Fly into BWI it is alot closer (but kind of a mess compared to Dulles). You can drive down to VACAPES from Baltimore without going through DC. There is also a hobby store at the Naval Base in Norfolk (the one with the big grey things floating in it) that has good prices. Take a look if you go. Have you been to Reston lately? You may be shocked at what you see.
I have never had the pleasure of a Timonium show, though from what
> I have heard, I have missed a very special experience.
>
>
> I haven't yet had the pleasure of the Timonium show, yet am very envious
> / jealous of what I hear about it in the web news and the model press. [I
> keep threatening the now 29 year old son who is an F/A 18 airplane driver
> down in Virginia Beach that I may come visit for 3 days, fly into Dulles and
> let him buy me breakfast before I head north and let him meet me at what
> once ( back in the early 1970s) was the house in Reston where he was born
> for a picnic lunch 3 days later. I tell him Grandpa will get the
> grandkids a postcard. Really!]
>
> The Hodgson kits are really good items, and are a value for what is
> charged. They are suited to a locale, in addition to being very good
> models of specific prototypes in that locale. They are _NOT_ beginner kits. >
> Similarly, from what I have heard and read, the Timonium show is not for
> beginners, but -- as a marked contrast to the GATS crapola -- is a value
> for what is charged.
>
> Come on guys -- you both provide very good yet very different
> products. Please stop pissing on each other.
>
> It dignifies neither of you.
>
> Please be grownups
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
>
> > > If they want to see alot of hard core modelers,
> > >> this the place in the Northeast to do it.
> > >
> > >Actually, West Springfield, Mass. is the place to do it. I doubt there
> > >were 23,000 people in two days.
> >
> > Absolutely. I went down to Timonium for a show several years ago and lost > my
> > ass down there, as did several other dealers who went down for that same > show.
> > Springfield is much better, at least for my products. Could be the > location,
> > but I got the feeling that people felt no urgency to buy, they know there > will
> > be another show in that same building next month and the month after. At
> > Springfield, they know the show is once a year, and they may not see that > item
> > again until next February. I know for a fact that I buy more at > Springfield
> > for that reason.
> >
formatting link
> James F. Hodgdon Jr.
> > Hodgdon Scale Models