Tail End Charlie
After returning from the IPMS USA National Convention 2024, held in Madison, Wisconsin, I was determined to write about the the most impactful moment that I experienced during the trip. No matter how much I think about it, what struck me most this year was the level of popularity we enjoyed from the American modelers at the event. I'll try to convey this to you through several examples. Throughout the year, I man the Eduard booth at many modeling exhibitions, where I meet and chat with large number of modelers, so I have heard a lot of opinions I can evaluate.
After returning from the IPMS USA National
Convention 2024, held in Madison, Wisconsin,
I was determined to write about the the most
impactful moment that I experienced during
the trip. No matter how much I think about it,
what struck me most this year was the level
of popularity we enjoyed from the American
modelers at the event. I'll try to convey this to
you through several examples. Throughout the
year, I man the Eduard booth at many modeling
exhibitions, where I meet and chat with large
number of modelers, so I have heard a lot of
opinions I can evaluate.
But before I get deeper into the positive
feeback from the American modelers, I’d like to
mention the attitude of "our folks", Czech and
Slovak modelers. In my opinion, they criticize
and complain the most. And I don't mean it in
a negative way, that seems to be their „habit“.
They complain about mistakes in the designs,
instructions, camouflage schemes, basically
any component of our business you can think
of. On Modelforum (Czech scale modeling
board), in the section dedicated to discussions
about Eduard, which my colleagues and myself
monitor closely, every day we read about what
we've done wrong and how we constantly
need to improve. Of course, modelers are our
customers, and they have every right to do so.
I believe that thanks to the negative feedback
from our customers, we are constantly moving
forward and improving, and I hope that not only
Czech and Slovak modelers appreciate this.
Now let's talk about the Americans.
The IPMS USA Nationals is unique, primarily
because it runs the longest, from Wednesday
to Saturday, with companies setting up
their booths as early as Tuesday afternoon.
By Tuesday afternoon, we already knew that
our inventory wouldn't arrive until Wednesday
morning, which meant we couldn't start
selling at Wednesday lunchtime when the
event officially begins. The first modelers who
arrived were surprised to see us sitting in one
of the largest booths at the exhibition with
empty tables. As soon as they learned that
our merchandise wouldn't arrive until around
eight in the evening, many of them immediately
offered to help us set up the booth and bring
in our products in the evening. Throughout the
afternoon, we received so many offers of help
that I was worried we would be getting in each
other's way that evening. When the supplies
finally arrived around seven in the evening,
there was already a well-organized group of
volunteers at the loading dock who helped us
offloading the boxes until ten in the evening,
full of enthusiasm and smiling. By Thursday,
we were finally able to start selling. So many
modelers came by, praised us, admired us, said
they loved Eduard, that they loved us—I had
never experienced anything like it. Next to me,
at the cash register, colleague of mine, chief
designer Stan Archman, was autographing his
creations, one signature after another. After
a while, the modelers even gave him a silver
color marker. Stan even has his own fan club
among American modelers! I have to admit,
we felt great among them (we even received
a case of beer to enjoy the evening after the
busy days at the exhibition, which were indeed
demanding, especially after the crowds of
modelers rushed to buy August new releases,
mainly Mustangs and the 1/48 scale limited
edition of B-17F). With this wonderful vibes and
in a great environment, more than ever before,
we were proud of our accomplishments and
felt motivated to work even harder in the
future, never mind endless complaints and
nitpicking. Make no mistake, the American
modelers have been critical as well. They just
somehow presented their „case“ in a more
polite and friendly manner!
COMPLAINTS AND PRAISES
Text: Jakub Nademlejnský
INFO Eduard112
August 2024