Conference vmszoo::rc

1552.0. "European Chronicles #3 - In August issue of RCSD" by COWBOY::DUFRESNE () Wed Sep 01 1993 13:51

    European Chronicles
     by
    Marc Dufresne					Copyright 1993 
    Domaine de Belle Croix
    17, rue Albert Camus
    77330 OZOIR-La-Ferriere, FRANCE

    Tel/FAX: +33 1.64.40.12.24

    TITLE: Sh..SH..SHOWTIME!


    I went to my first model trade show: the Paris International
    Modeling, Scale and Games trade show. Held around Easter every
    year, it runs for ten days, from 10am til 7pm every day, and
    completely fills one of the seven halls at the Paris Exposition
    Park. The shows claims to be the largest of its kind in the world
    and the one with the second highest public attendance in France.

    The hall covers 30000 square metres! When I first read that, I
    thought it was a typo. Nope, the number is right. The photos speak
    for themselves.  So, I got there early on Saturday, having taken
    the train and metro to avoid the Easter weekend traffic jams out
    of town. So, I walk out of the metro and its there: It's huge!
    It's the size of a stadium and that's just the one hall. Some 250
    participants had booths there this year. Besides the obvious ones
    such as manufacturers, federations and clubs, you also have
    individual vendors and hobby shops. Also, and suprising for me, I
    discovered that four museums, the national railway and the
    national electrical utility were also at the show.

    At the entrance, you have 20 turnstiles. Also, at the back of the
    hall, INSIDE THE SHOW AREA, a fully equiped cafeteria and to one
    side, two cafes and a bar. This place is built for volume. No
    wonder, as last year's attendance ran over 190,000 people. Tickets
    are 55FF. The price of entry includes a 100 page booklet that
    covers all aspects of the show and of the disciplines on display.
    In the booklet, you get a quick overview of the show itself, a
    short descriptive of the various modeling activities with their
    current orientations as percieved by their respective federations 
    and a series of articles from all the editors of modeling
    publications in France. 

    So I walk through and survey the scene. The roof is 25 metres off
    the ground. The general layout has the demo areas (plane flight
    ring, train track, car track, boat bassin, games area, etc)
    around the periphery and the vendors in the center. A walkabout,
    to get the general feeling of the place, left me with the
    overwhelming impression that scale modeling, in all its forms, was
    THE favoured activity. This impression was later confirmed during
    an interview with Mr Philippe David, Editor of MODELE MAGAZINE, a
    leading model airplane publication here in France.

    The planes get the prime (and most) turf: right at the entrance.
    The attention grabbers are the quarter scale models and the flight
    ring. Also on display are the winners of various national  static
    scale contests. All well laid out on landscaped platforms 60cm
    high. 

    The flight ring is something else: Some 40-50 metres in diameter,
    it is surrounded by a four metre wire fence topped all the way to
    the ceiling with netting. In one corner, a simulated control
    tower, from where the announcer describes the on-going action.
    While I was there, I saw demos for U-control, helicopters, peanut
    scale and lighter than air. Electric and gas. Noise? Yup. Smoke?
    Yup. Didn't seem to bother anyone. They'd announce the demo and
    pack'em 4-5 deep along the fence. The noise served as a wonderful
    attractant, especially when the U-control speed bombs were doing
    their thing! 

    The FFAM booth was right next to the flight ring and a litle
    further on, EOLE. The FFAM had a special area manned by clubs so
    they can  answer specific questions on the spot. My club, Les
    Cigognes, went as far as to have a open day at the field the
    weekend following the show and was issuing invitations to those
    who came by the booth. Some 80 people followed up on the invitaion
    and a few eventually joined the club. The day that I was there,
    that section of the booth was manned by a local club that had
    brought in its youth section to show off their talents. The kids,
    10-12 years old were building away and displaying the results as
    they went along.

    EOLE had a very elaborate display on all aspects of glider
    modeling, from building techniques, scales and competition. All
    the models on display were on loan from individual members from
    all over the country. My personal favourite was an all wood 3,75m
    KIRBY KITE, built from original plans.

    From there, I wandered into the commercial area, drawn by
    GRAUPNER's neons. Everything was neatly laid out in separate
    display cases: Power packs, radios, motors. Very impressive. Very
    German. The attention grabber here was a 4m VENTUS equipped with
    their latest: a retractable power pod. Punch the throttle and the
    pod pops out and does its thing. Shut down and its hides itself
    away. From the general layout and produtcs on display, I got a
    sense that GRAUPNER put its technological prowess forward as its
    main selling point. 

    Then onwards to the ROBBE/FUTABA booth.  In France, this vendor
    operates through a distributor. The booth layout, therefore, takes
    on a more french flavour, ie  some flair, some clutter. Here the
    focus is more on scale and scale-like models. My favourite was a
    huge 4-5m ASW-22.

    In both places, I spent quite a bit of time looking and talking
    about radios. Since MULTIPLEX was absent, I wandered over to a
    hobby shop booth.  On functionality, they are all equivalent. On
    looks, I prefer the MULTIPLEX line. For programming ease, the
    FUTABA seemed to be a bit easier. GRAUPNER comes out as the
    price/performance leader. I really need to get some hands-on
    experience for a while to get a better sense of which I would
    really rather have.

    All this wandering had brought into the core of the show floor.
    The atmosphere was very much akin to that found in a medieval town
    market: Tightly packed stands, alleys full of people, a buzz of
    activity. Looking for something particular? a specialized tool? a
    hard to find part or this rare piece of documentation for your
    model? No problem, just hunt about. You are were likely to find
    it. Toolmakers, parts makers, model makers, raw materials,
    suppliers and retailers of all ilk. I had to watch my pocket book.
    Even by focusing on my most critical needs, I ended up leaving a
    rather princely sum in various hands along the way.

    I went back to the demo areas, to looks at other themes. The boat
    bassin was equipped with wind-making machines for the sail boats.
    And stands to watch the show. As I came by, a fire boat was ending
    its demo. Later, I had a look at the innards: pumps, cables,
    batteries...Mind blowing.

    Trains. For the ultimate in scratch building and you like
    mechanical complexity, find a guy that's into train modeling,
    especially steam ones. These guys go after plans of the original
    device, get their hands the appropriate raw metal parts (bars,
    sheets, tubes), head for the machine shop, emerge some (usually
    long) time later with a miniature replica with all parts working!
    And that just for starters, 'cause after that, you got to build
    the railway, complete with scenery and infrastructure. One display
    had a computer controlled switching program that allowed three
    trains to share the same set of tracks.

    "Now.. These are a real big seller this year", said he, pointing
    at a page of his catalog, while a couple of guys let some whistles
    fly. I had just come to the figurine area of the show and "these" 
    were some very good looking, well rounded bare breasted female
    figurines. I did a double take on that one. Being a history freak,
    I was admiring the handywork in a neighbouring booth showing off
    war figurines and I had not noticed the activity next door."Ah
    well, France again" I thought to myself. All casual. All relaxed. 
    Anyway - Figurines. Static display and very fine detail work at
    its best. More closer to sculpting and with results that, in some
    displays, reproduce well known historical situations.

    By now it was late afternoon, my feet were sore, my handbag full
    with litterature and I was thirsty. So, I wandered over to the bar
    for a beer and a bit of rest. From there, I surveyed the scene and
    reflected on what I had experienced. Modeling here really means
    building something to scale. People involved in it take pride in
    their work and they get  rewarded for it. The results are of very
    high quality and in most cases a complete miniaturised replica of
    the prototype. 

    Given that, it helps me understand a bit better some comments and
    attitudes I run into here. Modeling takes time. Modeling means
    high skills, that you have to be ready to build your parts. It
    also means in-depth background knowledge (science, art,
    history...). Scratch building  is common. It even gets taken a
    step further by designing your own equipment. Our club VP has
    designed and then about 10 clubs members built a dual frequency
    Tx/Rx set. Microprocessor based with all the bell and whistles,
    these sets are as well designed as their commercial equivalent.
    "It's all part of modeling" was the answer, when I inquired why it
    was done.

    Oh yes, this year's attendance was over 198,000 people.


     Continued next month.

       -END of text-
 

    Great report Marc.               
    
    Please keep them coming. Reading a reports like yours reminds me of some 
    of the things that I would like to see one more time.
    
    Back to Heli-bashing 
    
    Regards,
    
    E.
    
    BTW, how much was a French MC-20?

An MC20, TX only is about 6K FF
Servos, RX, batts, & charger are extra.

Generally, RC stuff here is sold at twice the US price.

md

    
    Marc,
    
    WOW! That sounds expensive, even for Europe. When you've decided what
    you want, feel free to drop me a mail, and I'll check the UK price if
    you want. It may be worth a day trip over for you to buy one! Remember
    that there's no tax or import duties to worry about now within the EC. 
    
    Cheers
    
    Nigel.
    

A French design. Available as a Kit. PLL synthesized frequency in both Tx and
Rx.. Microprocessor control in both Rx & Tx. Dual frequency with auto switch in 
case of trouble. 25 model memory.
Full channel mixing of anything to anything. Also multi-level mixing. 
RF decks available for 72, 40, 41 & 35 MHZ.
 This box beats anything I've seen on the market.

why:

1. Technology. Nothing i've run into comes close - not even the INIFINTY 1000.
   This box have been available for over TWO years here and is the 3rd in a 
   series

2. Functionality: As good as top of the line commercial offering. Some lesser
   functions more versatile.  

3. cost: As a kit, it cost me half of what a top of the line box would be.

4. I love to build kits.

re -1. Cost. Graupner has problems in France. The Frequency of choice here is 
41 MHZ. 35 MHZ is reserved for  the military .
Graupner has the habit of tweaking their 40 MHZ decks to meet French
requirements. (72 MHZ is almost impossible to get). 
The results is that many have had range problems.
(and getting the stuff fixed is a bitch, as Graupner does not respond well.

    Courier needed. I have a little 5" sq. box that I need delivered to
    Nigel.
    
    Is there anyone going to the UK in the next couple of weeks.
    
    Regards,
    
    Eric.

re .3

I compared the prices from Gliders and those in shops in the Paris area. 
At current exchage rates, they are comparable.

md

    
    Wow, you must be pretty quick at mental arithmetic if you can keep
    track of "current exchange rates" in Europe at the moment!  8^)
    
    Nigel (Who nearly had a heart attack last time he bought currency!)
    

All part of the "fun" of being a european!!!