The Little World

Well, I for one, am quite delighted. The big local model show for Perth in 2022 is scheduled and has been announced on a dedicated Facebook page.

The venue will be the same – the Cannington Exhibition Centre on Albany Highway…the same ground that holds the dog racing track and the Canning Show, plus a number of other toy, collectors, and militaria fairs throughout the year. I must say, for a smallish set of halls, it certainly gets steady use. I love it because it is only 15 minutes from my house and studio and there always seems to be adequate parking on the grounds or in the main side street right outside the gates. I’ve never failed to get a possie.

It will be held at the end of April and start of May in 2022 – of course all dependent upon the health of our community. I make no jokes about that as it is too serious a matter. It seems to have affected a number of the large UK shows these last two years…I note from the Flory Models web log that they won’t be attending their local spectacular at Telford this year. They did explain that the economics of show attendance were not as rosy as everyone thinks, and that may have influenced them, but I imagine there is still a bit of trepidation regarding the pandemic in the UK and Europe. One can readily excuse them a degree of caution.

I have determined what my display might consist of for next year, and have commenced building it. Actually, I am a little stymied in a few details by the fact that the aircraft models I need for it are not currently being produced. I have seen some of them on eBay, but the price of the kits and the swingeing postage put me off. In any case I have contingency plans afoot. Like a dammed-up stream, I shall find a different course to take, but will arrive there nevertheless.

I’ve also looked ahead to the transportation of the display. The days of owning a Ford Falcon ute with a fibreglass canopy and a steel roof rack are long gone. I do not regret moving on from the ute to the Suzuki Swift during the other 363 days in the year, but transport for a model exhibition on a Saturday and Sunday is another matter. If I were doing a very ambitious airfield I would consider a Budget Rent-a-Truck…

Actually, I wouldn’t. I helped earlier this year with a trade show in a different field that saw a great deal of shop stock go out to a venue, up two flights of stairs. I escaped the set-up but still participated fully in pack-up and reloading a rented moving van and a shop van. It is no fun at my age. Cannington Exhibition Centre has no second floor.