Airsoft Arms Fair – oktober 2012
Josh har varit på airsoftträffen Airsoft Arms Fair i Storbritannien och gjort ett reportage för Airsoft.nu på engelska.
The Airsoft Arms Fair is an ever growing event held at The Grange, Balsall Common in the West Midlands. It has been taking place since 2010 and each time has attracted some of the nation’s biggest Airsoft retailers.
AAF is held biannually in April and October, over the course of a weekend and it presents a fantastic opportunity for Airsoft players and Retailers to meet, trade, keep in contact and generally keep the community strong. This October’s event was blessed with good weather which made the day for both the exhibitors and visitors alike.
The day started with arrival on site for 9:45, it was brisk and chilly, but it soon warmed up. Even by this time there was an enthusiastic queue building up outside the gate. I stood in line with my cameraman as we chatted with some of the attendees.
The gates opened at 10am, the site is built up of the main Grange building, a large barn-like building, and several marquees. So, we spoke with several retailers, first was Badger Tac.
‘Ratty’ seen here as a visitor gets a feel for one of the many handguns he has on display.
I have met ‘Ratty’ at previous Arms Fairs and the War and Peace show, which takes place down in Kent during the summer. They have attended every AAF, and he believes that gatherings like this are just what British Airsoft really needs. He is proud to keep supporting the event and that their stalls at successive shows have expanded to the point where his store takes up a whole side of the largest marquee.
Tony from Klarus Lighting Technology demonstrated some of their flashlight designs, which exhibited great power and build quality. Their designs being tested by the Lancashire Police; and feedback from Emergency personnel has been very positive.
Steve is the director for Swindon Airsoft, it’s their 3rd time at AAF, but this time they left their shop open, so their stall wasn’t so big this time. They started their shop 3 ½ years ago out of the back of a garage, Steve said “I’ve been playing for years, and when people couldn’t get their stuff, neither could we, so we figured we would start retailing it.”
We spoke with some of the Car-boot sellers, Simon who had been living in South Africa told us that it was his 2nd time at the AAF, it was going well and that if you price your stuff reasonably, it sells.
Brian from Nottingham told us that he had been to every AAF but not as a Car-booter, he was lucky enough to win the Edgar Brother’s MagPul Masada at a previous AAF. He said that he thought it was going well and there were lots more people this time, his stall was one of the bigger ones for a Car-boot seller and he explained to us that he was hoping to open a website within the next year and become a full retailer.
Iain from MilSpec Solutions, exhibiting for the second time at AAF, felt it was much busier than his first show. The Lancashire-based retailer specialise in Gas Blowback guns. Iain and John at Raptor Airsoft emphasised the authentic feel and action that GBB weapons offer.
John also showed us a very special product which he doesn’t reckon that there is anything like it on the market, offering the WE M4 AEG, that is custom modified to your requirements without voiding the gun’s original warranty.
Here’s a photograph of me holding their custom MK18 Mod 0, built from the WE M4 AEG.
Pro-Airsoft Supplies is from Highgate in London, Neville Wynn showed us their extensive range of G&G guns and we briefly spoke about the upcoming G&G GK5C, to which he agreed that G&G would be most likely to make it!
He said they encourage people to pick up the guns and that they expected their best-selling item to be G&G’s new Generation Top-Tech M4 series.
I had a few shots with some of my favourite G&G guns, including their GF85 (Ak 5-ish)…
…and GK99 (Finnish RK95 Rifle).
After a spot of lunch, next to visit was a very special stall in a marquee, what the organisers of the show believed to be the main attraction. A-Squadron ltd. is run by Faith Cowling and Bob Podesta, a man whose career in the British Army spanned 27 years of service and 25 of which were in the Special Air Service (SAS), he trained the SAS Troopers that took part in the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege.
Bob Podesta and Faith Cowling
Their company offers professional training services to all kinds of organisations, from Airsoft/MilSim Teams to Security Firms. These training courses can be tailored for different customer requirements, offering courses in survival training, weapons handling, indoor/close-quarter combat and many other scenarios.
Bob stated that “Learning with Airsoft weapons can transfer to real world skill” and that “(I) think that the Airsoft world will become more widely accepted, it keeps kids off the streets and teaches them about guns safely.”
He was also signing books and Tea mugs on his stand, so I picked myself up a book about the embassy siege and a Tea Mug depicting the event.
Another prominent retailer at the show was East Midlands Airsoft, where Matt Towle told us about their day at the show, he felt that it had been a fairly slow day of sales but it has been worth it, saying that it isn’t all about the sales. Their company has a big eBay presence but they also run several Airsoft sites and have a retail store near Derby.
Matt tells me that they are planning for some big changes in the next year or so, but he cannot say much at the moment!
So, to sum up, the Airsoft Arms Fair is a fantastic day out, I saw people who had brought their families to the show, the weather was great and everyone was enjoying themselves and we look forward to covering the next AAF!
/Josh
