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Greetings fellow ARC'ers!! It is
my pleasure to present some photos and a bit of a description of a scale model
exhibit that my club has been participating in over the past few years.
The show, held at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, located on the University of
Saskatchewan Campus, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, actually got its start from
another exhibit held many years ago.
A traveling exhibit on the Avro Arrow was being held at the Centre and the
exhibit curator wanted some models of the Arrow, along with some other aircraft
to go along with the display. Scale
Modellers Association of Saskatoon (SMAS) member Cam Tetrault was hired to build
the models for this display, which included the F-108 Rapier, TSR-2, SR-71,
CF-101, CF-100 and of course, the Avro Arrow.
Eventually, Cam and the Diefenbaker Centre started discussing the club and the
possibility of holding a show over the Christmas Holidays every two years.
This model show was to have a Christmas theme to it, as most of us, when
we were kids, probably received more than one model kit courtesy of Santa
himself.
So, with a theme decided, Cam (who was named as a guest curator for the show)
and Greg Burke (the Diefenbaker Canada Centre's technician) set out to choose
models to display in the show. Since
then we have never looked back.
This show has been a huge success for the Club and the Diefenbaker Canada Centre.
The model displays have been among some of the most popular attractions
hosted by the museum, so much so, that people phone at various times throughout
the year asking "when are the models coming back"??
This year, the show took on a bit of a different theme.
With the 100th Anniversary of Powered Flight being celebrated
in December of 2003, the theme for our show was obvious.
"Modelling the Wright Stuff" however, is not just a celebration of
flight. We also chose to celebrate
a couple of other significant anniversaries, such as the 50th
Anniversary of the Corvette, 100 Years of Harley Davidson Motorcycles and 100
Years of the Ford Motor Company. In
addition to these displays, we have several scratch built sailing ships on
display this year, all built by Greg Burke, from the Diefenbaker Canada Centre.
There are figures from popular TV shows and Movies, cars, trucks, armor,
etc. So, needless to say, there is
something for everyone to see.
"Modelling
the Wright Stuff" opened up to the public on November 30th, 2003.
Members of the club, including a large number of the participants were on
hand. As well, we had three very
special guests attending the opening.
The
first guest was Kay Pederson. Her
husband, the late Martin Pederson, was a Typhoon pilot during World War 2. Martin and Kay were the Guests of Honor at the opening of our
first show and Martin was presented with a scale model of his Hawker Typhoon at
the opening. While most Typhoon
pilots had a life expectancy of 15 missions, Martin went on to complete 92
missions by the end of the war.
Next guests were Gordon and Marion Wilson.
Gordon is a former Spitfire and Hurricane pilot from World War 2, having
flown in the African Desert. A
display case in the display is filled with two models of aircraft that Gordon
flew during the war, along with some memorabilia from his collection, which
includes his leather flying helmet and goggles, a silk escape map and the
control column of an ME-109! A
quick scan of Gordon's logbooks indicated that he was once the wingman for the
legendary Neville Duke. We were
very honored to have them all as our guests at the opening.
The
models on display have come from a number of different modellers from the SMAS,
as well as from other model clubs in the province, such as Regina Scale
Modellers and Prince Albert Plastic Modelling Society.
A few local modellers not with the club were invited to display their
work as well.
We
try to get as many new models for each display, but in some cases (such as the
scratch built 1/144th scale USS NIMITZ), some popular models do make
return appearances to the display. More
often than not, we usually have between 80 and 90% new items for each display.
In
addition to the number of models on exhibit in the display cases, there are
various science fiction models hanging from the ceiling, along with a few R/C
models. Too compliment the model
kits, box art from various model kits was collected and mounted for display in
the gallery as well. So, as you can
see, there is a lot to offer at the show.
Club
involvement doesn't end after the opening is over though.
Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, various members of the club are in
attendance at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre to put on building demonstrations
and talk to the public. These
building sessions are a lot of fun, just from the standpoint that the public
gets to know the exhibitors, get a better understanding of what goes into our
projects and they can see how a model gets from the box to the display shelf.
Attendance
this year has been very good. As a
matter of fact, the show has been extended until the 22nd of February
(the original end date was to be the 1st of February).
This year, we were very fortunate to receive a lot of media attention
with TV interviews for the news, various TV commercial spots, as well as
features in the local newspaper.
As
a club, we participate in numerous other public displays, but this one is the
display that everyone looks forward to the most.
The Diefenbaker Canada Centre is a first class facility and has been an
excellent venue for this show. The
display cabinets and cubes really give the display a very professional look.
A
big thank you has to go to the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, and in particular,
Greg Burke, who is the Centre's Technician, who oversees setting up the
various exhibits. Thanks also go to
our own Cam Tetrault, who is the Guest Curator for the display.
Greg and Cam usually put in long hours prior to the opening day of the
exhibit; so, I have to thank them again for their hard work and dedication.
Thanks also to the Diefenbaker Canada Centre for providing us with a
First Class venue to hold this display at.
Finally, thanks to the Scale Modellers Association of Saskatoon and in
particular, those members from the club who participated as exhibitors as well
as those modellers from outside the club who contributed their work to the
display. Thank you to everyone!
Well,
I hope you have all enjoyed this look at our show.
We are hoping to be doing this again in two years time.
So, if anyone is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan over the next little while or
in two years time, come out to the Diefenbaker Canada Centre and check us out!
Thank you.
Colin
President
Scale Modellers
Association of Saskatoon
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