Admiral Toys Information Q&A (Jason)
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:07 pm
I have been contacted by Jason of Admiral Toys. He has requested a thread on our board similar to the BBI Information thread with which Mike provides us information.
The arrangement will be similar to the one with Mike; ie Jason will email me information/answers and i will then post them in this thread.
As with Mike, there may be some initial skepticism by some as to Jason's authenticity but in time everyone can decide as to the
validity of the information for themselves.
I'll post information as i get it. Feel free to discuss it within the
thread, as Jason will be monitoring the board from time to time and can
perhaps address other concerns/questions etc that are brought up. Keep all your comments confined to this one thread. All spin off threads will be
deleted. We want to keep it all in one topic so it is easy for him to
peruse during the limited time he will have to visit the board....plus spin
off threads will only create unnecessary clutter.
I will not be giving out his email address so don't bother to ask, nor will
i pass on individual questions to him, so don't pm me with them. They will
be ignored.
I personally think that it is great that Jason is taking the time and making
the effort to inform our little band. I'm sure what he has to say will be
appreciated by all.
So without further ado....
Jason wrote:
"Thank you for your assistance. Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Jason, and I am General Counsel for Admiral Toys Incorporated. Aside from providing the legal needs of the company, I also assist the company with research and development of our lines and am the liaison with our facilities in China.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak with the forum members. Hopefully, I will be able to answer the members’ questions and give some informative news not yet on our website.
As you may have noticed, our website has changed in the last couple of weeks and is still under construction. The products page is not up and running as of today. This is because we are still working on the website and are waiting for new photos of the final production samples of our F-86 and Panzer IIIL. These photos will be available on the website for you to view around December 10. However, I will try to give the forum a sneak preview of the production samples sometime next week.
Please note that in the future, our products page will say $0.00 as a price for items that have been released for the publics viewing but are not yet available for preorder or for sale. When we are ready to accept preorders, the price will change to the retail price of the product. (To answer a question from the forum, the F-86’s price has not changed, it will be offered for $59.99). We have notified many of your members that we are not yet taking preorders for the F-86, and this is still the case. We have received numerous inquiries, and we are trying to respond to everyone asking to preorder the F-86. I have personally responded to many of these inquiries. At this time, it is still our practice to put those individuals on a notification list that will email you the second we begin to take preorders. We believe that this system is in the best interests of interested customers, including your members, because we do not want to take everyone’s money and then encounter a delay. Therefore, we will only take preorders on a product, including the F-86, for which we have a date of delivery. Please note that to put your name on our notification list, you must send an email with your contact information to [email protected].
I want to personally apologize to “Digger” for not replying to his/her email. I do not know how it passed unanswered. We are making a concerted effort to answer all emails. Digger, hopefully this post will answer all of your questions.
To answer the most popular question asked by this forum, we do not at this time have intentions of producing a 1:18th A-10. We are exploring the cost of its production, and as you may have guessed it will be a very expensive airplane to produce. This does not mean we have counted out the production in the future. To steal a line from a distinguished colleague, “you will have to wait and see.”
This leads me to another point. The development and production of such a large model takes months to produce master models (prototypes), modify those master models, conduct tooling, modify the tooling, produce the production sample, modify that production sample, set up a production line, and finally begin production. With such a timeline you are bound to have overlapping of models from different companies. I have read the posts on this site that have discussed that there are a finite number of “popular” aircrafts that can be mass-produced. With three companies in the 1:18 arena and the months required for development and production, you will see overlap. We generally do not know what the other companies are about to produce.
I am going to China tomorrow morning and hope to return in a week or so. I am going to China to review the production sample of the Jolley Roger F-86. If you review the timeline I have described above, this means we are very close to production. Yes, delays have occurred. This is why you will not have such a forecasted knowledge of future releases. We will keep under wraps all future projects until we know they are ready for production. As a note, if anyone has wondered about the spelling we have used for “Jolley” in our Jolly Roger, it is the name of the pilot Clifford Jolley.
The Jolley Roger will be available on the internet only. We have no plans on using mass-retailers. If we release a form of the Jolley Roger in the future to a mass-retailer, it will be different from the one on the internet and will be sold in limited numbers and offered in a different box. Most of the major internet retailers have contacted us, and you should not have a problem finding our products.
Again, there will be no advanced notice to the public of future releases with the EXCEPTION of one more model that will be produced. I have been given permission, by the powers that be, to release the identity of a future aircraft in 1:18. The only reason I have been given permission is that it will be an overlap aircraft. In other words, another company has already produced it. As I explained, it takes months for development and we were well into development when it was released by another company. Ours does have a few things different about it, so I think you will be pleased. Plus, I promise it will be produced in very limited numbers. Unfortunately, you will have to wait until I return from China to “see” which aircraft."
The arrangement will be similar to the one with Mike; ie Jason will email me information/answers and i will then post them in this thread.
As with Mike, there may be some initial skepticism by some as to Jason's authenticity but in time everyone can decide as to the
validity of the information for themselves.
I'll post information as i get it. Feel free to discuss it within the
thread, as Jason will be monitoring the board from time to time and can
perhaps address other concerns/questions etc that are brought up. Keep all your comments confined to this one thread. All spin off threads will be
deleted. We want to keep it all in one topic so it is easy for him to
peruse during the limited time he will have to visit the board....plus spin
off threads will only create unnecessary clutter.
I will not be giving out his email address so don't bother to ask, nor will
i pass on individual questions to him, so don't pm me with them. They will
be ignored.
I personally think that it is great that Jason is taking the time and making
the effort to inform our little band. I'm sure what he has to say will be
appreciated by all.
So without further ado....
Jason wrote:
"Thank you for your assistance. Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Jason, and I am General Counsel for Admiral Toys Incorporated. Aside from providing the legal needs of the company, I also assist the company with research and development of our lines and am the liaison with our facilities in China.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak with the forum members. Hopefully, I will be able to answer the members’ questions and give some informative news not yet on our website.
As you may have noticed, our website has changed in the last couple of weeks and is still under construction. The products page is not up and running as of today. This is because we are still working on the website and are waiting for new photos of the final production samples of our F-86 and Panzer IIIL. These photos will be available on the website for you to view around December 10. However, I will try to give the forum a sneak preview of the production samples sometime next week.
Please note that in the future, our products page will say $0.00 as a price for items that have been released for the publics viewing but are not yet available for preorder or for sale. When we are ready to accept preorders, the price will change to the retail price of the product. (To answer a question from the forum, the F-86’s price has not changed, it will be offered for $59.99). We have notified many of your members that we are not yet taking preorders for the F-86, and this is still the case. We have received numerous inquiries, and we are trying to respond to everyone asking to preorder the F-86. I have personally responded to many of these inquiries. At this time, it is still our practice to put those individuals on a notification list that will email you the second we begin to take preorders. We believe that this system is in the best interests of interested customers, including your members, because we do not want to take everyone’s money and then encounter a delay. Therefore, we will only take preorders on a product, including the F-86, for which we have a date of delivery. Please note that to put your name on our notification list, you must send an email with your contact information to [email protected].
I want to personally apologize to “Digger” for not replying to his/her email. I do not know how it passed unanswered. We are making a concerted effort to answer all emails. Digger, hopefully this post will answer all of your questions.
To answer the most popular question asked by this forum, we do not at this time have intentions of producing a 1:18th A-10. We are exploring the cost of its production, and as you may have guessed it will be a very expensive airplane to produce. This does not mean we have counted out the production in the future. To steal a line from a distinguished colleague, “you will have to wait and see.”
This leads me to another point. The development and production of such a large model takes months to produce master models (prototypes), modify those master models, conduct tooling, modify the tooling, produce the production sample, modify that production sample, set up a production line, and finally begin production. With such a timeline you are bound to have overlapping of models from different companies. I have read the posts on this site that have discussed that there are a finite number of “popular” aircrafts that can be mass-produced. With three companies in the 1:18 arena and the months required for development and production, you will see overlap. We generally do not know what the other companies are about to produce.
I am going to China tomorrow morning and hope to return in a week or so. I am going to China to review the production sample of the Jolley Roger F-86. If you review the timeline I have described above, this means we are very close to production. Yes, delays have occurred. This is why you will not have such a forecasted knowledge of future releases. We will keep under wraps all future projects until we know they are ready for production. As a note, if anyone has wondered about the spelling we have used for “Jolley” in our Jolly Roger, it is the name of the pilot Clifford Jolley.
The Jolley Roger will be available on the internet only. We have no plans on using mass-retailers. If we release a form of the Jolley Roger in the future to a mass-retailer, it will be different from the one on the internet and will be sold in limited numbers and offered in a different box. Most of the major internet retailers have contacted us, and you should not have a problem finding our products.
Again, there will be no advanced notice to the public of future releases with the EXCEPTION of one more model that will be produced. I have been given permission, by the powers that be, to release the identity of a future aircraft in 1:18. The only reason I have been given permission is that it will be an overlap aircraft. In other words, another company has already produced it. As I explained, it takes months for development and we were well into development when it was released by another company. Ours does have a few things different about it, so I think you will be pleased. Plus, I promise it will be produced in very limited numbers. Unfortunately, you will have to wait until I return from China to “see” which aircraft."
Can't wait to see the F-86 you will offer.
Glad you could join us! 
This is only good news to me.