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Forum Hat news ?

Hi friends. The Hat's forum has been silent since November... no news from them, no new posts from followers... Do any of you friends have any news about this? Thanks a lot.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

It looks as if the 'Everything Toy Soldiers' (ETS) Gallery is still active, with some good recent posts.

As for the rest of the HaT Forum, this now appears to be dormant, possibly frozen, maybe deep-frozen. I have not tried posting there for a long time, having become less-than-impressed by the 'editorial' regime which deleted even mildly-critical (eg: positively-critical) comments on the output of HaT and new product ideas.

It does look as if, given the abscence of new product, that the old Forum - which used to be so active - is now defunct.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

Minuteman
It looks as if the 'Everything Toy Soldiers' (ETS) Gallery is still active, with some good recent posts.

As for the rest of the HaT Forum, this now appears to be dormant, possibly frozen, maybe deep-frozen. I have not tried posting there for a long time, having become less-than-impressed by the 'editorial' regime which deleted even mildly-critical (eg: positively-critical) comments on the output of HaT and new product ideas.

It does look as if, given the abscence of new product, that the old Forum - which used to be so active - is now defunct.
It hasn't escaped my notice either.
Ah well, I think its just best to regard the brand as practically gone as an active participant within the hobby, and just be greatful that we still at least have the back catalogue of sets, (providing the sets you want are restocked anytime soon of course!).
Tbh, that in itself is a bigger issue to me than the forums status.

Just a shame someone couldn't of taken on the brand, who was mad keen on the hobby, and had the money & passion for it.
Someone who could of at least kept their more popular existing sets restocked quicker anyway!

Re: Forum Hat news ?

The old Hat forum was for many years my favourite place to hang out on the net, lots going on most of the time , wonderful debates and learnt loads both about the hobby and history. Nothing lasts forever and I will always miss Hat 95/08 they were the glory years for Hat the hobby and hobbyists. The passion has gone and at least we have the 300 plus sets in the back catalogue. Decision making was not a strength of Hat`s and some of them over the years were bewildering, I cannot see a return ever, as we the primary customer group are aging and all that goes with it. I visited the forum a few weeks back and saw it was inactive, and a sad sight it was too, for those of us lucky enough to have participated on it at it`s peak, well how lucky were we and what great times.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

I miss the Halcyon Days of the HaT forum, too. It was a bright spot in my day to check out the latest debate on this or that topic - be it history or hobby. All I can say is thanks for the many fond memories.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

It is sad about HaT, I believe that illness was the main factor in the change from a prolific producer down to what it is now. I'm still waiting for the promised (and sculpted) baggage camels.

We had a good repartee going, and just like Alan, my face appears on some of their boxes.
O, such heady days.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

Hello,
as far as I can remember, the company behind the HAT brand is Pacific Coast Company Ltd., which actually makes household items from injection-moulded plastic.

When new injection molding machines were bought there in 1998, they were looking for products that could be manufactured with one of the old machines, which were still in good condition. An older employee then began to produce plastic figures, which quickly aroused great interest.

This business performed very well in the years 2000-2015 and delivered good revenues. Therefore, several people from PCC were employed in the plastic figures division. I think that this older employee then fell seriously ill and died in 2015. And with him the knowlegde of the old machines was gone. Since then things haven't been running smoothly in the HAT figure division...

HAT-Production was then relocated to China, but there were also various problems (material and quality defects, massive overruns of delivery times, etc.). Since then, HAT has never really gotten back on its feet.

And maybe the final end is threatening there now....because nothing new has happened there for nearly two years...the last Release of new sets was the A1022-Batch (in October 2020)

Re: Forum Hat news ?

This is the Hat voice: Greetings!
No need to wonder and feel free to write us anytime! We are indeed still active. There just has been a lot of supply chain problems for everyone. There has been lock down in the factories and some other issues.
Sincerely,
Al

Re: Forum Hat news ?

Any chance to have an update on the planned Netherlands Carabineers and Prussian artillery train? And as you are on strelets website, which is a very informative platform, do you think your response could exceed the usual hat 3 word reply?

Re: Forum Hat news ?

Thank you for this insight Gerd, most interesting. Information beats opinion anytime.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

Taran
It is sad about HaT, I believe that illness was the main factor in the change from a prolific producer down to what it is now. I'm still waiting for the promised (and sculpted) baggage camels.

We had a good repartee going, and just like Alan, my face appears on some of their boxes.
O, such heady days.
Same here; my family got a kick out of Dad/Grandpa being "famous."

Re: Forum Hat news ?

How did you guys get your pictures or likenesses on the boxes? Which ones? There's a story there me thinks.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

I'll let the others speak for themselves, but I'm on the 7YW Austrian Action box as a grenadier and the ACW Confederate Infantry box. Over the years I developed a personal correspondence with H and one day the question came up if I'd send in a picture to be the face on a box so I sent in a couple old shots of me in my prime... I imagine it was the same way with the other guys more or less. As I said, I got a kick out of it.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

The ACW command set is me, Wayne is the ACW marching ,Sander who is not very active here is the 7yw command . The story is we were active for a long time on the old forum and a trust was built over time, looking back I think it was a thank you for loyalty shown over a lot of years.

Re: Forum Hat news ?

To Marco Zappa >>

It's good to hear that HAT will continue.
But especially if you have production and delivery problems, then you have to give this information to your customers. In today's world, a lack of activity and poor customer care is a great danger for a company. Communicate openly and actively with your customers about the current problems and your plans for the future.

You will find a lot of understanding.....but silence and passivity will drive your customers away...