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Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

I am probably in the minority, but if I wanted to do a lot of fiddly assembling of parts I'd go back to modelling. One of my complaints with the old Atlantic kits (tanks and such) wasn't that they weren't great models (they were) it was that they had all the small parts that wouldn't stay on the vehicles and I was never able at the time to find a glue that would satisfactorily hold the little details such as lights and antennas on the assembled vehicles. The Airfix "kits" though simpler and less detailed were much better suited for my purposes.

Harder plastic is great for gluing and assembling, but is more brittle and breakable, which limits the model's use for "play." I think a happy medium can be reached with simpler "models" that are identifiable and durable, but not fiddly. I loved the Zvezda sets, but they were a nightmare to assemble as well as some of the other companies' sets. Again, there's a reason I stopped building models. I know there are those out there who'd love such kits - to each his own.

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

I'm with you Wayne. I used to make loads of model kits, especially WW2 aircraft. Some were very detailed... cockpits, bomb bays etc, and at the time I enjoyed making them.

However with figures, apart from the odd foray into conversions, I am happier now just concentrating on the painting aspect.
However, obviously with artillery sets, a certain amount of kit building is to be expected. That said, I don't like the "fiddly for the sake of it", type of sets. Zvezda make beautiful artillery, I have built both their French & Russian Napoleonic sets, but surely the gun carriage itself could of been 1 piece? Do we really need to have to glue on the muzzle to the cannon barrel?!!! All we needed for an artillery piece was the barrel (or barrels providing different "pdr" options), the carriage and 2 wheels. Thats all!!

For me though, one of the most infuriatingly fiddly jobs out there has to be attaching all the thin plastic "ropes" to limber team horses & the various parts of a limber!
Unfortunately limbers, caissons and alike are a must have for realistic armys & their artillery batteries. But if a company can work out a way of replicating all that artillery train equipment in a realistic manner, but without resorting to such fiddly parts, they are on to a winner!!!

Strelets, I wouldn't perhaps give up on kits generally, as I say, artillery equipment for example kind of needs a certain amount of kit form. Perhaps just experiment with ways of creating a great looking, reasonably realistic model, but without any needless fiddly parts? In fact as few parts as possible, making sure they all fit together easily and neatly. That would make such sets sell better I think. If they click/snap together rather than have to need glue, even better!
Or....what about pre-assembled?

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

"Expletive" Those were just the ones I wanted...


:sob:



By the way thanks for adding the description to the emoticons :spock-hand:

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

Some observations, first I bought most of Strelets hard plastic guns/kits and liked them . Kits in general the less parts the better, even PSC`s quick builds are not quick enough,although I like them lots too. The subjects covered probably mean like me most bought just one, you would need a big games table for more. But there are gaps and opportunities, British 4.5 and 5.5 guns, used everywhere , no one does them, or Crew, Early war 1940 Europe, Western Desert ,40/43 NWE 44/45 Far East 42/45, if the crews and guns are sold as mix and match ..I am buying one box of each crew and a few boxes of guns.

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017? (Just saying what works for me)

Strelets
Dear James,

assembly kits proved to be poor sellers, hence they are postponed until further notice to prevent build-up of unwanted stock.

Best regards,

Strelets
I think what you do especially well are making artillery sets in SOFT PLASTIC, multi piece, with crews and they fit and sell in the Classic 50 Cent size boxes we all have loved since the 1960's. Some of my favorites for example:

* Strelets Colonial Britush Field Artillery
* Strelets Boer War Pom Pom Guns
* Strelets French Foreign Legion Field Cannons
* Strelets ACW Field Artillery Cannons

Soft plastic is very easy to trim or modify and should never require glue. I wish you had made the following LW/EVO in your nice soft plastic, or even took over the old moulds. These were price attractive and perfect small scale accessories, sold in a small bag, but no box, and easy for conversions:

* LW/EVO Macedonian Artillery (Catapult) LW 037
* LW/EVO Ancient Artillery Part II (Catapult) LW 027

I believe these have all sold out. There is no inventory laying around - durn-it! I'd still love to buy more.

IN SUMMARY:

** I do love your Boer War Long Tom cannon. I did buy multiple sets and enjoyed assemblying them. That's because they are just the right size - max for me in hard plastic. Personally, if you had made the WWI Artillery pieces in plug together, soft plastic, I'd have bought some. After all, ATLANTIC did succeed at it - Siege Tower, Catapult, Greek Warship.

** So, please keep your ACCESSORY KITS soft plastic, plug together, for easily converted and trimming and fitting in the Classic 50 Cent size boxes.

Just saying what works for me - GC





Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

Dear Strelets,

Thank you for replying and for your honest response and included explanation.

Like Alan I have enjoyed the artillery sets that I have completed so far (A013, A015, A018), particularly the look of the assembled and painted result. Alan's past contributions were a big part of me getting the sets in the first place— ignoring the written review on Plastic Soldier Review (as I so often do), yet taking note of his/their reasoning and particularly the excellent photographs on that most valued website.



The assembly process was also rewarding—albeit not something that I want to do all the time! I have a few boxes each of A001, A002, A003, A011, A012 which are next in line.

Like 'Ironsides', I am disappointed that these are not in any immediate plans, but cannot and will not argue with your eminently sensible reasoning. I will keep fingers, toes and eyes crossed that someone, hopefully yourselves, will produce them in a simple wargame-style kit in the near future. Most likely I'll have to resort to a combination of more expensive resin or full-build kits and more of those excellent paper versions on the 'landships' website.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply and for your clear answer.

Regards, James

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

If you go the the website for the Sentry Box in Calgary and go to Catalogue/Historical Minis you will find they many of the old Strelets sets available.

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

Hi all
some interesting points here.
For myself I'm more modeller/collector than wargamer. I was never a great model maker or painter for that matter so nowadays I mainly focus on the fast assembly sets from Plastic Soldier Company etc. They are a nice balance between "one piece" models in resin and now 3d printing.
I find hard plastic much easier to work with than soft polythene type plastic, as I find it takes glue and paint better and generally gives a stronger model.
For the Strelets kits, some negative reviews on Plastic Soldier review were offputting. However, I've made a couple of guns without much trouble.
I have a few of the ancient Atlantic sets, German Armoured cars especially, and they've always been a disappointment as the small parts tend to come off.
For Strelets, if you should decide to produce hard plastic kits in future I will definitely be interested but I would suggest good clear instructions would be a great help. My personal preference is for hard styrene and metal as again I find soft plastic is harder to make parts stick
together.
If I find the money and the time I may get round to some more guns, but right now I'm focussing on WW2 and the Middle East so waiting for the Afrika Korps who are looking very good but sadly no word on Heavy Weapons yet?
Right now life is getting expensive and a number of things need to be done so buying and hobbies are on the back burner for a while - but just temporarily!
Well, that's my thoughts for now.
Stay safe and Carry on Collecting!
Richard

Re: Any chance of A006, 007 and 017?

While I cannot judge all kits from the artillery series, this is my experience:

Even I was able to produce an acceptable result from A014 (Long Tom, painted as a WW1 French gun) and A015 (Schneider 105mm howitzer), so can you. I did change the wheels of the Schneider gun for more common ones, and replaced the shield which is too small IMHO, but everything went together easily, the "instruction" pictures on the boxes' back were sufficient, and the plastic can be glued with standard modelling glue. Add the excellent crew figures to that, I cannot see what's not to like.