Hey fellas,
Just wanted to offer a quick peek into the first day of AMPSEast 2010. Marc (dupes) and I hit the road at about 8:45 this morning and got to the site about 11:00-ish. Just in time to get into the vendor room. At that point the crowd was pretty small and a lot of the vendors had not arrived yet. It was good to troll around the room to see the offerings. Both Marc and I cleaned up at the NMMA club table - Marc especially! The guy about needed a U-Haul to put all his stuff in.
As the day wore on the crowd grew, but it never got to be really big. Probably a result of this being the first year of AMPSEast’s new TWO day event. Still, there were a lot of familiar faces in that crowd and it was great to hang out with some of the guys. Unfortunately, Marc and I had to leave a little after 2:00 since I had to get home and grill some pizzas for the family. As a result, I can’t give you any info about how the later part of the afternoon and evening went. However, I can say that as the afternoon wore on, the crowd began to grow.
One advantage of the two day show is that Marc and I could get our builds entered and judged today when things were not too busy. One disadvantage is now we have to wait an additional day to see how we did. Marc entered six builds (he has some SERIOUSLY nice work in there) and I entered three. Tomorrow will be the big day to see how we did. We’ve both also got a judging rotation tomorrow, so that should be fun. It also makes it easier since our builds are through the judging process, we shouldn’t have any conflicts of interest (‘Sorry, can’t judge that one, I built it…’).
We’ll hit the road a little later than in past years tomorrow (typically we were out my door at 5:00 AM, but that was when the show was only one day and we had to get up early to see those vendors!!). We’ll head out about 7:00-ish and pick up Nate, then it’ll be off to Danbury for a full day of hanging out with our modeling buddies. I REALLY do look forward to this weekend.
In addition to Nate, I look forward to seeing Al, Wing_nut, panzerguy, jmart (who is making his first appearance at AMPSEast) and any of the other FSM guys who are going to be there.
As far as the vendors go, as I stated before, Marc really cleaned up at the club table. HOWEVER, I got the airbrush that I have been dreaming about for a year (a Badger Patriot 105). PLUS, it came with a free set of paints (7 colors) from a ‘new’ line Badger is developing for airbrushing. I don’t want to gloat, but I feel like I got a hell of a deal on the brush and I am REALLY, REALLY excited about it. It will go well with my Badger 150.
Alrighty sportsfans, I gotta get some sleep, so that is all for now. I may bring my computer and try to post from the show tomorrow to give you up to the minute information!!!
HEY, if you’ve never been to AMPSEast in Danbury, CT, it is a heck of a good time and you need to mark your calendar so you can be here next year (or, if you read this soon enough, hop in your damn car and hit the road!!! [8-|])
SEMPER FI, fellas!!!