WesternOutlaw
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An Exclusive Treefrog Treasures Interview with Thomas Gunn Miniatures: Part 2
It is my pleasure to continue with Part 2 of the exclusive interview with Thomas Gunn (TG) co-owner, Blake Reade, known as Tom among the toy soldier community.
Tom, I would like to start by talking a bit about TG Warbirds, a most impressive collection of finely-designed model aircraft.
For someone not familiar with TG Warbirds, are they polyresin or made of wood?
They are all hand carved Mahogany, we don’t use resin in our model aircraft at the moment. This avoids the need to pay for a mould and means we can do much smaller runs, as little as 2 aircraft, although it does mean the finished product is more expensive than its resin stablemate.
How would you say TG Warbirds differ from other manufacturer’s 1/30 scale aircraft?
I think we can offer a greater diversity as we are not committed to large production runs, we try to offer new aircraft every month even if some have been released previously in different markings or colour schemes. If you look at the paint on a wooden warbird, to me it seems to ‘sit’ more naturally in my opinion, as if the wood is naturally absorbing the paint as opposed to just being applied. To me they have a more authentic look to them.
In terms of quantity, how many of each design does TG typically produce?
For aircraft it can range from 2 to 15 pieces, most seem to sell quite quickly.
That leads me to TG’s limited quantity of all its pieces. I have heard some collectors criticize not being able to obtain certain figures due to limited quantity and stores selling out quickly. Others appreciate the rarity of pieces. Why such limited runs of each piece/figure?
It saves the need for large storage facilities and also the need to tie up large cash reserves for stock that may sit there for years, we don’t have pockets deep enough to facilitate this strategy. Not only that it makes those limited pieces more special for collectors and hopefully easier to sell on should they so wish. Of course we would love to do production runs of 500 pieces but I don’t see the demand being there for us.
Has TG ever considered offering a second run of the same piece that sells particularly well (not in terms of designing a variation “B-set”, but rather producing a few more hundred of the same piece)?
Yes we are reproducing the small jungle hut and making a new variant of it at the same time. I think this is the first time we have done this.
Did you hear that, TG fans? Now that's listening to feedback from the community. AWESOME! (and a personal thank you)
In Part 1 of the interview, you mentioned some upcoming items in 2021, particularly some “great looking Vietnam War sets”. As Vietnam seems to be a “hot seller” at present, care to elaborate or give us any hints as to what we might be seeing from TG?
Yes I have attached a picture of 4 of our new infantry squad we have for our Vietnam series coming back into base, I will leave it to the readers to figure out where we are going with this series! I have attached pictures of 4 of the figures, there are another 6 in production that I can release pictures of later on, after all no point in spoiling a good thing too soon is there? BTW the soldier with the M2 carbine, the barrel is being reworked so no need for collectors to worry there.
Let's take a look, shall we...
In discussing the new Korean series, you mentioned some designs for more USMC and Aussies. Are these specific to the Korean campaign or perhaps WWII Pacific?
I am hoping the USMC and some of the Aussies can fit in with Korean ‘summer’ period but as of now it’s a working progress. We do have a tank and a truck for this series lined up as we speak and hopefully we can work some British troops into the campaign as it develops.
I recall you mentioning a new Japanese Truck for the WWII Pacific series in one of your forum posts. Will we see the Japanese Truck in 2021 and/or does TG have any other WWII Pacific pieces in the works?
Yes I have attached pictures of it, this piece should make an appearance soon as its already entered the production process. There will be 2 versions initially, 1 with a driver and 1 without. At the same time there will hopefully be some all action Aussies also as well as some Allied armor to compliment the troops. There will be another 3 dead Japanese for this diorama as per our commitment for the victory in New Guinea announcement we made last year.
I'm sure Pacific fans will absolutely love the new Kurogane. Check it out...
In regard to the numerous TG collectors, you had mentioned how some provide you with their ideas for future releases. How can TG collectors best provide you their ideas and/or input?
Just drop us an email to welcome@gunnclub.co.uk, plenty do and some have been very useful. Actually some of the research we get from collectors is particularly beneficial as we don’t have the time or the resources to do it all ourselves now and do farm out projects for collectors to help us out with.
Lastly and on a more personal note, who/what encouraged you to establish TG?
I was based in Hong Kong with the army and came across the K&C shop at Pacific Place. I thought it was amazing. A few years later whilst living back in the UK and with China opening up, it seemed like a good idea to set up a company where I could make what I felt there was a demand for. It has not always worked as not everything sells out immediately and then other items are gone within 24 hours. It's quite a feat sometimes figuring out what collectors will buy and what they will not. It's been a great experience and privilege doing this for a living and I have made friends with collectors all over the world. I go to work happy and usually come back in the same frame of mind; there could be worse jobs!
That's a great story and thank you for sharing Tom. I commend you on recognizing other companies that you admire.
And to the TG fans among the community, there's still more to come in Part 3 of my interview with Thomas Gunn's Tom Reade. Thanks for reading. :salute::
It is my pleasure to continue with Part 2 of the exclusive interview with Thomas Gunn (TG) co-owner, Blake Reade, known as Tom among the toy soldier community.
Tom, I would like to start by talking a bit about TG Warbirds, a most impressive collection of finely-designed model aircraft.
For someone not familiar with TG Warbirds, are they polyresin or made of wood?
They are all hand carved Mahogany, we don’t use resin in our model aircraft at the moment. This avoids the need to pay for a mould and means we can do much smaller runs, as little as 2 aircraft, although it does mean the finished product is more expensive than its resin stablemate.
How would you say TG Warbirds differ from other manufacturer’s 1/30 scale aircraft?
I think we can offer a greater diversity as we are not committed to large production runs, we try to offer new aircraft every month even if some have been released previously in different markings or colour schemes. If you look at the paint on a wooden warbird, to me it seems to ‘sit’ more naturally in my opinion, as if the wood is naturally absorbing the paint as opposed to just being applied. To me they have a more authentic look to them.
In terms of quantity, how many of each design does TG typically produce?
For aircraft it can range from 2 to 15 pieces, most seem to sell quite quickly.
That leads me to TG’s limited quantity of all its pieces. I have heard some collectors criticize not being able to obtain certain figures due to limited quantity and stores selling out quickly. Others appreciate the rarity of pieces. Why such limited runs of each piece/figure?
It saves the need for large storage facilities and also the need to tie up large cash reserves for stock that may sit there for years, we don’t have pockets deep enough to facilitate this strategy. Not only that it makes those limited pieces more special for collectors and hopefully easier to sell on should they so wish. Of course we would love to do production runs of 500 pieces but I don’t see the demand being there for us.
Has TG ever considered offering a second run of the same piece that sells particularly well (not in terms of designing a variation “B-set”, but rather producing a few more hundred of the same piece)?
Yes we are reproducing the small jungle hut and making a new variant of it at the same time. I think this is the first time we have done this.
Did you hear that, TG fans? Now that's listening to feedback from the community. AWESOME! (and a personal thank you)
In Part 1 of the interview, you mentioned some upcoming items in 2021, particularly some “great looking Vietnam War sets”. As Vietnam seems to be a “hot seller” at present, care to elaborate or give us any hints as to what we might be seeing from TG?
Yes I have attached a picture of 4 of our new infantry squad we have for our Vietnam series coming back into base, I will leave it to the readers to figure out where we are going with this series! I have attached pictures of 4 of the figures, there are another 6 in production that I can release pictures of later on, after all no point in spoiling a good thing too soon is there? BTW the soldier with the M2 carbine, the barrel is being reworked so no need for collectors to worry there.
Let's take a look, shall we...
In discussing the new Korean series, you mentioned some designs for more USMC and Aussies. Are these specific to the Korean campaign or perhaps WWII Pacific?
I am hoping the USMC and some of the Aussies can fit in with Korean ‘summer’ period but as of now it’s a working progress. We do have a tank and a truck for this series lined up as we speak and hopefully we can work some British troops into the campaign as it develops.
I recall you mentioning a new Japanese Truck for the WWII Pacific series in one of your forum posts. Will we see the Japanese Truck in 2021 and/or does TG have any other WWII Pacific pieces in the works?
Yes I have attached pictures of it, this piece should make an appearance soon as its already entered the production process. There will be 2 versions initially, 1 with a driver and 1 without. At the same time there will hopefully be some all action Aussies also as well as some Allied armor to compliment the troops. There will be another 3 dead Japanese for this diorama as per our commitment for the victory in New Guinea announcement we made last year.
I'm sure Pacific fans will absolutely love the new Kurogane. Check it out...
In regard to the numerous TG collectors, you had mentioned how some provide you with their ideas for future releases. How can TG collectors best provide you their ideas and/or input?
Just drop us an email to welcome@gunnclub.co.uk, plenty do and some have been very useful. Actually some of the research we get from collectors is particularly beneficial as we don’t have the time or the resources to do it all ourselves now and do farm out projects for collectors to help us out with.
Lastly and on a more personal note, who/what encouraged you to establish TG?
I was based in Hong Kong with the army and came across the K&C shop at Pacific Place. I thought it was amazing. A few years later whilst living back in the UK and with China opening up, it seemed like a good idea to set up a company where I could make what I felt there was a demand for. It has not always worked as not everything sells out immediately and then other items are gone within 24 hours. It's quite a feat sometimes figuring out what collectors will buy and what they will not. It's been a great experience and privilege doing this for a living and I have made friends with collectors all over the world. I go to work happy and usually come back in the same frame of mind; there could be worse jobs!
That's a great story and thank you for sharing Tom. I commend you on recognizing other companies that you admire.
And to the TG fans among the community, there's still more to come in Part 3 of my interview with Thomas Gunn's Tom Reade. Thanks for reading. :salute::
