I was there, actually got there relatively early for me (around 10:45 or so). It was definitely a lot smaller, they had a large chunk of the floor space blocked out with curtains (there was some sort of conference thing in the space, but that was like a tiny portion of it). In terms of the aisles, they were much wider than normal and there was a lot of empty space compared to past shows I have been to there.
In terms of what was for sale, I wasn't particularly impressed by what was there or the quality (then again, I am not really buying, unless I see a good deal on Ross track or something I need; spent 6 bucks on a hobby knife). Mostly post war, as usual, and a lot of overpriced stuff, like the guy selling Menards buildings at way over original price (maybe that is the market these days, but seems crazy). More modern engines, TMCC and Legacy and PSx, seemed to be priced higher. Lot of guys with no prices on their stuff, and then you get "well, make me an offer"..which is irritating, and also somewhat sleazy, bc they are basically trying to catch people who don't know into overpaying IME.
The only thing I almost bought was a Z starter set, but given it was 350, well, couldn't quite justify that. Someone had a small Z scale layout that basically was a couple of loops of track running through a mountain, and it was like 2k........Other thing I saw were some die cast airliner models, they were pretty small (1/200), and while they are really well made (they weighed a lot, not cheap tin here), were like close to 100 bucks. If they had had a model of the Airbus Beluga, I might have budged....
I think the turnout was down as well, though the parking lot was pretty crowded. My guess would be the heat didn't help, it also is in august when people are definitely going on vacation (just ask anyone in the airline industry), there was so much pent up demand for travel, and I am sure inflation and to a certain extent gas prices kept both people and vendors away. I think November will be a much bigger test, that has to be one of the biggies with the holiday season coming up.
