Matchbox club

[David Tilley]

I have to admit that when I used to get the magazines there was also very little for me. The worst part was, out of the parts that would interest me, I wrote most of it, so there were times when I would flick through the magazine and put it straight down never to read it again. I know we used to have some fun bits in the "scene & heard" that I used to enjoy reading. I used to check out the for sale ads at the back, and I used to enjoy the conventions each year.

I am purely a Superfast to modern basic range collector. So I automatically limited myself in to what I would be interested in, and for the most part, the magazines did cater for Yesteryear collectors. But that was Kevin's passion. If I ran it, I would likely concentrate more on basics from Superfast onwards, ignoring regular wheels and other ranges etc. I remember I kept badgering Kevin to do more basic range models for convention models. Each year they would give away a number of Yesteryear convention models, but nothing for me. Eventually he got into the habit of doing a small run of basics (Austin Minivan, Citroen DS, Porsche 959 to name a few off my head).

It is a shame it has got to the stage it is now, but look carefully. It is not MICA. The website does not mention MICA itself. We are still calling it that, as that name brings with a certain respect. The website was never under MICA as officially it is something completely different on the internet and that company got there first. So now all of it has moved to internet based, the actual name MICA has faded away.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I like the name MICA and like so many other old school collectors, it still means a lot to us. If it was not registered or copyrighted, then can we adopt it for safe keeping. This forum is clearly strong on all Matchbox, it is certainly international, it currently has over 400 members and we are all associated with it...sounds like the MICA name suits us down to the ground!!

I am not saying the forum should be renaimed into MICA, just use the name in some way within the forum and if it were to be used it as 'KEYWORD' the internet bots like the ones crawling all over this site will use it to put us in more search engines.

Why not put it as one of the headings in the 'Lounge' and anything relating to the old, but now dying club can be talked about in there or any subjects covered by the MICA newsletter cab be talked about in there with images or text from the pages displayed.

I don't have a full set of MICA newsletters but enough to help out if members are looking for an article they have missed or forgotten and I would happily transfere articles from my issues, into our newly adopted MICA section, copyright permitting of course.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Idris]

Were we to do anything concerning MICA or the MICA name (and I'm not convinced that we should), then I think we would be extremely ill-advised to do so without formal, written premission from (I assume) Kevin McGimpsey.

[Tinman]

For people around my age (old farts) MICA is (and probably will forever) be the YY Club. It would be interesting to learn how those under 50 view the club and it's image. Would also be interesting to know how younger collectors feel about a club with a printed magazine VS a strictly online presence. With regards to the name, plenty of names have gone into history and many others carry on but have little or none of the same meaning, quality and revelance that they once did.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Were we to do anything concerning MICA or the MICA name (and I'm not convinced that we should), then I think we would be extremely ill-advised to do so without formal, written premission from (I assume) Kevin McGimpsey.

Then so be it and if this is one method of keeping the presence of MICA alive and kicking, I would expect Kevin (there's a great name for you!!), to welcome the idea and be pleased it will live on in a format different to how he originally set it up. He would also be relieved of any commitment to it, it would be nestling safely within this forum and the members here can contribute to it just as we do to all the other threads and topics.

I am sorry for being so vocal about this topic, but it is a case of once its gone its likely to be gone forever and will only be talked about in past tense, so while the chance exists to save something that formed a part of Matchbox collecting, let somebody take that chance and save MICA.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Idris]

I’ve been thinking about this and, yes, I can see a possible role for the printed word in a forum such as this. I do not think a formal magazine would be a success: too much work and too difficult to have it appeal to everyone. Also, where would the contents come from?
Where a market might exist is for downloadable pdf files each containing the information from a specific topic (which appears to have run its course), distilled and rewritten in the form of an article. This would enable individuals to download only those articles which actually interest them and would also provide a medium through which the discussions on the Forum can be preserved. (Look how much we lost with the Lefora downgrade.)
Obviously the question here would be, who would do the work and how would it be paid for? Perhaps the articles could be downloaded for a nominal fee, say £1, with the balance after costs going to the author. Sharing of the files following purchase would/could be an issue, but I don’t see any way round that.
However, we should not underestimate the amount of work involved. We are all busy people, and many of us have significant family and work commitments. For this to work, the articles wouldn’t be the kind of thing that could be knocked off in half an hour. We would need proofreaders, an agreed in-house style and perhaps a copy of Adobe Acrobat (as opposed to Acrobat Reader) for creation and manipulation of the finished pdfs. Then there’s also the little matter of creating a download area with a link to a secure payment system.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

What would members here want from MICA if it were under the control of the 'VBD'...

...A printed newsletter.
...A downloadable newsletter.
...Downloadable professionally written articles.
...Posted articles in a MICA section in the 'Lounge'.
...Something not mentioned above.
...Or none of the above.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Ewan]

I don't know if it helps, but from the perspective of this slightly younger fart (41) who has only really been collecting a couple of years I can say the following:

1. I thought MICA was something that for various reasons had more or less died.
2. The format of both this forum and it's associated site cannot be bettered either online or in print.
3. The most obvious gap is coverage of post-transitional era Superfast and Matchbox International models.
4. The best place to fill this gap would be on this forum and site if possible, but as with most ideas - who would do the work? I would have thought that if the site was expanded to include these models then the forum would automatically follow on - I joined the forum long after discovering the site

I may only be speaking for myself here, but I collect models from all eras. The older I get (and the older my kids get) the more interested I am becoming in models from my own childhood, and information on them is non existent compared to models from the RW era.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Thanks Ewan.

your points in order...

1. MICA appears to be dying and all it has done over the years for collectors will die with it.
I don't want to save the club, just want to keep the club's spirit going by saving the MICA name.

2. Very probably true, it would be very difficult to emulate what we all do here as a printed format, but there are some really good forums out there.

3. Post-Transistional 'Superfast' and Matchbox International Models.
Maybe those transitionals are still waiting to be discovered by us and the word 'Vintage' in our title restricts what later models we want to include, but we do have the occasional 'Nod' to those models.

4. Fill the gap and doing the work.
I am sure there is always room for expansion to cater for the interests of the collectors with those interests, because the 'Core' ingredient of the site and forum will be as originally set out by Nick Jones.

Speaking for myself, I believe I was the same as you Ewan, browsing the website for information and later finding out about the forum section, and pretty damm glad I did, I just love it here, always so much going on and to talk about...

Ghosty.

[nickjones]

I think the mica name is still being used in association with a business.