Toledo R/C Swap Meet & Expo Begins April 14

Hank Rauhaus shares information about the Toledo R/C Swap Meet & Expo By Jay Smith | [email protected] Photos provided by Sal Calvagna As seen in the April 2023 issue of Model Aviation. How did the Toledo R/C Swap Meet & Expo come to be? The year 2021 brought hobbyists a new beginning for a decades-old event. After the disappointing announcement was made that the Weak Signals Toledo Show: R/C Model Expo was coming to an end, a small group of RC enthusiasts (and swappers) weren’t quite ready to see their early April swap meet cease to exist. Through their growing partnerships with the Glass City Center (formerly called Seagate Convention Centre), the Valley City Radio-Controlled Club, and the Tiffin Ohio R/C Modelers, the "swappin’ fun" continues! We soon discovered that dozens of commercial vendors wanted to join in on the fun. Last year, more than three-dozen commercial vendors offered a variety of RC goodness. There was even a vendor selling Powerchutes, which are full-scale, powered parachutes. For an updated list of commercial vendors that will be in attendance this year, please see our website. What are the dates and other important details about this year’s event? This year’s AMA sanctioned event will take place on Friday, April 14 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Saturday, April 15 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.). The indoor RC fun-fly will again begin Saturday morning and the RC auction will start promptly at the conclusion of the swap meet and expo. One-day admission is $10. Women, as well as children (under age 12), can come in free! There will be RC-related merchandise raffles on both Friday and Saturday. This year, we have reserved a block of rooms at a discounted rate at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Toledo (formerly the Park Inn), which is attached to the Glass City Center. This makes for easy access to the Glass City Center’s main floor and provides a place where you can take a nap if you so desire! Visit our website to make your reservation before the rooms sell out. Concessions will be available during show hours and the attached hotel has a restaurant on-site. There are also dozens of great restaurants within walking distance of the Glass City Center. Does the Swap Meet & Expo currently have any sponsors? We are excited to announce that AJ Aircraft has become one of our official sponsors. This family-run business shares the same passion for the hobby that we have, and together we will foster and grow this event so that it can continue to thrive. What has the attendance looked like since this event’s inception? Both 2021 and 2022 were huge successes—especially considering that it was smack dab in the middle of a pandemic! Last year’s two-day modeling experience saw more than 2,000 swappers and vendors in attendance (a 35% increase from 2021), with more than 600 tables and booths of RC goodness. We expect to see continued growth again this year. Any swapper or commercial vendor who is interested in attending, please visit our website for detailed information and registration.

Will there be a static model contest during this year’s event? This year, we have partnered with the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers so that RC builders from across the country can share their works of art with those in attendance. The five judged static classes include Jet, Civilian, World War I, World War II, and Aerobatic. There will also be a People’s Choice Award. For additional details, please visit the website. The contest will follow AMA fixed-wing static rules (except distance and time). Is there really an indoor fun-fly? What’s better than friendship, flying, and fun? On both Friday and Saturday (starting at 11 a.m.), there will be an AMA sanctioned indoor fun-fly in a space exceeding 25,000 square feet! There is free admission to the flying arena with the purchase of an admission ticket to the show. What does the auction look like on Saturday? The auction will start promptly at 3 p.m. on Saturday. We will begin accepting merchandise for the auction Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. If space permits, we will display auction items for preview as they are accepted. There are no commission fees for any auction items, and all monetary transfers and other agreements are between the buyer and the seller. We are simply providing a venue so hobbyists can buy and sell hobby-related items. When the auctioneer says "sold," the item is sold!