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Confederate Colonels, Turbulence and the Nuremberg Toy Fair

Introduction

This year, the Nuremberg International Toy Fair celebrated its 60th Anniversary. For the third consecutive year, the network was represented. For the first time, both Aviation and Armor had staff members covering what was new, what was re-boxed and what was to come during the year. Jean-Luc Formery of Aeroscale made his first visit to the Trade Fair – taking enormous pressure off me as I could then avoid putting my foot royally into it when talking Aviation…

My Nuremberg trip didn’t begin particularly auspiciously – when I left for the Airport on the Friday morning it was snowing heavily and indicating an almost tropical minus 3 degrees Centigrade….

Arriving at my hotel at around midnight, the first impression I got was the scenic nature of the street where it was located. Lap-dancing bars and shops of a ‘specialized’ nature jostled for space. Fortunately the Hotel was of a more ‘subdued’ nature and I got checked-in and got a few hours sleep – knowing full well that the real work of the weekend was about to begin…

The Spielwarenmesse (Toy Fair)

It’s big, overwhelmingly big. Fortunately, it’s organized so carefully that once you establish where your interests lie (for modelling, in Hall 7) it’s pretty easy to find your way around. It’s also pretty crowded and to talk to manufacturers it’s advisable to make a series of appointments. So, what is the purpose of Kitmaker Network being represented? In the first instance, to see at first hand what the represented manufacturers are going to be bringing out in the coming year. Secondly, like any other modelling resource to get ourselves seen. All the specialized-print magazines cover the show – why should an on-line publisher be any different? Finally, for the Network, our relationship with manufacturers is vital. If going to Nuremberg was simply an exercise in ‘reporting’ what was new, I’d probably not bother. With the speed the ‘Net allows information to be spread, by the time I boarded the plane on the Friday morning, the word was ‘out’ about the new releases. With good contacts, we get Review material, information on New releases and (vital for the Network’s continuance) we get advertising revenue. Band-width costs money and, as the site continues its growth we need more and more of it. Fortunately, it’s becoming easier. Our ‘Identity’ is known to the majority of the manufacturers and we continue to receive impressive support from many manufacturers. Many of them are represented at The Spielwarenmesse and it becomes more a ‘keeping-in-touch’ exercise than a process of introduction.

the Manufacturers

All the ‘majors’ are represented at the Fair. Sometimes that means an actual physical presence of the parent company, other times, represented thru European distributors. DML, Trumpeter, MiniArt, Masterbox, ICM, Zvezda, and Squadron Signal all have their own stands at the show. Rather than repeating areas I’ve specifically covered, here are links to the ‘N’Berg ‘09’ reports which I’ve posted in the News Section:

MiniArt

Masterbox

Trumpeter

Adalbertus

IBG Models