Ascot Exhibition 7th - 9th September

In message , Peter Neill writes

A purely personal view is that from a model engineer's point of view (I am not necessarily assuming that means an engineer's point of view), the mid-winter Alexandra Palace exhibition is better.

Peter,

Due to prior commitments, AET will not be attending this time. JS will be on the SMEE stand with the CNC X3.

Ketan.

Shocking, shouldn't be allowed!

I did get the impression from the website that support from the trade, in general was not all that whole hearted.

Mark Rand RTFM

Thanks Ketan, I suppose I'll just have to buy mail order again then.

Peter

I'm going tomorrow (Friday) on my own and then on Saturday with No's 2 & 3 kids.

I would suggest meeting at the bar at 12:30, but I don't know which bars the have at Ascot and have just frightened myself on their website with the prices:- £3.90/pint :-O

Unless anyone has any better ideas, how about milling around the SMEE stand at

12:30 somewhere near JS?

Mark Rand RTFM

I'm planning to go on Saturday, but it's been a tiring week so far and it's still a toss up betwen going, or getting up and going back to sleep for the day . If I'm there on Saturday I'll make sure I'm around the SMEE stand at

12.30.

Peter

I saw John on Thursday at Ascot ...... he had the short straw and was on car Park duty ......he tells me there isn't enough room to swing a cat on the SMEE stand so two people meeting there might be a crowd!

I have to say my first impressions of what I saw .... which did not amount to much I admit .... were not good. However I am still going Sunday. I will reserve fuller judgement until after then.

I hope John doesn't park cars like he "parks" machines in his shop, we will never be able to get the doors open to get out! Still they won't run out of car park.

A bit of wishful thinking the "we", looks as if "normal" life is going to intervene to stop me again - don't know why I called it normal, hasn't been that for months.

Anyway those who do make it, I hope you enjoy it - lucky gits!

Regards

Keith

Hopefully Mark will give us a 1st day report when he's back tonight. Its a good 3 hour drive to get there for me, so it needs to be interesting to be worth it.

Peter

OK, I'm back. If you want to go shopping, you may well do better to wait a fortnight for the Midlands exhibition, There were a reasonable number of trade stands there, but it looked a bit thin without:- Chronos RDG Arceurotrade Camden Tee Warco Proops and maybe a few others.

Quite a good selection of models, but with a slightly different mix than, say, Harrogate.

The loan collections of Cherry Hill's, Les Chenery's and others models were very interesting and I hope to spend more time tomorrow looking at some of them some more. There were a number of things on the club stands that I hadn't come across before (different mix of clubs to the northern and western shows).

Didn't see Editor Dave, but I suspect he was being run ragged. Did bump into Mike Chrisp a couple of times. There was an interesting old curmudgeon on the SMEE stand in a borrowed SMEE jacket abusing a router that was pretending to be a CNC milling machine.

some snapshots are at:-

There aren't any photo's of Mrs Hill's models because they were all in glass cases and I wasn't sure about seeing the contents through the reflections, must have a go tomorrow. Note that there were a significant number of locomotives and boats and some aircraft and other things... I just didn't take any pictures of them.

It was less crowded than some shows I've been to, but still quite busy. Only real grouse is that, knowing the number of trade stands that had been rented, they could have been spread out a bit better.

If you're coming from the Eastern side, don't park in the first car park you get to (No 5). It's quite a long walk from the exhibition.

I'll be there tomorrow with the kids and will be propping up the bar that's opposite the SMEE stand at 12:30.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program... Mark Rand RTFM

Mark Thank you very much for your photo display - great photos Regards Alan Jackson

While we're waiting for our 'official' correspondent to file his report - I've just come back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from the setting, the new multi-million pound stand building, which is spectacular if a bit hot and stuffy on a sunny day like today, it is very much like any other show you've been to, with the caveat that this is the last chance for most of us to see the complete (almost) works of Cherry Hill, who has just been awarded yet another Duke of Edinburgh's Trophy for her latest masterpiece.

The other prime exhibit, for me, was the solid silver model of Stephenson's Rocket - complete with its own goon to ensure it wasn't 'borrowed' for closer examination in the privacy of somebody's garden shed. It was made by Dr Bradbury Winter in the late thirties and took between 10 and 20,000 hours to complete.

As usual it was very crowded until early afternoon when it became a pleasure to quietly browse an outstanding display of models - displayed in their own dedicated areas on the second and third floors and to buy those essential bits and pieces without which, I told my long suffering and footsore-weary wife, my life would have no further meaning.

The downside was that the show administration appeared to leave more than a little to be desired. I saw no signage of any sort directing me to the show, or the car park, which, when found, filled up just after I got there and as far as I could see, there was no overflow. Few, if any, of the stands had any form of identification, either by visible number or by a headboard to which they could attach their own banners and signs. On the plus side, there's an excellent programme of free afternoon lectures, organised by SMEE, two of which I attended. The first, by our very own John Stevenson, who gave a very good presentation on CNC in the home workshop, the second by Chris Vine, the author of "How (not) to Paint a Locomotive" His loco 'Bongo' was there for us to judge for ourselves. Like so much I saw today - it was bloody magnificent and, as usual, I come home feeling very humble at the ease with which some people turn out work of a standard I can't believe I could achieve if I lived to be a thousand.

Imshallah! --

Chris Edwards (in deepest Dorset) "....there *must* be an easier way!"

I got back from an exhibition in Ireland in the early hours of Friday morning so there was no way that I could exhibit at Ascot - September a the busy time schools wise.

I AM going to go down on Sunday so that I can actually look at the models - something that I've not had much time to do while exhibiting ;)

Snapshots at :-

updated with a few more shots from today, including some, but not all of Mrs Hills work. No text at all and the images are smaller, but they now link to the full 5MPixel sized images. some of the photos are poorly focused, but I left them in anyway.

Mark Rand RTFM

Excellent, Mark. I enjoyed your pictures almost as much as the show - if you could sell a few tools by mail order as well I might not even need to go next year!

Thanks for your effort. --

Chris Edwards (in deepest Dorset) "....there *must* be an easier way!"

Chris, but you would then deny us (who couldn't go) your excellent report as well.

I wonder if anyone has a picture of that Rocket? How big was it? I fancy doing something like that, maybe a RR Merlin.

Regards

Keith

OK so I went on Sunday and I have changed my mind a little ........ the attendance was apparently well down compared to the two previous days........ the silver lining being that I could walk around the whole show without having a knapsack stuck in my face, a real pleasure to browse the stands and models at a leisurely pace without having to shoulder a way into the counters.

As the 100th exhibition I thought the model display one of the better ones I have seen in years, a good variety and of course the "collectors" show was superb.

The trade did not support this show anywhere near what we have been used to seeing at shows but then go back a decade or three to Olympia when it was the models not the trade stands that show was about. Ascot is definitely superior to Sandown and the long hall space was used reasonably well (the crowds on the first two days may not agree). Car parking for visitors seemed quite good.

The big question is will the trade support the show next year after all the chaos of the setup days before the show? and can the signage be sorted out? If they do and the floor layout can be better used on all floors then they might just get the exhibition back to be a leading UK show.

It was a nice sunny day I hope that did not affect my rose tinted glasses!

Well overall impressions are it was a good show.

There were some initial problems mainly of loading that weren't helped by the 'suits' at Ascot and this looked as if it was going to spoil the event but common sense [ something lacking in those woods ] prevailed and the exit went very smoothly.

Signage was lacking, a point to note for next time if there is one but in all fairness to Lou Rex who I think did a marvelous job of organising he was faced with Ascot themselves keep moving the goal posts.

It isn't really an exhibition hall, it's a ground floor concourse for access and somewhere to put the many bars selling champagne at £13 a glass or £125 a bottle and a burger at £7.50 [ these are race day prices I hasten to add ] The only power on that floor was in the various side booths and that meant having to string up and drop cables to where needed. No phone points for credit card machines, hardy what you would expect for a £450 million pound 'exhibition' centre ?

Trade loading problems were caused when the suits saw the trucks parked on the loading ramp and threw a fit as they said it wasn't designed to take the weight but couldn't say what the weight was and insisted they all be removed, go round the front and stand on an identical ramp where Joe public was trying to unload models !!

When it was pointed out that the ramp was supported on the same pier structure as the building and it was being filled up from 3 sides they went quiet [ and white ] !

Their idea was everyone stands off and one vehicle loads at a time !! So by Tuesday night everyone would have been unloaded

Hi John, Anthony here, Chester UK.

Having just read your post I had to reply in massive agreeance particularly your point about the 'suits' complaining about the loading/unloading issue.

Before we agreed to exhibit, I had extensive conversations with Magicalia whi then conversed with Lou Rex, over our access point because this is just a tad important when you a 45 foot trailer with

20 tons of machine tools on it! They promised me there was no problem whatsoever and we would have clear access. On this basis we agreed to exhibit and support the show.

When I get there Thursday, after being on the road since 6, I see that we are half way down the ramp. Not ideal but no the end of the world so we got on with it. Then, as our driver is about to leave, I see one of the 'shirt and ties from Ascot' moaning to your goodself and our driver that we shouldnt be on there due to weight restrictions although, as you pointed out, there were no signs or indications anywhere. After this there were rumpours circulating that everyone would not be allowed on the bridge type area to load up and would have to do it on the slope out the back! 45 foot trailer and heavy machinery, on a hill, on a slant, me thinks not!!

So I spoke to Lou Rex whom I get on with very well and he advised me we couldnt have the trailer as far up as we had it for unloading. We were advised to be at the very end of the bridge next to a stair case. Not too impressed as I would say from our stand it was around a good

200 to 300 yards to the trailer which when you are dragging 500 kgs lathes is not ideal! So anyway we had no choice and we got on with it.

We have 1 milling machine left to go on and 2 pallets, max. 10 minutes work, when one of the 'suits' appears with Lou Rex going beserk about our trailer being there. Now remembering I'm covered in grease, oil, wd40 and everthing else on the bed of a wagon he pipes up shouting at me asking me who told us to park there etc. So I reliably informed him his security guards watched us park there and we were told to go there so he starts effing and jeffing at Lou saying it would be on his cameras and that people would be going effing mad at him. Stading there rather amused at what I can only describe as a jumped up tosser, he tells me we have to move the trailer. So after a heated exchange I told him no and we would be finished in 10 minutes.Without going furtehr in depth (as im sure you guys will get the jist) he walked off. Not before I asked him the weight limit. 5 tons he said, so I sacastically said to him, "So how much weight do you think there is on here during a race meet with 3,000 people stood on it! He fobbed me off with a reply that they didnt have that many people on there. What a load of rollocks!

Anyway sorry to go on guys but just thought I would give you another angle on events from our point of view. I would like to say we will be supporting the show next year but I am not sure it will be there next year and if it is I can see us having to unload miles away which if is the case I doubt we will be there. I take back everything I've said about Leamington......see you there chaps!