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Post by hovehicle on Oct 22, 2007 3:45:25 GMT 1
This is not a conclusive report, just observations from what I saw and from conversations with company reps. There were 3 major announcements at this show, which made it a very good show:
1. Atlas Model Trains announced their Main Street Motors line and from what I saw, these will be very good quality castings including mirrors and decent looking wheels and tires. The step van was absolutely beautiful and was well made and spot on HO scale! The Jeep Wrangler was perfect; I saw no flaws in it!
2.Models11 is making a 2008 Dodge Charger! Police car versions and regular versions including four colors. A sure hit with police car fans and modern vehicle collectors.
3. A new manufacturer is entering HO, DieCast Direct. They will make a Divco milk delivery van. They had a pre-production shot of one and it will be a little gem. They seem interested in a 2007 Chevy Impala although no such car was announced.
4. Athearn didn't announce anything new at the show but I had a good conversation with Michael Stephens, the new President. He is definitely a light commercial truck guy so it's a strong possibility that we'll see some new vehicles that support both railroads and small private contracting companies. Good guy and I enjoyed my talk with him.
5. Boley is thinking about doing 3 new vintage fire trucks from the 1940's-1960's I believe. Nothing officially announced and there are no new modern trucks in the works.
6. CMW is sticking with its business practice of steam to diesel transition era vehicles. Hey, if it works, who can blame them?
7. Model Power is still coming out with the 2005 Ford Crown Vic police cars and they're supposed to be out by Jan. '08. I'll believe it when I see it. No samples were at the show. They plan on continiung the Mini-Exclusives line so we'll see what happens.
8. b2b Replicas was a bust as there were no samples of the new Ton trucks. I really wanted to see those.
9. Motorart was very interesting because I seemed to convince the gentleman who represented them that their HO Volvo cars and SUV's would look great in HO scale. He liked the idea so if there is enough response through e-mails and phone calls, who knows?
10. RBI , the parent company of Motormax, is coming with Sweet Cherries, which will be a custom paint line with flames on their current line of vehicles and for the future. Fresh Cherries is doing well, so we will be seeing more vehicles from them. There is a strong chance that the Diplomat and Town and Country wagon will make it to HO. No new announcements though.
11. Welly once again was confused with no HO samples this year. They either have a rep who should be replaced or should sell their HO line to somebody who could do good things with it. Malibu perhaps?
12. 21st Century Toys didn't have a rep at their booth which was sad. I didn't see any Malibu vehicles at the booth either.
13. Norscot had 4 trucks that are coming out as reported by Bob Johnson, who has inside info on this. No official announcement came from Norscot at the show.
14. Minichamps showed the Spark/Red Line Ferraris and they were exquisite! First time I saw them in person and it makes you want to model a Ferrari dealership!
It was a very good show as I stated earlier and let's hope our scale has a great 2008!
Vito L.
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Post by Sylvain on Oct 22, 2007 6:08:20 GMT 1
Very interesting report, Thanks!
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Post by cfesmire on Oct 22, 2007 11:46:54 GMT 1
Thanks Vito, glad you had a good time. Any pics?
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Post by ponyman on Oct 22, 2007 14:48:10 GMT 1
Great report Vito thanks.
Iwill keep trying to find out about Malibu and reel rides from my rep, and I will talk to b2b and see what my rep can tell me about motorart,tonkin, and norscot now that the show is over and see what can be preordered and then pass it along.
Thanks again Vito. (pics)??
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Post by Marc S. on Oct 22, 2007 21:14:21 GMT 1
2.Models11 is making a 2008 Dodge Charger! 9. Motorart was very interesting because I seemed to convince the gentleman who represented them that their HO Volvo cars and SUV's would look great in HO scale. 11. Welly once again was confused with no HO samples this year. They either have a rep who should be replaced or should sell their HO line to somebody who could do good things with it. Malibu perhaps? Vito, Thanks for your quick and thorough report! One question and and two remarks. I know Models11 only as distributor and retailer. Is the Charger their own, or perhaps a custom run of Ricko's model? (Ricko is one of the brands they distribute.) Hongwell handles production for Motorart, so vehicle models should be doable - their BMW Z4 is said to be the best diecast Z4 on the market, and the Mercedes SL armada Hongwell did is excellent quality for the money. However, Motorart was more than reluctant when I asked them about an XC90, V70, or similar models in Nuremberg in recent years. Still, I will continue lobbying them, and I am very glad that there is at least one person on the other side of the Atlantic doing the same. I fear it will take a few more years, though. Looking at the quality Welly dares to offer, I rather wish they stopped wasting resources. Yes, the GTI is something very welcome, but everything else was done by someone else before - and much, much better. I just got their Porsche Boxster and 911/997 coupé (yes, Welly actually made them) - Schuco/Highspeed offers these at the same price, but at least decently done. Welly has some nice Volvos in larger scales - Marc S. |
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Post by ponyman on Oct 23, 2007 1:06:21 GMT 1
This is not a conclusive report, just observations from what I saw and from conversations with company reps. There were 3 major announcements at this show, which made it a very good show: 1. Atlas Model Trains announced their Main Street Motors line and from what I saw, these will be very good quality castings including mirrors and decent looking wheels and tires. The step van was absolutely beautiful and was well made and spot on HO scale! The Jeep Wrangler was perfect; I saw no flaws in it! 2.Models11 is making a 2008 Dodge Charger! Police car versions and regular versions including four colors. A sure hit with police car fans and modern vehicle collectors. 3. A new manufacturer is entering HO, DieCast Direct. They will make a Divco milk delivery van. They had a pre-production shot of one and it will be a little gem. They seem interested in a 2007 Chevy Impala although no such car was announced. 4. Athearn didn't announce anything new at the show but I had a good conversation with Michael Stephens, the new President. He is definitely a light commercial truck guy so it's a strong possibility that we'll see some new vehicles that support both railroads and small private contracting companies. Good guy and I enjoyed my talk with him. 5. Boley is thinking about doing 3 new vintage fire trucks from the 1940's-1960's I believe. Nothing officially announced and there are no new modern trucks in the works. 6. CMW is sticking with its business practice of steam to diesel transition era vehicles. Hey, if it works, who can blame them? 7. Model Power is still coming out with the 2005 Ford Crown Vic police cars and they're supposed to be out by Jan. '08. I'll believe it when I see it. No samples were at the show. They plan on continiung the Mini-Exclusives line so we'll see what happens. 8. b2b Replicas was a bust as there were no samples of the new Ton trucks. I really wanted to see those. 9. Motorart was very interesting because I seemed to convince the gentleman who represented them that their HO Volvo cars and SUV's would look great in HO scale. He liked the idea so if there is enough response through e-mails and phone calls, who knows? 10. RBI , the parent company of Motormax, is coming with Sweet Cherries, which will be a custom paint line with flames on their current line of vehicles and for the future. Fresh Cherries is doing well, so we will be seeing more vehicles from them. There is a strong chance that the Diplomat and Town and Country wagon will make it to HO. No new announcements though. 11. Welly once again was confused with no HO samples this year. They either have a rep who should be replaced or should sell their HO line to somebody who could do good things with it. Malibu perhaps? 12. 21st Century Toys didn't have a rep at their booth which was sad. I didn't see any Malibu vehicles at the booth either. 13. Norscot had 4 trucks that are coming out as reported by Bob Johnson, who has inside info on this. No official announcement came from Norscot at the show. 14. Minichamps showed the Spark/Red Line Ferraris and they were exquisite! First time I saw them in person and it makes you want to model a Ferrari dealership! It was a very good show as I stated earlier and let's hope our scale has a great 2008! Vito L. Bill: Now that the show is over can you comment on any of these new items, such as Modell11,or Norscot. Iasked my distributor she checking but I thoght you might know a little quicker. |
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Post by hovehicle on Oct 23, 2007 1:19:27 GMT 1
Guys,
I didn't take any pictures simply because Models11 had a 1/24? scale mockup of the Charger and it was undecorated. b2b didn't have the new Ton trucks and there were too many people around DieCast Direct inquiring about their new Divco milk delivery van.
Marc, this Charger from Models11 is all new tooling and is a 2008 model year. The Ricko Charger is the 2006 model year. Yes, it seems crazy being only 2 years apart, but the more, the merrier I say! Certain state police agengies will be done as well as regular versions (civilian). The main difference is that Models11 is offering non-police Chargers. The one thing I don't know is if it's solely a Models11 project or in a partnership with somebody else.
Vito L.
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Post by ponyman on Oct 23, 2007 5:17:25 GMT 1
Vito:
Thats alright you did a great job very informative. Maybe Bill will comment on Modell11, I have a feeling that is why he was telling us not to cut up the Ricko's a more affordable solution was on the horizon. My rep said she would email me pics of the Tonkin and Norscot as soon as she had them and that I could post them here. I guess that means I'll have to learn how as well as posting digital pics.
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BillC
87thScale addict
Posts: 2,541
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Post by BillC on Oct 23, 2007 9:12:47 GMT 1
Models11 is the new business owned by Al Muniz, the gentleman who previously ran E-R Models, Ltd. You may recall E-R Models had a number of special-run models manufactured by Busch. In addition to reviving that part of his business, Al has contracted with a Chinese company to produce the 2008 Dodge Charger as an exclusive model with the intention of producing replicas of various state police cars. In order to get additional sales, Al is also making the Charger R/T, which has only a few small differences from the police car. Everything is fully licensed and the only thing he's waiting on now is authorization from the agencies. Of course, the models still have to go through the Dodge approval process and be approved by the agencies, so I have a feeling it will be a few months before the models are ready to ship.
I've known Al for years and I am very excited about his new project. I am hoping he will also do another run of the American police figures to go with the new Chargers.
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Post by hofan on Oct 23, 2007 10:55:38 GMT 1
7. Model Power is still coming out with the 2005 Ford Crown Vic police cars and they're supposed to be out by Jan. '08. I'll believe it when I see it. No samples were at the show. They plan on continiung the Mini-Exclusives line so we'll see what happens. Vito L. Hello: Thanks for the very informative report. I just wonder if you got any information about their supposed to be 2007 releases like the 70 cuda and others. regards |
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BillC
87thScale addict
Posts: 2,541
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Post by BillC on Oct 23, 2007 14:15:06 GMT 1
Model Power confirms the CV police cars and some new colors for the Minis. They are still planning to expand their line but that won't come until later in 2008.
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Post by hovehicle on Oct 24, 2007 3:51:56 GMT 1
Bill,
Thanks for elaborating on Models11 and the partnership with China. Hopefully, there are no snags and the approval process moves quickly. Great idea on a new police figure set, hopefully from Preiser? I would love to see officers with their bulletproof vest worn on the outside, a tough look that undercover cops use here around Chicagoland. Maybe a new set of 5, with 2 cops undercover.
I'm going on record saying that I'm committed to buying both the Ricko and Models11 Charger. Ricko's new black Sheriff version is excellent and I hope that generic and specific towns keep coming from them.
Vito L.
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Post by hofan on Oct 24, 2007 9:54:49 GMT 1
Model Power confirms the CV police cars and some new colors for the Minis. They are still planning to expand their line but that won't come until later in 2008. Hello: you mean new colors for the Olds 442 and the others? |
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BillC
87thScale addict
Posts: 2,541
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Post by BillC on Oct 24, 2007 10:12:45 GMT 1
Yes.
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Post by PCS2911 on Oct 24, 2007 16:18:21 GMT 1
It is great to learn that there will be a 2008 Charger. This new model will be a plastic one or a die cast one?
Hope it will be a detailed plastic one. However, many newcomers on HO cars focus on die cast ones with lesser details and cost about $3.
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