Register Today on the form below: Contest is Open to all Museum Members, Donors to the Model Room, Volunteers and our Junior Modeler Club Members
The 8th Annual Ed Maloney Scale Model Contest is set for Saturday, November 1, 2025 at the Planes of Fame Air Museum. This is a great way for us to showcase your talents as a model builder as we celebrate the legacy of Ed Maloney, the Museum’s founder and lifelong model builder.
The contest is open to all Museum Members, individuals who have donated to the Model Room, Museum Volunteers, and members of the Junior 
Modeler’s Club. Entries will be judged by visitors to the Museum the morning of November 1st beginning at 9:00am. Judging will end at 11:00am. Visitors will receive voting stickers upon entry to the Museum and cast votes by placing a sticker near their favorite models.
This year’s contest will feature six divisions for entrants based on skill level and model type. All scales and subject matter for aircraft and armor are accepted.
Each entrant to the contest can submit up to three models, but each model must have been built by the entrant themselves. Awards include ribbons for
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in each division. Additionally, the modeler from the two adult divisions with the most votes and the modeler from the two junior divisions with the most votes will have their names permanently placed on the Ed Maloney Contest Trophy (Note: If either the Armor Division or Diorama Display winner has the most votes they will be counted as either a Junior Modeler or Adult depending on their age).
Modelers must bring and take home their entries on the day of the contest. The museum will not be accepting early entries. We may ask winning entries to allow the museum to display their work until January 31, 2026.
Here are the six divisions for the 2025 contest:
1. Junior Modelers Aircraft Division I (Ages 11 and under)
2. Junior Modelers Aircraft Division II (12 years to 17 years old)
3. Adult Modelers Aircraft Division I (Beginners to Intermediates)
4. Adult Modelers Aircraft Division II (6 or more years of modeling experience)
5. Armor Division: Armor & Military Vehicles (open to all ages)
6. Diorama Display Aircraft and/or Armor (Open to all ages): This is a new division. Entries cannot be larger than 12-inches wide by 12-inches long.
The Model Room at the Planes of Fame Air Museum is dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and study of scale-model aircraft. It is home to the Ed Maloney Collection, which comprises thousands of wood, paper, cardboard, and plastic models and un-built kits.
Ed Maloney, founder of the Planes of Fame Air Museum, was a life-long modeler. Ed started in the 1930s with models he had carved from wood. He displayed these models at every opportunity in public places. When he opened the Museum in 1957, his model collection had a natural home. Over the years, like-minded hobbyists began to donate their models to the Museum. The collection continues to grow through donations from hobbyists around the world.
Guests are invited to visit the Model Room, which is open on select days. Inside, volunteers known as Model Artisans are at work cataloging the collection, repairing the delicate models, or building new ones for use in Museum displays. The Model Artisans will be happy to show the Model Room to guests, but be forewarned, scaling modeling is highly addictive!
Hand-picked selections from the Ed Maloney Collection are also for sale in the Museum Gift Shop.
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