Small Scale Military Headquarters

Hey everyone,

As you know, we at powerteamusa.com have been trying for months to help get the PTE name and product out to the people who really want it. Sometimes, no matter how much we beg and plead to the factory, it takes a while to get things done.

I assume most of you have been to the powerteamusa.com site and have been reading about the changes we'e trying to make.

Sometimes, word from public directly speak volumes more than what we do here.

This being said, I'd all of you to post what you're looking for from the line. You like the idea of the "Battle Buffet" ? post it.

Any feedback on the line and what we can do at powerteamua.com is requested here. I want to show the factory that the loyal fans are not the ones being lost by KB closings...they're the ones who can't find the product, at communities like this one.

Again, to the owner of this site..please mail me so I can end you a care package for the help and time you allow us here!

Thanks!

brian

Where do we post? You mean send e-mail to the manufacturer; or post here; or from your site, or.....??

Brian,

You guys have some great products, and I hope that every member of this board who likes your product is spreading the word about what an excellent value 1/18 PTE is for the money.

I think my pre-orders come out to something like $500.00 .. Because I think the products are great... And the accurracy and quality for the money are in a class all their own... My PTE budget next year will probably be about the same..

The Battle Buffet idea is one of the most progressive ideas I have heard in a while. I am really looking forward to it.. I think everyone like me who likes to build dioramas of any size will really appreciate it. I could see myself ordering ~30 more barrells, ~50 crates, Gas Cans, Tank Traps, **Don't forget to offer the laptops I know I would buy at least 5 maybe more.. Just having the ability to buy these products without searching for found items in other toy sets through TRU, WM, KB, and whatever infrequently becomes available in my area would allow me to focus my collecting budget more at PowerteamUSA than all the other places.

As far as other products go:

An IFV/AFV -someting between the M1A1 and the HUMVEE with Grenade Launcher.. I'm not sure what the licensing requirements are to build a French VBCI (I know I know it's great to surrender with) or a Soviet BMP.

Some type of AA - after a post in another thread - I would love to see a Vulcan cannon based AA - or even SAM based like a fixed SAM installation.

A deuce and a half truck would be nice - very hard to find in 1/18. Somthing to pull that massive Howitzer.

Some type of field artillery smaller than the current PTE Howitzer ( I own three but their HUGE).

Another helicopter - somewhere between the Blackhawk and the Lil' Bird. Maybe a Lynx.

I think you guys are our best bet for cost effective 1/18 army building and diorama supplies..

Cheers,

Ryan

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/vbci/vbci1.html

For anyone interested in a pic of the VBCI 8x8..

Don't hate it because the French picked it.. It could be very easy for PTE to mold versus certain other IFV/AFV.. Of course it could always be used for your bad guys

I think your products look great, and you offer them at great prices. I would definately buy several modern deuce and a halfs.

If the factory has difficulty with the idea of doing the battle buffet.. Get them to offer a large set of accessories in one package. Create combination packages of the aforementioned accessories and sell them for a fair price. I will buy them

An example would be:

8 crates, 8 barrels, 2 tank traps, 5 gerry cans, 5 ammo crates, 5 sandbags. Call it the diorama kit and I'll definitely pick up a whack of them. If you offered this kit right now, at a fair price, I would by 5 of them right off the bat.. and I know I would be back for more.

Cheers,

Ryan

I would love to see a Medium Tactical Vehicle, with a ring mounted crew served weapon (M-2, or MK-19).
A stock photo: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/ ... n/LMTV.gif


Hopefully it could be tooled in such a way that the bed cover, and maybe cabin top could be removable...as in these SpecOps versions serving in Iraq:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/ ... rtLMTV.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/ ... tLMTV4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/ ... tLMTV3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/ ... 07_001.jpg

a t-72 or t-80 tank, accurate to scale. It's not a large tank so it should be easy to make it correct to 1/18 scale. It would be about the same size as the abrams PTE made.

Accessory packs as described above would be great - with weapons too.

All the vehicles would be nice, but I think the KEY is something you can't get otherwise. The Truck above for example, or foreign tank. Not another humvee, Lil Bird, etc....

The buffet idea's interesting, but I have a tough time commenting on it till I can see how it would work exactly... Cost would be a factor as well, but it's intriguing to say the least!

As for general ideas...

My list would go like this:

-World War 2 Items... Take the plunge and see what you could do in generic World War 2. Small artillery pieces, figures, weapons, etc.

-Sci-Fi Line... Generic Sci-Fi, but try for a "Star Wars Feel" if you can follow me... Not knock-offs or bootlegs, but rather a line of generic sci-fi figures, vehicles, and accessories that would entice the Star Wars customizing circles (which are HUGE, and VERY dedicated), as well as the diorama builders. Filler's something that could go a LONG way with the STar Wars fans, trust me!

-Removable Head Gear... I've said it before and I'll say it again. Customizers go ga-ga for a variety of head sculpts they can use. The figures are kinda cool, but you start doing generic headsculpts on everyone with hats/helmets that come off, and you've got customizers going nuts, especially at the relatively inexpensive price.

-Interlocking Playset... I've mentioned this in another thread to you, but I think a playset that can link on either side, or be "stacked" upward... One with a removable staircase inside it so it's an accurate building inside, and on the outside it's just a pseudo-generic "building" that could be placed most military eras or in any scenario... This playset would allow the buyers to build the building as high or as wide as they wanted... I'd be all over this set in droves for Star Wars dioramas, WW2 Dioramas, modern military dioramas... You name it! Seriously I think you should consider this one PTE!

-Generic "Bad Guys"... A line of enemies, especially modern. Some maybe representing criminals... Some maybe military, or militia type groups from various regions. The guys have nobody to fight and that's noticeable.

And I'll cut it short there... I reiterate though, the expandable building/playset idea, and the removable headgear. Two things I think PTE is capable of and things that would entice me to this line much, MUCH more.

I would have to agree with everyone above with the ideas and also add artillery of any type. It seems as if no company wants to try this, but if it is done well and works well with vintage and modern it would be a big seller. I would jump on artillery around 37mm to 75mm that would be able to be customized.

Second would be World War II stuff. I collect mainly WWII stuff and if you could fill the void of armor and ground vehicles that has been left open by the other companies that would be cool.

The products that you have are good. As for an idea of improving, focus on accurate scale with good detail on what you are doing now. It would market better to the customizers. I have seen what can come from you product with adding paint and weathering and it looks as good or better than what we pay for now in other companies. I would buy many items at $15-30 range that I can fix up to look as good or better than the items at $50-up which I only buy two at the most. Just something to think about for the future.

I also like the idea of customizing your sellection of what you are wanting of needing. I know I have paid for something that I only needed one or two things from. This idea would help us customizers out big time, but also what Jesse James said about cost would be a factor.
Thanks for the time to hear what we have to say.
momaw nadon

While 1:18 is not quite my bag any more, can I offer you some request for the larger 1/6 line? (Sorry to hi-jack the thread, and if you have a 1/6 section for PTE, please let me know so I can avoid future hi-jacks)

I do WWII 1/6th, and as such, there is a lot of carryover from what folks here are asking for. Sandbags, oil drums, crates, boxes, barbed wire, signs, hedgehogs, dragon's teeth, spare tires, 5 gallon gas cans, etc. Ammo crates with shells (US 75mm shells and German 75mm and 88mm shells would be BIG sellers).

Also, a big seller would be 81mm German Mortars, along with shells and ammo crates.

In fact, I am sure there are many diorama accessories that would be of interest in the 1/6 scale. I am not sure if they would transfer over well in the 1/18 scale, but I know in the larger scale, things like dishes, plates, food items, utensils, coffee pots, mess kits, lanterns, wine bottles, Coke bottles, fruit, typewriters, books, notepads, Bibles, cans, cups, candles, tables, maps, chairs, civilian furniture (beds, dressers, etc) lights, lamps, glasses, etc. I understand that all of the above is very unrealistic, but I am hopeful that some items would be taken under consideration.

The idea of beeing able to purchase items in quantity is very intriquing. For someone wanting to make a fuel depot, for example, regardless of scale, being able to purchase directly say 20 55-gallon drums and 15 5-gallon cans without being burdened with a whole bunch of other accessories that are usually packaged with bundled offerings is very attractive.

I am a big fan of your already released 1/6 items, such as the barracks set that contains the locker and bunk beds and such, as well as the one set that had the donkey- I would love to see a 1/6 camel, some 1/6 dogs and cats as well, plus even rats and/or mice.

Thanks again for allowing me to voice my wish-lists, and please, if you have a 1/6 area or site, feel free to direct me towards it.

i have heard some of the ideas i have been looking for already but i guess i can repeat a few things,

weapons packs, the thing i like about PTE is the realistic weapons, if it would be possible to buy packs of weapons for army building it would be great, also i would love to see an AK 47 mold for weapons

head sculpts, this is always something that is in short supply, if it was possible to buy changeable headsculpts with different hats or masks/balaclavas, that would be awesome

new aircraft, this is something that could set this line apart from others buy making new aircraft not available from other lines, specifically i would like to see an F14, i bought 2 F18 and love them, if PTE made some tomcats i would definitely pick up another pair of those, helicopters...a chinook or a sea knight, something to carry these massive PTE armies that i and others are building

ground vehicles, again some troop carrying trucks, gotta be able to carry big armies, a tip would be that if PTE isnt ready to bust into WWII totally than make a truck that could be customized to look like a WWII troop carrier, make the modern and WWII fans happy that way

new figures/bad guys, something that is lacking in almost every 1:18 lines, week could use some terrorist types, somalies/african guerilla fighters, bank robbers/mercenary figures, basically anything that can be used as adversaries for these large PTE armies or spec ops groups and swat

Big Wishes I Will Probably Never See, some regulat looking sailors in dungerees and boondockers, like the old gijoe shipwreck v1 mold, also a aircraft carrier deck crew, yellow and red shirts etc, and of course all of these would be for the mother of all 1:18 items...an aircraft carrier, somehing to launch your PTE F18 and navy seals from, this again is something gijoe did back in the 80s and was one of my favorite toys ever, i would love to see another one of these produced

i am sure there is more i can think of later, but so far i have to say that i am very happy with this line and have bought a lot already and plan to buy more in the future, keep it up and keep up the great communication with the 1:18 community that you have so far.

Please keep em coming!

Brian

Just a quick question. Everything on your site is listed as Pre-Order. I have ordered some of your items from SBP and they are in stock. Why the difference?

Gary

I like Jesse James' idea about this.I have been buying Fire Dept figures just to get the wall sections,they interlock so you can make a damaged brick wall as long as you want with corners where you like.
Taller building structures would be great,the 1/16th RC Tank Clubs like mine could use lots of them to simulate destroyed towns to drive and battle in.check out www.rcacn.com

All the suggestions posted are great - but I'd have to push for buildings and more buildings. And not just "battle damaged" - how about intact buildings for command posts, supply depots, etc? Any interest in Quonset-hut type buildings? Very versitile and I'd think they would be fairly easy to design and manufacture.

A multi-story european styled "generic" building would be nice... Can't storm Paris without one.

How about large tents like the MASH set?

Most of us saw the posts on the MASH set.. Barracks, Mess Hall, OR..

Like a complete MASH unit in the field..