Albuquerque Comic Expo 2012
The Albuquerque Scale Modelers (ASM) put on a model display (show) on June 9-10 in support of the Albuquerque Comic Expo (ACE) 2012. The purpose of ASM’s display was to promote the modeling hobby, possibly gain some new members, and to have fun. ACE 2012 was held at the Albuquerque Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque, and ASM had a primo location right in the middle of the main traffic area where attendees came in to the building and also transited back and forth from the large vendor area to where the guest speaker presentations and seminars were held. We had hundreds if not thousands of folks stop by to look at the models and a lot of them asked questions about the models or what techniques we used to paint them. You’d be surprised at how many closet sci-fi model builders live in Albuquerque.
The theme of the model display was “Science Fiction, Real Space, Fantasy, and Science” – the same as what ASM has for its January Special Contest each year. We had a total of 108 models on five tables – actually 155 models if you also count each individual figure that Mike McNichols brought in. The models were pretty much grouped by theme and genre, and the ASM “What is Scale Modeling” display board was right in the middle, with four P-51D models ranging from 1/18 through 1/72 scales. Pictures of the display are included below.
ASM members that helped man the tables included Jim Guld, Joe Walters, Ray Ayles, Mike McNichols, Blaine Couch, Ken Piniak, Frank Randall, Adrian Montano, and Matt, Laura, and Mike Blohm, Members who provided models but could not attend included Patrick Dick, Victor Maestas, and Gorham Smoker. We normally had at least three ASMers available to watch the models, answer questions, and pass out ASM, IPMS/USA and NM State Fair model contest promo sheets. Thanks to all who manned the exhibit and provided models.
I believe that we met our three objectives. I think ASM put on a great show and it was very well received by the both the ACE attendees and the ACE leadership. It was like a super mall show, where the attendees knew what the subjects were, and really wanted to see and talk about the models. There were some highly-charged “words of excitement (expletives deleted)” expressed by a few of the visitors as they saw their favorite subjects. We also had “celebrity judging” by a cast of characters that reviewed all the models and picked out their favorite – those award certificates will be passed out at the July ASM meeting, and they are posted below. You’d be surprised at who attended ACE, sometimes incognito. Matt Blohm won the prestigious “Most Liked Aaward” (picked the most) with his NX-01 star ship from “Enterprise” (Star Trek). We passed out a lot of ASM promo sheets and it looked like a lot of folks were interested in the club. There was also interest in bringing models to the NM State Fair, especially amongst the junior modelers. It turns out that the Cylon Centurion warrior who stopped by to chat and judge is actually an avid model builder. Not sure how much time he has to build models between raids on the Colonials, but he might be showing up at one of our meetings. As for having fun, one of the bennies was free tickets for the ASMers manning the tables, and we all did have a fun time. If you’ve never been to one of these conventions, you should definitely check them out. And you will get the chance to check ACE out next year, as it looks like ACE would like to have us back, and maybe incorporate some other aspects such as a contest. We will provide more info on that as we receive it. I think this would be a tremendous annual thing for ASM to do as a promo event. So now you have another reason for building those models for the January contest – we need another 150 brand new models to display in 2013.
