Nürnberg Toy Fair 2013

Nürnberg's toy fair

2009 was the first time I visited the International Toy Fair in Nürnberg so 2013 was my fifth edition. I must confess that it becomes a more enjoyable experience over the years, mainly because I start to know most of the people involved in the plastic model kit industry, especially when they do aircraft related subjects. It is like a small family at the Fair and it is very interesting to meet everyone and discuss the new plastic kits, the future of the hobby and life in general. Sadly, like in real families, not everything is always perfect and I have seen some manufacturers disappear from the exhibitor's list in the past but the resulting free space is always reallocated very quickly. This year for example, Meng was present at the Fair for the first time, although in Hall 11.1, where the newcomers have to stay at least once before moving in their dedicated areas the year after. Like in families, there are conflictual situations and I have seen people avoiding each other at the fair or heard about things which would have made interesting stories for a movie. But to be honest, most of the time everything is discussed in a very civilized manner around a table with some "fruit juice" to help a little and quite often gentlemens' agreements are made to the benefit of all the parties.

Once again it seemed as if the number of visitors was fewer than the year before. The global economic crisis is not over yet and the toy industry suffers from it like every other industry, perhaps even more. Plastic model kit manufacturers are in the first line and one would imagine that our hobby is about to disappear soon. Well, it does not seem to be the case! There are still new kits announced and being produced in scale ranging from 1/144 to 1/32 with the latter growing steadily. In fact, as long as there will be model kit builders or should I better say "buyers", there will be a model kit industry ready to produce models for them. However I have noticed that most of the plastic kit manufacturers are planning for the future and for the first time I have seen a real effort made towards the younger builders. Yes they do represent the future of our hobby, but this future will be probably very different than what we are used to with even more licensed products derived from the entertainment industry. The bigger names are going this route while the medium and small sized companies are still continuing to produce more "serious" and "historical" model kits. Once again, there was something new for everyone at the Toy Fair and aircraft modellers will have a hard time to reduce the size of their stashes in 2013. This admittedly is nothing really new…

It was again a real pleasure to meet the people representing the plastic model kit industry and I must say a big thank you to all of them for devoting some of their precious time to answer my silly questions. I wish them and their companies all the best for this year and I'm already looking forward to meet them again in 2014. It was also very nice to see Sindy, Volker and Steffen again, though I wish we would have had more time to talk. Well, there's always next year.

For a list of what is scheduled for 2013, please take a look at the IPMS Deutschland News List list which is probably the most up to date around the web.

Note: IPMS Deutschland have kindly allowed us to use some of their images to fill the gaps of this report. Thanks a lot to them!

The next few pages will break down the fair by manufacturer letting us know what to expect from our favourite suppliers.