Khurasan's 15mm Cold War Soviet Motor Rifles

[Khurasan Miniatures]

Very pleased to preview our Cold War Soviet Motor Rifles in 15mm scale. These are in the 1970 uniform reforms, but they are 15mm so could probably be used for earlier periods in a pinch.

First we have four poses of "vanilla" riflemen, including the squad "medic" with the medical bag:


Next we have the squad support weapons and assistants to the grenadiers--all are unique poses. Three men with RPK, three with RPG-7, and three assistants with AKs and spare rockets in a pack on their back:


Finally we have the platoon set, which has the platoon marksman with Dragunov sniper rifle, assistant platoon leader with AK, platoon leader with pistol, and two teams allocated from the company's MG platoon with the PKM:


The first pack has three of each pose, the other packs have one of each pose. So if you get one of each pack, that's exactly one platoon of Motor Rifles. 

These were made to complement our popular Yom Kippur War range.  In 1973, the West came rather close to blows with the Warsaw Pact -- if these are popular we'll make British, Germans, and others.  However, next up would be Americans, both for NATO forces in Europe and for Southeast Asia.

These Motor Rifles should be available soon and the BMP-1 will be released with them.  BTR-60 is being put into a mould soon.  Painted by Steve Dean, sculpted by Mike Broadbent.

[carlos marighela]

Very nice indeed!

[Johnno]

Nice. Now let's see some in 28mm. 

[AngusPodgorny1969]

As usual, beautiful figures!!!  Easy-to-paint raised details and excellent animation. Perfect selection of weapons for small unit gaming too. Addition of light and medium mortars and an ATGM would expand use to company level games.

However...

I was a huge fan of Khurasan but getting orders shipped when promised has just become too difficult. It's a shame since they are so nice.  Maybe he can outsource production and fulfillment to a professional miniatures company at some point while keeping design for himself? It seems like new figures keep getting added while production and shipping of current stuff gets left behind.

[Johnno]

I just had an order (1x Roof-top Sniper) arrive less than a week after ordering.

[Conquistador]

I am happy with the time frames so far.

Gracias,

Glenn

[AngusPodgorny1969]

I just had an order (1x Roof-top Sniper) arrive less than a week after ordering.

You're very lucky or very special. The standard operating procedure is that after an order you get an e-mail stating your order will ship within the week. Usually a week passes with no word. It usually takes well over a week just to ship and then you may or may not get an shipping confirmation. It's not a big deal in terms of time (they're just miniatures after all). But it is disconcerting to hear nothing after the shipping deadline passes. Feels like the order dropped into a black hole, so even automated update such as, "We haven't forgotten about your order" would be nice. And to be fair, he has mentioned that it's just a side gig, almost a hobby in some ways. 

My only concern as a customer is that we've all seen one-man operations in our cottage industry go belly up without warning and you lose your money. The Khurasan minis are so nice I'd like to see a mainstream, reliable retailer such as Scale Creep handle fulfillment (they're extremely open, informative, and reliable...I order all of my QRF gear from them). Another great company for customer service is Ground Zero Games. Despite the fact that they're located in the UK and I'm in the US they routinely beat US-based companies in order-to-delivery speed. Folks joke about their use of a time portal or worm hole to process and send orders.

All that being said I might give Khurasan another try. Those figures are so tempting.

[Brummie]

You're very lucky or very special. The standard operating procedure is that after an order you get an e-mail stating your order will ship within the week. Usually a week passes with no word. It usually takes well over a week just to ship and then you may or may not get an shipping confirmation. It's not a big deal in terms of time (they're just miniatures after all). But it is disconcerting to hear nothing after the shipping deadline passes. Feels like the order dropped into a black hole, so even automated update such as, "We haven't forgotten about your order" would be nice. And to be fair, he has mentioned that it's just a side gig, almost a hobby in some ways. 

My only concern as a customer is that we've all seen one-man operations in our cottage industry go belly up without warning and you lose your money. The Khurasan minis are so nice I'd like to see a mainstream, reliable retailer such as Scale Creep handle fulfillment (they're extremely open, informative, and reliable...I order all of my QRF gear from them). Another great company for customer service is Ground Zero Games. Despite the fact that they're located in the UK and I'm in the US they routinely beat US-based companies in order-to-delivery speed. Folks joke about their use of a time portal or worm hole to process and send orders.

All that being said I might give Khurasan another try. Those figures are so tempting.

Dude, Khurasan has been around for years now, and it doesn't look like he is going belly up anytime soon. In fact I'd probably say his vast range of minis is probably the only thing hurting him. Too much to categorise, store, get supplies for etc.

I've also never had problems ordering, and usually it takes much longer than a few weeks if you have purchased a large order, consisting of highly popular items that run out pretty quickly.

[commissarmoody]

Every thing I have ordered from them, usually gets to me in about a week also.

[AngusPodgorny1969]

Dude, Khurasan has been around for years now, and it doesn't look like he is going belly up anytime soon. In fact I'd probably say his vast range of minis is probably the only thing hurting him. Too much to categorise, store, get supplies for etc.

I've also never had problems ordering, and usually it takes much longer than a few weeks if you have purchased a large order, consisting of highly popular items that run out pretty quickly.

Steady there friend, you just noted the same thing that I did: his large selection is what's hurting him.

As for being around for years being a reason for being around for a long time to come, that's not how it works. In fact, as in this case, as more time passes bloat can occur which slows down a company ultimately causing it's demise. The business landscape is strewn with wreckage of companies which imploded under their own weight.

And I'm NOT saying that's Khurasan is going out of business. All I'm noting is that as he keeps adding products while not increasing capacity he seems to be hitting a natural and understandable choke point in servicing customers. That's sustainable if one is investing in completely unique inventory since customers don't have other options. However, in this case, he's investing in items which can be found from other vendors with superior service (e.g. Peter Pig already sells these figures and provides reliable service). At that point, if prospective customers choose other supplies because they provide more reliable service for essentially the same product then that investment becomes an operating loss which can threaten a company's viability.

[Steve F]

I take it, Mr Podgorny, that you did receive your order, just later than expected?

The front page of Khurusan's website asks all customers to follow a link to a notice about shipping which says:

Delivery times
I make every effort to get your package to you as soon as is humanly possible, but with the growth of this business, it's proving harder to deliver all packages with 48 hours of order, as used to be my practice. That's because I have expanded the number and size of the ranges, but am still the same one person fulfilling orders on evenings and weekends. I can only pack so many orders a night and so your order may need to wait a bit until I work my way up to it on the list.

With so much stock to keep, and so many orders coming in, now and then I will have an unanticipated demand for codes which will empty my inventory, and I will then need to wait for restocks from my third party casters. These restockings are out of my hands and often can take a considerable amount of time to be fulfilled (depending on the caster) -- it's not uncommon for me to wait a month for a restocking.

To make a long story short, whilst I am still aiming to get orders out within 48 hours of delivery, the average time now is about a week, and it's not at all uncommon to take about two weeks to get to some orders. Trust me, it's not for lack of trying! If I am out of stock of an item when you place your order, I will let you know. If you want to check the status of your order, please do check by e-mailing me.

If accurate, that seems reasonable to me (but then again, I grew up in the days when it was normal to allow 28 days for delivery domestically).

In quite a few decades in this hobby, off an on, I have only ever been burned by third party retailers and other middlemen, not by ordering from manufacturers, however small.

Peter Pig already sells these figures and provides reliable service

Peter Pig is a fine company, but I cannot find on its website any post-1970 Soviets.  Many of the "AK47 Republic" range are equipped with Soviet weaponry, but that is not the same thing.

[Mindenbrush]

Nice looking figures 

[Khurasan Miniatures]

All I'm noting is that as he keeps adding products while not increasing capacity he seems to be hitting a natural and understandable choke point in servicing customers.

Most people don't seem to care -- they are willing to wait a few weeks for stuff, even if I (somewhat optimistically) said it would be about a week.  Most of my customers have lots of stuff to paint anway, so they are patient when it comes to any given incoming order.

I see you've singled me out at length as providing bad customer service on a roundup of 15mm Modern Miniatures (which Lead Adventure then chose to sticky).  That's strange as I so often get messages from my customers telling me that there's nothing unusual about waiting a few weeks to get an order, and in fact it's not unusual to order ... and then get nothing!  

I guess most of my customers appreciate the fact that I've released so much product and make every effort to give a good set of quality models -- that to them is more important than having the models in one week rather than, say, two and a half.  To them, that seems to be "servicing customers," rather than shipping same day.  

That kind of breadth of range is not mentioned in your review so I assume it's not as important to you?  IMO this set is a perfect example.  For years customers have had to make due with 15mm Motor Rifle ranges that have maybe six or eight poses of models, and now there is a set with over 20 unique poses.  That I think resonates with a lot of people.  It's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.  

You're very lucky or very special.

They're neither.  Every day I receive orders that are packed that day and shipped the next.  Usually it's a very complex order, or an order with models that are awaiting restock, that gets delayed, and as you have pointed out, the delays can last for several weeks.

[AngusPodgorny1969]

You were  NOT singled out for "bad customer service".  If other sources had issues they too were noted.

I simply noted facts about your operation that you state yourself: orders can indeed take weeks to fill, there is no way a customer can know in real time how long an order will take which is the definition of a lack of reliability, and it's a fact that during vacation or when feeling overwhelmed you simply shut down the entire online catalog which prevents prospective customers from simply viewing your offerings.

You yourself have noted that all of the above statements are true.

If you find that having them noted in a review is unpleasant then only YOU can change them. Do something different. But don't blame customers for discussing things you yourself have noted here and on your website (which includes a lengthy disclaimer about shipping times/service reliability!).

As noted in the 15mm sources thread your figures are OUTSTANDING. I love their larger, chunkier look. And as discussed in this thread and as YOU have noted on YOUR website, you're a one man operation which has an effect on service reliability.

It's very unfair to invoke a disclaimer on your website about service reliability and then berate others for noting the reasons that YOU have that disclaimer are true.

Essentially what you're seeking is the protection of the disclaimer that you posted on your website but you're objecting to having the reasons for the disclaimer noted in public.

EDIT: here is your disclaimer in which you note the issues being discussed or observed on this forum in bold.

Delivery times
I make every effort to get your package to you as soon as is humanly possible, but with the growth of this business, it's proving harder to deliver all packages with 48 hours of order, as used to be my practice. That's because I have expanded the number and size of the ranges, but am still the same one person fulfilling orders on evenings and weekends. I can only pack so many orders a night and so your order may need to wait a bit until I work my way up to it on the list.

With so much stock to keep, and so many orders coming in, now and then I will have an unanticipated demand for codes which will empty my inventory, and I will then need to wait for restocks from my third party casters. These restockings are out of my hands and often can take a considerable amount of time to be fulfilled (depending on the caster) -- it's not uncommon for me to wait a month for a restocking.

To make a long story short, whilst I am still aiming to get orders out within 48 hours of delivery, the average time now is about a week, and it's not at all uncommon to take about two weeks to get to some orders. Trust me, it's not for lack of trying! If I am out of stock of an item when you place your order, I will let you know. If you want to check the status of your order, please do check by e-mailing me.

[Khurasan Miniatures]

It's very unfair to invoke a disclaimer on your website about service reliability and then berate others for noting the reasons that YOU have that disclaimer are true.

No need to shout -- I haven't berated you, instead I've explained why many people would disagree that delivery delays for orders translate as "poor customer service"  -- for many, probably most, of my customers that does not seem to be true.  For you, customer service might mean getting an order a week after you placed it, all the time, or getting e-mail updates about any delays, and being able to "peruse" my website whenever you want.  But by and large I have no complaints about my customer service, except for people who have your priorities, who as I mention seem to be a minority of buyers.  I think there's two reasons for that.

1) Most of the orders I get do in fact go out within about 36-48 hours of receipt.
2) For those that don't, it doesn't seem to be a huge deal for the buyers.  If they are curious and send me an e-mail I give an update and they seem satisfied with the results.

This is a cottage industry and I think most customers realise that, so they know many of the guys who provide the models they wargame with don't have tickler systems to tell them to send e-mail reminders about delays and so on, and that stock shortages, or just plain shortages of time, will result in delays in their getting their models.

No one's saying that you're wrong for wanting what you want out of buying miniatures.  And occasionally customers do write me irked that they have not got an update on a delayed order.  But I do think it's not quite right to impose that preference on what was claimed to be a review of ranges available. Instead of learning, say, that I have 6+ unique poses for the modern ranges I've recently been putting out, which I think would be useful information in a roundup of models, instead readers learn that you're mad that I take my website down sometimes so you can't look at it whenever you want.  I know that's relevant to you, and some others as well, and I'm working to do something about it, but in the scheme of things it's not terribly relevant to the ranges.  If a guy buys from me and has to wait three weeks to get the models, that pales in comparison for the years of enjoyment he'll get out of a range that's well sculpted, thoroughly researched and with a large pose variety.  That's my position at least.