Brisbane Dinner 2017. (1 Viewer)

[Horus]

Congratulations to all the entrants on such brilliant displays. I thought all were worthy of a prize !
Steve

 

[LTC PaulN]

Just got home from the Brisbane Dinner, this year different venue and Andy gave a different talk based around the statistics of K&C since they started keeping them, around the early 2000's I believe he said. A couple interesting ones I recall, that K&C have produced about one million and a few more figures in that period and K&C have made more Tiger tanks than Germany produced during WW2!

Herr Field Marshal Neilson! A better Armaments Minister than Speer!

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Really enjoyable to see all the fantastic dioramas. Lots of clever and creative scenes. This one really stands out for me. I love how the timbers were added to the walls to create a house/building - very original!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Fitzgibbon]

Thanks for posting the pic's Wayne, the dio's are excellent and there sure is plenty of talent around to produce such work. I bet you, Andy and Bob had a devil of a time picking the winner! Glad the evening went well.

Tom

Hi Tom, different judges this year and I could not make the dinner. I heartily agree with the people's choice though. That waterfall is going to make a workshop all of its own. Special mention to Mark who nursed a painful injury to attend and a recognition for Toddy who carried his dio from New Zealand. Well done for showing the practical aspects of the A4 standard size.
The pictures tell the story. Bravo.

 

[Mark IV]

Really enjoyable to see all the fantastic dioramas. Lots of clever and creative scenes. This one really stands out for me. I love how the timbers were added to the walls to create a house/building - very original!

Thanks for sharing!

This little DIO made the trip from NZ with Todd and managed if I recall correctly 2nd place in the people's choice.

It was great to have him over for the dinner

Mark

 

[The Military Workshop]

Thanks to Wayne for putting up images and bringing along his excellent train dio which was a highlight of the event. As Andy said it was one of those dios where there is so much attention to detail that you would see different things when you look again. As I write I am just remembering I did not look to see where he put the Robin Hood tax collectors table and accessories ! (will be on a photo somewhere). If only there was a forum member handy with pointing arrows !

Many thanks to Andy for coming down for his 9th Australian visit. Much appreciated by myself and all the collectors who met him. He was available for several hours at the Dinner venue to answer lots of questions and choose some diorama winners and share some dio making tips. As usual many ideas for future releases were discussed.

Thanks also to Andy for bringing down some new Romans (ie. future mounted Roman and each Oz dealer had received an advance Roman Fort to display ), the Gurkhas, Lighthorse in camp (shown in Waynes train dio and I believe an April release), new New Zealand Mounted figures and Turks, SAS Chevy truck and three figures. Andy also had plenty of new flyers to give out including the Israeli Army (May release) and coming SAS Chevy truck. Just on this subject : new Mounted NZ figures, Lighthorse in camp, SAS Chevy truck and the Israeli's all fit with his new desert house and previous desert diorama items. Co-incidence or a cunning plot ?

The event went well and Jack and I will combine our notes to cover the actual talk and Q&A. Will also have a seperate thread about the competition.
Thanks to forum members who attended and in particular Todd from NZ who flew over with his North Africa diorama.

Apart from Wayne's train station diorama there were some other "show and tell" displays brought in :

Jack brought in the long WW1 French diorama (with a JG Miniatures wooden log bridge and mainly Jenkins figures). This was "high tech" as you will note a little black box to the right which controlled the light and sound effects. If look on the backdrop you will see some holes to right centre and when pushed a button red lights flashed and there was an exploding type noise.

Farmer Tony brought in the Culloden display and Ray brought in the small Berghoff display which was made for him by Wayne.

Thanks to Jack, Tony and Ray.

Special mention should go to Mark IV. On the day before the event he was having lunch with Andy and a couple of others and mentioned he was going cross country horse riding and jumping with an Olympic gold medalist the morning of the event. This was after he had picked up the Roman fort for taking to the venue the next day. Andy and I and others all commented about the importance of not falling off the horse.

Early next morning I got the call from Mark saying he had fallen off the horse and he thought he might have broken a rib. He did not sound good at all but his concern was about getting the fort to the event and mentioned he would send it by taxi if necessary (a 62 km trip !). Luckily he did not break anything but he was very sore to say the least. From what I hear he was trying hard not to laugh during the dinner (he was on Jack's table). I had to compare his enthusiasm to the other collector who could not make the event due to the poor excuse of receiving Adele tickets for Christmas ! For determination in attending the event well done Mark.

 

[Jack]

Below is a summary of Andy's talk and Q&A in Brisbane written by Brett with a couple of small additions from me.

Andy mentioned it was his 9th visit so many had heard his previous talks so wanted to do something a bit different and had got some statistics which he thought might be of interest.
2007 2016
Single figures produced 311 421
Mounted figures produced 33 24
Planes 1 5
Tanks 11 6
Other vehicles, artillery 24 15
and motor cycles

Total individual figures produced 2007 - 2016 approx 3,500

Actual figures sold 1.75 million

Mounted figures sold 55,000

Aircraft 40 (total sales 16,500)

Tanks 56,000
14 different Tigers starting with the wooden ones. Best seller Wittman at 2,000.

Other vehicles, artillery and motor cycles 43,000

Hitler the most popular figure with LAH 99 Hitler and dog selling almost 3,000.

Then opened for questions.

a) Asked if going to do figures connected with Gran Sasso raid and confirmed yes.

b) Any more Robin Hood series to come. Yes, will do some archers but will have in two colour schemes so that will also be more archers for the Crusades series.

c) Asked if the new Hitler and Hindenberg was a one off. Andy said would be some more but almost like a sub series of Berlin 38 but covering Deutchland 1933 and would involve some civilians.

d) Any plans to do Australians in New Guinea / Kokoda ? Starting with Far East (ie. Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong and there will be Australians in that series. There will also be some Canadians (ie. Hong Kong) which are next. Mentioned uniforms of Australians in Malaya completely different to later jungle warfare. Did note British 14th Army in Burma was quite similar to Australians in the jungle.

e) Any plans to do Rough Riders ? (Collector not aware been done already). Done and no.

f) Any plans to release just castings of some figures ? Been asked at a few events but no.

g) After Lighthorse what plans for WWI ? - some civilians and liked behind the lines type. He observed that there was a demand for non-battle poses which was responding to in this and other ranges.

h) French Hussars in fighting poses ? No but considering doing the two mounted duellists from The Duelists movie. When asked about whether they might be released as attacking cavalry he was sympathetic but noted that the cost might prove prohibitive for a relase of eight or nine poses.

i) Does have any figures that did not make it to market ? Yes has 6 Afghans that were sculpted to go with Sons of Empire but series did not sell as well as expected.

Also has some nice pirate sculpts which were inspired by some Barzo figures. Looked at doing a pirate ship and had one made (still in his office). However after made the ship found out shipping cost would be more than the actual ship cost and then there was the problem of damage to a rigged ship. This prompted a suggestion could do some of the pirates as Club figures and Andy quite liked the idea for some of the personality ie Captain type figures. He believes that the pirate figures are among some of the best that K&C have ever released.

This also raised a discussion about problem of doing patrol boats and subs.

j) Any more planes in pipeline ? Yes but keeping to himself.

k) Great Escape series any plans for non actor figures ? Yes and will be more to come in this series.

l) Any more for Dads Army series ? Yes a few more to come.

m) Any plans to do train rolling stock ? No.

o) Have done WW1 Russians. Any plans to do more Eastern Front WW1 figures ? No.

Andy thanked all for coming and acknowledged the support of the Australian market and noted next year will be his 10th visit.

 

[villagehorse]

Lots of interesting content here, many thanks. Robin.

 

[Julie]

Thanks for the photos and recap!

It is always appreciated to see and read.

Julie

 

[Desertkiwi]

This little DIO made the trip from NZ with Todd and managed if I recall correctly 2nd place in the people's choice.

It was great to have him over for the dinner

Mark

Cheers Mark, hope you're feeling better mate?!

You did well to last the whole evening in your fragile condition and deserve a medal, although you did scoop a total of three prizes for your outstanding efforts.:salute::

Without you and Brett's assistance lending me the figures and the wall, I would have had an extra worry transporting it all across the ditch and of course Wayne's wee ladder added some further detail which was much appreciated. ^&grin

I was very surprised to win second place and thought the competition top notch and was very impressed by what I saw. Also I would like to say I thought Martins 'light & sound' dio was very good and he deserves a special mention as does Wayne's railway scene. I still struggle to comprehend how Wayne put it all together on his own in almost the same time it took me to assemble my meager effort. Considering he only had the base and tracks attached and he had to put it all together on the night was something else.

I did have a slight moment though shortly after assembling my dio entry at the dinner. I went for a quick scout around of the other displays. I was only gone a few minutes, but as approached the table again and a group of blokes standing near my effort it was like the parting of the red sea. All of a sudden this group turned their backs and sped away for me to discover someone had accidentally knocked my palm trees over, which had in turn flatted the roof and several figures, turning me dio into a bomb-site. I found their quick manoeuvring stage left most entertaining and the problem was easily rectified anyway.

I had a magic time and as always was made to feel like one of the gang. Thank you Brett and the Brissy Boys for making the trip so worthwhile and thanks once again to Andy for giving up some much of his time to spend with us and of course for producing those fantastic NZMR figures!!:salute::

 

[Desertkiwi]

Really enjoyable to see all the fantastic dioramas. Lots of clever and creative scenes. This one really stands out for me. I love how the timbers were added to the walls to create a house/building - very original!

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks WO. The dio theme was 'a rescue' of the Brit officer prisoner by LRDG & SAS troops. Behind the main wall with the door is the crouching 'Kiwi' with 303 and his buddy, along with the new smoking SAS figure inspecting the German machine gun and a dead AK figure.

Add some sheep, (as suggested by Wayne) a wee dog and loads of sand & supplies and 'bobs-ya-Nana'.

I had loads of fun trying to get the wall pieces to fit and form a structure as such. The timber roof frame is actually chop-sticks I carved up with a box cutter to look a bit rustic along with some brown stain. Of course every desert scene needs at least one palm tree.^&grin

For some odd reason I only took one photo of my own display but loads of everyone else's. {eek3} Now that I'm back home I'll look at re-assembling mine one again and may look at posting some further pic's.

I really like the K&C wall sets because they are so versatile.

Personally speaking the whole diorama concept at the dinner is a game changer and something I would encourage others to try.

I was particularly pleased to see collectors young and old having a go which is what the hobby is all about.

I like the idea of a set diorama size too because it gives everyone an equal opportunity to come up with something to fit into that space.

Glens waterfall diorama is a great example of thinking outside the square. I bet most folks didn't see the female figure behind his waterfall either.

Good times!

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Thanks WO. The dio theme was 'a rescue' of the Brit officer prisoner by LRDG & SAS troops. Behind the main wall with the door is the crouching 'Kiwi' with 303 and his buddy, along with the new smoking SAS figure inspecting the German machine gun and a dead AK figure.

All the dios are very impressive. I have not graduated from my table top scenes yet. One of these days I'm going to create some terrain and a complete scene as you guys have perfected.

 

[Simpson & his donkey.]

Was there a collector figure given at the advent as I didn't see any pictures of any but the diorama's were very impressive . Chris.:salute::

 

[Norman508a]

Was there a collector figure given at the advent as I didn't see any pictures of any but the diorama's were very impressive . Chris.:salute::

Yes they were two different WW1 Australians, one was crouching and the other was moving forward.

Luckily for me my son comes to the dinner so he gave me his.

Matt

 

[waynepoo]

There was a lot pictures taken on the night by many folk and would like to see those who are forum members post theirs please.

 

[waynepoo]

There was a lot pictures taken on the night by many folk and would like to see those who are forum members post theirs please.

Mark IV sent me these pics....................

 

[waynepoo]

Next.

 

[waynepoo]

Again.

 

[waynepoo]

Next.

 

[waynepoo]

Again.