The Theme Table theme for our July meeting is Any and All Mopars. We'll see you at the July meeting!

to MAMA's Diner, the official home of the Maryland Automotive Modelers' Association (MAMA), where we serve entrees of fun, friendship, and model cars.

MAMA's current leadership team is: President: Tim Powers Vice-President: Dave Toups Treasurer: Matt Guilfoyle Newsletter Editor: Tim Sickle

Notes from the MAMA President:

The 2025 edition of the Mid-Atlantic NNL model car, truck, and motorcycle show went off without a hitch. No one heard any grumbles, complaints, or criticisms at all. All of the feedback we received either directly or indirectly was positive.

As always, the participants who displayed their models, the spectators who attended, the vendors who vended, the club members who helped with the set up/operation/tear down, and the Level VFD Ladies Auxiliary who ran the kitchen for us, all made it a great show that everyone enjoyed.

I want to thank the 17 companies, 8 individuals, and the Diversified Scalerz model car club for the amazing support they provided for our show raffle.

And a special shout-out goes to members Mike Costic and Dean Lewis for their work running this year's Make and Take for the kids.

We were fortunate to have two of the best on hand for photographic duties the day of the show. Lewis Hicks set up shop and snapped photos for upcoming show coverage in Auto Modeler Magazine and Lyle Willits shot photos of the entries on the tables and the award winners for use here on our Mid-Atlantic NNL show page.

A big Thank-You goes out to all the MAMA members who were on hand before, during, and after the show to help with setup, operation, and teardown. Some of them were experiencing physical discomforts, but pushed through it to make sure all the neccessary work got done. To all who assisted and persisted, I am most grateful.

Once again I am also very thankful to Ms. Karen Lopes and the Level Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary for all their work in representing our interests with the fire hall's operational and administrative leaders, helping with the setup/teardown, and for making so much good breakfast and lunch food available for us and our guests.

All the details are available on our our Mid-Atlantic NNL show page along with photos of the trophy winners and lots of the models that were displayed, as well as, a gallery of hot-linked sponsor logos. Please check it out and please click on those logos to visit our sponsors' sites and support them by purchasing their products.

As usual, planning and preparations have already begun for next year's show. In case you missed it, next year's show themes will be F-Bodies and Pickups.

Speaking of themes, the newest feature of our monthly meetings is a theme table. Most of the time we only display our latest builds and WIPs on the display table at the front of the room. Don Sutherland and Lyle Willits got to thinking that a seperate theme table would give members a chance to dust off some older builds for some of us to see again, and for others to see for the first time. We tried out the concept at our April meeting with an inaugural theme of Pontiacs and it seemed to be a hit with lots of models on the table. For the June meeting we had a theme of Full-Size Fords and once again there were lots of models on the table, proving it a hit. As a result of these successes, Don, Lyle, and Dean "Dino" Lewis have been duly appointed as the MAMA Presidential Sub-Task Committee for the Nomination and Selection of the Monthly Theme Table Themes. They'll consider any suggestions, make the tough choices, and announce each coming month's theme at the meting so that they can be published in the news letter and here on the website. Oh, BTW, don't tell Dean,he doesn't know he's been inducted as part of the comittee yet. 😀 The July Theme Table Theme will be "Any and All Mopars". Let's see whatcha got! (Dave Matiko, Derald Carpenter, and Bobby G. should be able to fill the theme table all by themselves!)

Speaking of new meeting features, at our July meeting we'll be introducing a new, well, okay, maybe really not so new, one: Model or Two of the Month. Way back in the late 1980s when our founder, Norman Veber, organized our earliest meetings one of the best features was that for every model placed on the display table, we have the builder stand and tell anything they were willing to share about it: why they built it, what hard or easy, what tools or products they used, etc. Everyone enjoyed hearing about each other's models. Back then we could have everyone talk about their models as there were only about a dozen of so of us at the meetings. As time passed, more and more models would appear on the display table each month and after a while there just wasn't enough time to have everyone talk about their models. Eventually, we whittled it down to just one model of the month, and then later it kind of faded away. We made a few attempts at reviving it over the years. One was putting it on our web site with photos and captions bases on written responses to a questionnaire form, which most members didn't really like writing and the work to post the monthly site feature grew onerous. Another time we tried doing a VP's Pick where each month our VP would choose a model and ask the builder some probing questions while our intrepid newsletter editor rapidly captured notes and shot photos so he could prepare an article for publication in the newsletter. This too, grew onerous. So what are we doing differently this time? We're going back to our roots, that's what. Well, sort of. This time will be like the early days, only there will be just one or two models selected. The builder will be asked to say what they want about it, and perhaps be asked some questions by the member who selected their model and/or other members and that will be it. No photos, no forms, no website posts, no newsletter articles: just us talking amongst ourselves and enjoying it. Oh, who will be selecting the models? Kevin Kovach, one of our younger members who wasn't with us for those early meeting model talks, but has heard about them and really wants himself and others to have a chance to experience them.