Blackpool Model Boat Convention 2017

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

As Larry suggested……A new thread for the Blackpool Show

We were supposed to be going in the Club Coach this year, but it seems to be missing from the Club Diary at the moment

To save me the trouble…….When is it, chaps?

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

[david taylorParticipant @davidtaylor]

hi bob,

the blackpool show is on the 21/22 october 2017. at the norbreck hotel again, as last year was a great success i was told they now have model cars and trucks, so you can have a go at building cars as well lol,

david

[The Long BuildParticipant @thelongbuild]

We were supposed to be going in the Club Coach

Still Fuelling up I see.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

This was our coach for the Warwick Show, last year

Look at the Reg No……..It was England's Football Team coach for 1960

Nothing but the best for the Etherow Club

Bob

[CookieParticipant @cookie15923]

Hi Guys , From what is being said on Mayhem the show sounds like it is going to be a big event with loads of trade support including some new traders.

Dave

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Sorry Dave…….Not going to the Blackpool Show this year after all

The coach trip has been cancelled due to lack of support

Perhaps next year

Bob

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Sigh of the times Bob and the reason why show attendances continue to drop.

Colin

[CookieParticipant @cookie15923]

That,s a shame Bob , take care

Dave

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thanks Dave

Colin…….I think you are correct there about the poor show attendances

I noticed this at Ellesmere and Haydock, this year

What with no Model Shops anymore…….We don`t want to loose the shows as well

Bob

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

We are the reason behind the closure of model shops and the downturn in show attendance so before we start bemoaning the loss of these facilities we should take a long hard look at where we actually buy our bits from.

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

While I am as unhappy as the next modeller to see the demise of model shops, blaming the customers is a very simplistic view.You might as well blame the customers for the demise of the hansom cab.

We are seeing a revolution in retail developments. The vast majority of the retail sector is in the same boat. We are watching the closure of many high-street shops, unable to cope with competition from internet stores and Far East manufacture. Trying to hold back the tide is never going to be a practical way of addressing the issue…. Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis…

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

We are temporary mutants then?

Colin

[shipwrightParticipant @shipwright]

Sorry but I cannot resist joining in this banter – with credit to Bob Dylan :

"Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'."

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Bullshine

'Times change and we change with them' or 'Times change and we change them' either way Ovid's commentary on the ebb and flow of socio political events is completely out of context. The model boat industry is customer driven and the decisions on where and when the customer chooses to spend his money has a direct effect upon the retailers.

It boils down to customer loyalty.

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Paul T on 09/10/2017 19:21:19:

The model boat industry is customer driven and the decisions on where and when the customer chooses to spend his money has a direct effect upon the retailers.

So was the Hansom Cab industry….

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Dubious Geezer

Your Hansom Cab analogy doesn't apply as it is simply an example demonstrating an advance in technology, in the present context it would only qualify if you could prove that Brushless Motors were the direct cause behind the closure of so many model shops.

The Hansom Cab industry didn't die out, the owners just changed over to the more efficient petrol driven Taxi.

[CookieParticipant @cookie15923]

Paul , There is no one more gutted than me to see model shops shutting down and shows going down the can , I always buy from my model shop which is 20 miles from home but i like to feel i am doing my best to support the shop , i also have attended 7 boat shows this year , so i for one am not to blame .

Regards Dave

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Paul T on 10/10/2017 14:18:36:

Dubious Geezer

Your Hansom Cab analogy doesn't apply as it is simply an example demonstrating an advance in technology, in the present context it would only qualify if you could prove that Brushless Motors were the direct cause behind the closure of so many model shops.

The Hansom Cab industry didn't die out, the owners just changed over to the more efficient petrol driven Taxi.

Ah, Paul – I can see that you have difficulty understanding that it is the technologies of internet purchasing and the logistics advances that make it possible to purchase a cheap item from the Far East at the click of a button which are damaging the high-street retail trade generally and model shops particularly. Or, as you might put it, not damaging them, but changing them over to warehouses in China…..

I did state this in my comment, but perhaps you didn't read that far?

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Ah, Dubious

I have no difficulty in understanding my original point of customer loyalty and no amount of your muddying the water with this double talk of Hansom cabs being purchased off the internet will change the fact that if consumers remained loyal to their local model shop then that business would not have to close.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hi Chaps

The aforesaid is an example of an Irresistible force meeting an Immoveable Object!

And could go on for a considerable length of time

Bob

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Paul T on 10/10/2017 15:57:46:

Ah, Dubious

I have no difficulty in understanding my original point of customer loyalty and no amount of your muddying the water with this double talk of Hansom cabs being purchased off the internet will change the fact that if consumers remained loyal to their local model shop then that business would not have to close.

…and if I had some bread then I could have a ham sandwich. If I also had some ham….

You seem to have more difficulty understanding my comments every time I respond. One might almost think that you were trying to provoke me into descending to your level, but perhaps this is not the case, and you really cannot see the analogy?

If Hansom Cab customers had continued to use Hansom cabs, then we would still see them on the streets. But we do not. Why? Because the taxi-cab offered a cheaper and more convenient service for the customer, with more profit to the owners. As does the internet purchase of modelling items.You cannot buck the market or turn back the clock, and it is foolish to try.

There will be model shops which will be successful under the current conditions – those which recognise the changing market and adapt accordingly. That is what we should be encouraging them to do. Mindlessly requesting 'loyalty' to a system which is no longer competitive does no one any favours – indeed, it puts those organisations that are able to compete at a greater disadvantage.

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Could someone please explain to me the fundamental difference between purchasing by mail order from a printed catalogue {as I used to do back in 196-frozen to death} and choosing from some pretty pictures in a 'catalogue' on a colour monitor? Roland Scott, Henry Nichols and Jim Davis were only the Hobbykings of their time.

If our remaining local model shop in Nottingham closes it will be because the bloke who owns Gee Dee Models is pushing 90, the manager wants to retire as well and a buyer might not be forthcoming, but that's a unique example. There is an argument that Internet shopping is thriving because small retailers are being forced to close by their rapidly-increasing fixed overheads. That is undoubtedly a significant part of the reason but I would say that the tipping point for the small local model shop occurred when Tamiya introduced their RC 'dune buggies'. I worked in Pegasus' model shop in Nottingham and I saw it unfold.

These were instantly the "must have" item for any small boy – and a few older ones, too – and suddenly the general toy shops found they could sell them without the expertise or specialised knowledge of the model shop proprietor. Needless to say the big toy shops could buy in bulk from Kohnstam's and get better prices, thus discounting their retail prices and pushing the small local retailer right out of that market. Beatties and their ilk then found that they could sell most boxed goods like kits and even radios without any undue problems, except maybe the odd customer who wanted some after-sales advice or service – when they were usually directed to the local model shop!!

Unless you are very fortunate then your local shop already stocks little of what you need – and there's not much profit in just paints and glue. It's far too late to bemoan the fate of the small shop. Price and speed count for everything these days and service seems to be unimportant – except as a throw-away sound-bite in sales blurb. In less than ten years' time there won't be a single old-fashioned model shop left on the high street. The market will have become totally polarised between general shop-bought toys such as ARTF plastic aircraft, helicopters and speedboats, and specialised items such as model boats kits, materials and accessories which will be available only on-line.

As far as model shows are concerned there is a logic to being able to see an item and handle it before you buy it, and model shows have the largest selection and choice of goods available in one place at the same time. It's the traders who pay the real cost of model boat shows, whatever you might think about the admission prices. If you don't support them then they won't attend and the shows will dwindle to nothing – and so eventually will the number or traders.

It's not rocket science, is it?

Dave M

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

DM's views are always worth listening to, as someone with experience in this field, and it seems to me that he is saying that the customer requirement changed, from needing specialist advice (essential with the early single-channel radios!) to cheap RTR boxes. Of course this depended on the RTR items being available – but once they were, a lot of modellers who were more interested in operating than building went to the big stores, and of late to the internet. Hence the demise of the specialist model shops. Do you remember all the arguments about the 'builder of the model'. DM?

Cheap RTR kit is always going to be cheaper direct from the manufacturer. At the moment there are 'internet middlemen' – I suspect that their days are numbered as well. Traders will surely trade so long as they have customers – are the model shows critical in maintaining customer connections and brand awareness? If they are, then the traders will stay with them so long as there are profits to be made.

I have always believed that an important approach will be to encourage youngsters into the scratch-building side of the hobby rather than the RTR side. If that can be done there is a future for model building….if not….

 

Edited By Dodgy Geezer on 10/10/2017 18:22:58

[alan burgessParticipant @alanburgess78098]

I am blaming the parents. Successive generations are now breeding 'instant gratification' into children. The process is enabled by the credit card (by now, pay later).

[Author]

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