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Wonderfest
2002
(Page One)
June
9, 2002
Introduction
Anticipation!
Anxiety!
Sensory
Overload!
Sleep
Deprivation!
Experiencing
weakness and pangs of hunger - (from skipping
meals!)
Going
Broke Quickly!
Getting
dizzy and disoriented from having waay too much modeling information crammed
into one's head in a very short period of time!
Total
Model Exhilaration and Pure Model Euphoria!
Happiness
at having an opportunity to meet up with old friends, along with developing new
friendships with those who share a similar love of the styrene, vinyl and
resin!
All
of this describes experiences that a modeler goes through when making the yearly
pilgrimage to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the Mecca Model Show of Science
Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Figures and Vehicles. This year's Wonderfest Show
was no different. The show was a TOTAL BLAST!
The
2002 Wonderfest Show took place on the Memorial Day Weekend. This was the second
year that my family and I traveled the 700 miles by car, from South Jersey to
Louisville. This was the second year that I had a chance to have some really
great modeling fun at the show!
In
addition, my wife and kids enjoyed themselves, spending a bit of time at the
show along with some time at the Great Adventure Theme Park located across the
street. They also ended up making several visits to a HUGE Flea Market taking
place in the convention center located adjacent to the amusement park, and
relaxed a bit at the hotel's pool.
Wednesday
and Thursday before the show
For
this year's trip we decided to leave a day early, along with staying a day
later. We departed at around 10:00 pm on the Wednesday before the show and
traveled pretty much straight through.
At
around 11:00 am on Thursday morning we pulled into the parking lot of the
Executive West Hotel. We promptly checked in and
unpacked.
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The
remainder of Thursday was a blur for me. (Driving through the night into the
following morning probably had a bit to do with this). I ended up meeting up
with Jay Chladek and Kevin Stone later on in the afternoon and evening. They had
driven down to the show together.
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After
chillin' out with them in their room into the weee hours of Friday morn, I
finally decided to call it a day (or morning) and get some much needed sleep. I
went back to our room and crashed!
Friday
and the hangout at the Lizard Lounge
On
Friday we ended up going to the Great Adventure Theme Park for most of the day.
The Sci-fi Modeler's University - (numerous back-to-back modeling clinics and
seminars taking place throughout the day) - was being held at the hotel.
However, since I was not attending, this gave me a chance to hang out with my
family.
Later
on Friday evening I made my way down to the Lizard Lounge. The annual, informal
get together was in full swing by the time I arrived. Quite a few folks were
there, with some showcasing different kits that they had brought along with
them. I (once again) ran into Jay and Kevin, along with Terry Miesle - (alias
"Ter-ror").
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In
addition, there were a bunch of other Clubhouse, Hobbytalk and Starship Modeler
Bulletin Board members on hand.
Saturday's
Wonderfest Show - The Vendors Room
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Bright
and early Saturday morning I was up. Since my wife was still sleeping, I decided
to do the good-husbandly thing and take our kids down with me while I got the
ball rolling for the day.
Anthony
had four models that needed to be registered and entered in the contest. In
addition, I needed to get an admission tag for myself for the weekend, along
with getting one for both Anthony and Michael for the day. Finally, I wanted to
get into the already quickly expanding line to pick up one of those Polar
Lights' goodies that were being given out to the first 200 through the
door.
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We got Anthony's models set up and then my two sons decided
to hang out at the pool for a while. Claire and I made our way into the vending
room once the line began moving.
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At the door, I ended up receiving a P.L. (Aurora) bagged
Godzilla kit both for myself, along with getting one for my Claire - (I thought
that there would be some advantage to having her along with me J). Then, we were in.
Tracey and Federation Models was one of the first vendors I
stopped by to see.
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I had been salivating over the B-5 Shuttle he's had listed
at his site for over a year, waiting for the associated landing gear to finally
become available. Thankfully, both were being sold at the show.
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Next, I moseyed on over to David Hodge's vending tables.
David is one of show's organizers.
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In addition, he generally has a very healthy compliment of
Gundam models out for sale at the show.
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I ended up picking up a Master Grade GP01fb (full burner)
for Anthony, along with purchasing a Nueu Ziel for myself. (This is the
adversary of the Dendrobium in the latter episodes of the Gundam Starburst
series, for those of you who are interested).
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Dez and Alex from Monsters in Motion were also set up at
the show.
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I also dropped by the Polar Lights table and spoke with
Dave Metzner along with Charles White.
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P.L. had out on display quite a few interesting items,
including a number of kits that will be released later on this year. Included
were a Back to the Future Delorean, Ecto-1 from the Ghost Busters Movie, the
Seaview from the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series, both the Spindrift and
a diorama scene (with the snake) from the classic Land of the Giants TV Show, a
plastic prototype of both a Batplane and an enlarged version of a comic book
Batmobile, along with two metal diecast prototypes of the1950's and 1970's
version (I think) of the Batmobile - (also from the Batman comic book).
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In addition, Charles, Dave and the other P.L.
representatives were passing out goodie bags to those who had registered to
receive them at their B.B.
I was able to get an autographed copy of a print from the
newly released Godzilla model from Charles. (He did the artwork for the
box).
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visitors.
Copyright © 2008 by Anthony I. Wootson. No material may be reproduced without permission. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.