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Seven stalwart members of NovaLUG participated in the Dartmouth Sportsplex
annual Train and Hobby Show on November 18th and 19th for the fifth consecutive
year. As in previous years, we had our own exhibition room right off the main
entrance and this year we added a sales table offering the only logical choice
for Holiday presents - Lego!
The main layout was 19 by 31 feet in a C shape, using 376½ 32x32 stud plates of
surface area, and offered a city full of interesting vignettes which included a
harbour front and automated tramway. The city expanded from last year to
include a large hospital, a hotel and an office building. There were two train
loops, one city only and the other incorprated the large rural area at one end
of the layout. The main layout is always a crowd pleaser as people discover the
various happenings of the town and enjoy the comings and goings of the trains.
There were smiles of recognition as people identified beautiful models of local
landmark buildings interspersed with others from the land of imagination! The
multi-level rural area included a large mountain where twelve modern-day
apostles listened to a scintillating sermon. As usual, a certain member
finished his layout two hours before the end of the show so he could take
pictures just before we started to tear down the display.
Our children's corner was a big hit not only with the children but also their
parents who either played along or enjoyed a moment of peace while their
children were totally engrossed with their Lego creations. Modifications were
made to the speed regulator to prevent potential train wrecks in the hands of
reckless young conductors. We have learned the importance of constant
supervision of the children's corner which we share in shifts.
There was an impressive collection of Technic and robotic models and the crowd
enjoyed regular demonstrations of Power Pullers, a crane, and a car with
pneumatic suspension, among others. In addition to a few RCX-based robots
including a Killough platform, we ramped up the activity this year by featuring
a sumo-bot wrestling ring, a NXT master-slave pair and a NXT robot who followed
instructions sent from a Bluetooth cell phone. Adults as well as children
enjoyed taking a turn at the controls. Many were surprised and fascinated to
discover this growing area of The Lego Company's product line.
We ended the show with our usual meeting at Tim Hortons for coffee and
discussion and were happy to learn that more and more organizations are
contacting us for both participation in shows and even permanent displays.
We've been playing well in 2006 and we look forward to playing even better in
2007!
Picture links:
Lawrence http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216779
Gail http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216749
Jean-Marc http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=216672
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