Sebastian Topp, Managing Director NOCH GmbH & Co. KG

“Clearly the personal contact with the visitors, our all-important end customers. We have the opportunity here to receive initial feedback on our new products and to enter into discussions.”

1st question:
What do you always look forward to most at INTERMODELLBAU?
The visitors, of course! We have already presented a few interesting new products to the trade public this year and, as every year, we will be meeting model builders and model railroaders for the first time in Dortmund and are looking forward to receiving direct feedback in personal discussions.

2nd question:
What do you think makes a trade fair like INTERMODELLBAU so important for the model-making world?

Clearly the personal contact with the visitors, our all-important end customers. Here we have the opportunity to receive initial feedback on our new products for 2025 and to start a conversation. Although we present the products on our website www.noch.de and on our YouTube channel in a personal presentation and there is the opportunity to give feedback via comments or emails, a really good product thrives on personal interaction. If you test the new Gras-Master 4.0 together with a model builder on site, for example, and talk about it, you get a very precise impression of where you have done a good job and where you may still need to make a few adjustments. Incidentally, the new Gras-Master 4.0 will be battery-powered from the new model generation, which we will also be presenting in Dortmund, and has a number of other great features, such as an ingenious interchangeable container system and much more. Some of these innovations and ideas came about as a direct result of discussions and experiences at trade fairs. So you can see how important it is to come together in person.

3rd question:
What topics and trends are driving the industry/your sector this year?

Of course, the general economic and political situation is currently having a major impact. On the one hand, this is forcing us to make some savings, but on the other hand, I am also seeing more and more manufacturers trying out new forms of cooperation and product developments that have not been done before. “Necessity is the mother of invention”, as the saying goes, and I think that model railroaders can therefore look forward to a little more courage from manufacturers and corresponding products. In our case, these are clearly investments in major projects such as Gras-Master 4.0 or the castle, with the aim of becoming a technology leader and attracting new customers.