The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Andy has just left Brisbane and now in Sydney meeting dealer Sven and collectors. For those who have visited or dealt with the Sydney store over the years Peter Nathan is now technically retired. He came into my shop last year and we had a good chat. Had met him about 20 years before although we did chat on the phone few times. He looked extremely well for an 87 year old and I wish him all the best in retirement:salute::.
Andy then goes on to Adelaide and Melbourne to meet dealer Andrew and more collectors.
This year is K&C's 40th and Andy first visited Australia in 2009 (when the Australian Lighthorse series started) and then every year through to 2019. Then along came Covid. He was planning to come last year but some may recall early last year he got stuck in US / San Antonio due to a change in quarantine policy in Hong Kong. Any plans for last years visit were cancelled due to the risk of policy changes. His greatest fear was obviously being stuck in Melbourne ! {sm4}
We had our usual collectors dinner with a Q&A. Below is a summary of some points raised in past few days that may be of interest.
Andy had a sample of the Vietnam M48 Patton tank with him. It looked good with his newly released M35A2 Cargo truck and 6 passengers. This will be the last of the polystone tanks as he will be using the metal type as per the recent Winter Tiger. There will be two versions (Witch ***** and Mad Dogs which was the name of his Hong Kong pub).
He mentioned the recent Winter Tiger and the upcoming Kursk and Afrika Korps Tigers. There are new SS and AK figures also in the pipeline.
Vietnam Hueys coming and at this stage will be 2 American and one Australian. Ltd Ed's with certificates but at this stage he did not know pricing.
He discussed the issues with the Hong Kong protests, loss of his brother Gordon and some of the problems associated with Covid.
Mentioned that years ago a factory could have 300 painters but now he is dealing with factories that might have only 20.
He said he would be bringing out a diorama book, hopefully before Christmas this year.
An important point was the subject of Succession and I am not talking about the streaming series. He is now 74 but was as enthusiastic and excited about future projects as during his first visit. Most importantly his wife has given him approval to continue until he is 80 and he is signing a new office lease (good news is it has gone down as the building owners are losing tenants). I am sure Andy is busy so wont read this post but dealers and collectors should note that we might have to resort to some bribery of his wife to keep him going until he reaches 100.
One of the aspects to these visits is that he has many conversations with smaller groups or even just one person. I wont go into specifics as have to leave something to look forward to. One collector mentioned an add on to a popular series that Andy had not mentioned to me and I think that will be a welcome addition. He also mentioned who comes after Dracula and obviously inspired by a movie. Then there was an upcoming discovery of Tutankamun figure inspired by an actor.
Was good to see him again after four years and have a lot of good discussions about ideas and the hobby etc. On behalf of local collectors and myself I would like to thank him for his continued support of the Australian collector base with some great series including those with Australians such as 8th Army, Lighthorse, Gallipoli, WW1 Western front (in 3 battalion patch options - one of which is a battalion still in existence walking distance from my shop), Vietnam and the latest Kokoda.
Hope he enjoys his the rest of his trip and gets plenty of feedback and inspiration for future ideas.
Was great having you visit Andy and look forward to doing it again next year:salute::.
He will be in Chicago and London later in the year.
Andy then goes on to Adelaide and Melbourne to meet dealer Andrew and more collectors.
This year is K&C's 40th and Andy first visited Australia in 2009 (when the Australian Lighthorse series started) and then every year through to 2019. Then along came Covid. He was planning to come last year but some may recall early last year he got stuck in US / San Antonio due to a change in quarantine policy in Hong Kong. Any plans for last years visit were cancelled due to the risk of policy changes. His greatest fear was obviously being stuck in Melbourne ! {sm4}
We had our usual collectors dinner with a Q&A. Below is a summary of some points raised in past few days that may be of interest.
Andy had a sample of the Vietnam M48 Patton tank with him. It looked good with his newly released M35A2 Cargo truck and 6 passengers. This will be the last of the polystone tanks as he will be using the metal type as per the recent Winter Tiger. There will be two versions (Witch ***** and Mad Dogs which was the name of his Hong Kong pub).
He mentioned the recent Winter Tiger and the upcoming Kursk and Afrika Korps Tigers. There are new SS and AK figures also in the pipeline.
Vietnam Hueys coming and at this stage will be 2 American and one Australian. Ltd Ed's with certificates but at this stage he did not know pricing.
He discussed the issues with the Hong Kong protests, loss of his brother Gordon and some of the problems associated with Covid.
Mentioned that years ago a factory could have 300 painters but now he is dealing with factories that might have only 20.
He said he would be bringing out a diorama book, hopefully before Christmas this year.
An important point was the subject of Succession and I am not talking about the streaming series. He is now 74 but was as enthusiastic and excited about future projects as during his first visit. Most importantly his wife has given him approval to continue until he is 80 and he is signing a new office lease (good news is it has gone down as the building owners are losing tenants). I am sure Andy is busy so wont read this post but dealers and collectors should note that we might have to resort to some bribery of his wife to keep him going until he reaches 100.
One of the aspects to these visits is that he has many conversations with smaller groups or even just one person. I wont go into specifics as have to leave something to look forward to. One collector mentioned an add on to a popular series that Andy had not mentioned to me and I think that will be a welcome addition. He also mentioned who comes after Dracula and obviously inspired by a movie. Then there was an upcoming discovery of Tutankamun figure inspired by an actor.
Was good to see him again after four years and have a lot of good discussions about ideas and the hobby etc. On behalf of local collectors and myself I would like to thank him for his continued support of the Australian collector base with some great series including those with Australians such as 8th Army, Lighthorse, Gallipoli, WW1 Western front (in 3 battalion patch options - one of which is a battalion still in existence walking distance from my shop), Vietnam and the latest Kokoda.
Hope he enjoys his the rest of his trip and gets plenty of feedback and inspiration for future ideas.
Was great having you visit Andy and look forward to doing it again next year:salute::.
He will be in Chicago and London later in the year.
