Region 1 Update: 03/04/2006

Hi everyone,

Time for another update. I also need to pass along to everyone that I'll be out of town from Thursday 9 March until Saturday 25 March. I'll going west for some racing, visiting, and general warmth!!

I received an update today from John Nickerson, Chair of this years Noreastcon. John has some very interesting things to relate, and I'll let him tell you about it.

NoreastCon 2006 is fast approaching. I'd like to say everything is on track, but there have been a number hurdles. The latest one to rear it’s head is that the facility has been sold and some time in May, I am told, it’s name will change from the Radisson to ‘The Hotel, Marlborough’. I expect this will happen the weekend of the event so all the signs will be changing. The best info I can give is watch our web site, www.ipmsnoreastcon2006.com , we constantly update it with the latest info.

All of the registration info is also posted on the web site. Anyone calling for hotel reservations should call the Marlborough Radisson directly at 508-480-0015 and ask for the NoreastCon discount package.

At long last we have the registration brochure printed and ready to go. Please advise the chapter contacts to watch for their packages. All of our plans have changed at least once over. So again I stress checking the web site to keep up to date. We have planned a number of events, designed to make this a full two day experience. Besides the vendors, (more on them later), and the model display, Friday evening we have three events scheduled for your entertainment. Besides the social period we are putting together a silent auction, where we hope to have a number of unique items for attendees to bid on. The proceeds from this will go to ‘Hobbies for Heros’. And what we are calling ‘Model Trivia Showdown’ where a few teams will compete, complete with audience participation, displaying their knowledge of model trivia.

Saturday, of course, the models grab center stage. In addition to the models, the Region 1 business meeting and the judges meeting, we currently have three seminars planned. Phil LaBounty will be demonstrating some concepts of figure painting stressing the use of washes and glazes, Phil says that this is a technique that can be used by all modelers, Bill Grigg will discuss building diorama bases, and to top it off, Talal Chouman will demonstrate his scratchbulding methods. We also have a special raffle item. It's a matted, Nick Trudgian print of Adolf Galland's Me 262, it's signed by Adolf and the artist. And of course, we cap this all off with the banquet and awards ceremony.

Now, because of the concerns of some modelers stemming from the incident at the Nationals, we have designed a security program and it will be in place for the weekend.

Ok, back to the vendors. Currently on board; Byrd Aviation Books, 3 Guyz Hobbies, Precision Enterprises Unltd., Commander Series Models, and Moonlight Hobbies. We believe that Olde Depot Hobbies, Farina Enterprises, Sentinel Miniatures, Harry’s Hobbies, and others will be joining us.

One last thing, we still have plenty of trophy packs to sponsor! Checks can be made payable to NoreastCon 2006.

John Nickerson, event chairman; President, Bay Colony Historic Modelers

Y'all be well!
John Nickerson

Back to me!! As John mentioned, there will be some cool events happing this year, as well as some awesome seminars being planned. Even if the hotel is changing hands, it shouldn't effect the quality of the event our hosts are planning. They have been working very hard, overcoming a variety of obstacles, as each has been thrown in front of them. I admire the tenaciousness of these guys, they should have been Marines!!

Now that you can see what they're doing, please consider sponsoring a trophy package from them. Show them the love they deserve, and do so in a most tangible way. Sponsor a category or two!! I know this plea gets old, and I promise I'll stop making it, just as soon as they tell me all categories have been spoken for. So, to get me to shut up, please put your money where my month is!!!!

Also, the deadlines for Region 1 Chapter of the Year, and Person of the Year have closed. Thanks to all that submitted nominations this year. I will say we have two winners, and will also say that the decisions were extremely hard this time around. As I continue to say, we have some excellent chapters and people in this region. The nominations I received this year really bear that out. To find out who the winners are, please plan to attend the banquet at this years Noreastcon. The formal announcements will be made at that time.

That brings us to the end, once again. Please keep your eyes on the Noreastcon web site of all the latest information. And as always, please share this with the officers and members of your chapter.

Doug Hamilton
Region 1 Coordinator
IPMS/USA

UPDATE: 03/04/2006

It never fails, just as I fired off the last update, I received notification from Pip Moss that our friends at IPMS Patriot chapter have a brand new shiny web site for us to try on. The new address is:

http://www.ipmspatriot.org

I'd like to urge everyone to go and check it out. It's very cool!!

Semper Fi
Doug