Modelársky klub ZOBOR Nitra

Three recent issues of the IMPS magazine are circulating among them. In one of the issues, there are photos of a museum in Malta, and someone says:

• How about a weekend trip to Malta? "Ryan" finds flights for €15, departing on Friday afternoon and returning on Sunday evening.
• Another adds: Forget the museum, there's also a modeling expo there. And a great modeling club too...
• When is it?
• Wait, let me check... February 8-9. Let’s go!
• Alright, let’s do it!
• And so, we went.
   

Four weeks later, we’re sitting on a plane headed for Malta. Just a small crew of two, with a few models stuffed into our suitcase.The flight departs at 16:40 from Bratislava. The weather in Slovakia is nice... but upon landing in Malta, the first raindrops fall—the forecast was right, it’s going to rain all weekend. We made it to the car rental mostly dry, but as soon as we left the covered parking lot, we were hit by a downpour.

Driving in Malta is on the "wrong" side, but thanks to our experience in the UK, we managed just fine. Our weekend plan was simple: explore some interesting places on the island and visit Minjatura 2025 – Malta Scale Model Expo.

On Saturday morning, we started with a visit to the Malta Aviation Museum. It's a small museum with a few interesting exhibits that can be admired up close. We'll bring a photo gallery from the museum in a separate article. Model check-in for the competition was open until 1 PM, so we had time to grab a coffee at Golden Beach.

Malta Aviation Museum	Watch out for the tree
Golden beach	Sparrow with coffee

 

Malta in February

Minjatura takes place in Il-Birgu at the Malta Maritime Museum. The venue is a historic building from 1840 that once housed the Royal Navy Bakery. You can get to the second floor either by elevator or via an interesting staircase. Minjatura is spread across two halls: one for competition models and another displaying models from IPMS Malta members along with additional programs. We were welcomed with a "Dobrý deň" (in Slovak, with a local accent), which really surprised us. I’d say they were just as surprised when we told them we had come to visit :-) . As they say, it’s a small world—one of the organizers has a Slovak partner.

Museum building

Sunday started in a similar way; we went for breakfast at Taħt il-Ħnejja (Blue Grotto) and then visited the former capital, L-Imdina (Mdina). We also managed to take a ferry ride between Il-Birgu and Valletta.

Blue Grotto	Valleta
L-Isla (Senglea)	Decorations for the holiday that was on Monday
It was windy on Saturday....	... and the waves were nice

Competition: Find the bunker

Sometimes the sun shone, sometimes only on the sea

The competition ran from Friday (model check-in) to Monday. The main competition days were Saturday and Sunday. Results were announced on Sunday after 2 PM, and we could collect our models afterward. We waited until the evening to pack up… Monday was a public holiday in Malta, so the organizers decided to extend the event by a day.

On Wednesday, just before our departure, we received an invitation to the Maltese Evening. We double-checked our flight time and confirmed our attendance. It was definitely worth it—the locals prepared amazing refreshments.

Unfortunately, we had to leave at 8 PM, as our return flight MLA->BTS was at 22:25, landing after midnight.

The event featured around 500 competitive and non-competitive models of decent quality. If this expo were held in our region, you’d see around 250 aircraft models, 250 military vehicles, and 50 models of everything else. In Malta, there were about 70 competition aircraft models, a similar number of military vehicles, lots of figurines, and various other models. The international participants were mainly from Italy (10), with others from Spain (2), Slovakia (2), Hungary, and the Netherlands (1).

The prizes that were contested.

Group build on the theme of F-14 Tomcat

Results announcement

Greek Navy frigate Aigaion in Valletta harbor

Quite a complicated read for us  :-)

Sense of humor	IPMS Malta
Little boat	Malta is photogenic

Minjatura 2025 was only the 4th edition of this event (the first was just an exhibition without a competition), yet it was very well organized. We’re bringing home two awards, new friendships, and plenty of positive experiences. I definitely want to return to Malta. The combination of an interesting travel destination and a high-quality competition is a big draw.

We will present a photo gallery of the models in a separate article - Minjatura 2025 - photogallery.

Transporting models by plane

Until now, I had never transported models by plane. What I knew for sure was that they couldn’t go in the cargo hold—if they did, it would likely be their first and last flight. I secured the planes onto a  RedyFlip modeling stand and screwed the base of the stand into a wooden wine box. I then placed the entire box inside my carry-on suitcase, which I brought on board. In the box, I managed to fit two Buccaneer 1/72 models, a Hawker Fury 1/48 biplane, and a single figurine. This tight packing solution caught the attention of the local modelers, who found it a very interesting approach.

Models secured on stands inside a wooden box

Demonstration for IPMS Malta

 

Awards from MK Zobor