November 16th and 30th. It was then that they decided to found a scale modeling club. Although the first meetings were held already at the end of 1978, the official foundation meeting took place on January 7th 1979. The Scale Modeling Section of the Debrecen City Modeling Club (as it was officially named) had 30 members and four branches: aircraft, armour, ships and railroad-modeling (the railroad modelers later pulled out and founded a separate club of their own). László Buday was elected chairman of the section. At this time there was only one club of this kind in Hungary, functioning in Budapest, so the Debrecen club was the second in the country (the first one outside the capital, Budapest).

In the first years there was active club life with an average of 34-40 members. The first exhibition of the club was organized in the year of foundation, that is, in 1979. The event, which took place in the Kölcsey Ferenc Cultural Center, was intended to present the history of civilian and military flying in Hungary through the works of the club members. The works displayed were mostly self-made or old (at that time new, of course) Polish and East German model kits, together with photographs. The exhibition was a great success and a booklet was published about it. Club life consisted of preparing for various national and international competitions, training the "new generation" of modelers, as well as developing good relationships with other Hungarian and foreign modeling clubs. Moreover, there were lectures on military technology and excursions to various museums.

In each year the club organized a local scale modeling competition and a history of flying exhibition. To this an international competition was added from 1981 onwards. Since at that time there was not a national organization to help and guide modeling clubs, the Club developed a system of scoring of their own. This system was tested at the first international competition (1981) and it proved to be successful, since both Hungarian and foreign competitors were fully satisfied with it. Relationships with other clubs improved. For example, modelers from Kassa (Kosice, Slovak Republic) took part on a regular basis in our competitions, and respectively, our club members did not miss any of their competitions. Apart from international competitions, the club members (among them many young members) successfully participated in national competitions. In 1981 the club published a booklet called "Scale Modeling" ("Makettezés") in which some club members wrote about the technical background of scale modeling available at that time. It was so successful, that several other issues followed. In 1982 the Club had to be renewed on new principles due to the fact that, as a result of the fast-developing international competitions, the club members did not achieve the results that they were used to in previous years. After analyzing the experiences and drawing the consequences, emphasis was laid on training the new generation and acquiring new techniques. This proved to be successful, since in the competitions that followed junior modelers of the Club came in top places. In the following year the Club introduced a new qualification system which stimulated the advancement and the competing spirit of club members. A number of talented modelers grew out of the Club, some of whom later founded new successful clubs elsewhere and have been active participants of Hungarian modeling ever since.

In 1987 the Club was left without financial sponsors, however, the enthusiastic modelers kept on organizing competitions (though not so big ones as earlier). In 1988 the Kölcsey Cultural Center started patronizing the Club, and thus club life revived: more competitions could be organized and club members did outstandingly well at several competitions. A good example for this is, that Attilla Suránszky won first prize at only 6 years of age. During the years to follow, however, many old members left the Club for various reasons, and so did some new ones, too. The years of decline were foreshadowed by the budget cuts and the shrinking interest. Some determined young members held on, though the Club organized only one competition a year. Péter Lippai won in 8 categories out of 12 in 1992. After leaving Debrecen he became the leader of a club in Budapest, and has been a jury member at national modeling competitions since then.

Unfortunately, in spite of the successes, the fate of the Club could not be avoided. Due to the lack of sponsorship club life slowly ceased to exist. Only 6 members showed up at the last club meeting, the others dropped away. The last competition was organized in 1997, and in this year, simultaneously with the cessation of Kölcsey Cultural Center, the Club split up. Some former club members continued to enter competitions in the colors of the Club, but regular club life came to an end.

The year 2005 started with great plans and challenge. We officially had the Club registered as a public benefit organization (there are only 2 officially registered scale modeling clubs in Hungary), and presented our intention to join the IPMS (International Plastic Model Society).

A web page was prepared, which helped us display the works and achievements of the Debrecen Scale Modeling Club. The club members proved once again that they belong to the top. At the Szolnok National Scale Modeling Exhibition and Competition the Club won the cup presented for the most successful club. All competitors of the Club won a placing, and even the junior members did well in their categories. Attila Pénzes and Gábor Tóth won several special trophies, too. Motivated by their success, the two club members decided to enter international competitions. The European Cup (founded by several European countries and awarded to competitors who proved their talent at several competitions of the "European Championships") was awarded to Attila Pénzes in Poprad and Koprivnice, and to Gábor Tóth in Mosonmagyaróvár. Moreover, Gábor earned his Master's Degree (there are only 34 scale modeling "masters" in the country).

On July 25th, 2005 the Club was asked to organize an exhibition at the Open Day of the Bocskai István Infantry Brigade. As a result of national and international successes, as well as changes in the leadership, the Scale Modeling Club of Debrecen has become one of the leading clubs of the country.