Club
History
IPMS Memphis started life in 1980 as a result of a
short-lived (1976-1980) club of the same name. Our club was
originally called Memphis Blacksheep, the founding members
being Bill Dunavant, Bill Von Staden, Jim Webb and John
Flippin along with about five others others. Bill Dunavant,
a former Marine, originated the Blacksheep name for the
club. The club was founded on three basic tenants; keep the
meeting fun and enjoyable, share modeling techniques and
lessons learned and lastly to support the IPMS USA and
support the national convention by sponsoring at least one
trophy package per year. Since the main interest of the
members is aircraft, the new club was dedicated to modeling
aviation subjects.
In 1982 the club applied for an IPMS charter under the name
IPMS Blacksheep. In 1986, the original IPMS Memphis club
had become defunct and not renewed their charter so we
applied for the name and the Blacksheep officially became
IPMS Memphis. In September 1986 the first issue of our
chapter newsletter, the
Leading Edge
was published. The newsletter has been published every
month since then, it began to be available digitally in
2006. The
Leading Edge
is currently published by chapter president Roger Rasor
with content being provided by members and guest
contributers.
IPMS Memphis has members form Tennessee, Mississippi,
Alabama, Illinois, Florida and even Sweden. In 2006 we
became the first US IPMS chapter to become a chartered
member of IPMS Canada. In February of 2007 the IPMS Memphis
website became active. We have also been featured in
articles on
Hyperscale
and in the IPMS Canada publication
Random Thoughts.
IPMS Memphis is celebrating it's 25 anniversary as a
chartered chapter of IPMS USA and our first year as a
chartered chapter of IPMS Canada. In addition, 2007 marks
the 27th anniversary of our sponsorship of trophy packages
for the IPMS USA national convention as well as sponsorship
of many local and region 3 events. Our sharing and communal
spirit have resulted in the increased skill levels of our
members many of whom have placed in local, regional and
national contests.