If there was a show that could have my name on it, it's this one. Plenty of modelling disciplines, all in one hall. Just my sort of thing. Yes, there were railways, but I see a lot of railways. Some plastic modelling and working model trucks, that's what I want!
Because of the NGRS, my visit was on Sunday, but talking to people who were part of the show, that was the best day as Saturday was very busy. Apparently, the first crowds rushed in, and filled the barrier of the "Making tracks layout", which proceeded to misbehave all morning. Stage fright?
I ignored the trains initially, and enjoyed the excellent plastic modelling dioramas, model boats, then the Tamiya trucking, Gauge 1, and then model railways.
Each discipline more than put its best face forward. If you hadn't experienced one before, you saw the good stuff. OK, there weren't many boats, but those that were there were excellent.
I enjoyed lots of long chats with people. Accucrascale fed me two lots of cake. The only thing I didn't really do, was lean on a barrier and watch a layout, but I ran out of time!
Favourite thing? In the kids zone, branded MCC, they were building pine car racers. I've never seen this before in the UK, it's massive in the USA, and yet the kids were loving it. Who wouldn't like to paint their car-shaped bit of wood, nail the wheels on, and rance it down the ramp. Then take it home with pride. I want to have a go!
Duff bits? We could have done with more plastic kit trade to tempt those who might fancy a dabble with a kit. There were a few, and some very nice top-end stuff (£700 for a Dora gun) but the show needs a Hannats or Wonderland models. That said, this will probably happen. There was (apparenlty) a lot of waiting to see how this new show went before comitting.
And it went well enough that the hall, plus adjacent one, has been booked for next year. These sort of events are massive in Europe, could this evolve into the UK version of Dormund?
2 comments:
The Brighton Modelworld show used to be a bit like this, with a ride on railway, slot car racing, and airfix kits for the kids to build. Boats, planes, radio control, star wars, fairgrounds, railways, the lot. The format got a bit samey but it was popular with families and great fun.
I remember Brighton. Good show, and as you say, a mixed range of modelling types. I remember watching "Robot Wars" machine demonstrated, and it was great fun!
The problem might be that those who are willing to put on the display are the same every year. I know model boats shows suffer from this.
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