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Hello all,

The first days of the Nats is complete, so I thought I'd share some photos with you that I quickly snapped between helping the organizers and vendors. It's not much, but it will give you a taste of what the day was like.

The vendors rooms are packed! Vendors are situated in several rooms, which gives the attendees a sense of discovery as they move from one room to the next. You're constantly thinking, "What's behind door number four?" If you're arriving tomorrow or later this week, make sure you seek out every room. You'll be glad you did!

There is a great variety of vendors, with a nice mix of "professionals" and private sellers. There are plenty of bargains and fairly new releases to be found. You'll find aircraft (duh!), armor, ships, cars, aftermarket, books, tools, and accessories.

Registration was brisk to say the least. We had a large queue of folks waiting when the doors opened at 2 pm, and everyone was very kind and patient with the inevitable learning curve that any Nats staff goes through during those first 30 minutes when everything is brand new.

By 7 pm the contest tables were filling with models. There are already some outstanding 1/48 and 1/32 scale aircraft, and the armor is quickly rolling in. Much more to come over the next two days!

Enjoy!

banner.jpg

Vendors setting up

setup1.jpg

setup3.jpg

setup2.jpg

Vendors

vendors2.jpg

vendors3.jpg

vendors1.jpg

Display area in a loft overlooking the contest room

displayloft.jpg

Contest room awaits entries!

contestroom.jpg

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Columbus guys should get a big attaboy for the first day of the show. Things seemed to go real smooth. Have taken about 250 pics already. There are some outstanding models on the table already.

Ready for day 2 already,

Jeff

Hello all,

The first days of the Nats is complete, so I thought I'd share some photos with you that I quickly snapped between helping the organizers and vendors. It's not much, but it will give you a taste of what the day was like.

The vendors rooms are packed! Vendors are situated in several rooms, which gives the attendees a sense of discovery as they move from one room to the next. You're constantly thinking, "What's behind door number four?" If you're arriving tomorrow or later this week, make sure you seek out every room. You'll be glad you did!

There is a great variety of vendors, with a nice mix of "professionals" and private sellers. There are plenty of bargains and fairly new releases to be found. You'll find aircraft (duh!), armor, ships, cars, aftermarket, books, tools, and accessories.

Registration was brisk to say the least. We had a large queue of folks waiting when the doors opened at 2 pm, and everyone was very kind and patient with the inevitable learning curve that any Nats staff goes through during those first 30 minutes when everything is brand new.

By 7 pm the contest tables were filling with models. There are already some outstanding 1/48 and 1/32 scale aircraft, and the armor is quickly rolling in. Much more to come over the next two days!

Enjoy!

banner.jpg

Vendors setting up

setup1.jpg

setup3.jpg

setup2.jpg

Vendors

vendors2.jpg

vendors3.jpg

vendors1.jpg

Display area in a loft overlooking the contest room

displayloft.jpg

Contest room awaits entries!

contestroom.jpg

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Share on other sites

There were only 2 vendor rooms, right? I just want to be sure I didn't miss something. I am always amazed how packed those rooms can be, yet how much room could be better utilized. The first thing you see when you walk into the first vendor room is Afterburner decals , with at least 3-4 tables arranged in a horseshoe. They just have sheets of decals and a couple of built up models, taking up as much space as booths just stacked with kits and accessories. I assume that a couple of those tables were the ones that were cancelled on, but I think I would have tried rearranging that situation a little to utilize space better. Some vendors were overflowing with stuff, and having it under the tables in crowded conditions makes it very hard to see. Then again, I think regardless of how large rooms at shows are, they would somehow end up filled to capacity or beyond. Verlinden Productions just has a massive amount of stuff there, including a lot of dioramas and probably every kit they have ever produced. I am surprised by the number of vendors that just have boxes of stuff thrown together for you to dig through and find something. I didn't have the energy. I was surprised by how meager Tamiya's booth was, and what they dislayed. It looked like their centerpiece was their Lancaster bomber, that has been around how long???

Oh, signs near the main entrance/lobby, if possible, would have been a help as well. I saw on several occasion people wandering around there a bit, then found someone with a model in a bag or a name tag, and asked them how to get to the rooms.

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There were only 2 vendor rooms, right? I just want to be sure I didn't miss something. I am always amazed how packed those rooms can be, yet how much room could be better utilized. The first thing you see when you walk into the first vendor room is Afterburner decals , with at least 3-4 tables arranged in a horseshoe. They just have sheets of decals and a couple of built up models, taking up as much space as booths just stacked with kits and accessories. I assume that a couple of those tables were the ones that were cancelled on, but I think I would have tried rearranging that situation a little to utilize space better. Some vendors were overflowing with stuff, and having it under the tables in crowded conditions makes it very hard to see. Then again, I think regardless of how large rooms at shows are, they would somehow end up filled to capacity or beyond. Verlinden Productions just has a massive amount of stuff there, including a lot of dioramas and probably every kit they have ever produced. I am surprised by the number of vendors that just have boxes of stuff thrown together for you to dig through and find something. I didn't have the energy. I was surprised by how meager Tamiya's booth was, and what they dislayed. It looked like their centerpiece was their Lancaster bomber, that has been around how long???

Oh, signs near the main entrance/lobby, if possible, would have been a help as well. I saw on several occasion people wandering around there a bit, then found someone with a model in a bag or a name tag, and asked them how to get to the rooms.

There are vendor rooms scattered all over..at least 5 smaller and a 3rd midsized one plus the two you see...

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My 2 cents worth as Vendor Chairman.

To my dismay the night before the show and the day of the show was the fact that the vendor room tables used were a mixed bag of 6 and 8 foot tables. The Hyatt ran out of 6 footers and 'borrowed' tables from the convention center next door, they just happened to be 8 ft long. I made due with what I got.

The table plans for all the rooms were based on 6 foot tables and the layout is the best way we could get the most tables in. We had tried different configurations ie long rows, diagonally and every which way you could think of, and being that we wanted to maximize sales on the amount vendor tables we could sell the layout you see is the best. If there were 6 foot tables the aisles would have been much wider as well.

Also the doors next to registration were never supposed to be open that you would have to walk around the corner heading towards the main hallway where the raffle is located and on your way to the vendor rooms.

I know about the signs as it was one of those things that you don't know until the day of to get it fixed the next day.

I heard many positives from a few vendors in sales being way up for a first day of a Nationals, and I hope that will continue for all of them throughout the remainder of the show. Being that I haven't been able to really comb the vendor rooms to shop and look for my must have items, they will be getting my money soon enough.

Jason

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Good info

Looks like I missed many of the vendors rooms, I thought there were only the one right off registration and the next one behind it, next to Einstein Bros Bagels. I saw the area where the raffle was set up, but didn't go back that way since I wasn't going to be around to win anything. I didn't realize there were satellite rooms around there. I doubt I will make it back, but C'est la vie.

Good work, J, its a huge job

Cheers

Jason

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Good info

Looks like I missed many of the vendors rooms, I thought there were only the one right off registration and the next one behind it, next to Einstein Bros Bagels. I saw the area where the raffle was set up, but didn't go back that way since I wasn't going to be around to win anything. I didn't realize there were satellite rooms around there. I doubt I will make it back, but C'est la vie.

Good work, J, its a huge job

Cheers

Jason

Jason,

Did you get the chance to pic up your Sufa conversion?

How does it look? Comments? Wish I was there.... :thumbsup:

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Jason,

Did you get the chance to pic up your Sufa conversion?

How does it look? Comments? Wish I was there.... :thumbsup:

Yep.

Fortunately for me, Ra'anan was in one of the two vendor rooms I found. He only had those kits on hand that were pre-ordered from his site. He said there had been some issue with customs, so I don't know if he had planned to have more there for sale or not, but the only ones I saw were the pre-orders. The conversion looks pretty good. There are some major pour blocks to remove, especially from the tail/rear spine piece, which is molded in one part. One thing thats not included are any canopy rails. There are PE hooks and a metal strip for the inside of the canopy frame, but you will have to modify the kits rail and probably scratch something for the rear cockpit, if you want to show the canopy open. It was a bit surprising to me that they weren't included. It threw me off because the instructions actually show a pic of the inside of the canopy for placement of the hooks, and rails are shown. Then I realized it was a pic of a real canopy. Now we will have to see how it fits the kit.

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There are some major pour blocks to remove, especially from the tail/rear spine piece, which is molded in one part. One thing thats not included are any canopy rails. There are PE hooks and a metal strip for the inside of the canopy frame, but you will have to modify the kits rail and probably scratch something for the rear cockpit, if you want to show the canopy open. It was a bit surprising to me that they weren't included. It threw me off because the instructions actually show a pic of the inside of the canopy for placement of the hooks, and rails are shown. Then I realized it was a pic of a real canopy. Now we will have to see how it fits the kit.

Shame, well...................something will come up to dress those rails.

Hate pouring resin blocks. Saws heat up, brake and your hands cramp.

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to receive mine.

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I had to cancel my plans to attend (Friday and Saturday) at the last minute (yesterday at 6p.m.) so, I won't be coming this year. Hope everything goes as well as can be expected. Only thing bothering me is that the hyatt says I have to pay for one night at the hotel (which I cannot afford since getting laid off yesterday at 4:30 in the afternoon) and have lost my registration fee. From the attitude and empathy I got from whomever I spoke with at the Hyatt yesterday, I'll never attend any function held at any Hyatt or stay in one of their hotels as long as I am still breathing (aferward, I hope they put me in one of their honeymoon suites w/no embalming...LOL). They actually wanted me to provide documentation that I was laid off (which I do not have). I simply got a "we are cutting some positions and unfortunately, yours is one of them". Enjoy the show guys, and look out for those new Hasegawa Ki-44 Tojo's in 1/32! They're here in the U.S. and probably several at the show for sale. Sorry for the b*tch, I just hadda vent.

Edited by timc
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