The 2004 East Coast Hobby Show



March 31, 2005

The 2004 East Coast Hobby Show took place on Saturday, March 26 and Sunday, March 27 of last year, at the Fort Washington Expo Center, located just outside of Philadelphia. Although I took a number of pictures at this event, I had not posted them nor written an accompanying report of the show until now...(just like fine wine, some things are better if given ample time to develop.)

The ECHS showcases a variety of vendors, products and services which fall under the general hobby umbrella. Some of the items you can view here are remote controlled vehicles, diecast vehicles, trains, games, slot car racing sets, along with plastic models.

There are usually a LARGE number of train layouts set up, along with LARGE scaled military tanks. In addition, a LARGE scaled train (big enough to ride in) is usually set up as well.
In it's heyday this show gave plastic modelers an excellent opportunity to view and get advanced information on upcoming model kit and accessory releases. Most (if not all) of the plastic kit manufactures were usually on hand here, often displaying built-ups and distributing information on the soon-to-be-released kits.

Alas, these times seem now to be a thing of the past, with less and less plastic kit manufacturers showing up at the show.

There were still a number of them in attendance, though. Woodland Scenics was on hand. They produce products that model railroad hobbyists can use to create a variety of railroad scenes. In recent years plastic model builders have found many uses for their products as well in creating dioramas.

Testors was also on hand at last year's show, displaying quite a few newly released models, along with a new line of paints and painting supplies.

Testors has also been sponsoring a children's plastic model building program that takes place at the ECHS. These Make It Take It (MITI) Programs continue to be a staple at the show, introducing and re-introducing many children (young and old alike) to the joys of plastic model building.

During last year I was involved with the MITI program, (that took place on both days.)

In addition to myself, I had the assistance of fellow modeler Bill Nilsson along with fellow DVSM members' Dave Garbern (along with a son of his) and Fred Bowers and his son Josh.
The models that were built were the old Testors' Spirit of St. Louis airplane kits.
We had quite a few kids (and adults) who participated in this event. Dave, exhibiting quite a bit of ingenuity borrowed some supplies from the Iwata Vendor (who was on hand) and set up a mini-airbrushing area, where the newly assembled models could be painted.
(Located adjacent to us was a rocket building program.)


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