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No Kit Swap at this year's Telford?


spruecutter96

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According to a rumour doing the rounds at the Milton Keynes model-show today, there will be no kit-swap at Telford this year. To say I'm disappointed (if it is indeed true) is a big understatement. Having said that, it will save me a lot of money, as I will only be attending for one day and won't have the usual hotel-bills and food-costs to pay out. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

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I don't think I'll be going to shows anymore. It's not just this rumour but something seems to have changed over the 25 years since I seriously returned to the hobby, joined a club and started going to them. I find it hard to give solid evidence for my feeling so forgive my vagueness when I say that they have become a lot more professional, and that money now matters more than fellowship.

 

I seem to remember lots of happy chatter with the various club members exhibiting their stuff, and as an exhibitor with our club, I'd be exhausted at the end of the day after talking non-stop to strangers interested in our models. Weren't there a lot more clubs then and a lot less traders? Over time, and led perhaps by Telford, the focus seems to have shifted to shows as marketplaces. There are a lot less smiles, people don't look at the club stands so much and the club members sit facing away from their audience, often uninterested in giving a 'show'. The traders stands are crowded while the exhibitors are deserted, unless they have a big under-table trade going on. 

 

These are my personal impressions anyway. Maybe it's me that has changed? I don't know. 

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I was told yesterday that IPMS have not yet been able to find anyone to replace Alfie Bass as the kit-swap manager. I guess we'll discover the truth fairly soon. 

 

Chris.  

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23 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

the focus seems to have shifted to shows as marketplaces

I feel bad because whilst I do look at the exhibitors stands, I do rather see shows as a rare opportunity to do some old fashioned shopping with browsing, impulse purchases and not having to pay a small fortune in combined p&p.

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1 hour ago, Filler said:

I feel bad because whilst I do look at the exhibitors stands, I do rather see shows as a rare opportunity to do some old fashioned shopping with browsing, impulse purchases and not having to pay a small fortune in combined p&p.

Me too ... but no reason to feel bad about it. I enjoy looking at other's builds but the 'marketplace' is my incentive to go - often looking for specific out of production kits. With the demise of many hobby shops, I imagine this will be an ever increasing reason to attend. As for entrance fees, given I'm saving on P&P and hope to pick up some bargains, this seems fair. Certainly £10 is fine with me.

 

Perhaps 'admission' should be charged at point of exit, at say 5% - 10% of your purchases 😄. Maybe in a few years with advances in cashless operation this might be practical to do.

 

Cheers 

 

Colin

 

I

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2 hours ago, Filler said:

I feel bad because whilst I do look at the exhibitors stands, I do rather see shows as a rare opportunity to do some old fashioned shopping with browsing, impulse purchases and not having to pay a small fortune in combined p&p.

 

I'm sorry if I made you feel bad in any way. I appreciate a bargain too and when I did go to shows would be looking under the tables like everyone else. Probably I just have rose tinted specs when I look back more than a fortnight.

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As this is just a rumour, and its IPMS business im going to lock this off until we actually get some concrete info, maybe from the IPMS AGM.

 

Britmodeller is not IPMS, if you want to address IPMS Issues and you are a member they have their own forums and contacts. 

 

Julien

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