This weekend sees the staging of the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China at the Beijing Exhibition Centre in the capital city and the main RC related halls, 9 & 11, will see 70 booths display their products among over 300 exhibitors of hobby products. With international Chinese RC brands like Hobbywing, FlySky, Gens ace, Savox, Sunpadow, Surpass Hobby, ISDT, and Carisma represented as well as foreign brands Kyosho and Futaba, the Expo will also feature a number of RC car demos area which will greet visitors as they enter the exhibition centre. With the Expo covering 25,000 square metres, the promoters have created a designated Buggy & Rally Demo area, an RC Drifting area, and a Crawler area, where members of the public will get the opportunity to try each of these disciplines for themselves – a key ‘try me’ opportunity to encourage and attract new interest in the RC hobby at all levels. With Red RC visiting the established & important Expo for the first time this weekend, talking to those in the industry who have attended previously we have been warned to be surprised by the size of the crowds the Expo attracts and how busy it is. Officially more than 70,000 attended last year over the 3-days. In addition to public visitors, the show also attracts buyers and distributors, brand representatives, supply chain and manufacturing professionals, product development and marketing teams, and institutions (museums, education, sports). Running from Friday to Sunday, the HEC also has a huge number of diecast model exhibitors, many of whom do limited edition show releases which contribute to the high public attendance and hype around the weekend. While we will focus on RC car related content while visiting, we will also be looking at diecasts both out of personal interest but also to explore if there is anything to be learned from what that segment are doing to generate the current interest in that market especially in China.