Scale Model Car Exhibition brings tiny vehicles to Weber libraries

Scale Model Car Exhibition brings tiny vehicles to Weber libraries

ROY — Tiny vehicles, big stories.

The Scale Model Car Exhibition is currently on display at the Southwest Branch of the Weber County Library. And while the exhibit is filled with miniaturized automobiles, they’ve each got a full-sized backstory behind them.

“Every one of these models has a story,” says exhibit founder and organizer Lynn Koberna.

For example, Koberna says one of the 19 exhibitors represented in the show was actually married in a 1959 Oldsmobile Coupe. To commemorate that event, the man made a replica of the car — as well as scale-model figures of himself and his bride — and put them atop their wedding cake.

In another example, when a retired fireman had a difficult time finding kit models of fire engines, he built four 1/32nd-scale emergency vehicles. Completely from scratch.

The Scale Model Car Exhibition will be on display at the Roy library, 2039 W. 4000 South, until Feb. 2. That day, they’ll pack up the exhibit in less than an hour and quickly move it to the county library’s Pleasant Valley Branch, 5568 Adams Ave., Washington Terrace, where it will remain on exhibit until March 30.

Koberna, who lives in Roy, regularly frequents the Southwest Branch and remembers when that library was built.

“I saw that gorgeous display case in the library and I said there’s only one reason they built that,” he recalls. “For me and my friends to fill it with model cars.”

And fill it they have. The exhibit features 162 individual pieces, with the vast majority being 1/25th-scale model car kits. Among the sections featured in the exhibition are:

• A display of box art, featuring the illustrated boxes in which various model kits are packaged.

• A chronological display of completed model vehicles, at 1/25th scale, representing the 1920s through the 2000s.

• A display of fully customized Hot Wheels by the Drill Em All Utah Custom Hot Wheels Group.

• A section titled “Getting Started” that features a model kit with all the pieces taken apart. It also shows the tools modelers use, and instructions on how to get started in the hobby.

• A section called “Work in Progress,” showing a display of models in various phases of construction.

• A collection of models inspired by Rat Fink custom-car designer Ed “Big Daddy” Roth.

• A big-rig collection featuring tractors and trailers. “The kids love this one,” Koberna says.

• A display of model dragsters from the 1960s.

• A collection of custom-built model fire engines.

In conjunction with the current exhibit, a “Meet the Modelers & Swap Meet” event is planned for noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at the Roy library.

“One of the things that gets modelers’ attention is a swap meet — that’s why we do that,” Koberna said. “ Most of these guys have 50 to 75 kits at home that they’re hoping to build one day but they don’t. So they bring their kits to the swap.”

The event will include drawings and giveaways, a question-and-answer session with exhibitors, and a beginner’s modeling workshop titled “Basic Craftsmanship.”

“It will be a really interactive event,” Koberna said.

A second Meet the Modelers & Swap Meet is planned for noon to 2 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Pleasant Valley Branch, after the exhibit is moved to that library. Koberna said a third event is scheduled at the Washington Terrace branch from 10 a.m. to noon on March 30, the day the exhibit closes.

The exhibit and all meet/swap events are free and open to the public.

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