"Miniature Figure Collectors of America show - review" Topic

Salutations, gentlefolk,

I didn't attend the MFCA this year with the attention of doing a
writeup – indeed, I'd brought a young lady of recent acquaintance
who'd seen 'the little men on my workbench', and whom I hoped to
impress (and succeeded). But if no one else has put fingers to
keyboard …

The Christiana River flows northeastward into Wilmington, along
the border between the coastal plain and the hills, toward its
junctions with the Brandywine, the Delaware, and the ocean. I-95
and the Pennsylvania RR – now Amtrak – parallel it. Between the
river and railroad, on the southwest corner of Wilmington's
downtown, is a strip of land, site during WWII of the Dravo
shipyard, builder of LSTs, DEs, and the first LSM.

In recent years the shipyard site has been redeveloped, and now
holds – besides some memorial plaques and three of the old five-
story-high traveling cranes, rusting away – the minor-league-
baseball stadium, the Shipyard Shops, (which house two chain
restaurants, a discount shoestore, the Wilmington Rowing Center,
and much vacant space), and, between these and sharing the
parkinglots, the Chase Center on the Riverfront, where this year's
show of the Miniature Figure Collectors of America was held.

The Center's a spanking new building, but about eight blocks from
the train and bus stations, and farther from downtown and the
nearest hotel. Easy to find if you know it's next to Frawley
Stadium and follow the signs to that. 'Twould take an intrepid
pedestrian or someone willing to trust DART's weekend service to
get there without a car.

From the main entrance of the Center, you enter a big lobby with
comfy chairs, then to the 'ballroom foyer', which had the
registration table, and a refreshment stand with some chairs and
tables. The Dealers' Room was in Wilmington Hall (200 x 100 ft),
the figures exhibited in the Pusey and Jones Room – 36'x 62' –
smaller than a tennis court – significantly less than the figure-
exhibit-squarefootage at Valley Forge. The figure exhibits could
have used more space between tables, and more tables – noontime
Saturday arrivals were being shoehorned in.

(www.centerontheriverfront.com has a floorplan with dimensions of
all rooms.)

I think another room was being used for seminars and awards, but
ain't sure one way or the other.

The lighting in both rooms could be described as 'dim' – and
that's being charitable. Fortunately I'd brought one of those
flashlight-magnifying glass combinations. Wouldn't have been able
to appreciate the exhibits without it. This is the one thing that
most needs fixing if the MFCA is held there again.

T'were no suprises in the dealers' room. Many 1/72nd plastic
figures, but no 15mm or 25mm metal ones. Prices on the newer
unpainted 54mm and larger figures, especially European imports,
are approaching three-figures, but some older figures were still
under $10 USD in the bargain bins. The old metal Britains figures,
the plastic Marx playsets from my boyhood, the newer products
along these lines, replacement parts and tools and books, were
there in profusion.

As I've told my friends, if you're remotely interested in
'military history' or 'toy soldiers', if you're within day-trip
distance of the MFCA show, and you have nothing better to do on
an April Saturday, this is a worthwhile experience. Hope to see
you there next year.

Yours, John Desmond

Thanks for the write-up.

Mark

John I have photos from the show. When I post the photos can I use your writeup?

I agree with the poor lighting. Althought it was a very nice, clean modern facility, the problem with such venues is that the recessed lightining does not lend itself to very small objects 20 feet below. Better lighting would be an asset to the next show.

The lighting was much improved on Saturday in the display room. Next year, the displays will probably be in another of the meeting rooms, a larger one, and the Committee is all over the lighting issue.

For a first year in a new venue, the show went off with very few hitches. Having the amplitheater available for the auction and awards on Saturday afternoon was a big improvement over the old room at Valley Forge.

The number of pieces were down this year, but the quality was uniformly high. In past years, the traditional bell-curve was probably close to describing the level of skill/art shown – a few "Wow" pieces, a few "needs improvement" efforts, and a lot of good work in the middle. This year, the curve was somewhat twisted out of shape – a very few Certificate pieces, then a pile of Bronze and Silver efforts, and some deserving Golds. No show-stopper pieces, as in past years, but the quality was consistently higher than in even the most recent of years.

It was very interesting to see a display from one of the Long Island collectors. He had brought a couple dozen figures from the mid-to-late 90s, all award-winning efforts, in the hopes of selling a few pieces. As this was my 14th MFCA, I remembered several of these works. They were great to see again, no doubt. But it was also very obvious just how far painting and modeling skills have developed in the intervening years. Although it is somewhat unfair to compare figures from different eras, it was clear that some of these previous award winners would be hard pressed to compete with the efforts on the tables presently. That is not a knock on any of those artists, or their work – it was just interesting to see how far we've come, baby!

Walt, over on PlanetFigure, Al Lafleche has a link to about 300 of his show pics – well worth a look. I'm processing my images as well – if there are some pieces you are specifically looking for images of, please let me know and I'll see what I have available. Sorry I didn't see you to speak with.

That was one bobble that occured – the normal photographer could not make the show at the last minute, and no one else had a photo setup available. So other than hand-held cameras, there are none of the customary posed pics that would normally be in the figure mags. Too bad, but stuff happens – this probably would have still been an issue if we had been at the old location.

All in all, a very good show, and well worth the drive down from Massachusetts (same time/distance as VF). Ate well, saw lots of figure folks, shopped, spent too many hours in the hospitality suite, and generally had a great time. As soon as they finalize the date, our reservations will be in for next year's show!!

Salutations, Mr. Wizard !

(always wanted to use that opening :-) )

You're welcome to use my 'writeup' however you wish – just make sure my name's spelled correctly ;-)

Yours, John Desmond