Strelets Forum

Welcome to the Strelets Forum.
Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets.
If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.

Strelets Forum
This Forum is Locked
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

I was at the Huddersfield model show on Sunday & of all the stalls selling kits I would estimate that the ratio was 70% aircraft 30% Tanks the 1/72 plastic figures were notable in there absence, out of the entire sellers on display I only managed to see three yes three boxes of 1/72 figures italieri viet kong & Airfix brit commandos & Russian ww2 infantry.
Although I was not expecting much I was very disappointed I ended up buying 5 boxes of armourfast tanks for £10(only one tank in each box) the lot & an airfix T34 for a fiver the wife was pleased though.

Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

My view is that we are still still as numerous, but things have changed, shows once were the only way to see a lot of stuff, now we have the net, once we bought, or flicked through magazines in W H Smiths , now we look here or one of the other sites on the net, once we had high street stores, now we buy on line on the net. There is ebay for all your nostalgic needs as well as new stuff, now we have a huge range to buy from, we are now more selective where as once we would have bought almost any thing 1/72 on sight. Everyone has to try harder from retailers to manufacturers, its no good churning out sub standard products ,the bar has been raised as have our expectation, the market has in some respects been saturated, count how many 1/72 Shermans, T 34`s or Tiger 1`s there are now in our scale, or how many sets of Napoleonic French infantry....with more on the way, our market place has changed and will keep changing 3D anyone ?.

Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

I agree Allan,
We are just older and generally have more disposable income to spend on our little niche hobby. I have become more selective in the case of magazines I now only buy War games Illustrated, where i religiously used to buy them all with storage being a major problem for my hobby now.

On the case of stores via online i feel figures are very difficult to find in shops today so except for Wonderland Models in Edinburgh, the web is my purchase point

I also felt that their was very little interaction with store owners who had very little interest in the figure side of things with all their interest being in remote controlled vehicle or large kits.

On the subject of 3D Printing, I am not sure how viable it would be for us, the printers are getting cheaper but worth the outlay for us I am not sure. I wonder if companies would allow the data file to be purchased perhaps if they did in the form of it allowing a complete sprue to be printed off with a licence to produce a set amount of sprues(Thinking along the lines of computer software licences).

I could see it working for terrain pieces but how detailed would some of our Napoleonic uniforms be. especially for the button counters out there of which I am not one.

As for the future the ranges and quality covered have greatly improved but worryingly some companies have decided to reduce the product and increase the costs this is a trend that i hope they reverse, this policy will only put a strain on loyal supporters of this range and scale of figures.

Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

I've also seen how the 1/72 figures disapear from the scene the last years. And if these figures no longer är seen on events, shoops and meeting's this hobby for sure is dying. To get interest from other people our hobby, figures and related products must be seen in public. Forum's on internet like this is not knew'n by most of people. They are just knew'n by (old) enthusiast's. If sellers and producer's no longer visit event's and market's they contribute to a process that will kill themselves and the hobby hiding in the dark...

Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

Sorry for my late reply Andre B I totally agree with you. It is down to us the buyers to turn up and buy. The same goes for the few shops that are left in my neck of the woods there are more shops selling Warhammer (six shops) than 1/72 models and figures (2 badly stocked shops.} This can not bode well for our hobby.

Re: Sob, Moan and Lament are we a dying Breed ?????

I use the web for most of my purchases. I have moved away from Southern California where the excellent Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair, and Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove are located. Living in rural Kentucky there is not a decent hobby shop that I know of in at least 60 miles, and probably further.

We may be a dying breed, but there are still plenty of figures to buy and I for one and looking forward to buying a lot more in my retirement.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
https://bunkermeister.blogspot.com/