Along with being a frequent-flyer junkie ( ), my other obsession is collecting die-cast miniature model airliners.

With today's manufacturing processes the models appear to be miniature replicas of the real thing - except you can park this 747 on a bookshelf! It's just a little hard to picture 1/400 or 1/500 scale FlyerTalkers cramming the front end of a UA 747 (in a miniature version of the PiP Express!

The variety of models and color schemes are amazing (although European and Asian airline color schemes dominate), and there is already a growing market for one-of-a-kind models for serious collectors.

In my small but growing collection I have miniatures of almost all of Southwest's theme aircraft (Shamu, LoneStar 1 etc.), a couple of 747s (TWA and Air Force One) and a Delta MD-11.

Anybody else in FlyerTalk collect die-casts?

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AlphaSigOU
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well-known.