TINGS 2017

[theplasticbrummy]

As a regular visitor, I think this years' TINGS didn't quite live up to my expectations from previous shows, although, I must say that I still rate it as an excellent event, where I always thoroughly enjoy myself. 

 

From the vantage point of the mezzanine restaurant, stuffing my face with an obligatory Full English, the hall appeared very sparsely populated in terms of trade stands and layouts, with the aisles being fewer and very wide, however, later on, this did have the advantage of making navigation of the show very easy, and I didn't get "Rucksacked" once!  Apart from the previously mentioned tool and book stands, I can't put my finger on anything that was particularly lacking.  Maybe traders are having smaller stands, or are layouts getting smaller? (I think the layout count was still up there compared to previous shows)

 

It must be very difficult to keep an event of this size full of new layouts, especially when it is focused on a smaller section of the hobby as a whole, so I think the small number of layouts which were repeat visitors was forgivable - Us N-Gaugers need to pull our fingers out and build some more layouts! (Just so you know I'm not being hypercritical , The Ivanhoe MRS will hopefully be attending from next year, as we have a number of N Gauge layouts which have yet to visit TINGS!)

 

All in all, apart from once again missing out on an NGS KSA (I'm not bitter in the slightest), I will still recommend the show and look forward to supporting the TINGS Team next year (hopefully as an exhibitor).

 

Thanks to the organising team and the exhibitors/traders for yet another enjoyable day out.

 

Cheers, Andy.

Edited September 13, 2017 by theplasticbrummy

[Barry Ten]

Oddly enough, even though there wasn't a single stall selling just books, I did have one book on my shopping list - Bogie Coaches of the LB&SCR - and by some weird stroke of luck I found it, as well as plenty of other goodies, both scale-specific and general (electrical, etc).

 

I was particularly impressed with the servo control boards on the Megapoints stand, and had a good chat with the proprietors.

[Bomag]

Visiting Tings as a "larger scale" modeller, it struck me that there were no book traders, no tool traders or anyone selling modelling materials (apart from scenics)

There were odd items sprinkled among the boxes of RTR.

I did find some etched brass kits though.

 

Interesting day out though.

 

Somebody at work gave me a cold so I missed it for the second year running, arh!! In terms of books, tools, marteriels etc I can get these from most exhibitions and my local shops, unlike specialist N gauge bits I would not wait for TINGS to buy them so would only get these items if I happened to need them at that point. In addition my normal spend at TINGS is in the region of £300-£600 so if it is a choice between buying stock at large discounts, getting difficult to get bits from traders with no internet prescence or some tools, the first two have preference. If there are enough visitors with similar purchasing priorities then it may not be profitable to attend.

 

Then again I know at least one book seller who is almost rabidly against anything less than 7 mm.