Here is a quick update on what we are doing:
Q1/2015 New Releases – Bad news first… regrettably, there will be further delays to our new releases for Q1/2015. Release date had been pushed back to mid-March. Reason for the delay is we have not factored in the Chinese New Year holiday into our production schedule. All the moulds are done and are ready for commercial production; unfortunately we have not enough workers to package them into products… now the waiting game is on!
StuG III Ausf. G – The good news is... as mentioned in one of our earlier posts, we have redone part of the injection mould to include two new muzzle brakes for our early and mid production StuG variants, giving gamers more modeling varieties for your assault gun team!
T-34/85 – Final revision for the T-34/85 sprues are almost completed! We will post some images of the trail-run assembled plastic vehicle for your review soon! Because of the delayed release of the StuG and SdKfz 251D, we probably will release the T-34/85 early!
British Tank Project – This little tank is now at the final stages on our Drawing Board. Once signed off for 3D prototyping, we will be able to show you what we have for our British fans!
M3 Half-Track – A project that we have been working on and off for as long as we could remember. We had always wanted to use "slide-mould" plastic injection with our products. The moulds are more expensive to make, but the advantage outweigh the cost!
Normal moulds have two halves; where they meet is the "parting line" which you have seen on most plastic miniatures. A slide mould has multiple parts that slide at different angles to the two primary mould halves. They allow details to be imparted on the parts at different angles than the two surfaces of a standard mould do. This technology had existed since the sixties; just take a look at any plastic or metal car bodies from Matchbox® or Airfix®, and you will know what the final part looks like!
Using a slide-mould design will give you a much sturdy-built vehicle body without having to struggle with multiple parts to build a truck cabin. This is particularly an advantage for wargamers who want their vehicle a speedy assembly for the front line!
If this trail project proved to be successful, further new releases such as jeeps and trucks will use the same design approach… a great plus for everyone!
The initial feature list for the M3 as follow:
- be able to build the half-track into a M3 / M3A1 / M3A2
- be able to be expandable to become a MMC, GMC or HMC
- will include canvas top as standard option
- will include multiple seat arrangements with radio & antennae setup options
- will include all the heavy and medium machine guns for your wargaming needs
Of course, will need to see if all these features will fit into our proposed sprues! BTW, our design won’t allow us to convert the M3 into a M16 MGMC because of the way the rear troop compartment was modified to fold down. Implementing the M16 option would mean giving up our slide-mould design. Being that said, we may still produce a M16 someday!
Other Q2/15 Projects – As mention above, besides the British tank and M3 Half-Track, we are already working on several Q2 projects. Hopefully, we will be able to release a total of FIVE products for Q2/15!
Q3/15 Projects – Research work had also begun for a few Q3/15 projects. The year 2014 had been mostly German releases; we wanted 2015 to be mostly about the Allies – American, British, and the Soviets! Being that said, it doesn't mean we will not release one or two German or even Italian vehicles too!
A Word on Glue – There had been reports about some gamers having glue problem with our plastic. We are using ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic for our sprues. This is the preferred material for most high end plastic model manufacturers; other miniature manufacturers might use Polystyrene (PS) as they are lower in cost. We have tested most model cements on the market and they all worked well without any issues. If you have problems, please let us know and we will investigate!
That’s it for now! In the meantime, please enjoy our released kits! Buy more to keep us working!
