Ally Pally Exhibition

Hi Jason, we have to hire a transit, usually diesel. Although economy is better than my F Pace!!

I think it will be a case of the extra hassel of emmisions zone adding to the pressure that shows are under and is bound to stop some from going on the 'final straw' basis. It would be nice to have something on the plus side as a draw to offset some of the downsides. My big beef was basically I couldn't find enough to look at to fill the day, but I was still glad I went.

regards Martin

Did you talk to anyone on the club stands? That can fill up some time and can be quite illuminating, or you might be able to help them out. There again I do get al least one person per show who wants to go on for half an hour about the left handed whinge-plate he is modelling out of ear wax.

I thought I was the only whinge-plate modeller in Britain, but there again I only do the much rarer right handed (or Dextera Utebatur) version.

And of course the only medium for the serious WP modeller now a days is toe nail clippings. Ear wax being so passe.

I was undecided about going , but in the end decided to treat myself to a day out , so , on Friday I got the train from Wolverhampton down to Euston and tube to Wood Greem , bus to the Show and at a return price of £35 all in , I thought that good value .

There was a queue back to the main entrance door when I got there ( on line ticket purchase not available due to my failure to make a decision about going until the last moment) but it was processed quickly, and I was in before I could think of a good grumble line , and the others in the queue were nice to chat to ! .

My first thoughts , on getting in to the main hall , was that there was much more space between stands than in previous years , clearly there were several traders not turning out this year , but those who did attend ( bless them all ) were worth visiting .

With the exception of RDG ( who clearly have something about them , that those traders who claim it impossible to attend due to disruption etc etc , do not ) and who have increased their presence, through Myford and now Proxxon equipment , many appear to have taken stands of reduced size ,possibly to reduce costs . The aerospace guy for instance , in my mind had a significantly smaller stand than he normally has , and compared to his stand at Doncaster ,which last time must have been upwards of ten times larger than at Alexandra Palace , would suggest costs continue to increase . He does some very good prices for really good products , I hope we don’t lose him , nor for that matter the likes of JB , Greenwood , Tracy , DRO , and others , the people who we should support in return for them keeping the shows going ! .

I purchased lots of bits , many of which were extra to the list I went with , spoke to many exhibitors, saw some great models and products and eventually got home mid evening tired but having enjoyed myself no end. It was a most enjoyable day , thanks to those who organised it , who exhibited and who got me there and back Safely.

Finally some photos. This stand has a nice selection of both boats and steam engines including a boat with a steam engine and works on view.

From the round logo I can tell it was the St Albans and District MES.

Well done chaps. Nice display. Oh and If you can't read the yellow leaflets which I seem to have cropped off they were saying they have their own show at the end of September. I must go to that.

Hope you all enjoyed the exhibition, was great to catch up with customers

Short video from Saturday;

**LINK**

Regards

Machine-DRO

I was there on Friday, quieter than usual, early on, but lots of people by lunchtime. Less traders & less models than previous years. Still enjoyed the show, the secret is to talk to the club members manning the stands. Amongst others, I had a chat with a Swiss SMEE member about high impedance op-amps & other things. I also spoke with the gent building the Big Boy, he's a better man than I am! As it's a long way darkest Devon to London, I normally combine the ME show with some other things on my to-do list. This year, Brooklands and the RAF museum at Hendon. (Also some of the National Gallery, Borough Market and a wander around the sights. A good use of three days and a senior rail card.

Nice bit of video there. It even featured our Peter who spent most of the day manning our stand. Briefly shown the array of fire engines were very impressive showing that you can do an awful lot of modelling with Meccano if you don' thave access to a machine shop.

images added

**LINK**