The 2021 Big 400 Scale Survey Results
​Pt2.1: You & Your Collecting

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to part 2.1 of the results of the Big 400 Scale Survey. Whereas part 1 provided a baseline for people's thoughts about the brands in a general way, part 2 definitely has the opportunity to be more interesting as it's aim was to look at who is buying 400 scale models, why and what they want to see.
The style of questions followed that of part 1, except here there was more opportunity for valid multi-choice answers. With a larger pool of questions and those questions aimed at numerous areas of 400 scale I hope there is the start of some data that can be used by brands to target what they are making at their audience.
There is definitely space for further surveys in the future, perhaps looking at the individual brands in more detail, but for now here are the results of the first half of the second survey.
RESPONDENTS
The survey was opened on the morning of May 1 and closed on May 5th. Across those five days 470 responses were gathered. Once again as Google Forms has no mechanism to limit responses by ip address I asked for e-mail addresses. The integrity of the results is high and I see less duplicates than in part 1 - certainly not enough to impact the results.
As in part 1 responses were gathered via the website, Facebook Groups, Instagram posts, model forums and my mailing list so it is a broad range of collector's responding.
Thank you to everyone who took part.

Results & Analysis


​Q1: WHAT IS YOUR AGE RANGE?
The answers to this question fill me with hope for the scale as the age of collectors is nicely segmented across the age ranges, with over 33% being under 25 and nearly 50% being under 30. This makes me think that not only is 400 scale attracting new younger collectors but that the hobby has a long future ahead, despite the lure of gaming and such. Although possibly over-represented on the forums those 45 and over represent around 30% of collectors answering. This question was optional but only two people declined to answer it.
This question also gives an opportunity to try and determine patterns of collecting based on age ranges, which I'll try and explore when looking at collecting criteria.

​Q2: IN WHICH REGION DO YOU LIVE?
This question mattered mostly to see a) if 400 scale collecting is a global thing and b) to see if the survey results are under-represented in a specific region. Unsurprisingly English speaking places are better represented so I suspect that Latin America at 6.4% is under-represented substantially. Nonetheless, both mainland Europe and Asia both get good representation, although no doubt a lot smaller than the markets probably are in these regions. Certainly it appears 400 scale is popular throughout the globe, with Africa's under-representation probably being a mixture of language and audience size on the platforms I'm using to ask for votes.

​Q3: HOW MANY MODELS ARE IN YOUR COLLECTION?
This question didn't offer up many surprises with 38.1% of people collecting in the 100-500 model range but 41.3% collecting less than 100 models. Presumably a lot of the smaller numbers are due to the age of the collector but it also suggests that even when acquiring stats from platforms likely to have almost all the world's largest collectors engaging with them that only around 20% of collectors ever get into serious (500+) numbers of models. That 20% probably account for a disproportionate number of sales, especially from the more niche brands like Aeroclassics with limited distribution pathways.

Q4: HOW MANY MODELS DO YOU BUY A MONTH ON AVERAGE?
Despite there being around 50 400 scale model releases per month most collectors only buy one or two models per month, which given the no doubt widely varying economic situations of people and the ever increasing cost of the models is not a big surprise. Also note how the 17% buying 6+ models per month ties quite closely to the 20% with 500+ model collections. 

Q5: HOW LONG HAVE YOU COLLECTED 400 SCALE?
The results of this question combine quite nicely to suggest a scale in good health that is attracting good numbers of new collectors and retaining a core of long term collectors too.
Q6: WHAT IS YOUR COLLECTION CRITERIA?
This question was multi-select and so the number of responses was a lot more than 470. In its most simple form the results are as follows:
Responses in the other category were variable and often included things that fitted in the existing categories anyway. These callouts are worth making though:
  • Freighters (2 Votes)
  • Government (2 Votes)
  • Aircraft worked on/with (2 Votes)
  • Aircraft Spotted (2 Votes)
  • Aircraft on TV Air Disasters (1 Vote)
  • Unique airframes (1 Vote)
  • Manufacturer House Schemes (1 Vote)
  • Model Price (1 Vote)

Someone put 'Basically anything that DOESN'T come to Toronto', which was interesting. They must really dislike Toronto?
COLLECTION CRITERIA BY AGE RANGES
Filtering the collection criteria results by age provides some interesting comparisons. I found that merging the 6 age ranges into 3 made little difference to the results for them and provided a better sample size. This is the result of that:
Call outs I would make from this data are that unsurprisingly younger collectors strongly favour modern models and as the age range increases classics go up the list to the top. However over a third of younger collectors still have an interest in classic models.

Younger collectors also have a very strong affinity for aircraft that visit a specific airport. It might be a stretch but I suspect this will be their local airport, which perhaps goes some way to explain the recent clammer for Delta CRJs.

Otherwise I think the obvious conclusion is that across age ranges collection criteria are fairly even. Specific airlines and aircraft the collector has flown on are very important categories. I would hazard that many collectors do collect on a geographic basis but just don't think that way about their collecting.
Q7: HOW MANY OF YOUR MODELS DO YOU HAVE ON DISPLAY?
Where 1 was none and 5 was all it looks like the majority of us try and get everything on show:
Q8: DO YOU HAVE A MODEL AIRPORT TO DISPLAY YOUR MODELS ON?
Adding these up about 58% of people don't have a model airport, but an impressive 37% do and even of those that said no 20% wanted one. Considering that only 16% of people have a purchased airport set then it would suggest there is quite a large market for pre-built airport sets beyond what the market is currently selling. Most of the 4% in the other category were either building an airport at the current time or had a combination of the Gemini sets plus their own work. 
Q9: ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ACQUIRING GROUND SERVICE EQUIPMENT?
The answer here was comprehensive. 62% of people wwere interested and 21% might be interested. GSE is currently hard to find and costly. Although there have been a number of individuals start up recently using 3D printing they do not produce the bulk that the market appears to want and even more adventurous companies FantasyWings produce relatively little. This seems like a niche that is waiting to be filled with a good variety of GSE - both modern and classic.
SUMMARY
I'll take a look at the remaining 10 questions in the next part of the results, however the results so far show a hobby that is doing well and a collector base that is gaining new collectors and supporting them across their lifetime in a way that keeps plenty of people engaged.

In the next part we'll see what people think is most important to them in terms of model attributes and what the next moulds they want to see are.

​In the meantime sign up to the new 400 Scale Facebook Group 400iD here: