Well for once in the UK the weather was sunny as I started out for the short run from my home to Duxford. I arrived before the crowds and parked easily almost in the shadow of the Concorde and only a short walk to the impressive Vulcan which dwarfed the TSR2 which sat like a bird of prey a few feet away.
An enquiry soon gave me the information that the MAFVa show was housed in a large tent, near the Hall of land warfare at the other end from where I had been directed to park.
I walked past the large variety of display aircraft which showed the history of British passenger aviation as well as an Avro Victor tanker, late of Number 57 Sqn at Marham with a Shackleton sitting almost under its wing.
I arrived at the model show, which sat with the historic vehicles, which ranged from the usual Jeeps to the modern CVR[T] Striker anti tank launcher, all of this had to wait until later.
The MAFVA show was heaving even at that early hour with trade stands flanking the outside walls with the various club branches displaying their work on tables clustered in the middle.
Although I was tempted to leap into action with my credit card I had to resist although I kept being drawn back to the Tamiya Char B and the offerings from across the world of kits, addons and all manner of tools designed to swathe an easier path through our hobby.
At 11 am I tried in vain to find the refreshment area that Teacher [Vinnie] had said that he would be at, I missed him and despite asking people who were showing their models, I kept finding that I had missed him by a few moments.
So I made do with a chat with Sandy, with his display of KV1's and the will have to wait to obtain a copy of his work that he had on display in sorting out and correcting the errors of the models that are offered, fully printed in its hardcopy format, along with some great sculptures of Wallace and Grommit in suitable military attire. Then giving up on finding other friends I spent an enjoyable 5 Minutes talking with Alasdair of the Small Shop EU.
So the models were superb, there were too many to mention in a tabular format, so to allow those who missed the show and want to see the quality of work on display, I have uploaded a large number of pictures to my photobucket page in a special Duxford album, which I will leave up for about 6 weeks so that you can see the superb presentation by brother members and their friends.
John Murcutt
http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/jlmurc/MAFVA%20Show%20Duxford/?start=all
