MAFVA

Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association

Nationals 2010 - winners

Report

The MAFVA Nationals 2010 were held on Sunday 6th June at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford in conjunction with the annual Military Vehicle Show and the Book Fair. Housed in a rather large marquee, 160 x 50 foot, the now standard layout was adopted of traders lining each side and the far end with blocks of tables for the club displays down the centre. The runway end of the marquee was the location for the MAFVA HQ stand and the competition tables. 

Due to planning problems the date was not confirmed until quite late and this caused problems for a few of the regular traders, consequently there was room for a few new faces at the show. Hopefully they enjoyed themselves and made a few new friends amongst the MAFVA crowd. Likewise, we squeezed a few different MAFVA branches into the club areas. Space, the final frontier, for the show has always caused problems and both clubs and traders have had to be turned away in the past as a result.

The traders carried virtually any modelling commodity that we could want, and one visitor remarked that the day was just not long enough to choose. The tables for the various MAFVA branches and visiting clubs were most attractive with plenty of eye-catching and interesting models on display. It is at an event like this that modellers can swop ideas and trade information, with the main interest being military vehicles of course. The now regular feature of the 'Bring & Buy' did a roaring trade under the control of impresario Tom Cole.

 As is usual, the competition was well supported, with 164 entries on the day, an increase from last year. Some classes were heavily subscribed whilst others had little or no support. This year was the first trial for MAFVA of the Gold, Silver & Bronze standard, rather than the usual 1st, 2nd & 3rd places. It did cause some monumental headaches for the organising crew, but they managed to iron out most glitches.

Nestling between the HQ stand run by 'El Presidente' Gary Williams, and the Competition entries table, Chris Lloyd-Staples was running both an AMPS stand and selling volumes of Tankette back issues. There is a considerable overstock on some issues so MAFVA is letting them go at rock-bottom prices. These will be available at shows or by mail order. If you are interested contact Chris on lloydstaples@btopenworld.com or attend a Northern Home Counties meeting.

The weather forecast was decidedly bad, but both the Friday & Saturday during the set up phase, the weather was "Scorchio". By Sunday it was muggy but still dry.

The day rushed by with the marquee absolutely heaving at times, and it became very hot & sticky. Those that could made an escape bid to visit the Military Vehicle Show or parts of the Museum. Some aircraft (Flakbait) did get airborne in the afternoon, but did not match the Friday & Saturday displays. One improvement this year was a PA system set up by Cambridge Branch secretary Simon Ward, which played music from the WW2 era through the day.

At 4pm the presentation of prizes commenced with awards for the John Baumann prize, 'For the weird & wonderful' that John would have liked, and the Mick Bell Memorial prize for the best contributions to Tankette, the MAFVA magazine. Here the PA system proved its worth as people were able to hear the announcements a lot easier. Almost immediately had the last prize been awarded when the heavens opened to drench anyone outside the marquee. Some made a run for it, others simply sat down after stacking the tables and continued conversations. 
From the feedback, most people had enjoyed themselves and are already asking about plans for 2011.

Paul Middleton