Small Scale Military Headquarters

Does anyone know if the FOV 1/72 armour can be purchased separately? Onsite Diecast is requiring them to be purchased in lots of 12! Other websites are saying they will be "grouped" in pre-determined numbers. Diecast Direct is the only place that I have found that you can pre-order them individually. What have you guys heard?

Thanks,

Philip

That sounds somewhat bizarre.

Probably a guarantee to the retailer that they will move them.. What better way to sell them than by the case..
I am sure you will be able to buy them even preorder them closer to the release date..

Hi,
We have them available for sale by the individual piece, at least for now. The problem is that Unimax is not making them available as open stock like they do with the 1:32 scale vehicles. Instead, dealers have to purchase them by the case of 12 and we haven't been told what the assortment breakdown will be given the fact that there are 8 vehicles in the assortment.

That means some vehicles will inevitably sell out faster than others and dealers may be stuck with overstock in other less popular items. So, if there's one King Tiger tank in the assortment (popular vehicle) and say two Churchills (less popular), dealers must make a decision to keep bringing in excess merchandise to sell a handful of the more popular vehicles. Pretty bizarre logic on the manufacterers part but they're loathe to offering more and more individual SKUs given the size of the ever-expanding FOV range. I can understand their hesitation to stock more individual items but retailers are going to balk every time they have to consider bringing in more stock.

Cordially,

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.bigstep.com

My understanding is that Unimax believes that the new 1:72 line will have the bulk of its sales through mass marketers like Walmart or Target. And since unlike FOV 1:32, there will be no seperate enthusiast/action lines, they are doing assortments that meet the big buyers requirements, as the big box stores won't do multiple sku's for multiple $10 vehicles.

I also have a hunch that the traditional big sellers - German Tigers - might not be quite the big seller as they could have been due to Dragon having flooded the market with various Tigers already. Though with a different outlet/audience, and the apparent insatiable demand for these I'm probably wrong.

Does anyone know if the 1/72 FOV line Tanks will have moveable treads or static like Dragon?

Thanks.

Hi Bravo,
No idea as yet since we're only working from illustrations at this point and sketchy information. Just a guess but they'll probably feature vinyl treads and moveable turrets/guns given the inexpensive price points. If they can produce a sharp-looking 1:72 scale vehicle that resembles their 1:32 scale brethren, then this series will do well at retail.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.bigstep.com

I think the German Tigers may even be bigger sellers than the Dragon line, for the reason being, more people will see them.

Realize that only people who are interested enough in the Hobby, know about Dragon Armor. They're pretty hard to find if you compare it to products distributed via Mass Retailers like Target, Walmart, and Toysrus.

EnemyAce wrote:My understanding is that Unimax believes that the new 1:72 line will have the bulk of its sales through mass marketers like Walmart or Target. And since unlike FOV 1:32, there will be no seperate enthusiast/action lines, they are doing assortments that meet the big buyers requirements, as the big box stores won't do multiple sku's for multiple $10 vehicles.

I also have a hunch that the traditional big sellers - German Tigers - might not be quite the big seller as they could have been due to Dragon having flooded the market with various Tigers already. Though with a different outlet/audience, and the apparent insatiable demand for these I'm probably wrong.

According to Lisa at Panache Place (the U.S. distributor) there will be two lines for the 1/72, just like the 1/32. I received an email on March 4 with this information. I guess we'll just have to wait and see which is correct. Lisa also said that she will have the FOV website updated with the 2005 1/72 by the weekend of March 12th.

MichToy is taking preorders on the pieces seperately.

Aren't the enthusiast editions of FOV simply the stock versions with "mud" splattered over the paint?
BTW, the paint colors and application seem to have improved for the FOV 1:32 vehicles from series I to series II & III. Therefore, I am expecting good quality for the 1:72 product line. We'll have to wait to see about the metal to plastic content. (Too bad FOV isn't offering a "normal" M4 Sherman in addition to the "mine-roller" version)
Stryker