All things Conte (1 Viewer)

Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Good to here that Conte is alive and kicking.:D:D With Conte's Zulus,Zouaves,Britains and Jenkin's Sudan ranges and god knows what else from KC,FL,CS and many others it looks like 2010 is going to be a great,great year in the toy soldier world.:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Mark
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Why don't you e-mail him Jay and ask him he will answer your emails.

Generally I take what he has to say with a grain of salt. Actually, a whole tablespoon of salt. Like most, we have seen lines promised not delivered.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Conte moved his business to North Carolina and has new better sculptors and painters from China. The NEW figures are detailed much better. If you didn't like Conte metal figures, you will now. The expression on the figures faces have a realistic look now. He also will be coming out with special sets of figures which I can not talk about at this time due to me and another person being involved in these presentations.:D:D:D
Yes, there is even more interesting and unique figures, buildings, scenery, etc...
Nick

Again, generally no one has had a complaint about the quality of the figures, and/or of the painting, though the bare-breasted Indian maidens were a bit......extreme.
Could sculptors top the existing figures? Sure, anything can be improved on. But as far as the stuff that has come out from his company,when it does, no one need be ashamed.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

I heard from someone that spoke to him at the show that the Alamo will never be finished.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Generally I take what he has to say with a grain of salt. Actually, a whole tablespoon of salt. Like most, we have seen lines promised not delivered.

Amen!
Gary
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Conte moved his business to North Carolina and has new better sculptors and painters from China. The NEW figures are detailed much better. If you didn't like Conte metal figures, you will now. The expression on the figures faces have a realistic look now. He also will be coming out with special sets of figures which I can not talk about at this time due to me and another person being involved in these presentations.:D:D:D
Yes, there is even more interesting and unique figures, buildings, scenery, etc...
Nick

Thanks for the update Nick and have to say your post has given me a little more encouragement than the written rhetoric on his web-site we have had to digest for what seems forever.

Like the other guys on here, whatever era they are waiting for Conte to deliver, I still live in hope of those NY Fire Zouaves-all of them;)

Reb
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

I should revise this post, I should have worded it, I read what someone WROTE after his talk with Conte, in MY OPINION the Alamo will never be completed. Seems we have an Individual with the initials PJR that likes to stir the pot.

I heard from someone that spoke to him at the show that the Alamo will never be finished.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Conte products are what got me collecting 54mm metal.At one time I would only buy Conte but now i just don't feel it.I hope he comes out with some items that will rekindle that old flame.With Jenkins,FL CS,Britains coming out with some fantastic products that will be hard.
Mark
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Got a hunch he'll be rekindeling that old flame of yours Mark as another of his future figures has just made an appearance on the Conte Web Site
 

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Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

His most recent update is here:

http://www.conteco.com/QA.htm

Gist of it is that he does not plan to discontinue the plastic Alamo line, but sets 6 and 7 didn't sell well enough to support further expansion at this time.

He notes that TSSD and Ken Olsen plan to produce a "north wall" and he doesn't seem particularly upset about that, though he does point out that Olsen was not the guy who sculpted the previous buildings.

I thought that some of his reported feedback was particularly interesting - -namely that the sheer scale of the buildings makes it difficult for many customers to find enough room to display them. Thus, many people have scaled down their setups by restricting them to a portion of the compound, or by using smaller buildings.

It sounds as though his main plans (for plastic) at this time include production of Persians for the Spartan figures, and some sort of Foreign Legion expansion.

He did invite correspondence on the whole Alamo issue (and presumably other plastic lines) as sort of a poll on what his custoers would be most likely to support.

Personally, I would fall under the category of people who don't have Alamo buildings as a very high priority (though I would love to see a few more figures.)

I'd be thrilled to see an FFL expansion, though, and his prototypes look awesome, so I hope it materializes.


Edit: noticed that someone beat me to the punch on this one. (I'm a newbie here and still learning to navigate the threads.) Oh well.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

His most recent update is here:

http://www.conteco.com/QA.htm

Gist of it is that he does not plan to discontinue the plastic Alamo line, but sets 6 and 7 didn't sell well enough to support further expansion at this time.

He notes that TSSD and Ken Olsen plan to produce a "north wall" and he doesn't seem particularly upset about that, though he does point out that Olsen was not the guy who sculpted the previous buildings.

I thought that some of his reported feedback was particularly interesting - -namely that the sheer scale of the buildings makes it difficult for many customers to find enough room to display them. Thus, many people have scaled down their setups by restricting them to a portion of the compound, or by using smaller buildings.

It sounds as though his main plans (for plastic) at this time include production of Persians for the Spartan figures, and some sort of Foreign Legion expansion.

He did invite correspondence on the whole Alamo issue (and presumably other plastic lines) as sort of a poll on what his custoers would be most likely to support.

Personally, I would fall under the category of people who don't have Alamo buildings as a very high priority (though I would love to see a few more figures.)

I'd be thrilled to see an FFL expansion, though, and his prototypes look awesome, so I hope it materializes.


Edit: noticed that someone beat me to the punch on this one. (I'm a newbie here and still learning to navigate the threads.) Oh well.

Plastic Fan,
Welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for the Conte update, along with the good ole' Lt
Mike
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Just read the Conte update.
RC is good! For a few minutes I was back to the year 2000, waiting for the next promised playset to come out any day now with another 50 playsets in the works.
Then reality set in, the year is late 2009 and I,m still waiting for the above.
I did contact RC and made my first payment on the Brooklyn Bridge he just sold me.
Haveing said the above, I will give him credit again for makeing the best plastic figures EVER!
Gary
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Just read the Conte update.
RC is good! For a few minutes I was back to the year 2000, waiting for the next promised playset to come out any day now with another 50 playsets in the works.
Then reality set in, the year is late 2009 and I,m still waiting for the above.
I did contact RC and made my first payment on the Brooklyn Bridge he just sold me.
Haveing said the above, I will give him credit again for makeing the best plastic figures EVER!
Gary

Knew once again Gary it wouldn't take you long to provide another one of your negative comments an didn't realize he was offering a Brooklyn Bridge.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Knew once again Gary it wouldn't take you long to provide another one of your negative comments an didn't realize he was offering a Brooklyn Bridge.
I thought it was a positive comment. I certainly agree on the plastic compliment and I have quite a few of them myself. Besides, I can imagine few better tributes to the craft than waiting 10 years for a release.:eek::D
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Knew once again Gary it wouldn't take you long to provide another one of your negative comments an didn't realize he was offering a Brooklyn Bridge.

Well, he did say at one point that he was going to make a Titanic Playset. I'm serious. Boy, think about the play value that would have had. Glad that didn't come off.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Well, he did say at one point that he was going to make a Titanic Playset. I'm serious. Boy, think about the play value that would have had. Glad that didn't come off.

Well, you never know. After sitting through nearly four hours of that movie, I was rooting for the water, the ice and the fish.

- anyway - I guess the bottom line on the Alamo is that he may pick it up again someday, but for the forseeable future he has to devote his production resources to more profitable lines.

I don't know anything about this business but my understanding is that he has historically made more money off of his painted pewter sets. That raises a question in my mind. If and when he does return to the Alamo theme, my guess would be that he'd start with painted metal figures which seem to be a better deal for him. The existing sets have a number of single color pewter figures as character figures or "vignettes." So what I would would like to see and what I would personally spend money on would be new single color pewter versons - especially casualties, cavalry and assault crews.

That's my two cents, anyway.

I am getting more intrigued by the FFL prototypes. Some of the poses and gear remind me of an old Gene Hackman movie: "March or Die." As I vaguely recall, it involved FFL guys accompanying some kind of civilian expedition. They get trapped and surrounded by overwhelming numbers and have to dig in.

I think that would be a fun scenario to recreate and would allow for some interesting "archeologist" figs in the mix.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

...I am getting more intrigued by the FFL prototypes. Some of the poses and gear remind me of an old Gene Hackman movie: "March or Die." As I vaguely recall, it involved FFL guys accompanying some kind of civilian expedition. They get trapped and surrounded by overwhelming numbers and have to dig in.

I think that would be a fun scenario to recreate and would allow for some interesting "archeologist" figs in the mix.
Yes indeed; especially those with those nicely developed gluteus maximus muscles.:eek::D
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

I was thinking about the comment about Alamo not selling that well. It could be that it is because there have been 4 different Alamo lines over the last 10 years. CTS did the first line of figures, some really great ones. And mounted as well. Then there were the BMC ones, which while not great, were cheaper and made great filler or add ons. Then, of course, there was also the Marx recast of both the Mexican and Spanish troops. Conte's came in last. By that point a lot of people may have had all the figures they needed. Notice that a lot of the requests here have been for the rest of the fort, not necessarily all the promised sets of figures. (As it is, his Mexicans must have all played on the national basketball team before enlisting.)
Still, I can see there not being much of an interest outside of the US. I imagine that there are an awful lot of European battles and wars that would not sell here at all. Anyone interested in Conte doing a Great Northern War set? I suppose not.
 
Re: Seriously - Is CONTE Still in Business ?

Sorry to get off topic but has anyone else had trouble sending an email to Mr. Conte's personal email (the einar one) i seem to have trouble sending an email to that address any trick to it? My email works it just wont send to the email he lists as his.
 

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