Uncle Bobby
NNL-EAST
report by Tommy Kortman aka El Tanque
Welcome fellow glue sniffers.
The 2008 East Coast Model Car Show season officially started on April 12th
with the 22nd annual NNL East. This wonderful, must attend event,
which is perennially hosted by our friends from the north, The Tri-State Model
car club, was held in a new venue this year. The Wayne PAL building in Wayne NJ
was this year’s destination for model car builders’ annual pilgrimage. The
Tri-State club was forced to find a new hall when they unceremoniously, and as
it turned out prematurely, did not get their lease renewed from the Parsippany
PAL building. Well, Parsippany’s loss is definitely
Wayne
’s gain. In my opinion, it was also the event participants gain as well. Sit
back now and I shall regale you with tales of flowing cocktails, good food,
great friends and a whale of a model car show. Sadly, our very own Uncle Bobby
was not able to attend the show on Saturday, but he did fulfill his presidential
duties and made an appearance on Friday night. (UB: “I could not make the NNL-EAST
this year because of a Family commitment.”) .
Because
of all of the extra work and hassles involved in scouting, working, and finally
signing the new contest venue, Tri-State did not have time to properly secure a
host hotel for this year’s event. This did not stop our Uncle Bobby. Using a
very reliable internet source, UB was able to secure rooms for most of our crew
at the Ramada Inn in
Wayne
. As it turned out the hotel was just down the road from the hall. However,
because the road crews in North Jersey (or
West New York
as I like to call it) have their own twist on what they like to call a jug
handle, we did experience some small trouble actually getting to the hotel. The
Ramada Inn is a very nice hotel. The rooms were very clean and the beds were
quite comfortable. They even made cute little designs in the towels, tissues,
& even the TP. What can I say, I am easily impressed.
Once
we had checked in and unloaded our stuff into our rooms we decided to head down
to the restaurant for a bite to eat. The attached restaurant is Cheeseburger in
Paradise and as you would expect, there was a definite
Caribbean
theme. This was probably just after 3:30pm. (Remember this number. It will
become important later.) Our little band at this time consisted of Greg Hogg,
Mike Napoleon and myself. We immediately ran into those famous (or is it
infamous)
Ohio
modelers; Tom Kren & Mr. Rick Forrester. Not long after that our little
party expanded to include Fernando Roman, Rogelio Mendez, Nick and Sharon
Sandone, then finally Ariel (no last name needed) and Gregg Hutchins (Editor of
Model Car Magazine and Al’s pimp) It is now approximately 5 or 6:00 pm. I am
guessing at this point because they don’t put clocks in bars. The bulk of our
fellow modelers started arriving at this point. We met up with several of our
“partners in crime” the MAMAs boys. With them was model car all-star;
Kentucky
’s own “Chopper” Lear. We were regaled with a story of how Chopper had
remembers to get his models off the train, but forgot to get his medical
supplies. (UB: “That man has his priorities straight.”) Luckily, he was able
to retrieve them with the help of Amtrak. Somewhere around this time, Jersey
Shore MCC president John Stark made his entrance, and the party really started
to roll. John brought Mike Capasso with him.
We also met up with the
notorious
Connecticut
modeler and machinist extraordinaire Bob Dudek. Bob proceeded to put a hurtin’
on some alcohol. It was around this time that our very own Uncle Bobby made his
grand appearance. Trumpets blared and the red carpet was rolled out. Ol’
Magellen needed some help to actually find the party, but we finally got him all
straightened out. Around this time we have actually started to overwhelm the
staff of the restaurant part of this establishment so they moved us to the bar
portion of the place. We had originally planned to head out to Fuddruckers at
some point, but as the momentum started to build at Cheeseburger, the plans got
bagged and we settled in for the night. A few of us decided to get some dinner
that we ate at the bar. I guess it was about 8:00 pm when we were introduced Mr.
Albert Wallace, Steve Hinson, Anthony Rios (aka: Mr. Biggs) and Mr. 1/16.
(Sorry, Bob did not get his name.) (UB: “It was good to finally meet people
and put faces to names that you converse with on the modeling boards; where our
reputation apparently precedes us”) The crowd started to thin out a little
after 10:00pm when all the light weights decided to call it a night. About that
time the band “The Core” started to play. They had a great mix of some
classic Rock &Roll including the Beatles, The Doors, CCR, Lynrd Skynrd, and
Led Zepplin. They are a trio and they really have a nice sound. The Philly Guyz
upheld our honor and along with Mr. Kren & Mr. Forrester were the last to
leave the bar. We even got John Stark to give us all a little table dance. I’m
not sure how much money he made though.
Saturday
morning dawned a little early for some of us. So after clearing our collective
heads, we loaded up the cars and then headed down to the lobby for our
complimentary breakfasts. The Ramada did a real nice job; providing cold cereal,
milk, different juices, donuts, bagels, fresh fruit, waffles, and sausage links.
This was a real nice and welcome surprise because it meant that we did not have
to spend money for breakfast. That meant more money to give to the vendors. Once
breakfast was complete we headed off to the PAL building. Yours truly was a
little behind and not on his game so poor Greg did not make the correct turn.
Mea Culpa! Sorry about that man. Once we got turned around, we made it to the
hall only to find the line already half way around the building. Luckily the
weather was going to cooperate. Parking was no problem. My only complaint was a
couple of motorhomes that took up better than a half dozen parking spaces out
front. The Tristate club did their usual efficient job of getting everyone
registered, paid, and in the building once the doors opened. Once inside we were
directed to the display hall or should I say
Valhalla
. The display room this year was the length of 2 basket ball courts laid end to
end. There were more display tables available, with wider isles between them. I
could see where Tri-State could make some tweeks with regards to how many tables
to alot for the different classes, but I have no complaints what-so-ever about
how the show was set up or run. This was by far the best NNL East yet. Once you
got your models set up on the tables, it was time to hit the 2 vendors’ rooms.
That’s right folks, there were 2 vendor rooms. There were new vendors, and
some of the long time vendors had more tables to put more products out. All of
this was made much better by the presence of an ATM in the entrance hall.
Apparently everyone thought this was a good idea as well, because they ran it
out of money. There were plenty of
places to sit and rest those weary dogs too. The cafeteria was busy all day and
they even had someone walking the floor taking orders. It was just like being in
a casino except there was no eye candy.
Once
again we got to talk and converse with modelers that we either only get to see
once in a while or only get to “see” on the web boards. Most of the talk on
Sat was either about the models that you had on the table, what you had been up
to for the past year, or about how much they remembered from the night before.
Once it was all said and done
and the dust had settled. Our very own Mike Napoleon won the main theme class
(Model T) with his Snow track diorama. This makes 2 years in a row that a PACM/Del
Val member has won the most prestigious model car contest in the country. MAMAs
member Marcus Cruz took the closely contested 49 Merc web theme. There were
rumors however, from some prominent MAMAs members, that Mr. Cruz may have
brought in his landscaping and lawn crew buddies to stuff the ballot box. This
rumor was unsubstantiated and later proved to be false. When I checked with
Tri-State around noon time, there were already 1290 models registered for the
show. WOW!!!
There was one sad note though.
It seems that Mr. Napoleon has already seen the dark side of his fame. Mike now
appears to have a stalker who swiped his Cincinnati Model club jacket. The
miscreant probably already has a little Mikey shrine that he’s now praying to
and doing all sorts of unnatural things with. By the way, did anyone happen to
see Mr. Ken Hamilton hanging out near Mike’s stuff that day?
The
trip home was pretty quick. Greg can no longer harass me about my driving. The
man definitely knows the meaning of the phrase “Stand on It!!” WE made it
home in no time to find that the landscaping gnomes had left Greg a huge pile of
dirt on his front yard. “But hey, it was free!”
That’s it for now. This is
definitely a show that you have to make next year. If you have never been to
this show, you will be blown away. Next years themes are Fins and Feathers
(anything with fins ie: 59 caddy, 57 chevy, etc. or a fish name or anything
named after winged creatures.) with a sub-theme of compact cars. So now go build
something and remember…IT’S JUST A FREAKIN’ HOBBY!!!