Mainline Hobby Supply presents: The SMD Spring Mini Convention.

Submitted by Pete Clarke

• Mainline Hobby Supply presents: The SMD Spring Mini Convention.
• Saturday, April 13, 2019.
• Doors open to the public from 9:00 am. to 4:00 pm.  Doors open for set up at 7:00 AM (vendors, modular layouts, clinicians ONLY).
• Blue Ridge Mountain Fire Co., located at 13063 Monterey Lane, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214. This venue is directly across the road from Mainline Hobby. Attendees can park, free, to the north side of the fire hall nearest the convention entrance.

Plans for this year’s Mini-Con have come together nicely. Brian and Bonnie Wolfe of Mainline Hobby Supply have rented the hall, advertised the event, supplied some of the make and take kits, and so much more. Be sure to stop by the shop and thank them. Oh, and buy something while you are there.

The scout troop will offer lunch. 

Ray Price, Herb Biegel, Don Florwick, and Grant Berry will greet attendees at the welcome desk.

Informal clinics:  9:00 to 10:00, and again from 11:00 to 12:00

• Jane Clarke – Making backdrops
• Dave Thalman – Rolling stock tuning/weathering
• Don Florwick – Casting stone portals/walls
• Dotti Caldwell – Modeling buildings
• Jerry Skeim – Structures
• Ron Polimeni – Budget model railroading
• John Madden – DCC++
• Bill Wilson – JMRI DecoderPro (9:00); then JMRI OperationsPro (11:00)
• Jeff Adams – Diesel loco tune-up/lighting
• Bob Morningstar – Soldering Techniques

Informal clinics:  10:00 to 11:00, and again from 12:00 to 1:00

• Bill Reynolds – Using Hunterline stains
• Jack Fritz – Building old Central Valley kits
• Gary Nastase – Rebuilding turnouts for DCC
• Jay Beckham – On site 3D printing
• Harvey Heyser – Layout design
• Dave Moltrup – Steel mill product transportation
• Bob Law – Using dry transfers
• Andrew Dodge – Building a car float
• Bob Johnson – Track laying 101

Make and take clinics:  Begin at 10:00.

• Brian Greenawalt will lead a build on kits (12) donated by Jeff Grove and Carolina Craftsman Kits. HO scale – Carolina Craftsman Kits, Cape Fear Company Houses.
• David Sweeney will lead a build on kits (8) donated by Brian and Bonnie at Mainline.  HO scale – DPM – 36000 – modular learning kit.

Like last year, each of these will have two sign up sheets. One will be for those 18 and younger.  The other for 19 and older. Clinics will be filled first by those from the ‘younger’ list, then filled out by those on the ‘older’ list.  Within those categories it will be first come first served.

Modular layouts:

• George Sarra will bring another version of his On30 Dead Rail Layout.
• More to come…

Clubs and Societies:

• The Hagerstown & Frederick RR Historical Society.
• The Bricktown Model Railroaders Association.

For sale:

• Carolina Craftsman Kits – Jeff Grove.
• Foggy Mountain Models – Mark Schreier
• Nyce Collectables – Railroadiania – Larry Nyce
• Dwarvin Enterprises – Lighting without Wiring  – Michael Groves
• SMD members Grant Berry, Bob VanZant, and David Sweeney will have things for sale.

Raffle:

SMD has purchased a $150 gift certificate from Mainline Hobby Supply to be raffled off for $10 per chance. Odds of winning depend on how many are sold. Please note that this certificate can be used to pay for anything offered by the Mainline. Purchase tickets through the morning and the drawing will be at 1:00.

Door prizes (awarded at 1:00):

• $50 gift certificate – HobbyTown USA – Frederick, from Richard Benjamin.
• HOn3 loco, from Andrew Dodge.
• Classic Miniatures kit, from Bob Johnson.

Formal clinics:

• At 1:05 the Mid-Eastern Region will give a short talk about the coming Fall Convention – The Liberty Bell Special 2019.
• At about 1:15 Jeff Grove of Carolina Craftsman Kits will speak on “Laser Technology in Modeling.”
• At 2:00 Ira Silverman will give a talk on his book “The Canadian, the Last of the Great Streamliners.”
• At 3:00 Alex Polimeni will give a talk on “Model railroading as game design.”

You can still help…

• Extension cords – We will need several; and surge protectors (that add extra plugs).
• For the make and take clinic’s we’ll need all the following, put your name on it and you’ll get it back at the end.  We really do need this, you can’t make a kit without tools.
  • Exacto knife
  • Flat file
  • Sprue nippers
  • Straight edge/ruler for cutting/measuring
  • Sandpaper
  • Squares
  • Super glue
  • Cutting pads
  • Toothpicks
  • Elmer’s glue (for wood kit)
  • Plastic cement (for styrene kit)
  • Clamps for gluing corners
  • Paint (craft acrylics)
  • Paint brushes
  • Thinner (not if only acrylics)

Did you notice that the formal clinics are by a model manufacturer, an author, a young guy?

Did you notice that you’ll have the chance to watch something be printed on a 3-D printer?

Did you notice that you have a chance to win a $150 gift certificate for Mainline Hobby Supply and a free $50 gift certificate from HobbyTown USA?

Don’t let the tried and true format fool you, this event gets better each year. It’s going to be a great day. The only way it could be better is if you are there!