NNL Nationals #35.........

[PatRedmond]

http://public.fotki.com/predmond/model_cars/nnls/nnl-nationals--35-t/

[Ramfins59]

Great pictures Pat. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[1930fordpickup]

Great pictures Pat.

[Kris Morgan]

Another round of great pics. Thank Pat.

[bpletcher55]

THANKS FOR THE GREAT PICS , PAT.

[tim boyd]

Pat beat me to the punch. Here's my coverage of the NNL Nats:

35 years ago this summer, the first ever NNL took place in Tom Woodruff's garage. There were six participants. It was the most fun any of us had ever had with our model car hobby. From that afternoon grew the NNL legacy.

Fast forward 35 years later, and this year's NNL Nationals was an outstanding success. Participation was up from last year, with entrants from as far away as Nova Scotia, Canada and Kansas City. I saw many, many new names on the entrant slips this year, all the vendor tables were full and they reportedly did a very good business, and the overall vibe was very upbeat. The event was well-attended as noted above, but not so packed with people that you couldn't get around. As a result, there were many modeler to modeler discussions taking place and many renewals of past friendships. In that regard, this year's event saw the return (after many years away) for two early NNL Nationals regulars - Rick Hanmore and Steve Masters. Great to have you back, guys.

This year's Cult Theme chalked up the largest participation of any Cult Theme ever. Suggested by Howard Cohen, the "Vintage Model Preservation Society" was for any model built prior to 1980, the year of the first NNL. At one point there were over 80 models in this section. Congrats to Jim Casassa for the oldest cars on the table - built from 1961-62 - although Rick Hanmore and several others were close with models built in 1964.

There was sadness yet joy as we celebrated the life of Tony Hill, who passed away earlier this year, with his family including his wife, son and daughter in law, and grandaughter. Model builders are a close knit group anyway, but we all felt a special affection for Tony. His family brought a huge arrangement of Tony's innovative and well built models, and his many "in process" projects. What a talent!

The group organizing the event, the Cleveland Auto Modelers Society, was pleased with the new event format (with the event taking place earlier in the day and alongside the Toy Show as a single day event), so the 36th Annual NNL Nationals will go forward at the same location, same time, next year. If you were there, you know what a great time was had by all, and if you weren't there, you need to make plans now to make sure you are there next year!

In the interest of expediency I am posting all the pictures now. I do plan to go back and add all the builder names, as well as commentary on each model, over the next few days. Bookmark your calendar now so you can come back by the end of the day Wednesday for the full, complete story on the 35th NNL Nationals.

MCM's Glenn Marek was there with a photography setup that looked like a giant parachute in full bloom...so be expecting some great photos in future issues of MCM.

http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/model-car-events-co/2014-nnl-nationals-35/

Tony Franklins's spectacular '77 Monte Carlo lowrider is just a sample of the great models pictured in the link above...

Thanks for looking and thanks for your interest....TIM

[James2]

Could make it this year, but thanks to you guys I feel like I was there.....

[flat-top]

Very nice pictures, thanks for sharing them.

[1930fordpickup]

Great pictures Tim.

[maltsr]

As always, many thanks for sharing these great pictures for the benefit of us 'long distance modellers'

[blunc]

Hey Tim,

I tried to "message" you but got an error that says I can't message you...maybe your inbox is full.

Regarding your Fotki photos of NNL#35, you may want to edit the following caption:

DSC 0211 says the builder did exquisite Gene-Winfield style face paint, I'm guessing you meant "fade paint".

[tim boyd]

Blunc....thanks for that...yes I was typing that at 4am in the morning...I will go change it now. Best regards...TIM

[ChrisBcritter]

A Gene Winfield face-painting booth would be an interesting idea... or Ed Roth or Von Dutch?

Thanks to both of you for all the photos - Tom Piagari's replica stocks are amazing.

[slusher]

Thanks so much Pat and Tim for sharing your pictures..

[tim boyd]

I have just finished adding the names and posting detailed photo captions for all of the 228 photos in my NNL Nationals #35 coverage at this link:

I recommend you use the "roll" feature on the opening screen. It lets you quickly scroll through all the pictures in large format size (they should mostly fill your screen) with my photo captions appearing directly below.

As a teaser photo, here's a look at one of Chuck Helppie's entries in the "Vintage Model Preservation Society" Cult Theme, his IMSA Corvette that won Best in Show at the 1976 MPC Detroit Autorama model car contest, and later went on to win Third Nationwide in the MPC National Finals that year...

As I noted earlier, Glenn Marek's photo studio quality photos should appear later in Model Cars magazine and/or MCM's annual Contest issue early next year.

Thanks for looking....TIM

Edited October 15, 2014 by tim boyd