The Phantom Figure show was a one day event in Allentown, PA.
Just want to see photos? Okay click here!
I traveled there from New York City via bus from the Port Authority. The bus was comfortable and the ride was about 2 1/2 hours. the round trip fare was $24.75. Pretty reasonable. I arrived at the Allentown bus terminal on Friday afternoon about 4:20 pm. The winds had kicked up and it was much colder than it had been in New York. I called the hotel to arrange for the free shuttle pickup. It took awhile for the van to arrive but the driver was pleasant and the ride was about 10 minutes. The Days Inn hotel is located on the service road right next to the highway. One of those frustrating locations, you can see it right there from the highway but you can't get there This Days Inn was one of their motel like hotels. All rooms opened to the outside parking areas. Some rooms in the main hotel also opened to the hallway. My room had a small refrigerator, a microwave, a small coffee maker, a hair dryer, and an ironing board. The hotel had a restaurant and a bar.
Since I couldn't find anyone that I knew at 6pm I ate dinner at the restaurant and retired to my room to relax. Well, almost relax. I was actually going to finally enter something into the model contest and I needed to make repairs to the "base". This was a mummy in it's pre-animated stage. The "base" was a crate I had created out of basswood planks with straw like filling material on which the mummy rested. I had put this crate together quickly and had tried to age the wood a bit using the old teabag trick. In traveling, some of the planks had come off. I did wind up relaxing watching television and had doozed off when the phone rang. It was fellow Gremlin, David Malin a.k.a. Highwayman, who had said everyone had missed me in Friday night chat and he decided to call and bother me. A very nice gesture!
Saturday was interesting. I had taken a look at the area where the show was being held the night before. There had been a private dinner party going on. Nice sized ballroom. The show opened at 10am and despite my intention to arrive earlier I got there just about 10am. When I saw the area designated for the model contest I was very surprised. this was a large rectangle of tables with a rope barrier to prevent getting too close. Model contest entrants had to wait until 10:45 am. In the meantime everyone was shopping. Among the many companies there were: Geometric, Amazing Figure Modeler Magazine, Fatman Productions, Smooth-On, and Janus.
The show was not packed but a fairly good crowd for a first show. The talks were well attended and were held in a small room off the ballroom. When model contest entry started there was a long line. There were over 136 entries!
So, how did I do in the model contest? Well, let's just say it was enough to just enter. Now I will be less stressed the next time. In case you are curious, here is a pic of my entry:
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| More will be posted soon (I hope)! |