The 7th Annual 2001 East Coast Hobby Show

and

The IMMA sponsored Make&TakeIt Program

(Page Two)

I attended Saturday's show partially to help out with the Make & Take It program being held by two local IPMS Chapters. They were Bux-Mont and Delaware Valley Scale Modelers. This was the fourth year in a row that these two clubs have come together to conduct the M&TI.

The program was sponsored by IMMA, (The International Modeling Manufacturers of America, for those of you who were wondering). Members of IMMA donated the kits to be built.

The companies representing IMMA were Amt/Ertl, Academy, Accurate Miniatures, Lindberg, Marco Polo Import, Polar Lights, Revell/Monogram, Tamiya, and The Testors Corporation. There were a total of 874 model kits that were received.

Many different types of kits were on hand. There were 1:360 scale Tu-144's aircraft, donated by Academy. Revell supplied us with Pro finish Mad Firebird Funny Cars. Lindberg contributed "Build-n-Play Hoppin' '64 Impala Lowriders. Polar Lights donated 1:25 scale snap-tite (Speed Racer) Mach 5's, Aurora dinosaurs (consisting of Tyrannosaurus Rexes, Pteradons and Triceratops), Crash Bandicoot-Jet Board figures and a number of different Snap Draggin's (cars).

The star of the MITI program, though, was Tamiya and their 1:32 scale mini four-wheel drive battery operated model cars. These really stole the show! They are actually model kits that come with rubber tires, metal axels, plastic gears, a real engine and batteries, (that were on loan). Heck, these mini-cars even come with grease for lubricating the moving parts.

They are assembled by snapping most of the parts together, along with using screws for additional assembly. Once assembled, the batteries are inserted, the on/off switch is turned on and these bad-boys are off to the races, literally.

Much of the popularity of these cars stemmed from the fact that Tamiya set up a pretty impressive racing track in their area, made exclusively for these racers.

In addition, Tamiya conducted their own MITI program, helping kids to build these cars.

This is the third year in a row that Tamiya had been donating these surprisingly inexpensive racers at the ECHS, along with helpers to assist with their assembly.

Ok, back to the MITI program. I arrived at around 8 am, an hour before show began. Bux-Mont's Pres. (J. Baxter) and the guys coordinating the program (B. Nilsson and J. Rosado) had been there the previous evening, setting things up, taking inventory of the kits on hand and making sure we would be ready to rock n' roll the next day.

Nine o'clock rolled around and the action began. Seats and table space had been set up to accommodate around 24 builders at a time. During most of the time I was there all of the chairs were occupied. (Who says kids won't or don't build models nowadays)?

Many of the children participating either had never built a model or had only built a couple previously. It was very rewarding seeing them (and their parents in many cases) roll up their sleeves - (if they had any) - and dive right into their models, exhibiting some extreme patience until their model kits were complete.

I worked with the kids until around 12:30, at which point I took a break, looked around a bit, and went to meet my wife, (who was arriving with our two sons). A (mere) hour and a half later they arrived and we proceeded back in.

We headed back to the IMMA M&TI program and began working on a model. (Which one, you ask)? The Tamiya 4-WD cars.

Since my time was divided between helping my sons and assisting other kids who were building, it took us just under an hour to finish. Michael (the younger one) needed a good deal of assistance, while Anthony finished most of his by himself. It wasn't until later that I discovered that he had assembled a couple key items incorrectly.

We then headed over to the Tamiya booth, borrowed some batteries and Michael raced his car. I spent 15 minutes trouble-shooting Anthony's. After adjusting the gear attached to the engine, Anthony's vehicle was also speeding around the track.

It was now around 4 o'clock. I was bushed and my sons were hungry. We decided to call it a day and head home.

The final tally for our M&TI program were 432 models assembled on Saturday, along with another 442 reserved for Sunday's session!

Even though Saturday was a blur, I had fun, my sons had fun, and I'm sure all those who participated in the M&TI programs had fun as well!

The show was very enjoyable, despite little coverage in the plastic model kit area. A very good time was indeed had by all.

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Copyright © 2008 Anthony I. Wootson. No material may be reproduced without permission of Anthony I. Wootson. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.