Yesterday, when I received, edited and posted the 2010 release list from Hobby Boss, I was amazed at just how much interest it has generated - both, here in the Forums (a rare occurence) and especially in the Page-Views of the Report itself.

Now, my lesser-known remit on Kitmaker consists of establishing and fostering relationships with manufacturers - from them come the Review samples, the images for News and above alll, advertising. So, in addition to this, I try to keep as close an eye on any 'Trends' within the market.

Yesterday, two things happened. Firstly I was surprised at the sheer volume of PLA subjects from Hobby Boss - it's NEVER (previously) been any kind of 'serious' release program before.

The second thing happened yesterday lunchtime. I was watching the midday news on TVE (broadly the Spanish equivalent of the BBC) and being in the run-up to Christmas, one of their correspondents was in China. The usual themes were being presented - uncontrolled imports of Chinese-made toys etc. etc. However, amongst the usual clichés was a moment of pure gold. A Chinese economist was being interviewed and talking about the toy market (which broadly includes US) and stating clearly that China was exporting less and concentrating more heavily on the Domestic Market.

So, drawing a few tentaive conclusions - are we now going to see an explosion of modeling with China with the PLA being the chosen subject?

Sure as hell all those PLA subjects are going SOMEWHERE....

Time to launch Kitmaker in the principal Chinese dialects I think...

wow the girls have'nt picked up on your post yet? ''gentalman'' hehehehe gee i'm a stirrer hehehehe.

China's domestic market is growing at an enormous rate. Construction of a road here was delayed, according to the foreman, because cement and asphalt were back ordered, available stocks having been sent to China. If Armorama is permitted in China and Hobby Boss (and others) are trying to supply kits to a large domestic market, then it would be great to see some (many, all) of them jump aboard and participate here. An invitation on a post, in Chinese, might get some interest.