Small Scale Military Headquarters

Badcat's blog said FOV has canceled its Stryker due to political and production capacity problems. See Badcat's blog for details.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Screw china lets bring all production of all the 1/18th,1/32 ect. toys back to the US

OK, that does it now: I am PO'ed.

polictical problems? I can't see it being any more political than an abrams, bradley, lav etc. More likely they didn't think it was going to be a big enough seller to tie up production that could go on other items.

I bet this spells the end of the 1/18 version as well....

Agreed VMF. Communism is the weakest form of government. Just because the goverment "thinks" something isn't good, means they can push things around. How are diecast planes bad for China? Oh, that's right, toy planes are what corrupts the youth of China. It has nothing to do with the lack of freedoms and probably the poor living conditions in some places.

I would rather pay a little more, and have better variety, distribution, and more for everyone. I don't care if a Chinese man builds the plane in the US, just as long as the goverment can't say, "Oh, well, it's not the drugs we should focus on, it's those blasted evil toy planes!"

Seriously, communism should have died out a long time ago.

i doubt this has anything to do with China. Why would they give a rat's a$$ about a stryker and iraq? It's more likely political in terms of how the us buying public will look at it, due to the events of the war. FOV sited the same reasons in an email to one of the board members who enquired about doing a 1/18 T-72 tank.

The strykers are causing some controversy about their survivability etc, which is probably the 'political' concern FOV has. So were/are Bradleys etc and they made one of those, so i don't think the political reason is the main issue...i still think it's mostly because FOV believes sales will be lack luster and they don't want to tie up their limited production capacity on it.

I think the politico problems are shortages in skilled labor and wages disputes, I have been watching over the last few months in how the Chinese workers are demanding higher pay in certain parts of the country.


If this is the case then could we might see the end of 1/32-1/72 die cast aircraft made in China, and if so
Will toy makers move all of their operations to India, Vietnam, Mexico, or any other place that is cheaper?
I also wonder if we could see 21st, AT, Bbi and FOV relocate their entire operations to those counties.
I think we need to keep a watch on what’s going on over their, this political problem could affect our hobby.

Aferg, the blog specifically stated political problems in China. I don't know what, but yeah. Said something how China thought diecast stuff was bad.

You may be right. Might be a "coverup".

Though I agree with VMF. I've heard stuff similar to that. I really hope these things we have no control over ruin our hobby. Kind of like that whole fiasco with royalties and model kits...

badcat's blog says lots of things.....i don't know that i'd be taking them as gospel, i've spotted more than one erroneous comment on it.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was just kind of quoting.

thats just plain stoooooooooooooooooooopid!!!!! neways id rather pay more for thereplicas and have them made here than somewhere else but at the same time wouldn mind if they moved someplace cheaper to lower their prices (take a hint fov lol)

It seems the blog is written with certain search terms worked in without regard for accuracy so be careful what you take away. The only thing I think is for sure is that we shouldn't expect to see the thing anytime soon.

His Blog does say a lot of things but one thing is true, the USD is weakening and soon there will be no benefit at all in manufacturing things over there. Along with the raising oil prices and the weakening US dollar, and lets not forget our own politics. It will not be long before the manufactures move to cheaper places.

That in itself would be a disruption in production.

Well that's craptacular. One more reason to stop collecting Forces of Valor in 1:32 and to keep on expanding my Dragon Armor 1:72 collection. I'm sure Dragon will release a decent Stryker eventually - with a cage.

I don't know why there would be political problems. They don't seem to have any political problems with manufacturing countless, exacting replicas of fighting vehicles and soldiers that fought as part of SS units.

There isn't an eye roll emote big enough so I'll just go with the stock one.

I don't think the Stryker is the problem.

I think this is all a conspiracy planned by our families to get us to spend less money on toys....

I knew my mom was working deep undercover!

CONSPIRACY!

COVER-UP!

The only concerns I have about this are what this means to the stream of toys inot my collection. I am going through withdrawals already, and I just found an OD 1/18 FOV Sherman tonight! (rubber band around arm, slapping veins):?

Vietnam and some of the other Pacific Rim countries have been giving China a run for it's money and I am sure more toy manufacturers will take advantage of their cheap labor, but I don't think it will mean much to us here.

I am going to take the tact that this blog is based on the opinion of a few people and not from the burning bush. China has been more than happy to make many toys for us, diecast or plastic. I can't imagine the PRC Politburo including the FOV Stryker in their daily discussions.

Agenda

• Rattle swords at Taiwan? Check.
  Bill activist families for the bullet used in their loved one's head? Check.
  Review goodies from the Elint plane we forced down? Check.
  Screw up livelihoods and ecology around our foolish, self-important and gratifying Three Gorges Damn project? Check.
  Consider socio-political repurcussions of 1/32 AFV manufacture? Check.
  Infect tens of thousands of back country villagers with AIDS due to poor sterilization of needles when giving immunizations? Check.

This is pretty toungue in cheek but I can assure you of one thing: China will sell us whatever they can make a profit producing. I am sure this model has been back burnered but who knows the real reason why.

Politics and toys? You would think they would not go in the same stew but OH YES they do indeed. You know how many times 21C gets razzed by fans who insist that the german planes should have the swastika and how it ain't accurtate! That old saying of if I had a nickel... comes to mind.

Then there is the China star on the Flying Tiger planes... Yep China and the customs office there in Hong Kong have those as well! They simply will not allow them.

Then there is the oppions of the buyers themselves. espeicially the mass retailers... Ever wonder why the kill flags on planes are black x's and not swastikas... politics. The rising sun kill flags... politics. Some things slip out as the paint masters typically are accurate as they are made in the US! But these remain flukes. I am not saying that I agree with this thinking as we are talking about history here. But I also recognize that there are lines that could be crossed. But in my mind the above mentioned is not one of those crossed. Crazy, I know.

This sure does suck!!!!!

FOV Stryker---"Made in Mexico"?..."Made in Vietnam"?

Hi,
Personally, I would prefer Mexico over southeast asia for any number of reasons. For starters, several of these countries are still communist-controlled, which leaves a bad taste in many an American's mouth. Second, there's NAFTA, which gives Mexico a favored nation status if you will, so it can trade on strong terms with the US and Canada. Then, of course, there's the illegal immigration problem. By providing good, decent paying jobs to the Mexican labor force, it would help to reduce our own expenditures to guard against cross-border incursions. They are also a heck of alot closer geographically, making the transit of goods much easier, Q&A simpler, and the floating of the Chinese Rwan vs. US dollar debate, less important.

Keep in mind, however, that many of the diecast companies are owned by or have many Chinese principals. I have nothing against the Chinese, its just that it would be difficult to convince a Chinese owner to move his factory to Mexico. There are loads of other factors that I havent even touched upon that would make the re-siting of manufacturing facilities a tricky issue.

Finally, I spoke with someone at Unimax regarding the Stryker. While they confirmed it was cancelled, it was due to lackluster demand, much like the Minichamps 2nd issue M60 tank announced then cancelled two years ago.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

How does Unimax determine the demand for a vehicle prior to it's release? Is it due to lack of pre-orders?