National Capital Model Soldier Society Show and Sale.................. (1 Viewer)

[Warrior]

I attended this club show yesterday in Alexandria Virginia. The Club also combined with a model railroading group, a model car group and a wargaming club all from the area.

Frankly, it was IMO a great idea, the show was well attended, busy all day long, had a nice crossover crowd who saw many different genres of the hobby for their admission price.

I know Matt from HB who runs our local toy soldier show has mentioned doing this as well, combining our show with wargaming and militaria/model club shows.

The more the merrier; with all hobbies slowly circling the drain, perhaps it's time to combine forces and help the long term viability of all hobbies.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks to anyone from the forum who attended, your support at the longest running toy soldier show in the DC area is appreciated...…………...

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Fully Agree and you will see a lot of cross collecting....
Cheers
Luiz

I attended this club show yesterday in Alexandria Virginia. The Club also combined with a model railroading group, a model car group and a wargaming club all from the area.

Frankly, it was IMO a great idea, the show was well attended, busy all day long, had a nice crossover crowd who saw many different genres of the hobby for their admission price.

I know Matt from HB who runs our local toy soldier show has mentioned doing this as well, combining our show with wargaming and militaria/model club shows.

The more the merrier; with all hobbies slowly circling the drain, perhaps it's time to combine forces and help the long term viability of all hobbies.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks to anyone from the forum who attended, your support at the longest running toy soldier show in the DC area is appreciated...…………...

 

[45thdiv]

I attended as well. It must have been busier in the morning, because I did not experience anything like what George did.

The show was spread out over a very wide area. It was held in a high school. Most everything going on was in a classroom of sorts. The show flyer listed that there would be miniature gaming, model railroad, and general model painting. I saw a little bit of miniature gaming as I notice through an open doorway someone I knew. Why were the rooms not marked so we knew what was were?

The vendor area was held in a large room, the cafeteria I would think. The outer edges of the walls had dealers selling plastic model kits. That was 90% of what was being sold there. George had his normal layout, but there was nothing for model trains.

I was surprised by how few dealers there even were. If you moved them all together like a normal show, you might have filled up half the room.

Very poorly planned show, in my opinion, and I will not be back next year.

Matthew

 

[Warrior]

I attended as well. It must have been busier in the morning, because I did not experience anything like what George did.

The show was spread out over a very wide area. It was held in a high school. Most everything going on was in a classroom of sorts. The show flyer listed that there would be miniature gaming, model railroad, and general model painting. I saw a little bit of miniature gaming as I notice through an open doorway someone I knew. Why were the rooms not marked so we knew what was were?

The vendor area was held in a large room, the cafeteria I would think. The outer edges of the walls had dealers selling plastic model kits. That was 90% of what was being sold there. George had his normal layout, but there was nothing for model trains.

I was surprised by how few dealers there even were. If you moved them all together like a normal show, you might have filled up half the room.

Very poorly planned show, in my opinion, and I will not be back next year.

Matthew

Maybe you missed it, there is a toy soldier show in Annandale two towns over on the same day.

The club has been very good to me over the years; I'm sticking with them, my customers in the area know where to find me on that day.

 

[MichaelRutherford]

Crossover shows are a great idea. This hobby has to find any way it can to attract new collectors. Unfortunately, sticker shock is a real thing and with prices in this hobby the way they are now, I dont see new collectors in the horizon , just us long time collectors buying less and less. I used to think I was crazy for paying $21 a figure when I started. I cant imagine someone paying more than double that now just for 1. And of course this technology age doesnt help. You need 2 things to collect in my opinion...#1 is to be enthusiastic about history and #2 is a large wallet. This is my opinion only.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Alexander the Great]

Crossover shows are a great idea. This hobby has to find any way it can to attract new collectors. Unfortunately, sticker shock is a real thing and with prices in this hobby the way they are now, I dont see new collectors in the horizon , just us long time collectors buying less and less. I used to think I was crazy for paying $21 a figure when I started. I cant imagine someone paying more than double that now just for 1. And of course this technology age doesnt help. You need 2 things to collect in my opinion...#1 is to be enthusiastic about history and #2 is a large wallet. This is my opinion only.

Cheers,
Mike

Mike, you are so right. With some figures reaching $85 dollars it is hard to find people that not only will buy one but buy several and become collectors.
My fear is that a hobby that always had a limited and declining collector base becomes even more cost prohibitive. What manufacturers do not understand (and I am not sure why) is that
spending budgets are for the most part fixed and if I have $150 to spend on 3 figures and it now buys me 2 figures the manufacturer will still get the same $150! and I will get 1 less figure!

 

[MichaelRutherford]

Mike, you are so right. With some figures reaching $85 dollars it is hard to find people that not only will buy one but buy several and become collectors.
My fear is that a hobby that always had a limited and declining collector base becomes even more cost prohibitive. What manufacturers do not understand (and I am not sure why) is that
spending budgets are for the most part fixed and if I have $150 to spend on 3 figures and it now buys me 2 figures the manufacturer will still get the same $150! and I will get 1 less figure!

It's just too expensive now. Manufacturers will start going out of business in the not-so-distant future as more collectors pass away (I know many are elderly) and when the economy goes bad again. You can count the amount of brick and mortar stores still around with 1 hand and have fingers left over. None of the above i wish for but is a reality. I believe there was a recent post estimating the cost of a tank w/riders (i believe it was first legion) to be approximately $1700 usd?! Are you kidding me?? I'm glad that I bought so much figures and vehicles when they were less expensive back in early 2000's because I now appreciate them even more because of the current prices. I hope all manufacturers can find a way (diecast perhaps?) to lower prices because it is the ONLY WAY this hobby has a chance to survive