Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
It’s been a long time since the Prince Albert Scale Modellers (PASM) Club hosted regular meetings, but they’re hoping that will change.
The club held a Fun Build Day at the Prince Albert Public Library on Saturday in hopes of getting a monthly club going again. Event organizer Gilbert Lathlin said there is growing interest in modelling in the Prince Albert area.
“We’ve been really dormant, but since the model train shows we’ve been getting a lot of interest, so we decided we’re going to fire up our club and get it going again,” Lathlin explained.
“Today is basically just a build day just to get people interested. Next we’ll be moving along and hopefully start the club going further.”
Gilbert Lathlin of the PASM works on his project at the Prince Albert Public Library on Saturday
The PASM is dedicated to the enjoyment of building scale models as a hobby and the belief that ‘this is the greatest hobby in the world’. Saturday’s show gave interested individuals a chance to meet with other hobbyists from Saskatoon and Humboldt. Lathlin said modellers from those three communities, plus Regina, hope to get a provincial network going.
Locally, Lathlin and others hope to get the club back to having monthly meetings at the library in addition to the regular shows.
Lathlin said the response at model train shows convinced him the hobby was still popular.
“We’re invited every year, and there was only three of us, John Hopper and Robert Gibson and myself,” Lathlin said. “We always posted our pictures up and we had a lot of people coming through and asking questions like ‘how do we get involved? How do we do this? How does this work?’ So this past few years we noticed an interest and we decided we’re going to start up the club again.”
Lathlin is a longtime enthusiast. He started building models as a youth, and still enjoys the hobby.
“Growing up I was sick from school a lot and had to stay home and do something,” he said. “Back then we didn’t have video games. Our local hobby shop was a pharmacy, and that’s how I got started.”
Visitors, guests, and new members are encouraged to attend the meetings at no cost or bring their model kits, although starter kits will be available for purchase at various times of the year at the venue.
The club membership is $15 annually and at monthly meetings there will be kit draws and there will be gift cards draws as well.
The club’s next meeting will be on May 24 at the same venue. Guests and visitors are invited to attend.
The club’s meetings and other events are usually posted on their Facebook page.
–with files from Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald
