Small Scale Military Headquarters

Has anyone heard anything about the F/A-18 Red Devils repaint from Bad Cat???? I see they took it off of their web site. Does this mean its been canned or what?

-Rob

I spoke with Bad Cat a couple of weeks ago about the Red Devils scheme and they said that it would probably be done, but it wasn't high priority right now.

Who in their right minds would manufacture Red Devils at $65 a piece wholesale when TRU dumps Golden Dragons at $40? I would think this one is a no-brainer and an enthusiastic thumbs-down.

I think the $40 deal was a typical Amazon/TRU brain fart. Either that or they felt bad for the catastrophe with the Jolly Roger version and hoped that selling them cheap would smooth things over.

Personally, I would drop 65 clams for a Red Devils repaint, No problem. I am a big fan of the Hornet and I love the Red Devils scheme so its a given. I could however see people being tired of repaints for this bird. My suggestion would be to offer a "roll your own" version and sell decals for various squadrons, like BCT did with the F-16.

Any way you do it, I would still like to add the Red Devils bird to my flight of Hornets.

-Rob

I would scoop one up instantly as well. I've been anxiously awaiting the go, no go from BCA on this F-18.

Well, BCA and BBI are giving us the long awaited Japanese Zero - well ahead of when we expected to get one

OnWu wrote:Who in their right minds would manufacture Red Devils at $65 a piece wholesale when TRU dumps Golden Dragons at $40? I would think this one is a no-brainer and an enthusiastic thumbs-down.

True...I got my F-18 fix at $39.99
I guess they pumped out too many of those S1....worked out OK for me.

digger wrote:

OnWu wrote:Who in their right minds would manufacture Red Devils at $65 a piece wholesale when TRU dumps Golden Dragons at $40? I would think this one is a no-brainer and an enthusiastic thumbs-down.

True...I got my F-18 fix at $39.99
I guess they pumped out too many of those S1....worked out OK for me.

glad that came along, I would have hated to chop up on of the Bugs I spend $80 on to try a Super Hornet conversion on, $40 makes it a little easier if patience starts to run short.

Yeah, but if a $40 dump ruins any future development of a plane then its a little shortsighted to proclaim a consumer victory.

I'm sure $40 is way below wholesale--these planes cost the retailers more than this. I love a good deal as much as the next guy but prefer to see more versions of everything. This allows me to make a choice. To me, selection is much more important than price.

$40 is kind of like dynamiting the fish pond. Enjoy your fish now, but . . .

Not so...if they need to mark some down to $40 to move them.....then maybe there shouldn't be any more versions....
For example, if you saw an FW-190 at WM for $15, wouldn't that be cause for celebration? Safe to say right now we don't need another FW. I think in a year or two a new FW may be welcomed - same with a new F-18. But to put out so many schemes that they are competing with each other is foolish.
Besides, when does moving inventory sabotage anything? Out with the old, in with the new....don't worry so much about whether BCT can do an exclusive paint scheme with limited run for 300 hardcore fans.....worry more about the line as a whole

That's fine if everyone is satisfied with the Golden Dragon Scheme. Clear 'em out and move on to something else. Forget about anymore F-18s.

But I think I'd like a Red Devil, now it may not happen. Hopefully, this latest "sale" was short-lived, didn't ruin the market, and the powers that be may still feel there is room for one more version.

Glad you got your good deal, Digger.

Gotta agree with OnWu, too often a clearance tag is a death knell for a product. The F-18 (and F-16 as well) is a special situation because its uncharted territory; no one has ever offered a fighter of this size and price point before. We all want more modern planes like the A-10 but before we can get them the existing ones have to perform well enough to justify new ones.

Fortunately, I think the $40 sale was a fluke. Mike said the planes sold well, and I don't think they'd be starting new production runs on both jets if stores couldn't get rid of these. But still, situations like that make me nervous, especially for a line that doesn't have a track record like the WWII fighters

fredricchio wrote: Fortunately, I think the $40 sale was a fluke. Mike said the planes sold well, and I don't think they'd be starting new production runs on both jets if stores couldn't get rid of these. But still, situations like that make me nervous, especially for a line that doesn't have a track record like the WWII fighters

Exactly....that sale was not the Grim Reaper knocking.....I saw F-18s for $30 when they first came out and they still sold fine for months to come, with about 4 repaints, and likely more to come. Seriously guys, the box is freakin huge - think about what kind of space the warehouse cleared by moving 100 in 3 days....maybe they're making room for the Black one Would you be upset then?
The idea that we should embrace small retailers and enjoy paying more for this stuff is patently absurd, I'm sorry. BCT is building a plane IIRC, do you think no Red Devils exclusive is disastrous? Is bbi considering cancelling the modern line because the F-18s were $40? What about when the LAVs were 3 bucks?

Remember someone said that our talking about the zero a few months ago might have killed the project? All this doom and gloom is foolish.

The only thing I wonder about sometimes is if the modern aircraft, such as the F-18 and F-16, have sold so well, why is it that we haven't seen anymore modern aircraft from BBI yet? You'd think they would be making a run on the modern aircraft market by now.

Bird, it's usually one a year from bbi. F-16 last year. F-18 the year before. This year is not over.
Same with WWII - the Mustang came out about 10 months before the Corsair. We'll get something eventually.

Guess so. Didn't realize the F-18 had been out that long. However with such an influx of WWII aircraft within a year......guess we'll have to "wait and see".

OnWu wrote:Yeah, but if a $40 dump ruins any future development of a plane then its a little shortsighted to proclaim a consumer victory.

I'm sure $40 is way below wholesale--these planes cost the retailers more than this. I love a good deal as much as the next guy but prefer to see more versions of everything. This allows me to make a choice. To me, selection is much more important than price.

$40 is kind of like dynamiting the fish pond. Enjoy your fish now, but . . .

I suspect companies like BBi see what actually transpired with the whole Amazon thing, and seriously doubt that it will effect future product. If all else fails, BBi could join 21st on the battleground that is the Walmart toy aisle

OnWu is a very informed consumer. As a retailer, I can assure you that the moment I have to put anything at clearance-level pricing is the moment that I very likely won't be buying any more of it in the future to offer to my customers.

So, to some degree, getting ecstatic about seeing clearance prices on products that you enjoy is like firing a Desert Eagle at your foot.

OnWu wrote:Yeah, but if a $40 dump ruins any future development of a plane then its a little shortsighted to proclaim a consumer victory.

I'm sure $40 is way below wholesale--these planes cost the retailers more than this. I love a good deal as much as the next guy but prefer to see more versions of everything. This allows me to make a choice. To me, selection is much more important than price.

$40 is kind of like dynamiting the fish pond. Enjoy your fish now, but . . .

Maybe Mike can shed some light here....he did say the F-18 and F-16 sold well. It wouldn't make since for them to be starting another production run of the F-16 if it wasn't selling well.

coreystinson wrote:OnWu is a very informed consumer. As a retailer, I can assure you that the moment I have to put anything at clearance-level pricing is the moment that I very likely won't be buying any more of it in the future to offer to my customers.

So, to some degree, getting ecstatic about seeing clearance prices on products that you enjoy is like firing a Desert Eagle at your foot.

OnWu wrote:Yeah, but if a $40 dump ruins any future development of a plane then its a little shortsighted to proclaim a consumer victory.

I'm sure $40 is way below wholesale--these planes cost the retailers more than this. I love a good deal as much as the next guy but prefer to see more versions of everything. This allows me to make a choice. To me, selection is much more important than price.

$40 is kind of like dynamiting the fish pond. Enjoy your fish now, but . . .

I'm all for being realistic, but I don't believe because Amazon cleared out some BBi Bugs at $39.00, that we've got to now worry about losing BBi in the 18th scale game. As was mentioned, this has happened before and the companies still have no problem producing results. Heck! if 21st can deal with Walmart clearancing their 18th goodies for $3-$4.00 and continue to knock out the pieces they do, then how is BBi (a much larger company) going o be effected. These companies can't be compared to brick and mortar/mom&pop stores, as their numbers are far greater, and with larger stores such as TRU/Amazon and Wally World constantly needing room, they'll clear out items taking up space, and as we all know these 1:18 boxes aren't easy to hide...errrr I mean store
Companies do this all the time, Corgi most recently sold a crapload of their diecast "old stock" to a clearance chain here in the US by the name of Tuesday Morning, I can't even begin to think how many pieces sold below what Dist/Wholesale, and you don't see them leaving the diecast arena? I understand in regards to 1/18, we're constantly having our hopes lifted (see A-10 threads..lol) only to be let to crash and burn later, so it's hard to remain optimisic, but lets not get down too quickly simply because Amazon made a boo boo, which I believe they did? hence the reason they changed the price again!

Yeah...the F-18 is back up for sale at $79.