If you're a die-hard model car builder, then the NNL West is one of those shows you look forward toevery year. If you live here in the bay area, it's a big national event right here in your back yard. If you're coming from other parts of the country it's a chance to get away from the bad winter weather and take in a great event at the same time. I'll never forget the guys from the MASSCAR model club pulling grass from my front lawn and putting it in their pockets to take home!

The NNL West is about a lot of things: it's about great looking model cars, it's about meeting old friends and meeting new ones, it's about maybe getting your model photographed for a magazine (did you see last year's coverage in the Scale Auto,Contest Cars, & Model Cars?), most of all it's about having fun. During the day you can check out the door by Browse to Save" href="#">prize table and maybe win a prize, or the kids can sign up for the "Make N' Take" program and have a chance to build a model right there, and then put it on the display tables or you can set-in on a How-To seminar. You can also walk through the NNL West Model Expo held in the same huge hall as the NNL. Vendors come from all over the country bringing great deals on the latest aftermarket parts, NEW kits, or rare old kits! Modeler's save-up all year for this great chance to stock up on modeling goods!

The NNL West is a non-competitive event. The only two awards are the "Youth Modeler's Choice" award, and the "Adult Modelers Choice" award. But there will be some awards from other sources. The Silicon Valley Scale Vehicles will be continuing their tradition of presenting a "Club Pick" award along with a couple of other clubs, for their favorite car at the show, and there will also be the NNL West "Staff Picks" again this year. I'm sure there will be others as the show draws closer (if your club is doing something special, email me and let us know!). Model Cars magazine will present a special awards each year.Keep your eye on the "What's New" page and we'll let you know.

If it's your first time at NNL West let's give you a quick run down on what to do; first you'll want to buy tickets at the box office located in the lobby ($15.00 for adults, children under 12 yrs old free, ticket sales start about 8:30am, & doors open at 9am), make your way to by Browse to Save" href="#">the front door in the "A" HALL this year where NNL volunteers will take your ticket and give you numbered placemats to put under your models, take your models to a table and display them. You'll also receive door prize tickets but you might want to buy extra (there's a lot of door prizes to go around, but the more tickets you have, the better chance you have to win). If you have kids, sign them up for the Make N' Take. There's great how-to seminars through out the day as well.

"Modelers from all over the country have learned that few events attract such a wide variety of indivuals, models, vendors and ideas as the "NNL West".

-Scale Auto Enthusiast, June 1995