Unfortunately more and more producers of small-scale diecast models who exhibit their products at Nuremberg Toyfair follow a trend of not bothering to show any new, forthcoming models anymore. They find it sufficient to show some examples of their existing ranges which have already been available for some time, as supposedly the trade buyers who Toyfair is mainly aimed at are not interested in any individual items - at least not when it comes to "cheap tiny toy cars". They are expected to neither know nor care if the items they are shown are new or not, and I am afraid in most cases they meet that expectation.

This makes it more and more difficult for any Toyfair-visiting collector interested in such items to find out any relevant news. It is made even more difficult by the ever increasing unwillingness of the exhibitors to hand out any catalogs. (BTW this also applies to Toyfair models: some may still have been made, but they were not visible to - let alone obtainable for - ordinary visitors.)

For this reason I cannot relay any information about brands such as Golden Wheel, Welly, Realtoy, New Ray and Motormax, although they still had their respective stalls at Toyfair. I did not spot any new items among the small-scale models displayed by those companies. At Motormax in particular I noted the absence of the Fresh Cherries ranges, which had been on display in the previous year, although they were never intended to be sold in Europe.

Products of Jada Toys and Johnny Lightning were only to be seen at the stall of a distributor from the Netherlands, and I did not notice anything new or otherwise noteworthy there. RC2's own stall was once again entirely devoted to their children's toy lines such as Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine, beside exhibiting a few large-scale farm tractor models marketed under the Britains brand.

Completely absent from Toyfair this year was not only Edocar (which had sadly gone out of business during 2007) but also Guisval. I do not know the reason, for Guisval certainly still exists; perhaps they have given up trying to find distributors throughout Europe and found it not worthwhile anymore to participate in Nuremberg.

The absence of Guisval means that for the first time ever, all new small-scale diecast models displayed at the entire fair have been made in the Far East - a rather sad occasion for the European toy industry in my opinion.

Mattel has been known to show mainly items which have been available in the market for a while before, and this year was no exception. The bigger and brighter display of Mattel's two diecast brands was without doubt that of Hot Wheels, this year celebrating their 40th anniversary. I did not spot any new items among the basic mainline models displayed. Much display space was devoted to 1:87 scale Hot Wheels, which are apparently about to be introduced into the European markets to a greater extent than before. Most of those models are smaller versions of previous mainline issues, including some Ferraris. Three-inch sized Ferraris were also featured prominently, and in addition there were no fewer than four other three-inch ranges on display: the Classics range, which will continue as before, the Designer's Challenge series of models designed exclusively for Hot Wheels by car designers, the "Since '68" range which is tied in with the anniversary but otherwise seems very similar to Classics to me, and finally the Speed Racer range, featuring models of cars from the forthcoming movie of the same name. I understand that the Designer's Challenge and Since '68 ranges are not intended to be sold in Europe though.

The Matchbox display was once again mainly devoted to large ugly plastic items such as Mega-Rigs. At least the basic Miniatures display was very up to date, including the first two batches of 2008 issues, which had been out in the USA for a while but had not been seen in European stores yet. Therefore I saw some new castings for the first time in real life, such as the 1970 VW Bus and the 1955 Ford Panel Van, and most importantly the 1968 Citroën DS. Several recent three packs, five packs, ten packs and lots of playsets of various sizes were also on display, but the only other diecast ranges shown were Stars of Cars, Best of British, Battle Kings and Skybusters.

The only remaining producer focusing on three-inch models primarily intended as toys who still takes the trouble to comprehensively present mock-ups of all forthcoming new items at Toyfair is Siku. The new car models scheduled for 2008 may be a little less exciting than last year though. They include a VW Karmann Ghia Cabrio, a BMW X5, a Porsche 911 Turbo Convertible, a Porsche Cayman, a Toyota RAV4 and a Dodge Viper. The latter two are remarkable as being the first licensed representations of Japanese and American cars in the Siku range for quite some time. In addition there are many new emergency vehicles based on existing castings. Among the new regional issues there is a Porsche 911 Coupe in Austrian police livery - not a big surprise, but welcome nonetheless!

Another company from which some attention to individual models issued as "toys" might be expected is Majorette. Unfortunately Majorette is in a difficult situation presently, as after the collapse of its parent company Smoby its future is still uncertain. The result is a rather small amount of new items. The traditional small-scale ranges previously known by the name "Collector" have been grouped under the new sub-brand "Authentic", while the former Fiction series and many similar items are now known as "Fantasy". In addition, the separate sections "Racing" and "Pinder" (circus models) continue as well. The most energy has obviously been put into enhancing the "Fantasy" section, so there is few to report about the "Authentic" section. Only three new castings have been announced: Renault Twingo, Fiat 500 and Mitsubishi Outlander - and those were not shown at the fair yet. The display consisted mainly of items available in 2007 but all in new style packaging. The newest casting featured in the "Racing" section is the Toyota Corolla Andros.

Norev's three-inch models intended as "toys" were once again not presented indivdually, but only in the shape of window box assortments and gift sets. It was therefore very difficult to get an overview of the castings included, but as usual some models formerly made exclusively for car manufacturers have found their way into those assortments. The Mini-Jet name seems about to be discontinued, for the range of ordinary passenger car models is now called "Show Room". The other two ranges continue under the names "Racing" and "Tuning". Beside those "toy" ranges, Norev also maintains a range of 1:64 scale models intended for collectors (and sold at much higher prices). That range was included in the display but only with the same models as shown previously. Norev's main focus is nowadays directed towards the re-introduction of vintage brands of larger-scale diecast such as CIJ and Spot-On.

Like Norev, some other producers too subdivide their small-scale diecast products into a "toy" and a "collectibles" line. With Maisto, the "toy" line nowadays goes by the name of "Fresh Metal", whereas the "collectibles" line is further subdivided into several ranges such as "Pro Rodz", "Custom Shop", "All Stars" and "Hummer World". Examples of all those ranges were displayed at Toyfair, but as I am not sufficiently familiar with Maisto's products, I am unable to tell which of the models displayed were actually new castings. The Fresh Metal range contains a large portion of weird unrealistic models somewhere between Hot Wheels and Majorette Fantasy designs. The "collectibles" ranges consist mostly of American muscle car models and similar items inspired by US tastes.

A similar situation exists with Yat Ming. That company's "toy" line still uses the traditional brand name "Road Tough", and the Toyfair display of those products consisted of window box assortments and gift sets, with no emphasis given to any individual castings. Among the "collectibles" lines, there is the 1:72 scale Road Signature series, which has been in existence for a few years and has not been extended by any new castings anymore in recent times. More recently some 1:64 scale "collectibles" ranges have been added, all primarily US-oriented: a range of American pick-up trucks from the 1930s to 1950s, now called "Shyne Rodz", a range of Hot Rods based on 1930s cars called "Show Rodz", and the newest range sharing the Road Signature name with the earlier 1:72 scale range. This range consists of American cars as well, pairing vintage and modern renditions of the same themes, such as Chevrolet Corvette, Chrysler 300C and Shelby GT 500.

Definitely on the "toy" side of the small-scale diecast universe is another company originating from Hong Kong called Loyal Bright, which has produced diecast models for a while beside its other mostly plastic toy products, but had been overlooked by me previously. Its models are somewhat similar to the likes of Realtoy and Motormax; they do not feature any brand name on their bases, but the Loyal Bright logo is found on their window box packaging. The subjects modelled are fairly commonplace; examples include BMW Z8, Citroën C2, Lamborghini Murcielago, Mercedes-Benz SLR, Mitsubishi Pajero, Porsche Cayenne, Renault Clio, VW Beetle.

On the "collectibles" side is AutoArt's 1:64 scale range. It has been announced that this range will be extended with several new models, mainly of Lamborghini and Porsche cars, during 2008, but none of those new castings were shown at Toyfair. The display included only models which had been seen before.

A country where 1:64 scale "collectibles" are particularly popular is Japan. This is mainly underlined by Kyosho's extensive product ranges. Beside their "standard" range of Japanese sports car models, they offer special sets each of which is devoted to a particular car brand or theme. There is an Audi set, a Lamborghini set, a Nissan set, a Porsche set, a Mercedes-Benz set and a set of British sports cars. A large quantity of models from those sets was shown at Nuremberg, which made for a very impressive display. I understand those models are offered in so-called "blind box" assortments, which means that buyers do not know which models they will receive.

The popularity of 1:64 scale "collectibles" in Japan has prompted a few other Japanese companies to enter this field too. Following Kyosho and Konami is Aoshima with a series of Japanese sports car models such as Honda S2000, Mazda RX-7, Nissan Skyline GT-R, Nissan 350Z and Toyota Supra, also distributed in "blind boxes".

The Japanese company Doyusha, well known for its plastic kits, has now also presented a range of 1:64 scale diecast models, and the first two castings from this range were shown at Nuremberg: a Daihatsu Move and a Daihatsu Tanto. Doyusha has announced that the range is going to be extended with more models of small cars (so-called "Kei cars") from other Japanese manufacturers such as Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

While the 1:64 scale is gaining popularity in Japan, the same is true for the 1:76 scale in Great Britain. That scale is a popular model railway gauge (00) in that country, and models of roadgoing vehicles to that scale have turned from model railway accessories to collectibles in their own right. The pioneer in this field is Corgi with its Trackside range (originally introduced by Lledo), which started with models of large commercial vehicles but has recently been extended with van and car models which must be counted in as small-scale diecasts. While they may seem too small to collectors of three-inch models, they bear a close resemblance to early Matchbox and other British brands from the early 1960s such as Budgie and Dinky Dublo and therefore are surely quite attractive.

The Corgi Trackside range nowadays features several van castings, of which a lot of new liveries were shown at Nuremberg. Now passenger cars such as a Ford Anglia, Morris Minor and Vauxhall Viva HA have been added. New castings include a Mini Van and a Mini passenger car version as well as a Ford Escort Mk I, also as a van and a sedan version. Apart from the Trackside range, the only other small-scale diecast item shown at the Corgi stall this year was the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang first issued several years ago. The re-branded Realtoy models which used to be part of Corgi's "toy" section under the Corgi Wheelz name seem not to be offered anymore.

Competition for the Corgi Trackside range is provided by Pocketbond with its 1:76 scale Classix range, which has moved on from larger commercials to vans and cars as well. The range includes several variations of Morris Minor, Austin A40 Devon/Dorset, Ford Consul Mk I and various Morris and Ford vans. Newest additions are an Austin FX3 taxi and hire car and an NCB electric delivery van.

The third company from Great Britain producing 1:76 scale diecast models (in China) is Oxford Diecast, and its range is making progress at an even greater pace than its competition. After starting out with models of vans in 2006, the company has already introduced quite a few car models during 2007 and is about to introduce many more soon. Beside obvious popular choices such as MGB, Morris Minor, Mini Van, Jaguar E Type and XK 120, there are some more obscure and surprising - but because of this definitely more interesting - models in the works, for example Triumph Mayflower, Standard Vanguard and even a Jowett Javelin, which I believe to be the very first small-scale diecast model of a Jowett ever made by anyone. Beside all those vintage cars, the modern world is also represented by a model of the current LTI TX4 London taxi.

I like all those 1:76 scale models of British cars very much and would love to see similar models made of continental European cars of the same era. However, 1:76 scale seems to be a typically British phenomenon, whereas on the continent the smaller scale of 1:87 is preferred, due to its popularity in the model railway scene (H0 gauge). Most models made to that scale are made of plastic rather than diecast metal and are therefore beyond the scope of this report.

Some ranges of 1:87 models are made of diecast metal though, and in spite of their small size they are worthy of inclusion in this report. A delightful range of 1:87 scale models of vintage French cars has been produced by Universal Hobbies as a tie-in with a series of periodical magazines by the French publishing company Editions Atlas. While Universal Hobbies had not bothered to show those at Toyfair previously, I was delighted to see them on display at their stall this time - no fewer than 48 different ones. Most of the well-known products of the big French manufacturers Citroën, Peugeot and Renault from the 1950s to the 1980s have been covered by now, and the range even includes two Facel Vega models - another car brand which I believe not to have been featured in small-scale diecast ever before. Unfortunately I was not able to find out anything about possible plans to market those models outside the Editions Atlas promotion and outside France. But it was still good to see them!

In Germany the Bub brand continues to offer 1:87 scale diecast models with a certain nostalgic flavor. New castings shown include German commercial vehicles from the 1950s (Mercedes-Benz L 1000, Hanomag Gigant tractor, Opel Blitz, Lloyd LT 500, VW Samba Bus), German sports cars from the 1970s (Ford Capri RS 3100, Porsche 935, BMW 2002 Cabrio and 320 Cabrio) and the famous Japanese sports cars Datsun Fairlady Z and Toyota 2000 GT.

The third important producer of 1:87 scale diecast models is High Speed. New castings for 2008 include Audi Q7, Audi TT, BMW 320 Si WTCC, BMW Z4 M Coupé Racing, Citroën C4 WRC, Fiat Punto Super Abarth, Ford Focus Convertible and Subaru Impreza WRC. Besides, High Speed's range of 1:64 scale diecast models is not neglected either. New releases in that range include Audi Q7, Ford Focus Convertible, Mercedes-Benz GL, VW Typ 30 and VW Beetle RSi.

High Speed's models are still sometimes found under different brand names. For instance, a Hungarian distributor offers them under the name Carbox, and like before the High Speed 1:87 scale range is also shared by Schuco, whereas Schuco does not offer 1:64 scale models anymore. On the other hand, the Schuco Junior 1:72 scale diecast range as provided by Hongwell still continues, as does the Schuco Piccolo range, offering a wider than ever variety of different models. Perhaps the most notable new issues are a Lotus 49 Formula 1 racer with matching racing car transporter and a Mazda Cosmo Sport.

Hongwell themselves had nothing new to show in their 1:72 scale range. The latest new issues on display were those which appeared during 2007, such as Alfa Romeo Brera, Audi Q7, Fiat Grande Punto, Renault Twingo, Volvo C30 and VW Golf V GTI. It has been announced that Hongwell will issue some 1:72 scale models of Russian cars to be released exclusively in Russia, but those were not shown at Nuremberg. I did not see any new 1:72 scale Skoda models made for their Czech partner Abrex either; the new castings introduced during 2007 have now all been released to the market.

Overall my visit to Nuremberg was still worthwhile, in spite of the reluctance of some producers to acknowledge any collector interest in small-scale toy cars, and the complete absence of some others. I think there is no other place in the world where so many current diecast models can be viewed in real life all at once. Because of this the event remains an absolute must for me.

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