Valley-made Trump bobblehead makes its way to Cleveland

SEE ALSO: VP pick Pence draws positive GOP reaction

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber expects to draw the attention of those at the Republican National Convention with its 7-foot-tall, 300-pound, 3-D-printed Donald Trump bobblehead.

The bobblehead – silver from hair to toe – was unveiled Friday and made its way later in the day to Cleveland for the convention.

It will be in the convention’s “secure zone” near Quickens Loans Arena, where the RNC will be, said Guy Coviello, the chamber’s vice president of governmental affairs. That means only delegates and those with access to that area will be able to see it.

It will stay there until Friday, the day after Republicans officially nominate their presidential candidate.

The unique item will “highlight the Mahoning Valley as the leader in 3-D printing,” Coviello said.

The bobblehead has received international attention from media in Asia and the Netherlands.

It is valued at $35,000.

The inside of the body is sand and rigid foam, and the inside of the head is plastic, said Rich Wetzel of Freshmade 3D, a company based at the Youngstown Business Incubator, which designed and produced the bobblehead.

An aluminum-based powder with resin that hardens is on the exterior of the entire bobblehead, he said.

It took 30 hours to print the body and 225 hours for the head, Wetzel said.

Freshmade received assistance from Youngstown State University and Humtown Products in Columbiana.

Coviello joked that the slender-looking bobblehead Trump “works out a lot more than the real Trump.”

The chamber wants to move the bobblehead around to different spots in Cleveland this weekend, but that decision rests with the Secret Service, Coviello said.

Updates about the bobblehead can be found online at 3Dprintedprez.com.

A similar bobblehead of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will be made and displayed with Trump at the first presidential debate at Wright State University in Dayton in September.

Meanwhile, the chamber will host a group of 13 site selectors – who recommend locations to various businesses – to Cleveland on Tuesday for a private breakfast with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, then to a noon lunch reception with business leaders from the Mahoning Valley and other cities at the Calfee Building on East 6th Street, concluding with an event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for Gov. John Kasich, Coviello said.

The site selectors will be in the Valley on Monday and Wednesday to learn more about the area’s assets and tour various facilities, he said.

“They are high-end brokers that look for locations for factories, business parks and major businesses,” Coviello said. “This is a first for us. The convention gives us the event to attract them to the area.”