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

The 2002 East Coast Hobby Show
(Page Four)

The IPMS Contest Concluded

I also liked the number of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comic book and anime vehicular and figure kits that showed up. There were even a few GK resin Star Trek models, along with some resin and vinyl figure kits out as well - (I guess the word is finally starting to spread).

Conclusion & some closing thoughts

The 2002 East Coast Hobby Show was another enjoyable event (for me). In addition, there were once again a large number of folks who attended the show - (for both days, there were over 20,000 attendees).

The dismal showing of the major plastic kit manufacturers detracted a bit from the show. While I was dwelling on this fact, I was struck with a bit of irony here. Despite the no-show of the plastic kit manufactures, the IPMS Contest that was conducted was the best one to be held yet! Again, this was both in terms of the quantity and the quality of the model entries.

There were a lot of builders who had never even heard of IPMS, (and hence were not members).

My second observation was that the Make & Take It model-building program that is held continues to generate a good amount of interest. (200 - 250 models built in a one-day, 7-hour period are pretty good!) This was probably the 7^th or 8^th year that a plastic model kit-building session has been conducted here - (which is a very good run).

Despite all of these positives, though, the plastic model companies show less and less interest each year in this fun, very unique show.

I really believe that they are missing the boat here! They are missing out on a GREAT opportunity to showcase their products to a lot of perspective customers. They are also missing out on a GREAT opportunity to hobnob with retailers and distributors.

Maybe the current economic state of affairs has something to do with the small number of plastic kit vendors that were on hand. (Then again, maybe it didn't). Time will tell, I guess.

All in all, though, this year's ECHS was still an enjoyable event. (Can't wait for next year's)!

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