Rumour about the GSL Bi Annual Show?

[Bugatti Fan]

Heard a rumour about the GSL show competition in Salt Lake City being phased out. Any truth in this?

[Exotics_Builder]

Yes.  This is the Penultimate show, and the next one the last.

[simonr]

That are serious real sad sad news. A show like this one never shouldn't die!!...

[Jantrix]

Due to my recent move to the northwest I'm very pleased to be able to attend this year, before they call it done. I agree it's a shame it's going away, but perhaps a new contest will pop up to fill the void.

[blunc]

or maybe an existing show/contest can up their game...

[simonr]

But, exactly like this one will be very hard to get. To me, who come form Puerto Rico since the one in 2005, the magic starts with the city itself. So many places to visit. In the last one in 2017, I even was able to visit the Kindig It shop and the Moab Desert who is featured in the movie Need for Speed and the Boneville Salt Flats aswell.

I also ask myself, what's gonna happen with the museum?

[vamach1]

I guess if you have never been (I have not) then I do not know what I have missed.  I do know that in a four month span (Feb-May) I can go to five model shows (VA, NoVa, PA , NJ and MD) within a four hours drive and see a few thousand car models all without spending anything on hotels.  While 99% of the models may not be up to GSL standards, I think the short term future of the hobby is still in these shows that are primarily geared toward the average to very good builder instead of the folks that dedicate two years on one model. I just hope these other shows are around for another decade or more but one look round the any of them it is obvious that unless more younger (under 50 LOL) builders start coming the attendance is going to peak pretty soon and start to decline to a point where we might end up in much smaller venues like the first NNL's.  Sorry if I depressed anybody.  Build until you drop. 

Edited February 27, 2019 by vamach1

[Tom Geiger]

Rex, my first trip to GSL was in 2001.  My friend Bill and I decided we wanted to go once, and we wanted to visit the museum.  Once we went, we were hooked and went every two years!  We will miss it this year since neither of us will be available.  What kept us going?  It wasn't the models.  The lore of GSL is that the best of the best compete there.  Yea, that's true but for every over the top amazing model, there are dozens of average models built by people like you and I.  The sad part is, that the "aura" has scared a lot of people away over the years.  I've had people tell me they didn't think they'd be allowed to display their models, since they were not worthy!  

What kept us going to GSL was the event and the people.  It's very cool to be consumed with models and among modelers for several days.  I once said it was Disney World for car modelers!  Everyone at GSL is friendly and in short order you are part of the fraternity.  A very talented modeler from the East Coast was hesitant about going to GSL by himself. He asked if he could hang with us.. of course he could!  The funny thing was once he was there we hardly saw him!  He got pulled right into the tempo of the event and made a whole bunch of new friends who were into the same modeling area he was!

Each time we've gone, there has been something new and exciting. Someone to meet.  The first time we met the original Revell staff, who did a round table discussion on the old days. Suddenly I was friendly with Bob Paeth and we had some great conversations.  The next visit I got some time with Tom Daniel.  Another year it was Roger Harney.  And I cannot even count the great modelers I've met from all over the country.  

So if you can make it to one of the last two shows, do it!  GSL is an amazing experience!

[MrObsessive]

I gotta agree Tom! Back in the mid to late '90's, a big goal of mine was to make it to the GSL. Well, I was finally able to go for the first time in 2005 and you are absolutely right! It IS the Disney World of model shows! So much to see and do there and once you've gone, it's something that you'll always remember.

I was able to go again in 2007-----I haven't been there since unfortunately and I'm sure I won't be able to make this years show. A lot more financial responsibilities I have now than I did in '07.....that's how it goes! I'll DEFINITELY try to make it a point to get to the '22 show. I've got things I'm working on right now that should be more than done by then.

I have to say that this is not an easy show for those that aren't familiar with it as far as competition. In Mark's defense, he is a very good judge and as some of you know, the competition can be so fierce that judging can go on literally late into the night. Anticipation builds the very next day with the awards breakfast as everyone's excited about who won what.

If there's a "holy grail" of trips to be taken in this hobby, the GSL IMO is certainly one of them!

[Russell C]

If only I had more time and more money, then maybe I could be competitive in a couple of the categories, but I have had my fun with one of the popular vote categories in the past, and was honored to play a role in dredging up some iconic models from a long ago builder that are now in the Museum. But as I've said in one of the prior posts on this topic, the thing that has brought me back every time since 1990, poor as I am, is the people who attend. I sure will miss the event, since it was always one of those things that looked like it would extend years into the future as something I could schedule my every-other-year end-of-April activities around.