Model Car Clubs

[mrtc4w]

Before the internet there were actual face to face meetings of model car builders. I only belonged to one club,

Western Lake Erie Autominologists (Toledo, OH area)

I don't remember how many years I was a member, but I was club president for a year. We had the usual 4-5 guys doing everything for the club and the rest just kinda tagged along. I still see some of the guys at toy shows, but I don't think it is active now.

What club(s) did/do you belong to? Is the club still active?

Just curious,
Marty

[robriley]

well, i didn't belong to a club so to speak.
when i really got into building back when i was younger (probably 1979 or so) it was just me and my best friend dave....building in my basement. we hung out at a hobby shop and we became friends with the owner. he had model car contests every 2 weeks, and we always had 3-4 models each entered in the shows (along with other customers and kids that went there). i stil have the trophies that i won back then. after a few years of us haning out at his shop, we became personal friends with the owner, and he used to just let us pick whatever models we wanted off the shelves for free. we're talikng all the good johan kits. munsters graveyard kits...he had everything, and we could have whatever we wanted for free.
it wasn't really a club, but we were at that hobby shop for what seemed like every day...for years. it got to the point that we were almost like employees there and we got paid in kits, to build them and show them off in his windows.

[flounder]

I used to belong to the SAM club up in Sac. I did their newsletter. I worked in a small print shop so I could turn pics into halftones. I was a good amount of work but I had fun. A good newsletter really makes a difference. Attendance went up and they made profit on their annual contest. Until I ran funny tag names on a couple of guy's names. One neophite read only part of sentence and got his panties in a bunch and decided to get in my face. I calmed him down and then quit the newsletter. Too much BS. Otherwise it was a great group of guys and I made some long term friends I still enjoy catching up with when I hit the NorCal NNL.

In SoCal I joined the Fantastic Plastics. Very low key, but a few guys did all the work. I was one of the slackers too. They asked for help, and no one stepped up. The the club went away and splintered off to another group called Kit Bashers. I know a lot of them. Good guys every one. If they did not meet on Tuesday nights, I would join. They are to be running a contest this year. I'll be there.

Flounder.

[Dr. Kerry]

I was a member of Rockford Wheels in Scale, Northern Illinois Table Top Cruisers, C.A.R.S., and am still a member of Kustom Kemps in Miniature as we I just joined AMG.
I was the acting pres of R.W.I.S. for about three years.

[blatdriver]

I'm a active member of my local scale model club

Wagga & District Scale model Club
wdsmc.bravehost.com/index.htm

I just finnished doing our website, check it out, we are only a small club in and around Wagga Wagga NSW Australia, with about 20 members with about 8 active members, but we have fun with build days, where we get together and talk, do some modeling and talk some more.
we also have social outings together, dinner, drinks etc.

[ironheadchopper]

Im in the three rivers automodlers, We are located in Pittsburgh Pa. We met the second monday of every month at the Quaker steak & lube. They let us use a room for free! This past monday was build an impala callange we had 49 models entered it was a blast.

[howardcohen]

I am a founding member of 'Group 25 Model Car Builders Club' based in Toronto, Ontario with members from Windsor to Ottawa. We have also had members in Quebec, Alberta, Ohio and Florida. The club started in 1976, sprouting from a group of slot racers and model car builders. The slot racers have gone and our current membership is about 25, although it was as high as 60. We used to have portable dioramas that we showed at car shows, hobby shows and at the Toledo NNL and toy collectors show in the 1980s when Herb Jackson had the show. We run a model car contest every September in Toronto that is very well supported by the local hobbyists and by many long distance modellers. You can check out website at WWW.GROUP25.ORG

[Tim Nolan]

Being near Daytona, you'd think we'd have huge amounts of people wanting to have a club, but we never have had any luck getting an active group off the ground. We also had a local scam artist named Wayne Stevens who basically had a contest, was offering up a big organized club with all kinds of stuff, took everyone's money, and flew the coop. He ripped off so many folks he had to move out of state, and believe it or not, his son ended up ripping off our own Bob Paeth!! I couldn't believe it when Bob and I made the connection!! Unreal!

Our local Hobbytown tried to restart a club a month or two ago, (to generate business I believe), and we had like 6 people show up. Not worth a 20 mile drive one way.

I've been a "lone wolf" for years, after getting fried on clubs back in the 80's with real cars. There's always a handful of pricks who ruin it for everyone. Our local hotrod club is a classic example of what used to be a fun group, now a bunch of jerks who will throw you out of the club or have the cops on you if you spin your tires. Now I ask you, if you have, say, an 800 HP pro street Camaro, wouldn't YOU want to spin the hubs on occasion? ;D

I know I do, on my own time, with nobody telling me what to do...

[RodBurNeR]

I was a member of BHSM (Black Hills Scale Modelers) in Rapid City, South Dakota for about two years. I moved back to Omaha, Nebraska but i still get club update emails so i still am sort of involved.
I am president of the online club Drastic Plastics Model Car Club www.thedpmcc.com for nearing 5 years now. We do everything that a face to face club does....accept the face to face meetings once a month. We do those in voice conference and we do see each other at shows all over the country.
I am a member of a local club called FOKM (Fat Old Kar Modelers) but im not OLD yet and not nearly fat but we have fun! We don't do anything club related....just buddies building models which is what it should be about.
I think i am about to be inducted into the DILLIGAF Cruzers in Austrailia as an honorary member.

[rocketeer]

I belong to PSAMA (Puget Sound Auto Modelling Assn), based in the Seattle area. We've been putting on a yearly contest for, um, nineteen years now, and we'd been in existence for several years before that. We started out meeting at people's houses, in an informal rotation, but now we usually meet at the local library, except for our July picnic at my house and the December meeting, which we usually hold in the super-garage of a local rich guy one of our members is good friends with.

At a normal meeting we get ten or twelve people; our show usually runs about 250 entries. Like any club, a few guys do the work; but hey, there isn't much work to do. An occasional letter I send out to remind everyone of the meeting and that month's meeting theme ("No Substitute for Cubic Inches", "Summer Fun", etc), and working at the show--but we've been doing that for so long that everyone knows their job and just does it.

Everyone is pretty mellow--the Type A personalities all got impatient and wandered away, and now we're just a bunch of easy-to-get-along with Type Bs.

[Ellis Kendrick]

By now, most of you Klowns know that I belong to the KC Slammers Model Car Club based here in the Kansas City Area. The club is in its 17th year of existence with around 35 members. We just staged our 17th Annual Heartland Model Car Nationals with national guests Hall of Famer Bob Paeth and automotive artist Bob Bond. We meet once a month and our modeling interests are as varied as our membership. BUT... we ONLY focus on those beautiful cars, trucks, and motorcycles!

We are the organizers of the annual model contests for Darryl Starbird for his Wichita, Kansas, Custom Car Show and for the Kustom Kemps of America and their outstanding Model Kemp Spectacular kcslammers.com/index_files/Page781.htm coming up on July 26 in Salina, Kansas. Our club also does many special events and displays around the area to promote our club and the love of model-building as a hobby. In addition, we are well-known for our "road-trips" to special fun places with an automotive flair - museums. hobby shops, auto-salvage yards, and the like.

I'm the webmaster for the club and invite you to come over and visit us at www.kcslammers.com . We have a nice website (if I do say so myself) and a great photo gallery page with links over to our great FOTKI Photo Albums with many albums of real cars, models, and special events.

Does it sound like I'm proud of our club. Geez, I hope so! Internet clubs are fun and I truly love the ones with which I'm involved. But, it's great to be able to sit down, elbow to elbow, with a fellow modeler and share our great hobby!

Ellis Kendrick

[tdfancharles]

Here in Reno, I belong to a club called, Reno High Rollers, named after the local National Guard squadron stationed at the Reno airport. We're a member, as a group, of IPMS. Most of our members are into armor and aircraft, so the few of us that are 'car guys', have to suffer thru the sometimes long explanations of history that go with modeling aircraft and armor. On occasion, we 'car guys' projects are referred to as 'targets'. We like to throw back that aircraft and armor modelers could'nt lay down a glossy paint job or wire an engine, if their lives depended on it! We have our monthly meetings too, as well as our yearly contest in September. I ran the club for 4 1/2 years and finally got burnt out. I'm glad someone else wanted to run it for awhile.

[peteski]

I'm a member of Classic Plastic Model Club ( classicplastic.org/ ). Our club is very low-key: easy with rules and regulations and big on having fun! We meet up once a month. We also organize a model contest every fall and I'm the contest photographer. Our contests are usually covered in Model Cars Mag. and in the Scale Auto Contest annuals.

[barten]

I was a loner like Tim. . . .

till I came here. . .

I'm a member of Dave's Road Rally

I'm an honorary member of the KC Slammers.

I'm going to do start a build night. . . we will see.


It is interesting to see all the clubs.

GB
Barten

[barrisfan- Mark-78Pinto]

I was a part of the Table Top Cruisers in Colorado Springs CO a few years back. The day I was going to tell them that I was leaving, the group dis-banded ;D
I have been asked several times to join the group here in the Milwaukee area (AMG) but I like being a "Lone Wolf"
Like Dan B said, I am glad to be part of this club.

Mark

[gwangiboy]

I belong to two different groups here in the Twin Cities ... one is called MSM, which meets every 2nd Tuesday of the month at one of the local libraries. Its a mixture of all types of model builders, although the majority are military ... but there are a few of us car guys. Its nicely laid back, with the first half of the evening being a round-table discussion of new items, observations, etc, followed by a show & tell. A quick break, and then the 2nd half is a demonstration by a member of different techniques and methods in building models. This is one of my favorite parts, as I've learned a huge deal from others -- there's only so much one can learn by themselves, and I was feeling a little stalled out skill-wise until I took the first step to join up.

2nd club I'm with is the RPM club (Racing Plastic Modelers), devoted to race cars and pretty much that (with some muscle cars too) ... some of the members don't care for showrods at all, and it can be a little one-sided there at times, but a lot of great guys to hang out with and just talk plastic. I'm one of the contributors to the newsletter, alternating with another person on doing write-ups of the monthly show&tell, and am currently working on a few reviews for publication in the newsletter and website as well.

www.rpmmodelclub.com/

[bobpaeth]

Our club, the SCALE AUTO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION ( saba is the oldest club in the Northwest. We are in our 26th year. Our membership seems to average 35 members with about 25 being considered active.. We participate, personally, in three events per year. The Portland Classic Model Car Contest ( 36 years old ), the model car contest at the car collectors contest and our own model car fest ( NNL ) and swap meet. At other times of the year we put on demonstrations at county fairs, the state fair and rod & custom week-end runs. We also help support the Boys and Girls club here locally

we meet once month and have an annual picnic in August with wives and kids invited.

We are a club devoted to all types of cars, trucks and motorcycles. Our dues are $14.00 per year, with new members receiving a T-shirt and a hat

bob paeth