Zvezda - What's Up?

[MikeRC97]

The Zvezda "big box" sets are sets 8001-8083.

The wargame small sets (some of which are for their "Art of Tactic" [sic] wargame) are sets 6103-7416

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ManufacturerList.aspx?id=26

I prime all of my 1/72 figures with automotive primer and have no problem with adhesion.  I give them a quick bath in warm soapy water the night before I prime them.

[Elbows]

I like Zvezda - but mainly their 15mm or 1/100 ranges.  They're not growing particularly fast - they seem to have moved away from them a bit, but they're superb for Battlegroup if you can find a suitable Russian eBayer.

In the U.S. people tend to charge a bit too much, but if you're willing to wait 30-60 days (!) you can get a load of 15mm kits for cheap.  Their newer stuff is much better than the old stuff, but $3-4 for a Tiger tank or Elefant, or an IS-2, etc. is excellent.  Also, being able to buy kits individually is excellent.  In a time when Flames of War/Battlefront want $50 for four Tigers...getting the same for $12 is tough to pass up.

I see a lot of reviews and built videos of their larger 1/35th proper models on YouTube - that seems to be the direction they're heading.

[black hat miniatures]

One of the problems with plastic 1/72 scale figures is that they are only economic if you do large runs of sets in one go.  So an initial release might be 5,000 sets.

Having sold all these - the chances of quickly selling 5,000 more sets is quite small and you will be stuck with a warehouse full of boxes.

This is why plastics go OOP so often and why it is best to buy what you need while they are around...

Mike

[AdmiralAndy]

Thanks for the advisory Mike, I'll certainly bear that in mind.

[khartoum2]

From a kid I always loved the 1/72 figure and over the years bought many a box.  I remember wet days on holiday in the caravan playing with 2 boxes of Airfix I'd bought with my pocket money

over the years the number grew and grew and I still have them.  but now my wife has said they must go so currently sorting them into bags to sell off  Took a few bags down the car boot sale the weekend (mostly 1980's moderns and Vietnam war) but no interest - (I though £2 bag wasn't bad as pretty close to a full box in each) - maybe the days of people playing wit little soldiers ahs come to an end.

Still to find my box of Napoleonic and bag of WW2 which will be a lot to go through.  The Medievals bag I have to sort is quite large as I bought  few boxes of French and English 100 years war (I think they are down as accurate miniatures on the review website but I'm sure I bought them under a different name)

[AndrewBeasley]

There is an interesting page on mold wear here


Basically:

• Foreign objects in the mold
• Damage due to releasing stuck castings
• Water / acid
• Accidents
• Wear from fatigue

[Pijlie]

From a kid I always loved the 1/72 figure and over the years bought many a box.  I remember wet days on holiday in the caravan playing with 2 boxes of Airfix I'd bought with my pocket money

over the years the number grew and grew and I still have them.  but now my wife has said they must go so currently sorting them into bags to sell off  Took a few bags down the car boot sale the weekend (mostly 1980's moderns and Vietnam war) but no interest - (I though £2 bag wasn't bad as pretty close to a full box in each) - maybe the days of people playing wit little soldiers ahs come to an end.

Still to find my box of Napoleonic and bag of WW2 which will be a lot to go through.  The Medievals bag I have to sort is quite large as I bought  few boxes of French and English 100 years war (I think they are down as accurate miniatures on the review website but I'm sure I bought them under a different name)

I don't know if you do Facebook but this Facebook page might yield a better response.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2085411251703167

[Hobgoblin]

Took a few bags down the car boot sale the weekend (mostly 1980's moderns and Vietnam war) but no interest - (I though £2 bag wasn't bad as pretty close to a full box in each) - maybe the days of people playing wit little soldiers ahs come to an end.

My impression from eBay is that there's quite a brisk trade in second-hand 1/72s. I've occasionally placed a lowish bid on some medieval lots but have only rarely ended up with a bargain. There's certainly plenty of turnover there.

[Ninefingers]

The machinations of 1/72 manufacturers always seem mystifying to me. Why doesn't everyone use Emhar's plastic (or Caesar's)? Why has Caesar cancelled the sets that everyone wants to buy? Why doesn't Emhar do more, given how good its stuff is? And why do so many manufacturers produce each other's sets?

Emhar are owned in a roundabout way by Bachmann, the model railway manufacturer, when they bought Pocketbond. It's unlikely that anything new will come from them until it changes hands again...

[Hobgoblin]

Emhar are owned in a roundabout way by Bachmann, the model railway manufacturer, when they bought Pocketbond. It's unlikely that anything new will come from them until it changes hands again...

I see - thanks for the info! That's a shame - the plastic they use is by far the best.