[chiefs70]

Wow, you know you are the cheese when you can quote yourself!

[flaps]

Originally Posted by chiefs70

I consider myself a relatively new collector (I started in January of this year for all practical purposes) and have acquired 100+ pieces since. I was a modeller in my youth but ran out of time, interest and skill but not a love for military models. When I stumbled across my first diecast model I was amazed (and since it was a FOV model that says something). I started searching the web and stumbled onto Dragon USAs site which was pushing the Kansas Tornado P-47 at the time and I was sold. It has been downhill ever since.

I think there are a lot of folks who are much like myself and only wait for the opportunity to find the quality that is available today. We are in a golden age with all of the fantastic models and companies just now and it can only fuel the interest of folks who never knew these items existed. After all, toy soldiers have been around for centuries and people still seek them out.

Just my opinion but it seems to be the case.

Great post, and very accurate. I aggree and said it before, I bet there are more than 3/4 of the population that do not even know these exist.

If one of the bigger diecast companies came up with a print ad for mens magazines, I do not know which ones, Popular Science, Popular Mechanics?

I bet there would be many more collectors in the market which can only help the mfg to release more cool planes and give us the chance to get the odd P-51 or Spitfire yet to be released in the markings we want and the new collectors will snap up the rest it takes to do a release and not lose for the mfg. All good,

Flaps

[STARMAN 352ND]

They should get in Nascar racing and sponsor a car.
That would get alot of new collectors.
1.Corgi
2.Dragon models
3.Hobby Master
4.Witty Wings
and many,many more...
Join the Nascar ranks there are millions of fans out there.
Great TV spots too.
The US Army and US Air Force and US Navy and others are doing it.
But you have to to pay like 15 million a year i think it is for Nextel Cup full time,But they could do it for the biggest races like Daytona and Talledega and Indy.Thats a big market right there alone.
JP

[Iroquois]

I have seen a few Diecast online store adds in Aviation magazines...

[Phantom Phan1200]

I think this hobby will only grow in the future, much like diecast race cars.
There are millions of people worldwide who are aviation buffs on some level.
Just look at all the aviation books, mags, movies & tv shows, not to mention airshows which have always been a big pastime in the U.S.
The key thing to remember is only a small part of the people into the things mentioned above know about the diecast market.

If these models were marketed to aviation fans via more of the venus mentioned the hobby would explode.
A lot of people have a love & connection with aviation that runs back to when they were a child.
I talk to people every day who see these models for the first time.
They all say the same thing, I never knew this stuff was out there.
But once they find the hobby they fall in love with it.

That leads to what somebody said about their being too many P-51 & Spits.
Im mean sure, to those of us who have been collecting for a while we could care less about another P-51.
But to the new guy (who is going to carry the hobby on for the rest of us) that P-51 is the coolest thing he has ever seen & it makes him happy.
In the end isn't that the point.

[Cardinal]

I'm extremely positive about this hobby and the future of die-cast collecting in general.

The key is definitely to make potential collectors out there aware of what is available. A couple of years ago I came across the first two Dragon 1/72 Tigers in a small Hobby shop - I bought them and started looking around for other die-cast and discovered Franklin Mint/CDC Armour. I then discovered the predecessor of this forum and its been downhill ever since!

Personally I think advertisements in magazines like Classic Wings (classicwings.com) and the like will increase exposure and bring many more collectors into the fold. The trick will be to convince manufacturers like Corgi, Dragon and HM to spend some advertising revenue for this purpose.

I think the good times for die-cast have only just begun as new production techniques and technologies increase quality and detail while reducing cost - only time will tell...

[SKUNKY]

Originally Posted by chiefs70

Wow, you know you are the cheese when you can quote yourself!

.....and you know you can really cut the cheese when you can choke yourself....

....As for the kiddies having any involvement in this hobby, if it doesn't include a gamepad and some kind of video monitor they just plum ain't intersted...It's true, why back in my day we used to ride our bicycles 10 miles to a hobbyshop to pick up a kit and some paint and glue and we loved it by cracky...Young whipporsnappers these days why I'd like to slap the droopy britches right off their insolent little a$$es!

Have a nice day

[Cavtanker]

My local hobby shop caters to the model railroad and R/C plane community and also has a large assortment of plastic kits of tanks, planes, cars, etc. They bought some Dragon Armor and few diecast planes just to see how'd they sell, and they did do well, so now they carry more. I'd like to say that I started that trend there because of my frequent visits and asking about "will you get any more Dragon Armor?"

So, let out the diecast hook and see how many collectors we can catch.

[Iroquois]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

.....
....As for the kiddies having any involvement in this hobby, if it doesn't include a gamepad and some kind of video monitor they just plum ain't intersted...It's true, why back in my day we used to ride our bicycles 10 miles to a hobbyshop to pick up a kit and some paint and glue and we loved it by cracky...

I have to agree with SKUNKY, if you lived as a kid in the 30's and 40's or in the 60's and 70's it was still pretty much the same, you would go ride bikes go to the movies on a Saturday afternoon to watch westerns or war movies ...and other action movies, play Cowboys and Indians go to your Five and Dime store with friends and pick up a model kit and build it ... then blow it up.... and some how it never looked like what you seen in the war movie you just watch, But I digress...What I am seen around me is friends of my daughter and my nieces and nephews they are not intrested in diecast, I dont mean to say that they dont think they are not neat looking, but they are into all the Electronic gadgets especially video games. They will play war games of all sorts on X-Box, or PS2 and rent and buy these games, but are not interested in diecast. It is like we have lost something
I believe we who grew up as kids and teenagers in the 60's and 70's if we were able to go back in time to the 30's and 40's at that time we would not miss a beat, but take a kid today or a young adult and they would be lost.
One of the issues with diecast I encounter with my Nieces and Nephews who are in their early 20's when they see one of my B-17's they are impressed with it, then when they find how much they cost they feel it could be money better spent on their likes, like I pods Video games and the newest
computer update or anything like that.
When I see a limited edition of 3000 (which here in the USA would be 60 per state and that is not including the overseas mkt) still for sale at a hobby shop or an online store I wonder where we are headed.
One thing I do, I take some of my diecast to work with me when I get them especialy for guys who were in the military. I mean I collect them all FOV Corgi Dragon Matchbox .... Aviation, ships ground forces... all scales 1/144 1/72 1/32...
I love it .... every time I say to myself I have to back off, something new comes out Is there such a thing as DA.....Diecast anonymous....Hi my name is Iroquois and I am addicted to Diecast Collecting.....

[butcherbird]

Originally Posted by Iroquois

.....Is there such a thing as DA.....Diecast anonymous....Hi my name is Iroquois and I am addicted to Diecast Collecting.....

Sure is. One of our distinguished members came up with a 12 step program.
Unfortunately we all flunked it.