POST TOY SHOW DISCUSSION AND FINDS HERE

[V2 MAN]

That marder and hetzer repaint is sweet Just wondering for those who went to the toy show if they had any new 1/18 aircraft?

[General Blasto]

Can't wait to see the Kongstiger and 88
I could also use a half dozen or more of those German "Indy" trucks and a couple staff cars too Da General

[grockwood]

The Sherman is a FireFly. The square loader's hatch and the radio box on th back of the turret give it away.

[digger]

I forgot something else I saw - a company that sells tiered stands to display your figs. They are thin metal and come in various sizes and can be attached to make bigger displays. They also sell small black magnets that go in the figs peg hole so they can stand without an obvious base.

The best part? I asked them if they were going to come out with stands for figs without peg holes (bbi) and they said they were soon. Not only that - they are releasing a device that makes a factory hole in the figs foot. This is what I want! Never had the skill or patience of an old friend who put holes in his figs feet. This little device has my name all over it.

When I dig out the flyer I will post the website of these guys.

[holensock]

I forgot something else I saw - a company that sells tiered stands to display your figs. They are thin metal and come in various sizes and can be attached to make bigger displays. They also sell small black magnets that go in the figs peg hole so they can stand without an obvious base.

The best part? I asked them if they were going to come out with stands for figs without peg holes (bbi) and they said they were soon. Not only that - they are releasing a device that makes a factory hole in the figs foot. This is what I want! Never had the skill or patience of an old friend who put holes in his figs feet. This little device has my name all over it.

When I dig out the flyer I will post the website of these guys.

EXCELLENT!!
Can't wait to see the info!
Thanks, digger!!

[digger]

This is the company:

http://www.minimagstands.com/

They said the little tool should be out in about a month.

[EnemyAce]

What was the word on the 21st F-4? After the big splash they made last year about it being out holidays 2007 @ 89.99, did the show the bird or have any info? Digger, what did they say when you asked them about this and other 1:18 birds?

[digger]

Digger, what did they say when you asked them about this and other 1:18 birds?

Sadly they have adopted the same policy as the other manufacturers - say nothing about new AC. As a result we are in the dark on all fronts. I really wish we never gave the companies a hard time about missing deadlines or announcing planes they wind up not making - now we get no announcements, nothing to talk about except wishlists.

IMO, the $90 21C F-4 is dead now that they are out of WM. Hopefully AT realizes this and comes out with theirs in the next couple of years.

[STUKA]

Digger, what did they say when you asked them about this and other 1:18 birds?

Sadly they have adopted the same policy as the other manufacturers - say nothing about new AC. As a result we are in the dark on all fronts. I really wish we never gave the companies a hard time about missing deadlines or announcing planes they wind up not making - now we get no announcements, nothing to talk about except wishlists.

IMO, the $90 21C F-4 is dead now that they are out of WM. Hopefully AT realizes this and comes out with theirs in the next couple of years.

yeah - biting the hand that feeds you is normally not good policy.

[VMF115]

IMO, the $90 21C F-4 is dead now that they are out of WM. Hopefully AT realizes this and comes out with theirs in the next couple of years.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Say it is not so!!!!!!!!!

[Jesse James]

So wait, 21st is DONE with Wal-Mart, or am I misreading something there Dig?

Or is it just airplanes that are done? I'm a little disappointed if they're done completely... If it's airplanes, I can hardly blame them though because my stores have been loaded with planes for years that won't move. The figures always seem to move for quite a while then slow down, but still sell steadily generally.

TRU's so unreliable, I'm a little disappointed... The fewer stores mean it's tougher to find anything there, so I really was looking forward to the line at two stores... I hope figures are fine at least.

[aferguson]

it appears that they are mostly done with 21c, for now. Still carry a bit of the smaller scales and figures but big box items seem to be done.

This may change again in the future but for now TRU is the only retailer carrying new large 21c items.

[Jesse James]

It's a shame, really, but 21st shot themselves in the foot with that to an extent... Umpteen airplanes all at once was dumb, and they should've NEVER left their bread and butter of World War 2 unless it was to go very modern IMO... Those 50's/60's jets all nosedived (no pun) at retail though because they simply didn't jump out to consumers as coming from today or from a WW2 movie...

For 3 years my area's been deluged with planes, and that's been a big problem I know.

At least figures seem to be doing well enough, and that's fine by me. I'm bummed though that now we probably won't see the King Tiger or 88 at WM, which I really was hoping for.

[sluff]

I think walmarts distribution problems shot our hobby down, I live outside of Chicago and have 5 walmarts near my home and 3 near my work and I still havent seen a quarter of what 21st put out, the last plane I found was the spitfire 4 years ago , however I drove up to St Paul MN. last summer and stopped at a walmart in the midddle of Wisconsin and they had an endcap and a dedicated spot just for 21st and they were loaded with f-104s f-86s and p-51s. To this day I still have not seen a Stuka since TRU early days and I never found an Avenger which I always wanted. Maybe this should be addressed to walmart?

[aferguson]

they know and i'm sure they've discussed it with WM; but WM is a big monster that does what it wants and doesn't care about little plastic plane distribution problems...

[STUKA]

you almost have to wonder if WM and 21st had a contract that ran its course - seeing that as soon as WM stopped putting new planes out TRU quickly put them on the shelves. TRU and 21st couldnt work together due to stipulations in the WM contract? Now 21st and WM have a new contract with fifferent rules etc and this allowed 21st to deal with TRU?

[jeffrowse]

Sadly they have adopted the same policy as the other manufacturers - say nothing about new AC. As a result we are in the dark on all fronts. I really wish we never gave the companies a hard time about missing deadlines or announcing planes they wind up not making - now we get no announcements, nothing to talk about except wishlists.

IMO, the $90 21C F-4 is dead now that they are out of WM. Hopefully AT realizes this and comes out with theirs in the next couple of years.

yeah - biting the hand that feeds you is normally not good policy.

Was it us sniping at the manufacturers that caused the news blackout, or the way one company would announce something they were working on and then another would suddenly come up with a H-U-G-E fanfare about this secret project they have had for years that makes the first company think "once is coincidence, twice is taking the 'joke' a bit too far and three times is just a large company trying to bury a competitor"... especially if the huge fanfare claims the model will be much cheaper and out sooner. Even more annoying is when the second company suddenly goes all quiet once the first company seems to have back-burnered the project in question.

I'm still waiting on new helis rather than fixed-wing lumps. But even though I cannot think of a single heli (okay,except the Mil 26) which cannot be split to fit into a "standard" size XD box, there's still no sign of any.

As for repaints, has anyone else wondered if the reason moms and pops don't buy all the stock at WM is because, to most people, a P51 is a P51 is a P51 regardless of what colours she wears? Little Joe Genaro's folks aren't gonna go pay more money for another airplane that looks the same, mostly, as the one(s) they got him last year. Mebbe that's why so many planes hang around for so long now, and why WallyWorld thinks nobody cares any more.

My two oldest nephews got plastic kits for Christmas - one got a Red Arrows Gnat (last mount before the Hawks they use now) and his brother got a Spitfire. But it's easier for my sister-in-law and her husband to tell the kids "Go play your DS's" than to sit down and help them stick little bits of plastic together. I've tried to get 'em interested in the kits but all I get is told how much fun I could be having trying to capture and train Pokemon in some cutesy little NintenD'uh! "role-playing" game... Hmm, perhaps I can train my cat to do more than knock my figures off the shelf and bat 'em arounbd the room (or sit on the wersdfcxv keyboard as I'm trying to type! )