Small Scale Military Headquarters

here is one thing i don't understand from 21C, and i don't think anyone has talked about: why do they come out with one plane every few months, and then release ALL the repaints right at the same time? wouldn't it make more financial sense to release one paint scheme of a plane, then another plane, then another, then go through some sort of cycle where you return to the first plane, but with a different paint scheme? and so on?

i am talking mainly about wal mart, not online retailers. i look at the shelves, and think, once those spitfires are gone, no one will get a chance to see them again. you're out of luck if you wanted a razorback P-47. flying tigers p-40? sorry, you missed it. and all the other versions of that plane. this seems to be the current pattern.

it seems the earlier planes were spaced out better when it came to repaints. that is why the stuka and the 109 still seem viable. it also made for better distribution since all parts of the country were getting the same schemes at the same time, instead of this regional thing where we have to setup elaborate trades.

the one thing i would like them to keep doing is to announce most of the repaints they plan up front, so you can wait for the one you want most. i was soo lucky to find the one P-47 that i wanted at a local store, but i sure had to wait awhile before it appeared.

it seems to me, instead of shipping entire cartons full of the same plane, maybe with different schemes, you could sell even way more if you had 3 different planes in a shipment, 2 american planes and one german, etc. space out your mold re-usage and everybody wins...

Michael

Well, this topic has been tossed around before and no one is really sure why they produce all the repaints at the same time. I’m sure they have some reason for doing it that way. Maybe it cost too much to switch production from one plane to another so they are trying to save a buck.
As for announcing the repaints in advance I would like this as well but it will only happen if 21c is being run by idiots. What I mean is it would make bad business sense to announce all the paint schemes so that collectors can hold out and buy the one they want. They would certainly see a drop in sales especially on not so hot paint schemes.
I too would like them to spread out the repaints but the trend seems to be showing that this will be the distribution practice for the near future.

i think it's simple business survival. 21c as we know has been hurting financially for some time. They are still in chapter 11. As repaints are very cost effective ways of generating new revenues, they have been pumping them out like there is not tomorrow (and in a way that's the way it has been). Contrast this to BBI who made the Blackhawk helo last year and only recently came out with the first repaint of it.

It's possible that as 21c improves financially the repaints will get more spread out. It will probably be better for them in the long run and generate more unit sales overall too but has not been the best thing for them to do up to now..

hmm, i don't know. seems like they announced most of the p-47 repaints around the same time, and that became a big mess trying to find out which parts of the country were getting which paint schemes. i'm not complaining about repaints; i'm just bothered by them all coming out for the same plane at the same time.

the second series was nice because you had a corsair, a p-38, and a stuka, and then you had each plane come out with an alternate paint scheme at the same time. this variety was much nicer than lining up 5 p-38 paint schemes in a row...