
The Theme Table theme for our July
meeting is Any and All Mopars.
We'll see you at the July meeting!
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to MAMA's Diner, the official home
of the Maryland Automotive Modelers' Association (MAMA),
where we serve entrees of fun, friendship, and model cars.
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MAMA's current leadership team is:
President: Tim Powers
Vice-President: Dave Toups
Treasurer: Matt Guilfoyle
Newsletter Editor: Tim Sickle
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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.
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