Schwanheim Airlines Collectibles Fair 2018 - Field Report

[Henry Tenby]

I have been attending the Schwanheim airline collectibles show going back some 20 years now, and it is an event that I truly love attending. Many of the attendees are like myself, long-term regulars who are now part of the furniture! Historically the show is an excellent place to find nice airline display models for one's collection, and in this field report I am going to reveal who this year's show stacked up against past year shows.

Although the show was a lot of fun, I have to say for me it was a one-man show, with Patrick van Rooijen's table set-up being the star of the event. He brought a large amount of models from his home in the Netherlands and he had professional display models for all tastes and budgets. For some reason, there were a lot less models (other than Patrick) than in years past. The German seller "Winaud" (who only speaks German and has the display at the front entrance) had a very limited selection with nothing earth shattering for the serious collector.

A non English speaking local had some models he was selling from his car, parked a few blocks from the venue, including a 1/50 VASP 737-200, a 1/100 Atlantis DC-8-63 by Airplast, and a Walter Bremel Sudflug DC-9 (which a good friend of mine ended up purchasing as it is a rare model in good shape for German themed collectors). He also had a nice condition BEA Viscount 1/72 in plastic by Westway Models, but he had an unreasonable pricing expectation of 350 Euros, and the model did not come with a stand.

Very few other vendors had nice display models for sale, apart from several tables loaded with Philippine type models and Alupa models, neither of which are ideal for the serious collector. So there you have it, the 2018 Schwanheim show was quite lacklsutre for model collectors compared to year's past. But to quote Forest Gump, airline collectibles shows are like a box of chocolates, in that you never know what you're going to get, unless you get inside and have a look.

[Patrick van Rooijen]

Thank you so much for your nice words Henry! It was great seeing you there and look forward seeing you again at the Amsterdam Aviation Collectors Fair where there will be more vendors with fantastic Aircraft Display Models for the collectors!
Cheers, Patrick

[Henry Tenby]

Your tables made the show for many model collectors, and you really go to a lot of effort to pack the models properly, and bring them great distance by road to the show.

This is not an easy endeavour, and most people probably do not realize how much effort is involved in what you do in setting up your tables. And you always bring a nice range of models for collectors with different budgets. Without you being at the Schwanheim show it would have been a bust for the serious model collector.

So thank you Patrick! And I am most certainly planning to attend the Amsterdam show you are organizing so well for this coming February.