Melbourne Model Expo 2005

a pictorial report by Brett Green

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The Melbourne Model Expo has a long history in Australia.

Expo has traditionally been held on the Moomba holiday weekend in March at the Flemington Showgrounds in the suburbs of Melbourne.

2005 saw these two long-standing traditions change.

For the past several years, the Moomba weekend has also hosted the Melbourne Grand Prix. This has made it difficult and costly for interstate visitors to find accommodation on this weekend. Also, the venue at Flemington was becoming prohibitively expensive, parking was difficult and the atmosphere of the pavilion used in recent years was, to put it kindly, "warehouse-like".

The committee therefore made the decision to move Expo to a new date and a new venue.

The new venue is the Sandown Entertainment Centre at Sandown Racecourse. This complex is located around 25 km south east of Melbourne. The new home of Expo is roomy and comfortable, with carpeted floors, plenty of natural and artificial light, a bar and canteen in the auditorium and free parking right outside.

Attendance was very good, especially considering the changed circumstances. Traders were also present in force, as were other industry players including AFV Modeller magazine, Model Art Australia and JB Wholesalers. Max Shaw from JBs had a sample of the Trumpeter 1/48 scale Fw 200 Condor on hand (which, I can report, displays much more restrained surface features - rivets in particular - than earlier releases).

Another pleasing feature was the large number of club displays.

This three-day annual event is organized by a standing committee which is not affiliated with any particular model club, but local clubs are very much a part of Expo. These clubs include:

• IPMS Australia

• Australian Model Car Club

• Dandenong Scale Model Club

• Waverley Scale Modelling Club Inc.

• Whittlesea Area Plastic Modellers.

• Northern Area Modellers

• Axis Eagles

• Bayonet Military Modelling Club

• Eastern Suburbs Scale Modelling Club

• SPASM

• Sunshine Model Railway Club

Members of clubs and non-members alike are welcome to visit and enter their models in competition.

Keep an eye out over the coming weeks for Galleries and Features of some of the models that were photographed at the 2005 Melbourne Model Expo.

I would like to thank Expo Director, Laurence Farrugia, and the Expo Committee for their hospitality during my visit. I am also very grateful to Jamie Davies for generously furnishing professional lighting during the photography session, and his valuable coaching in bringing me up to speed with the equipment.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Setting up	Modellers register their entries for competition		Club displays were prominent	Plenty of models were on sale
The quality of competition was impressive	Car modellers were catered for too	Snowy Mountains Models is always a popular trader at Expo	This in-progress 1/48 scale Japanese aircraft carrier was impressive!	Gary Byk of Red Roo Models (left) and Max Shaw from JB Wholesalers (right)
HyperScale contributor Glenn Irvine	Don Campbell from AFV Modeller was on hand with sample pages from the forthcoming AIR Modeller magazine			Tiger on patrol!
Expo's official photographer, Jamie Davies, capturing another category winner

Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Brett Green
Page Created 13 June, 2005
Last Updated 13 June, 2005

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