I am back!

Hi guys,

I am back from the DUZI and a short trip to some of the museums in the Netherlands. Well, how should I start? nearly 30 years ago the DUZI was established as a wargame fair with a lot of fantasy stuff and over the years it became the leading fair for 1/72 collectors. All the well known sellers there, a lot of rare stuff, second hand bring and buy, bargains, books etc. A paradise which I never left before I spend all my money - and this was a lot!

But what happened in the meantime? Some sellers stopped comming in the last years, one of the most important sadly died some years ago and in the meantime it became less and less special in my eyes.

This year I had no special finds, no bargains etc. All the sellers there sold the usual stuff for the usual prices. No special prices for a fair, no rare stuff or much second hand (beside a few bags of ordinary Esci-stuff easy to get). Some badly painted figures for high prices and some nice vignettes with good painted ones but again not as a bargain.

The new stuff was here of course, I got all the sets which appeared on the market and which I missed since my last order two month ago.

But how long can the fair survive? Less seller each years, less visitors too. Usually when the door openened there was a rush as if the winter-wear outsell starts. Last weekend there was a tripling of visitors. Well I sold a lot of my Osprey collection on the first day and had some very nice talks on the second. But I am not there for buying figures, but for meeting friends and show our dioramas. A lot of collectors - especially in Germany - are thinking different. Comming in, buying new stuff and getting out.

I heard one guy saying "they had better dioramas in the past, just 2700 figures this time". Good for him I was too tired for a talk... I have never seen the guy, surely one of the ones who hit their stuff in the cellar for their eyes only and having less then 10% of my collection....

So I will give the DUZI another chance next year. But if there is no change, we should search for another option to show the dioramas to a bigger public. Maybe in Mainz the fair will be a good place. It is growing fast. Or we simply try to make our own one in the middle of Germany, a place were everybody can come and see (and buy).

Ok, enough lamentating for today. As I found nothing special this year I want to show you what we found in the past:









My friend Thomas Schmitt found them four years ago and I started kneeling in front of him, telling him he doesn't know what great stuff he found and that he does not know anything about the 1st Afghan war. Or that he would have no need for a Cape mounted Rifleman.

Didn't worked, the figures are still in Thomas' collection:-)

The only highlight for me (beside our own diorama of course) was this small one which reminds me on a movie I have in my collection.












Sorry no better quality of the wall.