1999 National Model & Hobby Show

By Michael Benolkin

This is my first time at Chicago's famous annual Hobby and Trade Show and had no idea what to expect. Thursday and Friday were reserved for trades people and the press, while Saturday and Sunday were open to the public. First off, the show is held in a hall the size of nine football fields. The subjects range from radio controlled aircraft and cars to model railroading, from die-cast collectibles to hobby tools, and most importantly (for us), models! Each of the manufacturers and distributors brought their wares, displayed in everything from multiple glass cases to entire pavilions installed inside the hall. There were train layouts, R/C car tracks, and even a small hobby shop within the hall (the hobby shop was the only area where folks could buy anything other than refreshments). The primary purpose of the show is to display the current and future products that they'll be offering and trying to convince each of the average hobby shop owners to carry their products.

I visited with most of the manufacturers and distributors at the show, and came away with some really great information to share with you. First off, contrary to the rumblings going on online, there is a bunch of cool stuff coming to hobby shelves in the next year. Some of the manufacturers, like Revell-Monogram, have restricted their new-release information to cover up through the Spring of 2000. They will release the latter year's schedule at the Nuremberg Hobby Show in February. Nonetheless, there was lots of good news and great stuff at this year's show.

Some of the interesting highlights of the trip: Accurate Miniatures' future, Ocidental Replica's NEW Spitfire Mk.IX, Frems' 1/48 MB.339, HiPM 1/48 MiG-19, and many other great surprises. Browse the show for yourself below!

Here we go:

Academy
Accurate Miniatures
Airfix
American SATCO
AMT/ERTL
Aoshima
Black Box
Classic Airframes
Condor Models
Frems
Hasegawa
Heller
HiPM
ICM
Italeri
KMC
Lindberg
Marco Polo
Modelcraft
MRC
Ocidental
Polar Lights
Precision Parts
Professional Models
Revell-Monogram
Samek Models
Squadron Mail Order
Tamiya Models
Testors