As an American I typically order all of my Strelets figures from Scott's Model Shop on ebay. His prices are always fair, and as far as I can tell the cheapest anywhere in the states. A typical Strelets set usually runs me about 15$ on his shop, which becomes even cheaper if you buy in bulk. Scott's shop also sells Linear A's products, another great manufacturer that I enjoy, and those sets are listed from anywhere between 18-25$ a box. A little pricey but not the worst, I've certainly enjoyed some of their ranges in the past. Just recently, however, the new Assyrians and Marc Anthony's Egyptian Legions from Linear A were added to the shop and cost an unbelievable 42$. 42 Dollars??? That just seems completely unreasonable. I could get four strelets sets for about 50$. An extra 8 dollars for roughly a 160 miniatures compared to just 40. I don't understand how they expect to get very good business with such prices. You could get a set of BlackWatch Miniature's brilliantly casted 1/72 scale metal toy soldiers for a cheaper price. Would love to hear if anybody else noticed these price increases and their thoughts on them.

The expensive sets are because those figures are all 3D printed. Notably, Linear's price per figure, is about half the price I'm paying a 3D printer for my custom 25mm prints.

I suspect the future will be expensive, my own very unpopular view is we have had extraordinary value for money over the years, I have always though manufacturers were under charging and the business model was unsustainable , as has proved to be the case for almost all past manufacturers are no more or only release old sets from old moulds. 3D is the future, although materials need to improve to make figures more resilient to handling and give them the longevity of our little plastic friends . It remains to be seen if I will pay this kind of money for a set, while they are done in periods that are not in my area of interest it` no issue, but a good Zulu war set or WW2 set may test me, but they would have to offer real quality and something different.

I guess time will tell. If 3D is the future as it seems it may be, then purchasing your own printer will be the only feasible option. I certainly can’t afford sets at that price, I’m not too sure how much it costs to print your own figures but I’ve heard that it’s reasonable. I think I will always prefer buying a box of soldiers though. You can’t beat it!

I don't think that most small companies that print 3D models are set up for mass retail. Many of them only have one or two printers and so only print a few models per day. Injection molding can print 50 figures every 45 seconds and the molds will last for years.

I think the 3D printer people are undercapitalized and need to have a dozen printers so they can print a greater quantity of figures per day to take advantage of economy of scale and no waiting time while stuff prints. If you print two sets per day because they take 8 hours each to print you need to charge $42 to make a living. But if you have a dozen printers then you can reduce the price and do better.

I think many of them also buy small quantities of resin or filament and that is expensive too. They need to buy industrial amounts so they are not paying mostly for packaging, but again if you only have one printer, you can't justify a drum or resin.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

Michigan Toy Solders has them listed for around $20 in their upcoming releases.

I am not interested in 3D printed soldiers I do not like them and they lack the magic of the boxes, the sprues,the soft adorable plastic and all the old feelings that I used to enjoy...
I am and old man and in some way ,prisoner of my time
No problem, I'll live ten years more or less I have got enough old style soft plastic soldiers to paint, enjoy...and remember
It is only my way of life, of course
it is perfectly reasonable to own other points of view, just my opinion

By the way....love your dinosaurs Mike! I studied Biology at the university in Madrid...love them since I was a child
Anyone knows the movie "The valley of Gwangi"? Cow boys againts dinosaurs...a great film!!!!

https://bunkermeister.blogspot.com/2024/09/dinosuars-with-teeth.html

Thank you Erik, I have lived dinosaurs forever.

Like you I am an old guy and soft plastic figures are my favorites, but I have some 3d printed stuff and while the quality is not the same as the good stuff, the variety of models makes up for it.

So I have some 3d printed stuff and will likely get more, but like you I like the old things.

Bunkermeister