The big event for the airsoft community and industry has finally arrived, the IWA Outdoor Classics 2018 in Nuremberg, Germany. Whilst it is about outdoors, hunting, leisure, and security, for the airsoft community, it is all about airsoft industry and what the airsoft companies are going to offer for the year. Whilst the SHOT Show is a big event with a good representation of the airsoft industry, it is the IWA Outdoor Classics where you get to see airsoft in full force.
Master Chief and I arrived on Thursday, still a day when everybody was still setting up their displays at the Nuremberg Messe. The only event that mattered for us was a dinner with the Gunfire guys for some catching up and personal banter. But on Friday, the first day of the IWA Outdoor Classics 2018, we decided to come in early at around 0730H hoping to avoid the long queue for our badges. We indeed arrived early and waited for 30 minutes for our Press badges only to be informed that we did not need to. We just have to go to the entrance scanners and have our Press tickets scanned and the our badges will be automatically be printed out.
Having started our day awkwardly, we proceeded to the Press room located in the NCC Ost (East). A quick breakfast and some updates on the Popular Airsoft website, we finally were about to do our job for the day. In had Master Chief familiarise himself with the new video camera we brought, and hopefully would make his life easier covering the booths.
Charlie Suarez of G&G said he is ready anytime in the morning so we immediately went to to G&G booth. We said our hellos to the father and daughter team of company, Gerry and Amanda Liao, and Master Chief started his video work with Charlie. I checked out the items on display, such as the upcoming CM16 LMGs (Light Machine Guns) and I can say that G&G got a hot seller. The price was not available yet and hopefully they get released in Summer during the height of airsoft season. There are more pistols and the collaboration between G&G and PolarStar Airsoft, the PR-15 PRO HPA-powered airsoft rifle.
By 1100H, our appointment with ASG came up and whilst Master Chief filmed the company’s famous Thomas “Deadpool” Mikkelsen, for me it was a meeting with Jacob Thomsen who head the International Sales and Marketing and Ben Webb, Media Relations. We talked about what the company are planning to do as they do have a lot to share to the airsoft media and community. Expect more information and content from ASG in the following months as Ben Webb will start turning on the faucet for more announcements and stories from the Danish company.
Right after ASG, we went to Hall 8 to find out the airsoft exhibitors there. RedWolf Airsoft was there, as well as Valken Tactical and Xcortech. We first set the schedules for video ops with Max Lai and from there headed back to Press Room for our lunch break. It has to be quick as we have to meet the APS team by 1300H on the other side of Nuremberg Messe, in Hall 3 to be exact.
APS, under the management of Mr. Frog Lee and Joe Lau doing the product development, has been aggressively releasing new iterations of their Phantom Extremis Rifle (PER) Series. Last year, we had our hands on the MK2, but for IWA 2018, they gave more information to us the upcoming MK7. This has a PDW stock which is generous with its battery compartment, which is big enough to accommodate 20C Lipo batteries and can be quickly deployed. We also get to have a closer look at the new Shark B a CO2-powered blowback pistol that can go full auto, and offers an improvement over the Black Hornet, which was already a beast.
The discussions with APS was very much animated that we almost lost track of time. It was almost 1400H and we had to rush to the RedWolf Airsoft booth. Max Lai had Marck West do the video with Master Chief. Whilst I had to take photos on what was on display, it was also the first time that gorgeous ladies helped man the booth. Marck presented the different products that RedWolf carries and you will see them once we get to post the videos on YouTube after we get back from the event as the bandwidth at the hotel as well as at the Nuremberg Messe was slow and we cannot just wait uploading the videos whilst there are a lot to see at the event.
Right after Marck, Rich of Wolverine Airsoft was also present at the RedWolf to talk about the upcoming MTW or the Modular Training Weapon which is the first complete HPA-powered airsoft rifle that they will be releasing. They are also developing an HPA buffer tube as well according to Master Chief.
ICS was up next for the day and we were curious about the Hera Arms CQR a collaboration between ICS and ASG and it is fully licensed from Hera Arms of Germany. There are some photos of real deal Hera Arms in the Facebook album of the first day and we sure like what we see and hopefully ICS would be making the full line-up. As for the ICS CXP series, we were curious about the new additions such as the CXP-YAK and the CXP-MMR. Luis of ICS was more than happy to oblige and talked about these products.
By 1600H were already done for the day. Mike of Border Wars told us that he planned to leave early as he wanted to avoid the traffic at the venue, especially the traffic at the parking area where sometimes it will take an hour just to get out. We agreed to leave by 1700H as I am already tired, having slept for just a few minutes rather than getting a good rest Thursday night. Mike dropped us at our hotel and we checked the footage of the videos. To our disappointment, whilst the videos were good, the audio capture was so bad that the videos turned out to be unusable. We had to do a retake of the videos so that means Master Chief has to work doubly hard on the second day so we can recover from the audio debacle of Day 1.
It was a Mexican night for us for our annual dinner with NLAirsoft and Border War with Laylax as represented by Masaki now a regular member of this Friday night dinner group of IWA. From there, we proceeded to Finnegans, the watering hole for the airsoft community during the IWA Outdoor Classics. After around three pints, my eyes and mind can’t help it anymore that we decided to call it a night by 2300H. Finally, I get to grab a few hours of sleep Friday night, and be in better shape today.
Day 1 Album of the IWA Outdoor Classics 2018 on the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page.