Small Scale Military Headquarters

like aviatornut.com on facebook for the latest deals and news.
will be posting regularly

will be posting some pictures of old prototypes and question about the 1/18 future.
sign up and have fun

I do not do face book.

Ditto that The "liking" and "friending" stuff is so juvinille and to me, down right creepy. A guy I know calls it "Facebutt". Maybe if I was 14.

John

I joined your page. I think it is cool you are trying a new avenue with your products and business

Good luck with it!

Corey

Cool, I've joined as well. Looking forward to seeing the various updates regarding 1/18th items.

Same here, I love liking these companies and stores.
Usually get the scoop on new product reveals and arrivals!

thanks Corey, Jay, and Jolly.
hope to see the rest of small-scale family join in on the conversations.
posted some old pictures of a prototype that never made it.
Also posted a question: if the wildcat aircarft was made in 1/18 could it be converted into a F3F?

Going to post an interview with Tony the owner of Merit the person (behind the F14 and Dauntless) sometime next week on Facebook, which will be discussing the future of 1/18 and where he sees it going. Please join in on the discussion. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... atornutcom

Sounds like it might be informative or at least interesting. Looking forward to it.

Aviatornut.com wrote:Going to post an interview with Tony the owner of Merit the person (behind the F14 and Dauntless) sometime next week on Facebook, which will be discussing the future of 1/18 and where he sees it going. Please join in on the discussion. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... atornutcom

Since I don't do facebook, any chance you could post that interview here? I would hate to miss it...I am impressed with your forward thinking & agree that facebook, at least for the near-term, is the latest way to reach an even larger audience!

Looking forward to it. Hope Merit is open to adding 1/18 jets to their line one day........ A-10 and F-4......

Aviatornut,
If Tony is the owner, who is Jim@Merit ?
Would it be possible to post your interview here as well? .......
....for the benefit of those in the witness protection program.

Thanks everyone for friending us on Facebook. Facebook is an easy way to stay in contact.

Not sure who Jim is but Tony is the man. Hoping to get Tony to sit down for a few and share where he thinks thing are going and what he wants to see happen.
Will post the interview a day after Facebook.
Maybe if I am lucky can track down Algo Toys and see what they plan.

Hey Johnathan,

So Jim of Merit is bogus ?

i doubt Jim is bogus, he's just not the owner. I would guess he's in charge of marketing, similar to what Mike at BBI did.

Yeah, that's what I assumed. Jim's the representative for merit on this board.

Oh.. OK

No disrespect intentended .

I will not enter into the Facebook community, my private subjects of interest are not compatible with the image I've to keep in my job... so can't risk to publish any realistic self portrait or I would have to make a totally, innocent and wrong portrait... Thank you, aviatornut, to publish on my favorite board (meaning here) the best news and pics, even if it is JUST 1 day after Facebook. As a modeller, I'm used to wait months and years for a lot of things, like a new version, at an affordable price for a F/A-18 and some lovely stuff like PH and Pizzaguy make.

granch wrote:I will not enter into the Facebook community, my private subjects of interest are not compatible with the image I've to keep in my job... so can't risk to publish any realistic self portrait or I would have to make a totally, innocent and wrong portrait... Thank you, aviatornut, to publish on my favorite board (meaning here) the best news and pics, even if it is JUST 1 day after Facebook. As a modeller, I'm used to wait months and years for a lot of things, like a new version, at an affordable price for a F/A-18 and some lovely stuff like PH and Pizzaguy make.

Granch, you know you can make a facebook profile, using a false name right?
That's what I do, and no one knows who i am personally, but it allows me to see current updates from suppliers, manufacturers, and stores. It also allows me to interact with the collectibles communities on there.

You can stay anonymous!

Seconded... I hate facebook, but you can make a fake account easily. I made one for my cat. It does funny stuff and shares with the world, and follows what I like. It's a good cat.

OK, I'll think about it. Does somebody knows where to find a keyboard that my cat could use?

granch wrote:OK, I'll think about it. Does somebody knows where to find a keyboard that my cat could use?

Well played sir.

Here is the convo between Aviatornut and Merit for you all to read.





Aviatornut.com



Well fellow collectors, I am excited to tell you about my interview with the owner of Merit. Tony has been the man behind such releases as the bbi Shark mouth Hellcat, the F-14 and now the infamous SBD Dauntless. That is quite the legacy if you ask me and I am sure I missed others.
Aviatornut….What do you think the future of 1/18 scale looks like?
(Tony) I am little concerned when you look at the total volume of sales and now the production cost to make an aircraft in this scale. I am not sure the customer will continue to buy one of each paint scheme or even a new airplane. Somehow we need to get to the new collector.
Aviatornut….How do you reach new collectors?
(Tony) Not sure, also not if we can reach that many with the cost of these planes.

Aviatornut….What do you see coming out in the 1/18 scale market?
(Tony) I let you be the first to announce that we will have a Huey out soon. (Picture will be posted soon)
Also there will be another plane released, hopefully before Chinese New Year.
Aviatornut….Any hints to what it may be?
(Tony) Something WWII
Aviatornut….Will it be the wildcat?
(Tony) No
Aviatornut….Anything you want to say to the 1/18 collector?
(Tony) We need your support and we need people to buy the product to keep them produced. We all work like a wheel. That is all of us a part of one wheel. You have the customer and then the retailer and the distributer and finally the manufacturer and we all work together to keep this rolling out new items. People need to recognize that we cannot produce items at the old prices and with fewer people purchasing them it makes it even harder to hold a fair price. Look at what gas cost just four years ago ($1.75) and what it cost today ($4.00) and these items are made of petroleum. Please understand.
Aviatornut…. Any final info or inside scoop you can share? Oh how about the F-14 is it done or will we see another release? Also I heard that the mold is lost.
(Tony) No, we know where the mold is for the F-14 and we plan on another paint scheme. Most likely the Sundowner Squadron and not sure gloss or mutes scheme. The Black Knight is our nicest F-14 and sales are slow on it and we are a little hesitant to do another release soon.
Aviatornut…. Keep up the good work and thank you for all you do to keep the collector happy. I think it has morphed into a purely collector market only and no longer a toy item for kids and you have done a great job making product to the new higher standards.

Merit Huey? You sold two already! Lets get those pictures!