Frustrated Indian Collector

[winstoncds]

India Hobby Shop chain of stores in major metros of India was exactly what you just mentioned Saleel. They had trains, planes, models, stamps, aquarium, jigsaw puzzles...the whole shebang! Sadly now, they are just a shadow of their former glory. In Bombay, with rising rents and dropping interests in such hobbies, they are just a hole in the wall with some train sets and balsa wood aircraft kits. I have not gone there for the last two years and a visit is due. If not for anything, but to meet the old dudes who were always happy to see you drop in their shop...even if you didn't buy a paisa's worth. Complete opposite of malls nowadays but lets not get into that.
KV, I wish I could have atleast one fuel powered model but I am on the 15th floor and if I ever take the thing down, I will not get a moment's peace. When my son is a little older, I am definitely going to place an order for 2 of those buggies. You can write that down.

[karansharma8783]

Wow, this India Hobby Shop sounds like an exciting place to be in. I feel really sorry for these guys, as you say, they are now just a shadow of their former glory. It will take quite some time for such fads to catch on in India. And it will have to start from the metro cities. India is still basically a rural place with kites and lattoos and kabbadi for the masses. No middle-class person with an average salary is going to pay 1500 bucks for a hunk of diecast metal which he won't be able to hand over to his kid to tamper around with it coz it costs so much in the first place. I remember when I was a kid, back then my dad was still in a lower position in the company but still my parents used to buy me the little Hot Wheels. 125 bucks was quite a lot back then and I used to smash those ones whose wheels were stuck or simply refused to turn. My mom used to persuade me that it's ok still without the wheels but no, I wanted the damn wheels to turn when I moved it on the bed I remember after school, I used to form a parking lot of my own using sketch pens and pencils as road boundaries and then move the different cars around it using different vocal sound effects for sports cars and buses!!!! Boy oh boy, those were the days!!!!

[winstoncds]

Hahahaha! Nice one Karan. I used to save up and try to get them HotWheels from a store near my place. I would be really lucky to find a new one every month from the regular boring Poison Pintos and Caravans. Nowadays every paan ka dukaan has Matchboxes and Hotwheels.

karansharma8783 Wrote:Thanks for the kind words about the Tatas Winston, my dad's been working there ever since he joined back in the 80's!!!

Karan, I had been to Jamshedpur in the February 2000. Two of my uncles who are priests are in Jamshedpur. One was principal of a college and one was in a church in Chaibasa. My uncle took me to the Tata truck factory and we had a tour of the factory. Earlier they used to take factory visitors for a tour on their banked oval test track. Not anymore because of safety issues. I was to be in Jamshedpur and Calcutta early December but because of certain issues, I was stuck in Bombay.

[karansharma8783]

Diablo Wrote:Karan, I had been to Jamshedpur in the February 2000. Two of my uncles who are priests are in Jamshedpur. One was principal of a college and one was in a church in Chaibasa. My uncle took me to the Tata truck factory and we had a tour of the factory. Earlier they used to take factory visitors for a tour on their banked oval test track. Not anymore because of safety issues. I was to be in Jamshedpur and Calcutta early December but because of certain issues, I was stuck in Bombay.

Hey, that's great!! Which college was your uncle principal of? Do u remember? How did u find Jamshedpur? Bombay people will find it an awfully dull place but it's a nice cozy small laid-back town with a peaceful lifestyle. We too had once gone for a tour of the Tata Motors factory and once also for the Tata Steel factory. I really enjoyed the test track thing where they used to bring up the truck from an underground facility into the middle of the test ground through a ramped tunnel. They offered us the drive on the oval bank but we were just too plain scared!!!

Edit - Sorry for taking the thread totally off-track.

[vaas2000]

kvsk4 Wrote:edited: soon coming are the fuel powered buggies alongwith r/c scale models. Let me know if someone interested in r/c racing.

Whoa, that's awesome news. What will be they priced like? Coz i've seen such fuel powered Rcs in modelart here and they were all above 30k!
So any news about when they are planning to import next batch of wellys to India? and any new models other than what were already imported coming in?

[MotoS]

India Hobby Shop at Marine Lines used to be kind of cool place during those good old days , did once visit their shop after relocation but now that type of shops don't create a wow feeling with the variety and size in today's stores even the modelart at Mumbai was kind of small shop, some big toy chain should start something, children sections in most malls have really small selection of toys and not too much variety, no Alice in wonderland type of feeling for kids to get lost

[winstoncds]

Modelart would have been paying 80-90000 rs. per month for for that much space (around 250 sq ft) in Inorbit mall. So just imagine how much guaranteed sales they would need to just cover the mall rents. Factor in staff salaries, electricity and other fixed costs, and the figure would touch 1.25 lakhs a month. High mall rents are one reason why I do not hope to see exclusive toy shops atleast in Bombay. The only way to go with such items is online. It is nice to have a brick and mortar store if it is your own place and do not have to pay exhorbitant rents.

[MotoS]

Agreed totally, online is the way to go for niche products and reach wider audience who cannot access the real stores, but sadly the lack of variety as mentioned earlier is not there, just check the ebay india store, hope dreamcarmodels will do something in this area

[kvsk4]

vaas2000 Wrote:

kvsk4 Wrote:edited: soon coming are the fuel powered buggies alongwith r/c scale models. Let me know if someone interested in r/c racing.

Whoa, that's awesome news. What will be they priced like? Coz i've seen such fuel powered Rcs in modelart here and they were all above 30k!
So any news about when they are planning to import next batch of wellys to India? and any new models other than what were already imported coming in?

We might see fresh stock of Welly in 10 days or less, probably. No info at the moment about what models they might import. I'll be updated by my contact coming Monday after he arrives back from meeting his seniors. Only then can the true picture be known. Also, if some of you guys can draft a list of Welly models so that I can forward it to Zapak people. Maybe we can get something that we really need.

Regarding the buggies or dirt vehicles, well these run on castor oil, kerosene, etc, etc, mixture. But don’t worry the fuel comes pre-mixed and ready to use in 4 ltrs packing. These are 3cc engine cars/vehicles sort of buggies priced at Rs.15,999/-, the fuel is 2,999/- for 4 ltrs and the starter is worth Rs.1,500/-. So the initial investment is Rs.20,500/-. Spares are available as part of after sales services.

Diablo, as you must be aware, these fueled vehicles are usually raced on weekends by enthusiasts on open lands. You can’t see their actual power on cemented surface or tarmac unlike the drift cars which are priced at Rs.25,000/- or so. These are off-road beasts that run & jump like anything on dirt. Even little bit water can do no damage. R/C racing with my son will be a dream come true for me and I wish the same for you Winston This reminds me that Karan (my elder son) needs to develop his skills on a decent battery powered r/c racing car, something like the ones we supplied to Amaron which come with 3 frequencies. Only then will he learn to handle the fuel powered stuff later. This is interesting man- assembling diecast kits and racing r/c cars with your child…amazing.

Well, lets get to work now….remember we are playing Frustrated Collectors in this thread

[kvsk4]

karansharma8783 Wrote:...... It will take quite some time for such fads to catch on in India. And it will have to start from the metro cities. India is still basically a rural place with kites and lattoos and kabbadi for the masses. No middle-class person with an average salary is going to pay 1500 bucks for a hunk of diecast metal which he won't be able to hand over to his kid to tamper around with it coz it costs so much in the first place. I remember when I was a kid, back then my dad was still in a lower position in the company but still my parents used to buy me the little Hot Wheels. 125 bucks was quite a lot back then and I used to smash those ones whose wheels were stuck or simply refused to turn......

Guys, try to look at this hobby with a broader perspective. Diecast model collecting hobby is not just limited to 1:18s or bigger scales only priced in Rs.1000s and we don’t need to concentrate on Metros to start with; sadly this is the wrong approach. Every child (male usually) strongly desires of a ‘beautiful’ automobile of his own when he will grow up. Give him a small car toy and he will spend time dreaming & playing with it, and Karan you have proved it in your own story. Same was and is the case with me and many others here.

We have universe full of lovely scale models in smaller scales and affordable prices. Remember how majority of us all started with 1:64 Hotwheels only but in current times a lot affordable variety is available. Maybe the answer is--- more of small diecast scale models of good quality to promote this hobby. Yes, this is what is lacking in the market to promote this hobby amongst masses ---- present to kids the smaller scales not as mere toys but as miniature scaled models. And online is the easiest cost effective way it seems.