Welcome to Extended Coverage of GSL-XXVII (2019)

As Trustees for the GSL International Scale Vehicle Championship and Convention, we have prepared this full report (not otherwise available) on the    GSL-XXVII Championship so that you can learn about and enjoy the full flavor of the many events that occurred at the 2019 event.

The GSL Championship was started in 1979 to provide an hospitable venue for professional- quality builders, of all ages, to compete where basic and advanced craftsmanship, innovation, and risk-taking are rewarded, respected and celebrated and where the friendly exchange of modeling information, ideas and techniques are encouraged. As the year went forwarded, additional features were added: seminars, tours of the International Model Car Builders’ Museum, the Museum-benefit Auction, and the Trade Show.    And then were was always the incredible competition between the world’s greatest builders.

Since the start of this now world-renowned competition, we’ve welcomed thousands of competitors from around the globe, drawing competitors from most States, all but one Canadian Province, Mexico, Great Britain, Finland, Germany, France and Brazil. Widely recognized as the arena for pleasant but stringent competition, GSL also presents four days of instructional seminars, a tour of the International Model Car Museum, a Museum-benefit auction – many days of convivial fun.

The Twenty-Seventh GSL International Scale Vehicle Championship and Convention, held May 2-5, 2019, was the latest installment    of the most significant competitive scale vehicle event in the model car universe. GSL-XXVII was a spectacular success – it attracted the best -yet set of competitive models, the largest    number of attendees in the history of the Championship, , six    seminars, a half day of tours of the Museum, the Museum-Benefit auction on Saturday night, and the famed Awards Breakfast on Sunday morning.

The GSL Championship was started in 1979 as a purely local Salt Lake City contest, attracting only models from Utah and Idaho. From there, it grew into the international phenomenon that it is today.

If you’re of an historical bent, we invite you to check out the following information:

Starting in 1980, GSL presented an annual Championship through 1994 (the fifteenth Championship) where upon we suspended the event for 3 years until 1997 when the GSL Championship was presented again (the famed “Reunion”) but this time on an every-other-year basis. Frankly, the GSL Trustees were completely burned out with the work of fielding GSL every year. Since 1997, the Championship has been enjoyed every other “odd” year. A complete record of the first sixteen years of the Championship is available in a spiral bound book (originally hard cover) written by GSL Founder Mark S. Gustavson. If you’re interested in buying a copy, contact Mark for details –    be sure to put “GSL Book” in the subject line. (All net proceeds donated to the International Model Car Builders’ Museum).

Let’s fast forward to 2019. To best appreciate the Twenty-Seventh GSL Championship, please check out these links:

1). Here’s a chart of all of the winners who won the Special Private awards, the GSL Class Awards and the GSL Master Awards. View/Download the PDF of the chart listing the winners from the initially-presented Private Awards through the full range of juried Class and Master Awards.

2). As we    do at the conclusion of each Championship, we presented a formal Sunday morning Awards Breakfast presentation of the winners.    After enjoying a great meal, Judges Randy Derr, Mark S. Gustavson and Bob Wick, and Museum financial director Dale Horner, presented the Private, Class and Master Awards. You can enjoy images of the winning models, ranked by Class and Master Award, by going here:

3). As each competitor enters his/her models, each model is photographed several times. The photos
of the qualifying models are used to populate the Sunday morning Awards Breakfast visual presentation.    Here are the photos of each competitive model taken at the time of registration. Check out the images!

4). Each  GSL Championship presents seminars on important topics, the Museum and projects.
With a tip of the hard working hat to Dave and Tonya Hadley (official GSL videographers), here are the videos from 2019 GSL Championship:

And here is an array of videos from many historic GSL Championships:

5). To enjoy videos of seminars going back a number of years, go here:

6). GSL is also a lot of fun, and gives attendees the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones.    Check out the builders who attended the Twenty-Seventh Championship: https://public.fotki.com/GSL-Model-Car-Championship/gsl-xxvii-2019/people/

7). The Championship Awards Breakfast rewards the best of the hundreds of models in
competition.    Check out each award presentation:

8). GSL hands out a formal GSL Schedule. This document outlines for everyone a comprehensive outline of all of the activities that stretch over four full days. Of particular interest is the fact that a dozen or so people always arrive a day before, and stay on a day after, the Championship is presented.    Here’s a link to the 27th Championship Schedule.

7). At each GSL, attendees can take a tour of the International Model Car Builders’ Museum when the remarkable collection (now, almost 10,000 items in all) can be enjoyed by visitors. You can go here to check out quite a few pictures of the 2019 tour!    Here’s the video of the Museum’s seminar at GSL:

8). For a rich historic video presentation of GSL, go here to the GSL video archive site:
GSL again expresses its most profound appreciation to Dave Hadley and Steve Roullier for assembling and digitizing this rich video heritage of GSL.

9). If you prefer Fotki images, go here to enjoy photos of the most recent GSL Championships.
https://public.fotki.com/GSL-Model-Car-Championship/gsl-xxvii-2019/