NEW PLAYER IN 1/72 DIECSAT! WARMASTER

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

altay/deagostini was recently bought out by warmaster diecast. they will be releasing 4 armor & 4 planes each month for the next few months. the first shipment is do this month. they added some more detailing to the molds. hope they look good!


april
Matilda MKII
JS STALIN II
LVT-2 WATER
Sd.kfz 165 Hummel
MACCHI VELTRO
NAKAJIMA A6M2-N
MORANE SAULNIER


may
ABRAMS M1A1
FLAKPANZER Gepard
Sd.kfz 141 Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.G
LOCKHEED P-38
FOCKE-WULF FW190 1944
BOULTON PAUL DEFIANT
NAKAJIMA HAYATE KI-84

june
Sherman M4A3 Dozer M1
STEYR RSO 0/1 + PAK40
FIAT M13-40 1942
CRUISER MK VIA CRUISADER 1941
Brewster F2A Buffalo
MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MIG 3
MESSERSCHMITT SCHWALBE Me-262 A-2a

[Tshintl]

Altaya/DeAgostini was not bought out by Warmaster. From my understanding, "Warmaster" is just the collection name (in North America that is, it will have a different name else where). Warmaster still originates from IXO just like the collections by Altaya/DeAgostini. Just a new collection name with better detail (so they claim) and some small changes (dozer blade on the Sherman, mine clearing Abrams, etc.).

I'm eagerly awaiting the first release from Warmaster to see if they really do live up to the hype and are truly better.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

i must have read the email wrong from my supplier. i knew it was still being produced by ixo but i thought it was a different company.

[EnemyAce]

I read about these on I think Lightning's site. I'm interested in this line as well as the listed IXO line, which I think has the RSO/pak 40 combo in it.

Can anyone explain to me how if these are all produced by Altaya/IXO/DeAgostini, how come they are all listed as seperate lines, and will all of these be made available through the DeAgostini tank-models.com website, or are the Warmaster and IXO sublines going to be only available from independent dealers? I'm really confused. It looks like three different lines are offering the exact same German Gepard AA tank.

[Tshintl]

Can anyone explain to me how if these are all produced by Altaya/IXO/DeAgostini, how come they are all listed as seperate lines, and will all of these be made available through the DeAgostini tank-models.com website, or are the Warmaster and IXO sublines going to be only available from independent dealers? I'm really confused. It looks like three different lines are offering the exact same German Gepard AA tank.

I think it's rather silly myself. That said, this new Warmaster line is supposed to be of a better detail quality than the original Combat Tanks and Panzer Collection and it does appear that some of the tanks will be slightly different, i.e. Warmaster Sherman with dozer blade compared to the Combat Tanks Collection Sherman without the dozer blade.

Other than that it does look like it's just the same vehicles all around, which as you put it does confuse things with all these different collection names. I read on another forum that IXO wanted to improve the collection and in doing so created the new Warmaster name to go along with it. We shall see very soon just what differences there are.

[ostketten]

An IS-II in 1/72 should be a positive thing, but I agree with the other person who said it remains to be seen if they'll be any good. Hopefully these will be available from ebay sellers, as my first (and only) experience buying from DeAgostini USA was pretty much a total failure, although I did get my money back eventually, and I'd be very hesitant to buy from them again.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

im looking forward to them. we will be carrying these in our store and we have always had alot of requests. the original vehicles were pretty good. but i think the main draw was the variety of little or never done subjects.
im very happy with the USA release and am looking forward to it!

[Volksdeutsch]

looking forwrd to these dealing with the UK company was a pain

[Tshintl]

Looks like Warmaster died before ever even taking off, according to one retailers website. Too bad, it could have been promising.

[Rowsdower]

Damn. I wanted that IS-2

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

not true! just talked with my distributor they are still a go!
expected eta is end of may

[Tshintl]

Hmmm, wonder if the distributor knows yet then, LOL. I read this on the Motor Pool website, not sure if they talked directly to the manufacturer or maybe there is some confusion and Warmaster will make it to retailers after all. This is what they said...

In other news, it appears as if the WarMaster line is stillborn, so we will not be accepting any further pre-orders for the range. The reason for its demise is too muddled for us to explain, but suffice it to say it was great on paper, and we'll leave it at that.

[lightning2000]

Here's the email we received earlier today:

Dear Dealers,



It is with much disappointment that I must announce that there will no longer be a Warmaster brand and thus we cannot fulfill your generous preorders.



After not receiving any solid follow up information since the Nuremberg Toy Fair we finally received an email from the person creating the WarMaster brand. The email states that in the time since the trade show it has come to his attention that an unnamed party in China was offering the same subject material as announced for WarMaster under the guise of being Altaya toolings for half the price of WarMaster. This party apparently stole Warmaster’s ideas, claimed to be using the same Altaya toolings, undercut the price, and even used WarMaster images for their own sales purposes. Again this all according to our contact who continued to explain that due to this party’s aggressive tactics proper WarMaster distributors began cancelling orders thus leaving WarMaster with too little preorders to expect to be able to recoup costs and investments in a timely fashion. So after trying to salvage what was left WarMaster finally decided it was too little too late.



As manufacturers ourselves we are all too well aware that “things” happen but in this case it seems that WarMaster never had control; control of their product, information, finances, or anything for that matter. After sticking our necks out for IXO Junior I explained to these people that I did not want to create issues for my dealers yet again. After many smiles, handshakes, and promises, we agreed to accept their offer and bring this “brand” to the US which I did enthusiastically, and you my dealers, trustingly accepted. This is the very thing I tried to avoid and I am sorry I ever bothered any of you with it.



I am sorry that I have now wasted your time and your customers time. I understand that the dollar lost is not the issue, it’s the credibility we’ve now all lost in the eyes of our customers. Nowhere is this more true I’m sure than with you, my customers, and Sunrich. It is our goal as a distributor to bridge the gap between manufacturer and dealer; sharing information and working through all the dirty details to make your job’s easier. It is also our job to weed out the crap and bogus offers and I have failed in this. I am very sorry to have wasted your time and I apologize for any damage this causes you with your customers. I can assure you that in the future we will vet the opportunities afforded us more closely so as not to have this type of issue again.



Thank you all for your kind understanding. I am here for your phone calls, emails, questions, and all concerns in general.



Best regards,



Wesley Miller

Sales Manager

SUNRICH Toys & Hobby

3949 Schaefer Avenue

Chino, Ca. 91710 USA

909-287-0655 Ph

909-287-0658 Fx

www.sunrichtoy.com

[EnemyAce]

One of the problems with manufacturing in China is the surprisingly common case of an independent manufacturer "piggybacking" additional production of an ordered item for their own use and separate sales. This happens when a company orders 5000 of an item, the factory will make that 5000, and then strike a further 2000 for it to sell via back channels at a fraction of the cost.

This is what can occur when you don't actually own your own factories (like 99% of toy/collectibles companies) and are having items produced in a corrupt dictatorship which allows you virtually no legal recourse in case of a dispute.

Eventually someone will get these out. Maybe now that the factory has all of the Warmaster distributor info, they go ahead and make a few changes to the paperwork and sell them off themselves.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

MY GUYS GOING TO BE SO PISSED!
China does thier own thing and no one calls them on it! copy rights who cares thats thier moto and we do nothing! according to our trade laws they shouldnt even be able to sell here. slave labor,dont enforce copy rights and subsidies thier own dollar!

[Volksdeutsch]

talked with the mule they have gone down in flames.

[Panzer_M]

well hopefully HM or MRC will produce some of the proposed offerings in their lines for 2011/2012.

I like to see a better RSO, M13/40 and Flaktracks, then the poorly detailed and overpriced Atalaya makes personally.

Even though ATLAS is even worse than Atalaya when it comes to toolings.

Neither warrent the price asked for IMO. Playdoh could be tooled better on some, and some of the painting is worse than a blind 5 year old with the shakes.

[Panzer_M]

Sorry IF I am going to spend Dragon/HM money(in regards to IXO/Ata), I want the qaulity I am paying for.

Although I admit for Pre-dones, MRC is def getting better, and with plastic has/and can have better fine detail than any lump of metal can.

[AMERICAN_GRENADIER]

i agree the new MRC Char line is fantasti. the paint and details really look good. i hope MRC keeps moving in this direction