Small Scale Military Headquarters

First time I have looked at this thread, and I find that you guys have narrowed it down to a 50/50 chance that Admiral will release a bomber; WOW. I don't care if it's B 'whatever', I WANT A BOMBER

If they build a bomber tankdual I'll fly down to New Zealand and drink fosters with you untill we get really pissed. Unless you can think of a better way to celebrate.

Mark

Ha, make sure you bring a bomber with you! And forget that awful Aussie piss, (Fosters), New Zealand's national beer is Steinlager

i thought you were gonna say Aussi pies... thoose are somtimes good

I'll join in a vic bitter and a meat pie with "dead horse", (thats ketchup for you yanks!)

tankduel: I actually just bought some Steinlager here in the States the other week; first time I'd ever seen/heard of it. Pretty good stuff, but then again, I'm comparing to most American beers which isn't saying much

Sorry, that was certainly off topic, so I'll just say the Avenger the closest we'll ever see to a true bomber in 1:18, and since we have yet to even see that...

tankduel wrote:Ha, make sure you bring a bomber with you! And forget that awful Aussie piss, (Fosters), New Zealand's national beer is Steinlager

Sounds good Tankdual. I'd really like to see New Zealand. I'd like to bungie jump off that huge bridge I've heard about. A friend of mine working in Aukland did it and he said it was pretty cool.


Mark

dV

Hi Jason,

Great hearing about the F-86…please don’t forget the 1/72 line. Can you tell us what’s in the pipeline after the Panzer III and when is it going to squirt out?

Thx!

A while back, I e-mailed Admiral and got a nice reply.

I'm afraid this is my first time on this thread. But welcome to the fray, Jason and Admiral Toys! The F-86 looks fabulous and I'm impressed by the willingness of your company to correct an inaccuracy of the model. I know you are well on your way in planning your second 1:18, and I understand and respect your keeping it under wraps until you have it close to release.

I know you are getting bombarded with many good ideas for aircraft to represent. But let me get on my soapbox with my short list. And pictures are worth a thousand words!

<img src="http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/1096 ... ile0ko.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

<img src="http://img387.imageshack.us/img387/8403 ... ile6qh.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

Thanks
JimBob

Jason,

Any updates on the pre-order date for the unpainted F-86s?

Thanks.

Jason wrote:

"Der Vogelfanger, you wouldn’t by chance be talking about JA-111….? I have never heard of it. No, just kidding. We know we have the ability of doing Canadian built F-86s, but do not know what paint schemes we would choose at this point. There is a strong chance that you may be seeing one in the future. JA-111 would be one of my obvious choices, but I am not the only one making the decisions around here.

Trojan99, we definitely have not forgotten about the 1:72 scale line of armor. They are flying off the shelves by pre-order. They will be worth the wait.

I apologize that I am not at liberty to discuss future releases at this time. As soon as we have information it will go on our website that same day. I will say that we are expanding the 1:72 scale lines.

JimBob55, thank you for your email. I know you understand that we cannot discuss future releases.

Morian Miner, we have gone back and forth on this one. We originally were going to provide you with a totally unpainted version of the F-86. Then we discussed it and realized that it would be very difficult for the customer to paint the cockpit, airbrakes, under the leading edge slats etc. Therefore, I think you may be offered a painted version minus all external tampo-printings and markings. You will like the silver paint we used. It catches the light like real polished aluminum. I will once again get back to you when a final decision is made. Whichever way we choose it will be completed in the next two or so weeks. I will notify the board and list it on our website when we begin excepting orders for this version.

Regards,

Jason"

That's very intersting. Thanks, Jason, for the update.

Jason:

I appreciate the kind email responses I've received from Admiral. (and the good feedback about the SBD from my compadres here)

I also understand about future releases. I guess the Dauntless is my 'campaign' aircraft, like some folks (with good reason) are pitching for A-10s and F-4s, etc. I also realize that you'll study the available aircraft very well, and choose to produce ones that have some guarantee of successful sales. I for one, am happy to have another 1:18 manufacturer on the scene, and to stay on the scene, your company will need to stay healthy by following your market research. If that leads to a 1:18 Dauntless, then I'll be on cloud nine ! But if not, I'm sure I'll still be impressed with what you do produce !

Thanks for the listen!
JimBob

Jason wrote:

"Digger, if you look closer you will notice that both sample "real"
F-86s have
been filled and painted! You will not see the rivets of a filled and
painted
aircraft. Go find a photo at the same distance as our photo of an
un-painted
F-86 and see if you see rivets. My guess, because we have studied the
real
thing up close, is that you will see more rivets then we put on our
model. And
a little heads up, those aren't rivets around the guns, they are very
large
bolts on the original aircraft.

As for the ammunition doors: It would be a customer service nightmare
to have
the plugs come out of the wing. If you think about it how many F-86s
would be
returned or how many request of "Hi, Admiral Toys, I lost my little
thing that
plugs into the wing... can you send me another one?..would we get? At
times
engineering is limited by good old fashion common sense. We didn't
"cut
corners" we made a good business decision. Now the seat... that is
another
matter. We have had intentions to fix the seat for some time. It
might be
fixed on future paint schemes."

Digger, if you look closer you will notice that both sample "real"
F-86s have been filled and painted!

Thank you - that explains it. And yes, I said rivets but those are bolts, you are right.

Jason, what are the chances that your company would sell totally or partially dis-assembled aircraft in the 1:18 scale?

Eddie372

Jason wrote:

"I am pleased to announce that the F-86E has made it to shore and will be ready for delivery to your respective retailers by early next week. Therefore you should start to see them on your doorsteps soon. They have been in customs since the 13th of February. We hope to have them delivered by Friday to our warehouse in Dallas.

I have read all the comments regarding the F-86 and thank those that have positive things to say about it. Those that are not impressed… well what can I say? It is our first production model and we have gained an enormous amount of knowledge in the process.

I can tell you that the next production model will have features incorporated into the design that you have not seen on any production model in 1:18 scale. We are confident that the pilot will be of the standard required by the collector and that the aircraft will be amazing.

You may have learned from other threads that the sales that are generated from this site compose about 5% of retailer’s sales. This is a marketable number. However, a manufacturer needs to look at the big picture and not miss the forest for the trees. At this stage in our young company’s life Admiral Toys Incorporated is walking a fine line of gross marketability and collector enthusiasm. We do not produce the numbers that our competition produces; this means that our production costs are higher. However, we will not pass this extra cost of production onto the consumer. We want our prices to be competitive in the market. The measure of detail that you are seeing on new production lines is not things that are required of the standard customer. Admiral Toys really does care what the collector thinks so we want our models to have this measure of detail. But, you cannot make everyone happy all of the time. This is a reality of your hobby and my livelihood.

I am sure you know that it is easy for a company to take an existing mold and make it better; the mold is already paid for. But to offer that level of detail in small production numbers on a brand new model is very costly. I applaud the amount of detail that the manufactures are producing, revamped mold or new. We are learning how to consistently offer this level of detail on each new release.

Production is broken down into procedures. For example, each time a tampo-print is applied to a model that is considered one procedure or step. Add a second color to that same print… two procedures and so on. This applies to every aspect of the manufacturing process. The F-86 has no less then 300 procedures associated with its production. Each step cost money. So you can see how the production cost, which is independent of the master model and tooling cost, will add up.

Admiral Toys Incorporated hopes to take that leap and offer a higher level of detail on its future releases. But as explained above you will always have those certain few that wonder why they didn’t add this, or did that this way, why not this way? That is ok, that is why we have sites likes this; for the collector to voice their opinions. But before an opinion is voiced I hope you stop to think about what it actually takes to get a model to market.

This is why I explain a little of the manufacturing process in each of my post. So that you the collector can learn more about what goes into producing the models you love.

I think Admiral Toys Incorporated should have a contest like the apprentice. That way some of you can experience the endless hours, sleepless nights of conferencing with China, the days spent on an airplane flying back and forth from China, and the gripes from your significant others wondering why we spend so much of our lives devoted to a toy.

Hope you all enjoy the F-86. There are more new and exciting models to come in the future. We are working hard to make more people happy all of the time.

Regards,

Jason"

Boy, I've sure learned a bunch lately about the manufacturing that goes into our hobby. Thanks to Jason and others for taking the time to explain. While I'll continue to discuss the accuracy of various releases and paint schemes for the fun of it, I also have become much more sensitive to the realities of the manufacturing process.

I sure do appreciate the growing committment to us collectors even though we're a small part of the market segment. We are seeing better products because of this. The F-86 looks absolutely gorgeous and I'm looking forward to more from Admiral in the future.

JimBob

Amen to that JimBob, and I do certainly appreciate your comments here Jason.

Maybe I missed something, but I don't remember anyone in particular gripping about your gorgeous airplane, the F-86. In fact, I've seen nothing but very complementary comments here, all the way around the forum.

I'd also like to say that if in fact your company can produce a more detailed model than the competition, then Admiral Toys would be entitled to fetch a higher price, which I would also be willing to pay for. I can not talk for the general public at large (the other 95%), but I believe that beauty and accuracy sell, regardless.

On another subject Jason, I for one would be willing to pay a pretty penny for parts such as bombs, missiles, extra pilots, ground equipment and personnel, even a maintenance hangar with lights and all. The unpainted airplanes that have been suggested, as well as the dis-assembled ones could also be money makers for your company.

I'm really impressed by the efforts of your company, and you can count of me as a very faithful customer for your products. Great news about our F-86s coming to our door steps. Can't wait to read the reviews from the rest of our forum members.

Eddie372

Mine's been pre-ordered for awhile now.

Can't wait!!!

Yes, thanx for the info. I eagerly await the good things to come from your company.
Aaron

Jason wrote:

"JimBob55 and Eddie372, thank you for your comments. It is my pleasure to come to the forums and add my two cents.

I must also correct a generalization. No one on this forum has made a negative comment in general about the F-86. I consider all of the comments we have received on the F-86 as being constructive. I was speaking about the constructive remarks about the pilot and seat. Both of which I admit could have been designed with more thought. This is our first release. Future releases will have greater care taken to more accurately depict the cockpit and pilot. I think you will see the considerable effort that we are making on the next release. My post was meant to help you understand the cost to the manufacturers associated with detail and procedures, not to quash the voice of constructive criticism.

For Eddie 372, we have discussed the option of offering our 1:18 line in kit form. However, there are design problems that may be complicated for the average consumer. For example, most all 1:18 models have many screws that you can not see that are lining the fuselage of the aircraft, these assist in holding the body with minimum separation. On most all 1:18 aircraft, you may have noticed that there are panel lines that do not exist on the actual airplane. These are caps covering the locations of the screws. We hope to have our future models not requiring these caps. We are looking into placing the needed screws from the inside. This would do away with the extra panel lines. This also would make it very difficult for the average customer to complete a kit version of the model. These models also use a press to help seal portions of the wings and landing gear assemblies. This would not be available to the general public and would complicate the ability to correctly finish the kit. I guess what I am saying is that 1:18 molds are not designed to be kit friendly. I hope this answers your question.

Regards,

Jason"

Excellent news!! I am really psyched!! Thanks Jason!

-Ski

Jason, your explanation as to steps and procedures involved was excellent and very instructive.

As for the dis-assembled models, I see your point, but how about the unpainted models? Is that still in the plans? Also, could you please comment on the suggestion to sell additional, complementary items: boms, extra crews, etc.

Thank you

Eddie372