Everyone who wants to get acquainted with an interesting hobby is welcome at the Todor Kableshkov Higher School of Transport in Sofia, where an exhibition of scale models and a competition takes place during the weekend. The annual exhibition aims to promote this hobby and show that making scale models of real or fantastic objects and people is a pleasurable hobby for all ages.

“Scale Models Club Bulgaria was established 13 years ago,” Stanislav Petkov, chairman of the club says. “Apart from the exhibitions we organize in Bulgaria, we also go to exhibitions abroad where the Bulgarian models are always welcome. We have many awards as well as awards for best model at major European exhibitions. This hobby teaches a lot of things - attention, patience, coordination of movements. It teaches children how to perceive information in a deeper manner; it teaches them basic technical and artistic skills.”

The organizers of the exhibition have put on display more about 350 models, not only by Bulgarian but also by foreign hobbyists.

“There are participants from many friendly clubs from Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania. This year we are also expecting a participant from Moscow”, Stanislav Petkov says. “Scale Models Club Bulgaria will show what each of its members has done. Visitors can see models of different machines and people. The models are divided into categories - airplanes, tanks, urban transport, ships, historical figures. They are also divided by scale and there are categories for beginners and experts. This way there are over 30 categories.”

Winners will be selected in each category, and for visitors to the exhibition, small souvenirs will be provided. "The exhibits on display cannot be bought," Stanislav Petkov adds. In the "Public Transport" category we show models, which have not been presented to the general public so far.

“This time, along with the classic 1:43 scale, we have planned to show models in a slightly larger scale. Visitors will be able to see public transport and specialized vehicles,” Dariyan Georgiev from Urban Transport Models says. “This year, we have invited other independent creators of urban transport model, as well as a famous Bulgarian modeler, who only deals with the 1:87 collectors’ scale and assembles locomotives, wagons, trains, etc. using a 3D printer.”

Among the eye-catching exhibits there is an Icarus bus and trolley with an impressive size of 90x20x15 cm, Dariyan says and continues:

“We will also show a model of a specialized Chavdar bus, which existed from the 80's to the beginning of the 90's. It was a mobile dental laboratory. That was a way to provide dental care to people in small and far-away villages. It was assembled in 1977 in the factory in Botevgrad and there were plans for export to the USSR, Greece and East Germany.”

The unique project, unknown elsewhere in the world, failed because of constructive disadvantages. However, there were 5 such buses in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, there are only a photo of the inside and one of the outside of the bus preserved, today.

“In the dental bus there is a poster of the Olympics in Moscow 1980, a calendar of the Levski sports club from 1981, a poster of the Golden Sands Rally from 1978. They were in the original bus and we recreated them with maximum detail,” Dariyan Georgiev says. “There were 2 dentists' chairs with instruments, a washbasin, a refrigerator, a wardrobe for the doctor's clothing, a bathroom. In the rear of the bus there was a waiting room with 5 seats. And we've reproduced everything with great care for details.”

It is interesting to point out that a similar Chavdar bus was used until 2015 in the Bulgarian National Radio. It was the home of the largest mobile stereo studio in this country.

English: Alexander Markov