Dear Collectors,
First of all, thank you for your support these past 5 years as we celebrated our 5th anniversary this year in Chicago. For those of you who attended our lunch with Figarti event, I hope you had as much fun as I did and it was great to see all of you.
This year's show was a bit different due to the hotel renovations but given the circumstances, I actually prefer the set up we had. For those of you who could not make the trip, we decided to spend the extra money to set up a room downstairs on the ground floor displaying alongside our distributor Hobby Bunker as well as St. Petersburg. Because of the larger display area, we were able to also provide sofas for people to just hang out. I liked it.
The lunch event has become our major focus in Chicago as we now struggle every year planning how to top the previous year. This year, it was particularly hard and after USC lost the night before, I wasn't in the best mood as you can imagine. But, as they say, the show must go on!
Last year, the B17 was meant to be a shock and awe item but the markings on the shipment boxes gave it away early as it was carried into our room, good thing the E-boat had no markings. So this year.... we marked the shock and awe item with simply U-BT(A), U-BT(B) and we carried those boxes into our rooms in broad daylight. When there were whispers of the "U-Boat" in the hallways, I knew our plan was working. When setting up our lunch event, I decided to use 2 E-boat boxes and line them up on top of the table and cover it with black cloth. Because of the length, it would appear to show a 1/30 scale U-Boat underneath. Anyway..... I had a lot of fun and hope the surprise factor was there!
The K-5 is really something that came out of forums from collectors such as yourself. But Desk11Desk12 was the one who really pushed the concept through. Clive (Our UK/Europe Distributor) and I actually talked about this particular piece at the Nuremburg toy fair early this year but it wasn't until May that we decided to do it.
Our "Monty" was planned from a question asked during the NY Symposium last year which was "Who Was The Greatest General?" Why this question, because I was told (and I have witnessed) that Louis would get all worked up about this question and just having him worked up was well worth doing this piece!
Thanks to Hans and Larry.
Overall, I felt attendance was a bit down from previous years and I guess given the hotel situation, weather, and overall economy, this is what it is. But the enthusiasm was as great as before and it was really nice to see familiar faces and friends. Andy and I had time to chat about this industry and I personally look towards his leadership especially in the next couple of years when we are faced with the bigger economic concerns. I invited (Gordon) K&C, John Jenkins, (Brian) Collector's Showcase to our lunch event and my thought on this was that we may be competitors, but the industry too small not for us to come together and share ideas on how to make the hobby more fun and interesting. I am hoping for a joint seminar type session at Chicago next year where we get major brands together and like a panel set up, meet collectors and answer questions, show new products, share new ideas, come together as an industry.
5 years, time really flies, but you know what, of all my business, Figarti brings me the most joy and I have made some very good friends (SC in particular). For 2009, I hope we can continue to show you our commitment to the hobby. Below are some photos from the lunch event in Chicago, thank you all for your support!
Rick
RWFigarti
First of all, thank you for your support these past 5 years as we celebrated our 5th anniversary this year in Chicago. For those of you who attended our lunch with Figarti event, I hope you had as much fun as I did and it was great to see all of you.
This year's show was a bit different due to the hotel renovations but given the circumstances, I actually prefer the set up we had. For those of you who could not make the trip, we decided to spend the extra money to set up a room downstairs on the ground floor displaying alongside our distributor Hobby Bunker as well as St. Petersburg. Because of the larger display area, we were able to also provide sofas for people to just hang out. I liked it.
The lunch event has become our major focus in Chicago as we now struggle every year planning how to top the previous year. This year, it was particularly hard and after USC lost the night before, I wasn't in the best mood as you can imagine. But, as they say, the show must go on!
Last year, the B17 was meant to be a shock and awe item but the markings on the shipment boxes gave it away early as it was carried into our room, good thing the E-boat had no markings. So this year.... we marked the shock and awe item with simply U-BT(A), U-BT(B) and we carried those boxes into our rooms in broad daylight. When there were whispers of the "U-Boat" in the hallways, I knew our plan was working. When setting up our lunch event, I decided to use 2 E-boat boxes and line them up on top of the table and cover it with black cloth. Because of the length, it would appear to show a 1/30 scale U-Boat underneath. Anyway..... I had a lot of fun and hope the surprise factor was there!
The K-5 is really something that came out of forums from collectors such as yourself. But Desk11Desk12 was the one who really pushed the concept through. Clive (Our UK/Europe Distributor) and I actually talked about this particular piece at the Nuremburg toy fair early this year but it wasn't until May that we decided to do it.
Our "Monty" was planned from a question asked during the NY Symposium last year which was "Who Was The Greatest General?" Why this question, because I was told (and I have witnessed) that Louis would get all worked up about this question and just having him worked up was well worth doing this piece!
Thanks to Hans and Larry.Overall, I felt attendance was a bit down from previous years and I guess given the hotel situation, weather, and overall economy, this is what it is. But the enthusiasm was as great as before and it was really nice to see familiar faces and friends. Andy and I had time to chat about this industry and I personally look towards his leadership especially in the next couple of years when we are faced with the bigger economic concerns. I invited (Gordon) K&C, John Jenkins, (Brian) Collector's Showcase to our lunch event and my thought on this was that we may be competitors, but the industry too small not for us to come together and share ideas on how to make the hobby more fun and interesting. I am hoping for a joint seminar type session at Chicago next year where we get major brands together and like a panel set up, meet collectors and answer questions, show new products, share new ideas, come together as an industry.
5 years, time really flies, but you know what, of all my business, Figarti brings me the most joy and I have made some very good friends (SC in particular). For 2009, I hope we can continue to show you our commitment to the hobby. Below are some photos from the lunch event in Chicago, thank you all for your support!
Rick
RWFigarti
