feels this way to me only trucks I bought this year were on sale and only looking forward to two later this year.
john

Maybe. On the domestic front, both Code 3 and Corgi have slowed down. Fewer releases for the first quarter / first half than in prior years. Boley isn't doing much, it seems. Athearn at least has their 1/50 telesquirt coming. And Highway 61 has another giant scale pumper coming. Yat-Ming, however, seems to be churning out those larger-scale classics with increasing frequency.

Worldwide, Siku and Solido are about the same. Maybe a couple more fire models this year than past years for Siku. Minichamps in Germany is increasing their fire releases quite a bit, as is Schuco.

Del Prado in Italy and Germany is wrapping up two years of *weekly* releases, so that definitely qualifies as a slow-down.

mjl

Global economics aside, I think that in most cases we are seeing better quality and detail if on fewer pieces. Certain manufacturers "blew it" for no good reason on some releases, but "wowed" us on others. Go figure.

No, I don't think the hobby is slowing down at all. The novelty may have worn off, but the collectors are still there.

The hobby has not slowed a bit. We have. That's us, the collectors. We are more demanding, and getting more selective in what we purchase, and how many of them. Corgi will see more release's this year, than their last two or three combined, when you take in to account the partnership with NMMM. And the quality is up with Corgi. Code 3 is still on par with last year, but you cant tell because of the new release schedule, and the last release items from March that didnt make it. April is going to be good, May and June even better. The long awaited heavy rescue's from Boley, are reported to be on the boat and enroute to the US. They could very well be the last fire release's we will see from Boley for some time. Its not an economy thing either. I havent bought anything this year, except for the sale items. Thats going to change soon. I did sign up for the NMMM series, as there are a few there that I want. Yat Ming is going to crank out some really nice stuff this year, and a few repaints of the last four release's. The Highway 61 Chevy/GMC promise's to be one of the greatest fire releas's of modern day. And they are not finished either. If you count the release's that have already been, or are scheduled for release this year, you will see that there has never been better times for fire collectors. The year did get off to a slow start, but its winding up fast, and about to spring in to action. It may not be produced this fall, but there are items coming that will make one drool. Might be early next year before they hit the shelves.

I've been at the collecting thing for a while now and you can see that it tends to cycle. It used to be that Matchbox had a decent selection of fire service models but that has dried up. Remember those nice Base Fire/Rescues and Truckville models that everyone was screaming for? They'll come back with something at some point. I think there will always be a market for a serious collector. But we've been bombarded with new stuff over the past several years so that we tend to see the lulls a bit more.

i completly agree with rich. we all have had some great models come out and now we are just being picky as all hell about the new stuff coming out such as if the front of the older alf's are rounded or square. lol and of all people i am one of them. i get ****** cause they havent done more newer chicago rigs.

thats just my two cents

I THINK IT HAS ALOT TO DO WITH CODE 3S NEW RELEASE SCHEDULE. THE HYPE ISNT THERE, AS IT WAS , STILL NO NEW MOLDS,WHICH MAKES A COLLECTOR WONDER. BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF NEW ITEMS COMING OUT FROM CORGI AND MOTOR MINT,AS WELL AS OTHERS . THIS HOBBY IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT ,IT IS ALWAYS EXCITING TO ME. WE ARE A DYING BREED , THERE ARENT TOO MANY YOUNG COLLECTORS OUT THERE,THERE ARE TOO MANY OTHER INTERESTS FOR THEM. IF YOU DONT HAVE A SON IN MOST CASES,WHO HAS A INTEREST IN COLLECTING , WHO GETS THE STUFF WHEN YOUR GONE ?

I purchased the Super Pumper Set from PTH last Summer, then a First Gear O'Hare Dump (also from Bill at PTH). Since then, nothing offered has peaked my interest. All that appears available are repaints from Code 3, and nothing interesting at all from the anyone else.

But as a kitbasher and customizer, I have plenty to keep me interested. I really believe the problem with most who read this site is that they only collect prebuilt models. So it can get boring when Code 3 constantly issues repaints, at maybe one model every two months.

Only rig I have a reservation on is the lime GMC pumper from diecast promotions. It will most likely the olnly rig I purchase in 2006.