Greetings to all fellow UK modellers

I am looking to start a business with my father, selling model kits online. Now we have a very limited start up budget so it is vital we have a good idea of what modellers are looking for kit wise. As we build up we can stock more variety of kits and modelling accessories.
At first, we will be using ebay as our first step to start selling but we will look at other things, such as our own website and possibly model shows once we are ready to make the next step.
What I would like from everyone in the UK that visits this site, is to spend 2 minutes sending me some answers to the 6 questions below. This will give us a good idea of what modellers want.
Please answer the questions honestly and with short simple (one word if poss!) answers so I can easily collate the information.

I thank you all in advance and look forward to seeing your answers.

1) What scale do you mostly model in?

2) Which is your favourite model Brand?

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum)

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc)

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model?

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops)



Many thanks
Mike

Hi

First of all, thanks to Merlin for helping with this thread and thanks to Stonar for sending me some info.
Everyone can now reply on here , so no Pm's needed. Please can we have some more replies from UK modellers. It would be a great help to us if you did and I would be extremely grateful.

thanks
Mike

1/72, Tamiya, WW2, Hawker Typhoon, RAF, A

Mike, best of luck with your project. I think you are in a very competitive market.

Unless you have a very, very large range (e.g. equal to Hannants), then it is hard to justify postage costs, as buying easy to find brands/kits from multiple suppliers is expensive on postage, so people buy from the one big place that sells everything (even if a few/all of the items are at a higher price). A few of the online shops have free postage, which offsets the effects of them having smaller ranges.

I also think the internet sales market is probably biased towards serious modellers who have more diverse tastes than the high-street market which is full of children wanting to build spitfires (or more realistically, parents with fond memories of kit building, buying their children kits in an attempt to ween them off of computer games). Unfortunately (for the would-be model shop entrepreneur) the small Eastern Europe producers seem to commonly make exclusive distributor agreements with Hannants- the higher prices of short-run and resin kits would allow for greater profits for the retailer if you could buy them direct from the producer. One area that is possibly profitable is buying up stashes of kits for small amounts, and selling on eBay- you may make as much profit per kit doing this as selling new kits, and has the advantage that old kits are not generally available from the large online shops.

Anyway, that is just my opinion, deduced from my own buying behaviour.

1) 1/144
2) Sweet
3) WWII
4) Hawker Hurricane
5) RAF / FAA
6) A

Mike good luck with your venture.

Good luck with your venture Mike

1) What scale do you mostly model in? 1/32

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? Any

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? WWII

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? Any/all from WWII

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? Any/all from WWII

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops) A, B (sometimes) and C when I can

I look for bargins and/or free postage when buying on line, but I would go for reliability every time over saving a couple of quid. I don't buy from Hannants because their delivery times are worse than from the far east.

I am not from Uk but I guess, based on polls on this site that the average UK modeller:

1) What scale do you mostly model in? 1/48

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? tamiya

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum) WWII

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc) Spitfire

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? RAF

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops)
Hannants

From on-line or other stores I seek reliability, speed and "a one stop shop". I don't want to go to five shops for getting everything i want to build a single model

1) What scale do you mostly model in? 1/32-1/48-1/72

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? ANY

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum) WW2

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc) BF-109

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? Luftwaffe- IJA/IJN-RAF/FAA

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops) C
Wishing all the best . Good Luck


Cheers Nick

If you can learn any lesson from Hannants recent hacked site. Don't store customers credit card details on your website. Use PayPal or other agency. It might cost more, but I'm wary of giving my CC details to anyone other than someone who is going to protect them properly.

I would add that at least hannants have been up front and honest in contacting everyone, and only for that reason will i continue to use them. but investing properly in customer security must be key.

I had the email from Hannants too. I've checked with the bank this morning and so far so good. We will be using paypal, primarily to start with. Credit/Debit cards are something for the future.

Jaypee - any chance you could answer my little questionnaire - I need as much info as possible. Thanks to the guys that have answered so far.

thanks
Mike

Sure

1) What scale do you mostly model in?
1/72
2) Which is your favourite model Brand?
Hmmm, Airfix for price, Eduard


3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum)
Early and WW2

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc)
Done quite a few dr.1 and d.7 fokkers

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model?
No real overall winner.

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops)
Online.

As far as want I'd want from a store, I'd try and occupy a niche when small (like fantasy printshop specialise in decals)

Since you are starting small there has to be reason to get stuff from you as opposed to hannants for example. A USP I suppose. The one stop spitfire shop or something like that.

Good luck in your venture.

JP

Hi Michael
Even though I live in France, I do most of my purchase online from the Uk.
Hope this helps and good luck with your venture.
tim

1) What scale do you mostly model in? 1/72 -1/48

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? Any

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum) Cold war/modern

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc) Cold war/modern



5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? No specific favourites

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops) A-online

Thanks again guys for the replies. Is there any more people out there that can spend a couple of minutes and help? The more answers I get the more helpful it is.

thanks
Mike

Hi Mike, as requested

1) What scale do you mostly model in? predominately 1/48 but 1/72 if larger planes eg.bombers

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? any depending on the model I want to build but mainly Asian firms Tamiya, Hasegawa, HobbyBoss, etc

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum) predominately WWII but also dabble in other eras eg modern

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc) P-51, P-47, F-14 Tomcat. Whatever takes my fancy really

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? mostly USAF and USN for WWII any that takes my fancy for modern

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops) all of the choices depending on availability really. in preference order C, A, B

Hope this helps and best of luck with your venture

1) What scale do you mostly model in? 72nd, followed by 48th, 32nd

2) Which is your favourite model Brand? based on purchases this year Airfix & Eduard - but I'm always looking out for interesting Eastern European stuff

3) Which is your favourite modelling era? (using the ones on this forum) WWII

4) Which is your favourite subject to model? (ie like Spitfire or Mustang etc) Luftwaffe - but I'll build any subject that takes my fancy

5) Which airforce (includes naval air forces) do you mostly model? as above

6) Where do you mostly buy your models? ( please answer; A-Online stores, B-Ebay,C-Model shops) I guess B wins it (Ebay) but on-line retailers for even more 'difficult stuff', local shop for Airfix - I will try and support my LHS or even MZ for stuff that's easily obtainable

Thanks to all who answered.
It seems to me that WW2 is the most popular era, 72nd looks to be the most popular scale and RAF/Luftwaffe seem to be the most popular air forces and online stores seem to be the most popular to buy from.

Thanks
Mike