The next regular MAMA meeting will be 17 December 2022 at the Salaried Employees Association (SEA) Union Hall.

to MAMA's Diner, the official home of the Maryland Automotive Modelers' Association (MAMA), where we serve entrees of fun, friendship, and model cars.

MAMA's current leadership team is: President: Tim Powers Vice-President: Dave Toups Treasurer: Matt Guilfoyle Newsletter Editor: Tim Sickle

Notes from the MAMA President:

To all our veterans MAMA expresses her deepest appreciation. We are truly grateful for the dedication and sacrifice that you have demonstrated to our country.

MAMA is Moving! That's right, starting with our December meeting (next month) MAMA will now be meeting at the Salaried Employees Association (SEA) Union Hall located at 1300 Hanover Road, Hanover, MD 21076. At this new location we will still have the same meeting meeting schedule: 10 am to 2 pm on the third Saturday of each month. This is a more centralized location within Maryland, a much larger space, and we'll be able to have food at the meetings again. MAMA deeply thanks the Fire Museum of Maryland for having so graciously hosted us during our interim time.

Which reminds me: We will be reinstating our annual holiday pot-luck feast at the December meeting, so be sure to bring a dish to share and a big appetite. As in past years, MAMA will be supplying the luchmeat platters and sodas.

Our November meeting was our Toys for Tots collection meeting. WOW! Did you guys ever out do yourselves! There were so many toys for me to haul to the drop-off site that there almost wasn't enough room for me to fit in my car with them! The large pile of toys you donated is simply a testament to just what wonderful people you guys truly are. Your caring and efforts are worth celebrating, so give yourselves a big pat on the back! I also want to give the Fire Museum of Maryland a big Thank-You for donating to our Toys for Tots drive, too! Check out the donations!

Great news! MAMA members Bill Geary, Mark Wheeler, Mike Costic, and Steve Buter have all pulled through their respective medical issues and are all recovering or recoverd at this point. I believe that your thoughts and prayers were an important part of all their recoveries.

One other member has had a recent serious medical issue is Rich Meaney. Whiile he's pulled through with a bit of surgical assistance, he's now going back under the knife next month for another, unrelated issue. So, let's keep Rich in our thoughts and prayers, too.

All this medical stuff reminds me that our November 19th meeting was also the one year anniversary of MAMA Founder, Norman Veber's heart attack. We're so glad he pulled through and is thriving these days!

Even if you don't know how to pronounce it correctly, you might recognize the name George Bojaciuk from his many magazine articles, his work with Franklin Mint and GMP, his Runnin' at Redline email series, his diecast auctions, or maybe even one of the many models he's built over the years. Well, recently George has been helping Wylde Parnell of Canuck 3D with making sales within the U.S. Wylde and his 3D-printed parts business are located in Canada and shipping costs across the border are brutal enough to prevent lots of people here from placing orders with Canuck 3D. Buying Wylde's parts through George brings the shipping costs down to normal rates that we're accustomed to. Even better, George has made a very special offer to MAMA members: one low, flat shipping rate for any size group order we place with him. To help urge our members to take advantage of this special offer, MAMA will pay the shipping rate, so all you members have to pay for is your parts. I will be collecting the club members' orders at the November and December meetings (be sure to give me your name, contact info (phone # and email), the part numbers you want to buy, and the cash (yep, cash only) to pay for them) then we'll forward the combined order to George following the December meeting. *** The latest update is that George has extended this offer to include the $45.00 Firebird Formula 400 kits that Gregg Wann has recently produced.***

This month FineScale Modeler magazine launched a new celebration of model building known as Build a Model Month (BAMM). BAMM is all about building scale models, raising awareness of the hobby, building models with each other, and spreading the fun of scale modeling by helping someone get started on building them. They are encouraging model clubs/organization to consider group builds. FineScale Modeler will also be holding an on-line model contest featuring a cash prize, cover position and story for the winner.

Please continue to keep our friends in the Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers as Russia's senseless war on them continues.

Since last month, the COVID positivity rate for Maryland has been hanging below 7%. This is good news and I hope it continues to trend downward. I do still urge everyone to remain cautious for ourselves, and our families, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. It ain't over yet. Please continue to follow changing county mandates and mitigations as they adapt to address the evolving COVID virus variants. As always, I reccommend that you continue wearing your masks when in public spaces even if they are not required and continue to use hand sanitizers to help reduce the chances of spreading diseases like colds and the flu, especially as we are entering the fall season.