8th Annual 2002 East Coast Hobby Show (Page Two)

The 2002 East Coast Hobby Show
(Page Two)

Other Sights and Sounds at the Show

As is the norm with this show, there was a full spectrum of hobby related retailers, distributors and hobby clubs on hand. Included were a SLEW of train set-ups and vendors, small and large scale slot car race tracks that had been set up, remote controlled car dealers and track set-ups, RC planes & boats, diecast cars, role playing game vendors and even two Large (miniature) working tanks.

There were also model rocket vendors on hand, along with a Make & Take It program being conducted on building Estes rockets.

One of the very kewl things that had been set up was a Robot Wars Battle Arena. In addition, there was a local robotics club on hand, with probably 30 - 40 members and their robot creations out and about. The battles were very interesting to see.

Plastic Kit and other related Vendors

There were also a handful of plastic model kit vendors in attendance.

Red Star Models

One of these was Red Star Models. Horatio was once again at the show, displaying the ever-expanding product line that Red Star Models has to offer.

Unlike last year, this year there were quite a few actual plastic and resin aircraft and armor kits out on display. In addition, there were books and magazines being displayed as well. Most of these items were for sale.

I picked up several of the model boxes, opened them up and looked inside. I was very pleased with the very clean look of the parts. There was no flash and the detail found on the kits was very fine. A number of the kits even came with photo-etched parts.

(Red Star Models can be found on the Web at: http://www.redstarmodels.com/)

Eduard Model Accessories

Vladimir Pospisil, a Sales Rep at Eduard Models Accessories was also on hand.

Vlad had an extensive array of resin and photo-etched aftermarket detail sets out on display.

There were also a number of plastic kits that showed how they look with the attachment of these sets.

A lot of other types of models and model accessories were out as well, including some in-scale landing strip mats. There were also a number of boxes of after market sets being sold.

(Eduard Model Accessories can be found on the Web at: www.www.eduard.com).

Woodland Scenics

Virginia Goeglein, the Marketing Manager at Woodland Scenics was on hand. She was conducting short clinics, showing how to use Woodland Scenic supplies to quickly create some very detailed, good-looking miniature trees, bushes, and landscapes.

In addition to the displays, Woodland Scenics had a wide variety of their products out for sale.

(Woodland Scenics can be found on the Web at: www.woodlandscenics.com).

Alclad II

Tony Hipp, the President of Alclad II Lacquer (paints) was also in attendance. For those of you unaware, Alclad paints are very new to the modeling scene. They are pre-thinned, airbrush ready lacquer paints that come in 1 oz. bottles.

The beauty of these paints is that they are much more durable that Model Master Metalizer Paints, (that are also pre-thinned and are lacquer based). In addition, they have applications on all sorts of models, from planes to cars to figures.

With Alclad II, after you prime with a gloss black paint, they airbrush on smoothly, dry quickly and WILL REMAIN IN PLACE IF MASKED OVER.

I sparked up a conversion with Tony and was surprised to discover that this chap, with his very strong English accent hails from the UK. (He had traveled all the way over from England for the show).

(Alclad II can be found on the Web at: http://www.alclad2.com/).

Hebco (the Tenax-7R Manufacturer)

Robert H. Hebner, the President of the "Space Age Plastic Welder" (Tenax- 7R) was on hand as well.

Tenax-7R is some of the best liquid cement that you're going to find, (in my humble opinion). It evaporates very quickly, (which minimizes the damage that can be done to a model's surface details if applied with a brush). It is also odorless and is very, very powerful.

They had a number of different, specially packaged liquid cement sets out for sale. In addition, they were selling tools and accessories that can be used to apply their glue.

MicroScale

Craig Walker, the "Manager of Consumer Sales and Product Development" for MicroScale was also on hand.

In the past, MicroScale had been one of the major manufactures of decals for plastic kits, (primarily aircraft). Nowadays though, they mainly produce decals for model RR trains.

Craig mentioned that MicroScale also produces limited runs of decal sheets for any company or individual interested in hiring their services. (You must be willing to order their minimum required amount, though).

In addition to the decals, MicroScale also produces a number of liquid products that are used both to apply decals, along with being used to build models.

(MicroScale can be found on the Web at: www.microscale.com).

The Garage Kit Company Monsters In Motion

Last in the plastic model vendor category (but definitely not least) was the Garage Kit Company Monster In Motion. This was the first time they attended this show.

Jerry A. was on hand, showing the many resin sci-fi, fantasy and horror figure and vehicular kits that were out on display.

(Monsters in Motion can be found on the Web at: http://www.monstersinmotion.com/).

As you can tell from this listing, there were NO major plastic kit vendors at the show! No Polar Lights, no AMT/Ertl/Racing Champions, no Revell/Monogram, no Testors/Italeri, no Lindberg, no Hobbycraft, no Minicraft, no Hasegawa (nor their Marco-Polo American distributor). This (just like last year) was really a disappointment.

Tamiya wasn't even on hand this year. Instead, they opted to attend some new trade show taking place somewhere in Georgia).

(Onto Page Three)

(Back to Page One)

(Back to the Shows Page)

(Home)