Dortmund (AWe) – The INTERMODELLBAU exhibition attracted 77,000 visitors to the Dortmund Exhibition Centre despite very warm outdoor swimming pool weather and a one day shorter duration. The significantly higher number of visitors each day allowed the exhibition organiser to completely fulfil the wish of many exhibitors for reduced time and cost but still offer a multi-day focused platform for contact with an international model-making community. Retailers and manufacturers benefited from a weekend with an extremely high number of visitors. “INTERMODELLBAU has very successfully met this year’s challenge. It continues to be the worldwide largest exhibition for model making and model sports,” said Sabine Loos, CEO of Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH. “About 550 exhibitors showcased their products and services at INTERMODELLBAU in 2018 and achieved excellent sales.

Good news for the exhibitors: Exhibition sales per visitor significantly increased in 2018. The average spending was EUR 250 per visitor last year compared to EUR 307 this year. 82 per cent of the visitors purchased or ordered something at INTERMODELLBAU 2018. Exhibition sales therefore reached about EUR 19 million. That was the result of a survey conducted by an independent exhibition market research institute.

INTERMODELLBAU allows exhibitors to address customers they will not find at any other exhibition because more than 50 per cent of all visitors only go to INTERMODELLBAU and no other comparable exhibition.

About 86 per cent of the exhibitors stated that the expectations they had when they came to the exhibition were partly or entirely fulfilled; 5 per cent stated that their expectations were even exceeded. INTERMODELLBAU 2018 was also well received by the visitors. When asked about their satisfaction with this year’s exhibition, the visitors gave INTERMODELLBAU average ratings equivalent to the school mark ‘good’.

Visitors also came from Canada and Brazil

More than 17 per cent of the visitors travelled to the exhibition from abroad. They came, for example, from the Benelux countries, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Canada and Brazil.

This year, INTERMODELLBAU again attracted visitors from all German states. Besides North Rhine Westphalia, large visitor groups also came from Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate.

18.5 per cent of the visitors travelled 50 to 100 kilometres, 32.7 per cent covered 100 to 300 kilometres and 19.9 per cent even accepted a distance of more than 300 kilometres.

Model railways and aircrafts very popular

Visitors gave the best ratings of all programme highlights to aeromodelling and the show flights in Hall 3B, ship modelling in Hall 5 and the relatively new programme items, INTERCOPTER Racing Cup and Mad Metal Machines.

The most popular product ranges at the exhibition were: Railways, aircrafts, cars and minicars. There was also a great interest in tools, accessories and construction kits. The entire range of products at INTERMODELLBAU was rated by the visitors as ‘good’.

Hot Races in Hall 1 (Westfalenhalle)

The drone racing introduced in 2017 took place again in Hall 1. This contest was prepared over many months by the FPV Model Racing Sport Club of the Ruhr Region (FPV Modellrennsport Ruhrgebiet e. V.) and the Rhenish Multicopter Club (Rheinland Multikopter e.V.) More than 100 pilots participated.

Besides pre-selected applicants from Germany, Italy, Latvia, Switzerland, Poland, The Netherlands and Austria and last year’s champion Heiko Schenk (33) from Frankfurt, further pilots could qualify for the main race on Saturday during the preceding exhibition days. The winners were: 1st place: Andy Hahn from Frankfurt a. M., 2nd place: Nils Brinkmann from Lünen near Dortmund and 3rd place: Timothy Trowbridge from Neerach in Switzerland.

Visitors and other interested persons could also watch the spectacular flight manoeuvres via Live Feed in Hall 2 or online via Twitch. New this year: Visitors who wanted to do more than just watch could prove their skills and gain flying experience ‘from a pilot’s view’ with a FPV drone during the ‘Be a Pilot’ event in Hall 2 on Sunday.

A further highlight on Sunday was the final round of the Mad Metal Machines contest. The self-built, remote-control combat robots fought for the second time in Hall 2N. The premiere of this contest took place at INTERMODELLBAU 2017. The winner robots in the different weight classes in 2018 are:

Raptorweight – 1st place: Lightjockey from Andreas Hollermann from Löningen; 2nd place: Surgeon from Ralf Schneider from Gmünden; 3rd place 3: Rambo from Jonas Fink from Frankfurt a. M.

Featherweight – 1st place: Omega from Stef van Iterson from Amsterdam; 2nd place: Equonox from Dennis Martens from Rotterdam; 3rd place: Anubis von René Hennig from Berlin.

85 per cent of the visitors and 83 per cent of the exhibitors have already decided to come to INTERMODELLBAU again in 2019. Next year’s exhibition will take place on 4 to 7 April.

INTERMODELLBAU 2018 – Partner and Exhibitor Testimonials:

Ludger Katemann, Vice President of the German Model Flyers Association (Deutscher Modellflieger Verband - DMFV):

“We are glad to see that the INTERMODELLBAU exhibition is continuously developing. New topics like FPV flying have meanwhile become an integral part of the exhibition. The quality of the displayed and demonstrated aircraft models and the pilots was European top class again in 2018. The German Model Flyers Association (DMFV) is committed to the high technical quality of the exhibition, which is also reflected by its legal advice to model flyers. INTERMODELLBAU presented itself strongly in 2018.”

Karl-Friedrich Ebe, Exhibition Consultant of the Model Railway Association in Germany (Modellbahnverband in Deutschland - MOBA):

“We are more than satisfied with this year’s INTERMODELLBAU; it has exceeded all our expectations and

is simply THE flagship model railway exhibition in Germany. We were already overwhelmed by the large number of visitors on Thursday. A very large number of visitors came from The Netherlands, Great Britain and France. German visitors travelled a distance of up to 600 kilometres.”

Josef Dragani, Vice President of the German Minicar Club (Deutscher Minicar-Club - DMC):

DMC, the German Minicar Club, is extremely satisfied with the exhibition result. The number of visitors on our stand was comparable to those of previous years. Important to us is that we reach end users, who are unfamiliar with this hobby, and provide them with important information and local contacts and introduce children and adolescents to this hobby by letting them have a go at it themselves.”

Dieter Matysik, Chairman of nauticus, the German Association for Ship Model Making and Ship Model Sports:

“We had a very large number of visitors on all exhibition days. As far as I could see, sales were good on the stands in our hall. We could also welcome a representative from the Historic Papercraft Modelling Workgroup (Arbeitskreis historischer Kartonmodellbau). We also had new vendors from Poland and Ukraine in the commercial area. We could again increase the attractiveness of the displayed model ship exhibits. Overall, it was a really good INTERMODELLBAU exhibition.”

Eric-Michael Peschel, Event Marketing Manager at Gebrüder Märklin & Cie. GmbH:

Dortmund was again a complete success. The aisles were always crowded and the quality of the exhibition is constantly high. We are really very satisfied with the products and the audience. There were many model makers during the week and many young families at the weekend – that shows that the railway modelling hobby is still alive. Furthermore the organiser’s exhibition team has really anticipated every wish we had. Absolutely perfect!”

Walter Rechthaler, General Manager at aero-naut Modellbau GmbH & Co. KG:

“I have participated in INTERMODELLBAU for almost 40 years and I must say that I am really extremely satisfied with the exhibition. The influx of visitors was enormous, we had many enquires and very good sales.”

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Jörg Schmidt, Owner of Joswood GmbH:

“The exhibition has been very successful so far. We primarily make industrial models and meet exactly the right target group here in Dortmund. It is a home game so to speak. Everybody knows the model. We meet many regular customers here but also new customers.”

Bernd Lenz, Managing Director of Lenz Elektronik GmbH

“We judge the success of an exhibition by whether or not we were very busy and I can definitely say that we were. INTERMODELLBAU is really a leading exhibition when it comes to end users – the interest is gigantic. The hard core of model makers mainly come to us here on exhibition Thursday and Friday.”

Peter Kratz, Sales Manager at Klaus Krick Modelltechnik:

“The exhibition is one day shorter but we have the same success. However, the quality is more important to us. The reason why we are here is the special visitor segment and this time we had a very large number of real modelling enthusiasts on our stand.”

Claus Wieczorek, Authorised Signatory / Technical Sales Manager at WABECO – Walter Blombach GmbH:

“The visitor quality was already surprisingly good on the first day of the exhibition – despite the nice weather. Our stand always gets a very large number of visitors, particularly from Belgium and The Netherlands. We had superb talks, made new contacts and sold really well.”

Martin Fechner, Customer Service Manager at Bruder Spielwaren GmbH & Co. KG:

“We exhibit at INTERMODELLBAU because it is an internationally recognised and well-attended exhibition, at which we provide information, showcase our new products, cultivate our image and, of course, sell. Here, we reach modelling fans, families and new customers alike. A very large number of visitors come from the Benelux countries but also, for example, from Scandinavia. The exhibition is still regarded as being the industry’s flagship exhibition and is therefore one of the most important special interest exhibitions for us.”

Bernd Brand, Owner of ScaleArt OHG Modellbaumanufaktur:

“Despite summer temperatures, the exhibition was again very well visited; we made many good contacts and had good sales. Our customers simply expect us to be here and exhibit and to showcase our latest products.”

Anja Zapf, Owner of zapf-modellspielwaren:

“We are here for the first time – participation with five exhibition days was unfortunately not possible for us – and we really have no complaints. We have had good sales so far, reached many new customers and also talked with regular customers.”

Kira Schurna from the Online and Event Marketing Department at WIKING Modellbau GmbH & Co. KG:

“Our stand is always very well visited on the first exhibition days. The exhibition is really one of our highlight exhibitions. We produce two coveted models specifically for INTERMODELLBAU and collectors can exclusively get them at the exhibition. Many people often play with SIKU models in their childhood and later swap to WIKING. We can ideally address both target groups at this exhibition.”



Susanne Dussling-Toniggold, Owner of ETON e.K. – PROXXON Dealer:

“We had a really excellent stand position here in Hall 8. We always showcase our new products at INTERMODELLBAU and that is always very well received, even by international visitors. Some of our customers pre-order products which they can later collect from us at the exhibition but we also have many walk-in customers. We definitely intend to book such a large stand again next year.”