[MoMo]

Good point LegioLXXll!

I would agree that production runs of 500 are far too small to meet the potential demand of a product which needs to be exposed in the last of the model/hobby shops, but which will ultimately be bought out by collectors hooked into Admiral's home site, and those mail-order companies which carry Admiral products.

I cannot understand the reasoning behind these low production numbers. They do not make economic sense for the manufacturer. They only make sense if you wish to create a 'Collectible' which will instantly rise in second-hand value for the buyer. We have seen companies which promised this in the past, with 'Certified' production numbers. That benefits anyone who wishes to capitalise their investment, provided no more of that model are made.

The problem begins when ( a la Corgi ) the same model/set appears in what has become known as a ' de-certified' condition! These cost much less than the original production run, but without the numbered piece of paper which seems to mean so much to the speculator, rather than the collector.

I don't give a monkey's love boogie about the limitation of models. All that I would like is a guarantee that if I like the 75 or the 88, I'll be able to purchase a few of them. Enough to satisfy my primitive collecting drives!

Creating here today, gone tomorrow editions will not endear Admiral to the collecting fraternity. This kind of haphazard relationship between Company and Collector will not work. There is only an amophous, tenuous link created which has more in common with the Oklahoma land-grab than the ' romance of modern commerce'. ( H.G. Wells, " Tono Bungay " )

Limited numbers only make sense if the models reappear later in another guise!

MoMo