[Taff the Terrible]

I am first and foremost a history buff so I buy the stuff I read about. I got into diecast by reading a Warbirds mag and saw the ad for Corgi so hunted it down. I will keep buying the same molds as long as the colour schemes show some variety. I am slowly getting into the FOV ground stuff but I am picky waht I buy, some of the weathering is too extreme for me. I would buy a lower quality piece if it was the only way of getting that particular model. If FOV brought out a 190D I would buy it even if it was poor.
Taff

[bsmith13]

I suppose I never thought about it much. I will add this observation, however:

Part of what got me into collecting diecast aircraft is seeing them on the shelves, and the first ones I saw where the Matchbox Collectibles. Those things NEVER stayed on the shelves around here for long. Of course, the only diecast planes I've ever seen at Target and Walmart are Matchbox, FOV (which sit for a little longer) and Corgi Legends. No one seems to be aware of Dragon, Hobby Master or others.

I'd like to contrast this with the one place I CAN find diecast airplanes locally - the sports card/game shop. Now, this place is frequented by grognards who should be impressed by history, but don't seem to care much. They will shell out $100 plus on a random lumps of unrecognizable plastic to play Axis and Allies (not that there's anything wrong with that) than pay for an accurate diecast aircraft that represents a specific piece of history. It doesn't help that the game shop seems to want to order the ugliest and most obscure Dragon offerings produced to date.

So I think that the situation could helped by a little bit of savvy marketing and product placement.

But I could be wrong.

[Tyler109]

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.

I'm in the exact same boat as you. (I've got 4 or 5 kits from high still still unfinished) But I stumbled into it by pure mistake myself, I was actually looking for Formula 1 cars in a hobby store and they had this corgi case with a Few 1:72 aircraft in it and I dumped what I intended to buy and bought an FW-190...the rest is history. I know I've said this before but they need to get these things out where the general public can see them. I was at the Indianapolis Air Show last month and there was a vendor there with diecast a/c and there was about as many people looking at that as there was any of the planes. But I also think a good WWII or maybe a Vietnam aviation movie would help thier case out...

[Iroquois]

I was in Meijer when I came across my first Diecast Collectible it was
The "Matchbox Collectibles" NATIONAL AVIATION HALL of FAME General John C.Meyer P-51D....
And like most people who belong to the forum I have been hooked ever since

I see this friday Flyboys is coming to the theaters , Hopefully this will attract some people to our hobby who havent really thought about Diecast Collecting

[flaps]

Two opinions on this again.

1. If big retailers really get into this, then all the little guys that love these planes and aviation and are into the hobby and have supported it for many years will die. There business will go away, I have even seen it on here, people all happy to find the oddball Corgi at a Walmart for 15.00 or so, buy it there, pay tax, plus the unfun Walmart Chronic line issue, wait city. You could have supported the little guy for maybe $4.00 on the price and some shiping which is not too bad if you combine orders plus of course no line no tax and neat fun when the package shows up.

2. Everyone in this hobby if they want it too continue, needs to recruit, make sure people know these things are out there, give them some history and more. I used to go to toy shows and sell off toys me and my son had collected for 30 plus years on the planet, Had way too many and many varieties. When ever I would do these shows, I would always have a few planes, Matchbox, Corgi whatever, and they would always get the most attention with most comments , things like I remember Corgi but did not know they made airplanes, and almost everyone would comment about the quality and how cool they were, I always ended up selling more planes than I wanted too and less toys and Comics. This was back in Virginia in the days of great toy shows. Now I live in Nevada, there are no more toy shows due to Ebay I think, but there are occasional Collectibles shows for Comics and Cards at one of the malls, Me and my son signed up, took all our Comics, Cards and Oddball toys and of course any doubles or triples or slightly damaged planes I had no need for and again all the people that passed our table were amazed at the airplanes and did not know this quality or thing even existed, most asked did you build that, then when they would handle them they could not believe the detail or the metal and weight, once again I lugged back home the Comics and Cards but most of the planes I had sold.

I think the mfgs and us as collectors need to somehow let people know these little pieces of Aviation History exist and are so so neat and fun to collect , read about, learn about. This hobby needs to grow and the little guys deserve to be where people get there goods. Walmart does not need the $15.00 and a Walmart could kill even a mfg like Corgi if they ordered for all those stores for a year the mfg gears up to handle this and then Walmart drops the whole idea, saw this many times with a mass seller of electronics I worked for , for 20 years. They would weasel out some super low price from a good smaller company, sell the stuff for a year or two then drop it, next thing you know the small company that tried to do the right thing was gone, out of business. Bad overall deal for everyone involved.

Just my two cents?

Flaps

[Iroquois]

I agree with you flaps it is about recruiting, there is a guy at my work who also Diecast Collects, him and I will talk about some of the models we have or what we have pre ordered and both of us will bring a model or two in when we get them, and the other guys around us are some what awed by them.
But one problem we do come across is when they ask how much and for alot of them it turns them off. Now for me I love it and it doesn't seem that much but to alot of people it is a sticky point.

I do wish a few more manufactures would put some history on the box or on a card like Corgi I really do appreciate that from Corgi....alot of times it will cause me to look up alittle more about the history of the plane the pilot the battles they were in on the internet

[MoMo]

I've collected a few of the early Corgi planes, as well as some of the more recent Dragons. FOV planes I inspected, then rejected. I have also collected many brass planes which were turned out during the war by fitters and mechanics as souvenirs for servicemen and relatives.

I collect AFVs, mainly, and I'm happy with that.

Some observations :

• the hobby won't die, it'll reinvent itself in some form.
• the cheap labour market in China may go, but other third world labour will be painting planes till the dawn of time
• the interest in WW2 planes will wane as we old modellers die off
• die casts of other era hardware and planes will creep in
• the planes you bought will become 'classics' of sorts and the prices will rocket as newer generations take an interest
• you will see very little of this largess because you will be gaga or dead!
• at no other time in history has a conflict been so recorded, modelled and faithfully represented in scale
• the models which you own are a last tribute to the only thing approaching a 'just' war that there has ever been
• nostalgia for those halcyon days when you built the kit are hard to shuck off
• every boy-grown-up wants to be the Air Marshal/General/Director, mashalling his forces on the shelf and living the dreams concocted when a lad, " why don't they bring out a .........?"
• we just can't help ourselves!

Tally ho!

MoMo

[strikeforce]

On every forum site there seems to be a call to produce a full century series of fighters. Like someone else said when you've got a one p-51 or a zero you want to move on. I've been collecting for about 4 years and would love to see some of the holes filled in ie in the 1:48 scale like MIG 19 the Voodo Delta Dart and Dagger CF100 Canuck Banshee Trojans Buckeyes A6 Intruder A4 Skyhawk etc. Do the casters ever ask anybody?

[sgtsaunders]

The Diecast Market as it relates to WWII is bigger than just aircraft. The diecast tank, halftrack, etc market is just as big if not bigger. Also collect diecasts for your own enjoyment. Once you try to make it into a money making venture, you'll keep them in boxes and stop enjoying and looking at what you have purchased.

Could you imagine if your parents asked you "Where is the new P-51 model we got you?" and your response was. "Oh I don't want to remove it from the box, because it destorys the resale value later Mom".

How Sad. Just buy what you like and ENJOY IT,

[duxford]

Originally Posted by Phantom Phan1200

A lot of people have a love & connection with aviation that runs back to when they were a child.
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. ...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.

I began thinking about this diecast hobby probably when I was in the womb. I started "officially" in November 2004 to collect, my first model was an IL-II. Yesterday, when I unpacked my Gemini Aces "Bald Eagle," and added it to the Duxford Wing, I have 46 of the "another" P-51s. I have two on pre-order and intend to order a new Easy Model. Each one is unique: fighter group, fighter squadron, pilot, marking. I am still tryiong to collect one from every group--and I have a long life yet to do it. They ARE COOL! i AM JUST LIKE THE KID IN EMPIRE OF THE SUN.