Our modelers' survey that we had posted on the web site for the last several months of 1998 yielded some very valuable and interesting results. The would like to thank everyone that took the time to participate and a special thanks to Wayne Calder for compiling the results. This project started as Wayne's idea and really worked out well. These results were presented to manufacturer members and made available to the general club membership at the club's 1999 convention in Portland.

General Observations - We had almost the same number of club members and non-members participate. Fully 88% of respondents expressed an interest in trucks (the highest category), 70% in construction equipment, 60% in automobiles (of all kinds), 51% in fire and emergency vehicles, 50% in railroad maintenance of way, 44% in intermodal models, and 39% in agricultural equipment. Interestingly, club members showed greater interest in racing cars, buses, construction, and emergency equipment while non-members showed greater interest in automobiles (not race cars), farm equipment, and railroad maintenance of way vehicles.

Almost half of members and non-members alike discovered the club through magazines and the modeling press; the other half of members found out from another club member while non-members generally found us through the internet. Members tended to have larger collections than non-members (870 vs. 240) and purchase more models each month. The largest collection was over 6,000 models (verified by Wayne)! More non-members than members had railroad layouts; this supports the notion that members' dollars were purchasing more vehicles without competing for railroad layout dollars.

Highest priorities on everyone's "wish lists" were more North American prototype trucks, construction equipment, and family type automobiles and light trucks. American autos from the 1960s and 1970s were noted in many instances. Most commonly requested were common, non-descript automobiles and, especially, "muscle cars" of that era. More American fire equipment and Japanese vehicles were also noted.

Modern truck requests included Freightliner FLD and Century models, Kenworth T2000, and Volvo VN models. Trailers specifically requested included auto transporters, dry and liquid bulk trailers, and multi-axle heavy equipment trailers. Vintage trucks and trailers from the 1940s-1960s were also noted.

The respondents owned approximately 105,000 models (22,000 for non-members and 83,000+ for members; remember, almost equal number of respondents). The most commonly mentioned target purchase price range was $10-$20; we think this bodes well for the marketplace that modelers are willing to pay for quality models. We think you'll be seeing more and more quality and models in this price range in the next few years.

The "top twenty" manufacturers most often listed were (1) Herpa, (2) Con-Cor, (3) Athearn, (4) Walthers, (5) Kibri, (6) Busch/Praline, (7) Promotex, (8) Wiking, (9) Alloy Forms, (10) ROCO, (11) A-Line, (12) Magnuson, (13) Trident, (14) Atlas, (15) Lonestar, (16) ROCO Minitanks, (17) Ertl, (18) Preiser, (19) Trucks 'N Stuff, (20) IHC.

Bob Johnson, webmaster