Alan dont shoot the messenger.
You wanted to know why there was this anti-HaT feeling, I gave you some examples that I have seen dotted around the forums. I may not of been the originator of those thoughts, but yes some I do share as many others do.
As for the forum itself, yes maybe there are some here that are moderators. But the feelings about how that forum is these days are widely known. I personally wouldnt want to be a moderator if that was what I had to do. I favour everybody being allowed to express their views, good or bad. Taking action against the abusive, insulting type individuals we have seen on here just recently picking on Donald & James.

I am not being negative on certain sets for the hell of it. I am not one of our trolling friends like Mr Kunz!!
Only when there is reason to, have I given a set a thumbs down. If that has happened a lot lately....well that tells its own story.
Maybe the process of producing a set of figures is a difficult one, but HaT managed well enough once before. Even the amount of sets flying out from Strelets suggest they must of got the hang of it!! Yes its 2021, there is more information for a manufacturer to access at their fingertips than ever before.
HaT used to make great sets with proper sizing. Strelets have been able to make nicely sculpted, well thought out and researched sets. That wasnt fantasy, that was the real world.
I have thoroughly enjoyed those sets & continue to purchase them today....cant get much better praise than that if you make figures. But some new sets have not been to the same standard for either company. HaT, its to be expected of these days unfortunately, but Strelets up until recent have been fine.
Thus now being vocal. Its alarming to see a sudden lack of even basic accuracy at times. Sculpting in the main has continued to be excellent. But the whole reason many of us buy the figures is for that accurate representation. If it dissappears, so does the reason for buying. If that happens, there will be a drop in sales. If that happens there will be less money to invest in more new sets.....and so on. Trying to nip it in the bud now, is in fact a way of trying to make sure Strelets are still making sets further down the line.
Its too late for HaT, but not for Strelets.

I want to be singing the praises of Strelets, not nagging them. I dont get some sort of kick out of being negative. I just want them back to making great sets. Recent ones have not been, hence some of us giving a negative feedback.

And Alan I am sure you have been negative about sets that have been more within your realms of interest.
What was it? "Grrrrr ,no ammo or number two for the vickers mmg , other than that very good, but this no number two for machine guns has to stop it`s exasperatingly frustrating and presents us the buyer with a problem, and I want is solutions for my money not a headache."

When it affects those eras of most interest to us, most of us have had something to say. Its then not right to attack someone who finds problems with sets for their own favourite era.

I think you chaps have missed the point, pacific coast company make for example, plastic plates today, plastic buckets tomorrow etc ,for a few days a year they put plastic toy soldier moulds in the mould machine, once that short run is done it may be plastic egg cups , they are not and never will be toy soldier enthusiasts, Hat is a very small bit of what they do, and it just another inanimate object to be moulded in plastic ,no different to kids plastic beach spade. If you want to work yourselves up to a froth being frustrated with them it`s your time, just remember what ever you write they don`t read, they don`t speak English.

Not worked up at all here Alan, certainly not frothy!! My main fear is watching Strelets repeat some of HaTs mistakes.
HaT are more or less gone, it wouldnt surprise me to see even the back catalogue of sets finally cease production within the next few years. As I said before, its actually a shame. HaT is unlikely to return, unless that arm of their business is bought out from them. Maybe one day that will happen, but I doubt it...unless one of us wins big on the lottery!!!

I have no idea how much their moulds and stuff would be worth. If Pacific company isnt that interested maybe they would sell for the right price?
Italeri obviously took over a good amount of Esci's old sets. So its happened before. HaT themselves also used to make some of Airfix's old sets too.
Perhaps Strelets could one day put a bid in?!!!!

Roger , I am told the moulds (steel) weigh a lot, each one, and there are 300 + the cost of moving them would be astronomical , and no doubt why the buyer of Hat was the factory where they were stored, had Hat gone under they would have probably ended up with them anyway.

Yeah thats true I suppose.
Chances of someone coming along & snapping that lot up are very slim indeed.

Well said Cappy

I never will forget the guy who complained and said he wasn't going to buy any of a WSS Cavalry set because the jacket only had three buttons instead of four.

Yes that is a tad extreme!!

Right - Firstly I think it is wise of a manufacturer to seek input from potential customers but a) There is little point doing that at a stage in the process where mistakes cannot be rectified and b) Comments need to be taken with a pinch of salt - critics may be wrong.
Secondly I think with Strelets there is a certain amount of frustration of late because people can see the potential in these sets and they WANT to buy them but they see flaws that prevent that set from being what they want - like a topping they dislike on teh perfect pizza.
With the other company I think they undermined their profitability by pandering to enthusiasts on their forum. The major cost in the plastic manufacturing process is tooling the moulds so putting that investment into sets that lack wide appeal or making three sets where before there would have been one is going to eat into profits, especially as someone that wanted a unit marching for example now only needs one set whereas before they would have needed three. MAC was great for the consumer; less so for the manufacturer I suspect.

Good post Philip.

Thats the crux of the matter. We do indeed see the potential, plus what has come before, or in another range & when a set we really want appears, but not to the same standard, its a big letdown. If it happens frequently, it then makes someone wonder if the brand suits their needs now...for that particular era at least. Then you end up with people possibly taking their money elsewhere.....not great for a business. Hence why some of us are more vocal....we see the water breaking on rocks ahead & we hope to steer the ship clear of them.

Pizza analogy is a good one! Anchovies.....Pineapple....urgh 😝.
Darn it now I want a pizza!!

I just think Strelets is the modern Airfix/Matchbox/Atlantic

Without their interest and original topics the hobby wouldn't be where it is today. It doesn't bother me when they make the odd mistake, practice makes perfect and if they stay around long enough, they'll only get better and better.

I appreciate what you've all said and take the points made in the spirit they were made in.

I don't think any other company really has a clue when it comes to offering enthusiasts a place to voice their opinions, otherwise they'd all have active forums.

I don't really buy anything other than Strelets anymore, sure the odd niche set from others but the bulk of my collecting and collection is Strelets - I've stuck with them from the very start and look at the quality and quantity we get now!

Awesome company

respects to all

Al

Just my take on what has been said. For figures Strelets is now the Main (only) company that I buy from. As I have said before the quality of Strelets sets have improved 10 fold from what they were. The forum is great the fact they let you post other companies new releases is wonderful. Also I feel that Strelets use the views in the forum to help them to make figures the the customers want and will buy. I have not seen a bad set from Strelets for years. So I take my hat off for you Mr Strelets well done and keep up the fantasic work.

Cappy, I know this won't matter to you {:-)) .....but I couldn't agree with you more. Watching the way in which Strelets have improved their miniatures has been such a wonderful experience, and they are always very responsive to comments, and considerate towards their customers and the participants of this forum. A long time ago now, I sent an email to them asking why a series of Sreltsy figures had not been produced....the masters of them that they had shared were very unique. I got a reply that the figures were not good enough. During our brief discussion, the writer said that their figures were not up to some of the other companies output, that they were too chunky looking. I told them that I loved that about them, that they had a special look of their own that I always recognized. I was struck by the candor of their own self evaluation. I have been a Strelets fan ever since. Of course I admit to having a soft spot for the Airfix figures that I first had as a boy. I read the criticism of the early sets, as well as of the present sets, and I often am surprised at the very negative tone in which it comes across. I too appreciate the efforts that these companies make. We are truly in a golden age for people who grew up with a passion for this scale of historics. Thank goodness that there are outfits like this one who share that passion.

Dear Strelets Team,

Why I buy your sets is because "I can enjoy them right out of the box", you care about Color Quality and they are historically appropriate. I also especially love the Casualty poses. Both horses and men. I use your Crimean falling horses for other uses also. Your figures have very accurate details. I love your FFL and Arabs Ranges.

Do please darken the Blue for the FFL like the original Camelry Patrol set. The most recent FFL are so light I can't see the fantastic details. Color quality of your figures right out of the box is so important! I really am a big fan of your Crimean Range for all of the reasons I mention. Even Airfix has re-run their US Cavalry in 3 colors, and also AWI, WWI, FFL, Waterloo and 8th Army in more realistic colors which I have bought all of these new colors over the decades. And I will continue to buy Strelets sets because of your fine attention to colors, casualty details and poses and realism for sets right out of the box!

Thank you for listening Strelets Team! :camel: :palm_tree: :earth_africa: :earth_asia:

Well said, Cappy,

I'm a bit late to the conversation but I add my gratitude to Strelets AND its competitors for the sacrifices, labor, and risk they take to produce those little bits of plastic we love so much. Having had an "inside" look or two at what it takes for those little guys to be produced as well as the care and effort that goes in to producing a quality product - I've also been privy to the personal disappointment when something goes wrong and the product doesn't turn out right. Sometimes mistakes are discovered so far along in the process that to go back and start over might be economically devastating.

One of the big things I look for when I buy figures of either scale I collect is compatibility. Will the new figures fit with my other figures? I'm looking for accuracy, of course, but I am forgiving to a point. When we were kids and all we had were GIANT "Napoleonics" in French shakos in red and blue plastic we had to make do. Then Airfix came along... Now? We can be picky.

I won't buy a set that doesn't "fit" or has glaring deficiencies that can't be worked around. At 1/72 scale I think there's more flexibility than 1/32. Even then, I'm fairly tolerant of a great deal - to a point.

I've offered input before; oftentimes I'm outvoted. Oh well. It's up to me when the final product comes out if I want to buy it or not. After a point, what's the point?

I think there's a fine line between welcoming constructive input and pleasing the consumers and letting too many cooks spoil the broth; just as there's a fine line between offering constructive suggestions and fault-finding. If either shoe fits...

Finally, thank you Strelets for "upping" your game. I wish you and your competitors well as when you are all "cooking on all burners" we all benefit.

Maybe this is because I am used to the brutality of other comment platforms in the internet age, but in my opinion I think the vast majority of you are decent at providing constructive criticism while at the same time encouraging Strelets in their future endeavors. I naturally hope this tradition continues into the future.

As an individual who grew up in a very historically interested household, I have grown up for years with debates about historical accuracy when it comes to figures, movies, PC games, and the like. For me, I would give an 8 or 9 out of 10 score on average for how Strelets rates compared to all of these medians, which is not bad (as a comparative I would say most post-1990 Hollywood movies with any sort of historical content usually score in the 1 to 5 range). There are a few scruples here and there that I personally think need adjusting, but at the end of the day my Vikings more or less look like Vikings, Romans look like Romans, and so on. They provide inspiration and joy for myself and (hopefully) most of the rest of us on here as well, which to me is the main point. Keeping the memories of these cultures and peoples alive. :grin: