Editorial

The annual evaluation of the Nuremberg Fair is a February editorial staple. There were times when the evaluation of all participants was carried out in superlatives and optimistic assessments of the flood of new products. There were also times when exhibiting at the fair was an honor and not an easily achievable privilege. When we went to the fair for the first time, I think in 1991, we never even dreamed that we would have a table there, we were happy to get into the halls and be able to offer our then very modest assortment to potential customers. There were quite a few of them at that early exhibition, but most of them looked at us somewhat suspiciously, but we still left satisfied and full of hope. European companies didn't care about us, but we left with two crucial contacts, we met Mr. Ono, the owner and founder of the Japanese company Beaver, and the Americans Chuck Harransky and Jerry Campbell, the owners and heads of the then famous and renowned publishing house Squadron Signal and its affiliated distribution company MMD. Both companies still exist today, although they have long since had different owners, and their ownership structure has changed several times over the years, but the important thing is that we still do business with both of them today.

A year later, we started trying to get our own table at the fair. However, getting one at the fair was not easy in the early nineties, the demand from potential exhibitors exceeded the supply and the capabilities of the exhibition center. You could apply, which got you on a waiting list, and then you waited for several years for a place to become available. So we applied, and nothing happened, until in 1995, thanks to active lobbying, we were promoted to the position of standbys and, surprisingly, we got a table that year. The exhibition center was expanding at the time, the exhibition center built temporary inflatable halls and we got into one of them as stand-ins for a Chinese company. We were probably the only Europeans in that hall among all the Chinese, we didn't even have time to let our partners know that we had a table or where it was, but Mr. Ono found us in a flash. I still don't know how he did it.

In the second half of the nineties, thanks to the completion of additional halls and the expansion of the exhibition area, tables in Nuremberg became available to practically anyone who wanted to exhibit at the fair, and companies took advantage of this. The end of the nineties, the turn of the millennium and the 2000s were the golden age of plastic models in Nuremberg. You could find practically everything from our field there. In addition to manufacturers, distribution companies also exhibited there, not only European but also from overseas, so if a manufacturing company did not have its own table, you could find its products at the table of its distributor. Those distributors who did not have a table got a level of exposure at Nuremberg anyway, but for them it was the other way around, they usually made use of the tables from one of their suppliers. For example, Eduard. Companies in Nuremberg announced news, organized press conferences and dinners with their business partners. Modeling journalists and modelers themselves attended the fair, and for many, visiting the fair was one of the highlights of the year. ModellFan magazine presented its Model of the Year awards at a ceremony in one of the conference halls, and the award carried its own weight.

At the end of the 2000s, the fair began to change. As is often the case, change came gradually, slowly and inconspicuously. Changes often come in stealth mode, and when they are fully implemented, there is nothing you can do about them. When I think about it, the first subtle sign of the fair's declining prestige was that ModellFan magazine stopped presenting its award at a joint meeting with the award-winning manufacturers, with a banquet and gifts for the participants. Instead, the editor-in-chief, Mr. Lacina, began presenting the awards at the tables of the award-winning manufacturers. It still had its level, but it was no longer the same. They also started giving the Model of the Year award to more manufacturers, maybe it wasn't quite as extreme, but it seemed that everyone who attended the fair, or maybe everyone who sent samples or advertised in ModellFan, received a Model of the Year award. This began a slow, inflationary erosion of the clout of the award. It still exists today, but it is no longer the same. And I'm not writing this because we didn't get the Model of the Year this year. We haven't been getting it for a few years, since we stopped sending samples to ModellFan. I don't really miss the fact that we don't get the award anymore. I miss what was behind it and what it meant. The fact that not everyone got it and that really good kits were awarded and rewarded. And that there was a ceremony for that...but that was a long time ago, and it won't come back. I'd like to be wrong, but I'm afraid that we'll never have something like the Model of the Year from ModellFan here again, even though the award still exists.

Another change was brought about by the crisis in 2008/2009. After that, a number of old traditional companies gradually withdrew from the fair, the number of Japanese and American companies began to decrease, and so did the number of smaller companies and distributors. By this I mean that those companies no longer exhibited, they did not have their own tables. At the same time, however, newly emerging companies came to the fair, mainly Chinese, but also European, mostly Eastern European, so any decrease in the participation of exhibiting companies was not noticeable at first glance. However, there was talk among exhibitors and visitors alike that the number of visitors to the fair was decreasing, that fewer people were moving from table to table than before. For a long time, I blamed the thinning of the crowds in the aisles on the event’s playing around with the length of the exhibition. The organizers extended the exhibition from the original four days, from Thursday to Sunday, to six days, while also experimenting with the start and end dates of the event. When they first came up with this, they extended the exhibition to Tuesday, and later, it also began on a Tuesday. There was no increase in visitors, the only thing it brought was that their number was spread out over more days. From the point of view of us exhibitors, it brought nothing. We just extended our meetings and negotiations from four days to six, and we started to get a bit annoyed. We paid extra money for those two days. If I don't count that the exhibition area and everything connected with the event gradually became more expensive over the years, notably after a crisis from which everyone was slowly recovering and some did not even survive, there was a jump in costs of practically 50%. Of course, it's not just about the exhibition area and tables and I can assure you that hotels in Nuremberg are hellishly expensive during the fair.

And then came Covid, a two-year break, and after all that, what was only hinted at before Covid became reality. The decline in the number of exhibitors and visitors was now clear, distinct and dramatic. After the first fair after the Covid break, in February 2023, we still said to ourselves that the fair needed some time to recover. Unfortunately, now, after four years, we are still not at the pre-Covid level in terms of either the number of exhibitors or the number of visitors. On the contrary, other significant exhibitors have decreased, for example Miniart, a major German distributor of Glow2B, and Faller was also absent, which was probably the most discussed absence this year. Faller is large and significant, and its decision clearly influences the thinking of the remaining exhibitors. Even though other exhibitors have increased, I dare say that the importance of the fair is continuing to decline and doubts about the meaning of participating in it are increasing. We had over forty meetings and a number of other shorter encounters in five days at the fair, many of which we consider important and some, surprisingly, even brought us new contacts. However, we can replace many of these meetings with video conferences or we can meet at a model show somewhere. Both internet communication, emails and video conferences, and model exhibitions have gained in importance during and after Covid. I would say that it is similar in other fields. I estimate that only about a fifth, maybe a quarter of our meetings would not have taken place without participation at Nuremberg. We will see what will actually happen from all these meetings. We are still undecided whether we will also pack it in with Nuremberg and not have a table next year, or whether we will continue to participate in the fair in some form. This year we were officially there for the thirtieth time. If we stop now, we certainly would be ending on a milestone year.

Tiger 3366

You all know what this is about. A helicopter, but you know precisely which one. It is known by a different name than the name of our kit, which was eventually named Tiger 3366 so as not to infringe on the copyright of the film company that made a series of sci-fi horror films with that character. We originally assumed that we would send the kits to pre-order customers at the end of January or in the first half of February. However, we have a complication in the production of the decals. In addition to the patterns following the helicopter's surface contours, raised rivets are also printed on them. Unfortunately, the printing of the rivets is slow. One decal requires a full forty minutes of work time to complete, that is, to print the rivets. The entire batch of kits for pre-order customers will most likely be ready by the end of February, so we will most likely be able to start shipping the prepaid kits at the end of February and finish during March. We apologize for the delay and ask all customers who pre-ordered for their patience. 720 kits will be available to them, with the remaining 230 kits being made available to selected retailers. Those who missed the pre-order option can get the kit from the retailers.

Strafer

Another pre-order item is Strafer, a B-25J Mitchell in 1:48 in the new EDUARD HKM line. The most important thing for this kit, the plastic, is already in stock and we will start putting together kits this week. We will start shipping out packages to fill pre-orders around mid-February. And again, for those wanting the kit but did not pre-order will be able to purchase from select retailers.

And that's all from me for today. On the following pages, you can find out more information regarding new releases for February and March. Jakub Nademlejnsky also brings us a detailed report from the Nuremberg Toy Fair at the end of this month’s newsletter.

Happy Modelling

Vladimir Sulc