Sorry for the long delay of this posting, but I wanted to add the pictures and never got time to reformat the pictures. I will try to add them at a later time.
I had not been to the MFCA show since they moved back to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The MFCA Show was the first toy soldier show I had ever attended. I had seen information on the show on television but always missed attending the show. Finally I was ableto get the date from my local hobby shop.
Having the date I went down to it taking my parents along (I was only driver in our family). While my parents sat in the car, I quickly walked around the show amazed at all the plastic and metal figures. It was at that show I found a contact to buy Starlux figures. I had a great time and
the next time took some of my friends and did the show every year. I used to joke the trunk was mine for stuff and many times I did fill it.
Laurie and I did not do the show last year when they move itback to Valley Forge from Delaware. The
reason it was the same time as Plastic Warrior Show, which had precedent. This year the dates between the two shows did not conflict, so I want to go down and see it.
I had heard that there had been a lot of controversy last year over the reduce space that MFCA had taken. The show took half the space they previously had used before they had moved to Delaware. Because of the reduce space some of the dealers would have been outside the hall. This caused some dealers to pass on it. This year I was hearing complaints about the price for tables at the show. Tables were $90.00 a table plus you had had additional fee of $40.00 for a peddlers’ license. The township charges that peddler license which is only good for a year. For some the price was too high and they back out on doing the show. Several dealers who had done the MFCA Show decided to do the Gettysburg show only which was on Sunday after the MFCA show which was on aFriday and Saturday. Another controversy is the charge for the show is $15.00. They charge $15.00 because it is a two day admission despite many people only come for one day.
Despite all of these controversies, I wanted to see the show for myself to form my own opinion. Laurie had to work so I took my very good friend Les Barley along. Les
has some figures in his collection and he wanted to see if he could any to complement them. We left Allentown
around 10:45AM and had very little problems getting to the show. We walked right in and I noticed a big
change. The tables had been rotate 90 degrees to get them into the space provided. Les and I started down the aisles and I noticed that there was less plastic. I ran into Allan Ford of Brandywine Toy Soldiers and he told me he had found very little plastic. Alan Ford had a stand inside the hall selling plastic figures so he had a two hours heads up before me. After leaving Allan, Les and I continued to
go around the hall. I spotted a few treasures for resale, but you could easily miss them in between the metal
figures. I missed some Timpo Swoppet German mortar teams that someone had found earlier, but I did get a Starluxversion of the German mortar team.
We walked around and I saw many familiar faces: George Guerrio, Rick Eber and John Stengel. I ran into Bob Hornung. Bob is mainly a metal dealer but 9 years ago,
he bought a massive plastic collection to the MFCA Show, where I got my number one want, the Speedwell Armor car on fire or damaged. He was also source to an item in our collection a miniature toy soldier shop. Bob made for a time these tiny metal figures that you could fit in a matchbox. Laurie like them and would buy them at every
show. At one of the shows in Hackensack, Bob had one of his toy soldier shops which are made up of various miniature metal toy soldiers. Laurie asked the price for the toy soldier shop and Bobsaid $500.00. She looked at me and asked me about buying. I said I would gohalf if she paid the other half. To my shock she had the other half and we ended up with the shop.
Bob told me his best metal seller for the show was his metal trees and he sold a number of them but not one of his knights at the time I sawhim. He told me he might do some smaller items again. We will have to see.
I looked around to see if I could get any items for the
collection. I only found a nice foam building. It is seven inches long and six inches high. The price was right only $15.00. The dealer tried to get me to buy a foam cobbled street which did not fit the building which I pass on. If the
dealer had continued pushing the street I would have pass on the foam building. I also got at the show the book on Airfix HO called Airfix’s Little Soldiers by Jean-Christopher Carbonel. The book covers the various sets that Airfix made plus mentions its competitors. I will have to check with the people into Airfix HO on what they think of the book. I also got the CTS GI’s. I did not find any foreign plastic pieces I do not have in the collection like I usually do. After I left a collector did get a load of foreign plastic which I will talk more later.
Les and I did the Competition Are to look at all the
exciting dioramas and painted figures . Here again they exhibits weredown. There were no shadow box displays
as years past. It might have been that I was there Friday. There were more displays on Saturday. Les and I took
some pictures of some of the exhibits. One gentleman had some great displays he had spent weeks if not months.
His retreat from Moscow took six months to make.
Going from the competition area I saw Russ Salberg. Russ had been on my list and at one of the Chicago shows he had his daughter with him. Laurie had joked that did her father make her sleep on the bed with the swords on it. (Russ was also sellingmilitary swords at OTSN in his room. The beds in the room are used to display their wares). I found out his daughter is now 26, she has a doctorate and is expecting in June. How time flies. Russ is a dealer in metal figures and he has a nice selection from around the world.
Rick Eber had large selection of playsets and parts for
sale. As the pictures will show he has a number of the Marx Covered wagons in different colors. Rick also was selling some Marx, MPC and other items loose and in the package. One collector got an MPC Safari with ring
hand natives in the box and another collector got some of the small size25mmCivil War figures from Rick. John Stengel was in the back with his wideselection of new, old and reissue plastic figures.
After two hours Les and I left the show. As I noted in my preview for the show I said it was the shadow of its former self. One collector thought I was down because
I did not get much. He had gone back after we left and a dealer had come in with lots of plastic which he bought. In lot were some early English and Spanish plastic, which the person knows I like. Thing was while that lotwould have been nice it would not have change my feeling on the show. This show was the first and for many years the premier toy soldiers show in the country.
It started to change when they moved from Chester PA to Valley Forge. In Chester they had two areas for dealers; a regular dealer’s area and a flea market. It was in the flea market where I got many great finds. When they moved to Valley Forge they did away with the flea market for various reasons. The show held its own for many years.
When they moved to Delaware they lost dealers but it still felt like Valley Forge. The move back to Valley Forge really revealed to me how much the show had changed. It had lost its charm. Everything was seemed crammed together. I got a negative feeling on the show. I heard
that other people felt the same way. I have also heard that attendance was down. The lower attendance can be
contributed to two things the economy and the internet. I will go back next year if it does notconflict with other commitments. I hope it gets better but I will not keep my
hopes up.
Thanks for the report, Paul. Those of us who are distant from the “Toy Zone” of the NE United States (yes, and upper midwest), and who don’t get to see many shows appreciate it.
It is always nice to see a given show at least once, then you can better understand reports such as these on other years of the show.
Now that I’ve finally been able to do the Plastic Warrior show, I can better understand what is likely to be there – or not be there.
As you know, the HTF Swappables were a surprise to many there. Metal people didn’t care one squat, tho. A few were really happy to see new figures, especially multi-part. Here, we are more into solid-part, solid color figures.
Oddly, right there in London, the HTF British Napoleonic soldiers and sailors did not sell half as much as the Knights. And the night before departure I was making sure I had enough artillery crews.
Hope to see you at OTSN this Sept.
Hi Don
Sorry I could not be over for the Plastic Warrior Show. I heard from various sources that it was different that the number of foreign dealers were down still people had a good time. I hope to get over next year. The nice part of PW show is the wide variety of plastic figures. I have gotten so many unusual figures it is amazing. My very good friend Peter Evans got me at the show an Indain with arms raised from Italy. I will be posting pictures soon.
I love doing the show reports as I try to give an even handed approach unlike some places it is nothing more than a rah rah. I walked in to MFCA and it was like being hit by a bolt of lightning. The place had a different feel than I had at any other MFCA I had been at. I am getting reports they will have one more year at Valley Forge and then the show will have to move as they are building a casino in the space used for conventions. We will have to wait and see.
As to trying to what to take to show this is an old problem. One time one item you take sells great, the next time it does not. You do not take an item that’s what they want. Germany is land of Timpo fanatics, but there is no guarantee they would sell. Laurie’s and Mine’s friend Michael Smith has been successful selling new Timpo parts, but I can not say if they go for new figures.
As to OTSN that is a big question mark. I or Laurie usually have a hard time getting off. If we get time air fare is high we just lost a carrier that goes from our local airport to Chicago so if we go we would have go from Phildelphia or Newark to save money. Laurie is not thrill with TSA as well from all the horror stories we heard. If we go I will let you know. Don’t hold your breath I don’t want you to turn purple.
I think that a lot has to do with the number of shows that there are now. When I first stared collecting there were 3 shows. Valley Forge, the NJ Military Miniatures Show (held in a Russian Orthadox Church Hall somewhere in NJ. Somerset maybe??) and the Schutzen Park (now Hackensack) show. There was always the OTSN show, but that was in Chicago and I have never attended that.
That was it. And you waited all year to go to these shows. Most of us got there at five or six o’clock in the morning to get in on the parking lot trading. Quite a few spectacular finds were made by pestering the metal dealers who had nothing but disdain for plastic. And you did that while they were unpacking their cars or vans.
It was also a chance to meet face to face with fellow collectors, who you only knew through long distance telephone calls and handwritten letters. With the invention of the Internet and the founding of Ebay, all of that mystery is gone.
I used to get so pumped up weeks before Schutzen Park because of the unknown and the chance to renew friendships with the Boston Mafia that came with Bill Murphy
when he owned Excalibur. Bill, Chuck Thornehill, George Cushman and others. We spent hours discussing trends and “finds.”
Paul, I know some of the luster has gone out of it for me because there seems to be a show evey other week. I also know that the chance of finding a “steal” is zero.
And almost anything I can buy at a show, I can get from any number of dealers on the ‘net.
I imagine that the price of gas, tolls and admission has some part to pay in the decline of attendence at shows. But for me, it’s just not the same “feeling” as it used to be.
Sad to say, but the thrill is gone.
Bill
Sorry to hear that the thrill is gone for you. Right now the thrill is not gone for me. I am still enjoying the thrill of the hunt and I am still finding items for myself and resale. Today Laurie and I did a flea market. It was a good flea market as everyone scored. Prices were by in large reasonable (one exception someone had a out the box Marx Civil War playset for $300.00 way too high in my book).
The old days were great with the car trading etc., but those days are gone. The world has change not for the better in most cases. We have the internet and that has been a game changer on many fields. People do not have to leave their homes to buy and the shows are showing it. Still I have learn to adapt to the changes and I am still having fun. Those who do not get out are missing a world of fun.
Paul, The thrill of the hunt is still there for me. I still go to flea markets, garage sales and anywhere else that I think that I may find a treasure. I just don’t bother with the shows anymore although I may go to Hackensack every few years just to see some of the old gang.
I did the flea market today and had an excellent day. I picked up a bag Fort Apache flat yellow Indians, old plastic tan Pioneers and a darker, royal blue set of 45 mm Fort Apache figures along with a few horses and a gray cannon. I have never seen this color
45 mm figures so that was a good find. I also bought a BIG Castle set in the box for 20 bucks. These were made in West Germany back when there were two Germanies. Interestingly enough, the figures in the box were not the common, undersized Jean Hoffler figures, but white hard plastic knights that I have never seen before. More on those in another posting.
And finally, I bough a box of 20 different terrain mats that a train dealer was selling for 25 bucks for everything. The box contained mats by all of the various European
scenic companies and a couple by Woodlands Scenics. All of them were still in the original packaging and there are 3 or 4 large prarie grass matswhich I can use for my western dioramas. One mat was 5 x 12 feet large!! A great pick up.
So Paul, the thrill of the hunt is still there…just not at the planned shows anymore……Bill
Bill
I am glad that you still have the thrill of the hunt. Nice lot of items you got there. We do not go to many toy soldier shows anymore. I think we got to three or four last year. We stopped going to a few because of the travel time and what was there. I do like to go to the toy soldier shows to pick up some of the new figures as I can see them up front and make a final decision. Also going to a show I can get feel of what is going on in the hobby. Finally though yopu might not think it you can still find surprises.