TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan won four gold, three silver, and one bronze medal at the Philippine Scale Model Show, standing out among nearly 800 international entries.

The event, held Thursday to Sunday at Ayala Malls Manila Bay, is the largest scale modeling exhibition in the country, per CNA.

Taiwanese modeler Huang Kang-chia (黃康家) took first place in the military vehicle category with a 1:35 scale model of a Philippine LVTP-5 amphibious tracked armored vehicle. Last year, he also earned gold with a model of a South Korean Marine Corps M47 Patton tank.

Huang said the vehicle’s camouflage paint scheme was achieved by layering carefully masked sections, a process that took nearly four months to complete.

Anthony Feredo, a historian and competition judge, said the armored vehicle holds special significance for the Philippine Marine Corps. He praised Huang’s model for its accuracy in appearance and scale.

Fellow gold medalist Ho Shih-chieh (何世傑), who has more than 30 years of modeling experience, won first place in the aircraft category with his SB-17 air rescue plane. The model took over three months to build.

“Military vehicle models place a strong emphasis on painting and weathering — techniques that replicate wear, rust, and age for realism,” Ho said. Because the aircraft is more than 60 years old, and reference materials were limited, he relied on other modelers’ work to reconstruct the piece.

Dustin Yang (楊登仕), deputy representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, attended the event and viewed the Taiwanese entries. He expressed hope that the competition would help foster cultural exchange between Taiwan and the Philippines.

Last year, 10 Taiwanese participants won three gold, four silver, and four bronze medals at the same event.