New 1/32 cavalry sets from HAT???? (1 Viewer)

[fishead19690]

Looks like Hat may be getting back into 1/32 scale figures again??? They posted a message on there 1/32 scale blog about possible new musket era cavalry sets and want to get a panel of collectors together to talk about what should be made???? You know my vote will be for all Napoleonics! Now maybe I,ll get my Russian cuirassiers?
Here is a link!
http://132hatblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/planning-132-musket-era-cav.html

 

[Oldallamerican]

Looks like Hat may be getting back into 1/32 scale figures again??? They posted a message on there 1/32 scale blog about possible new musket era cavalry sets and want to get a panel of collectors together to talk about what should be made???? You know my vote will be for all Napoleonics! Now maybe I,ll get my Russian cuirassiers?
Here is a link!
http://132hatblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/planning-132-musket-era-cav.html

That is one of the great things about HaT, along with a select number of current makers, they really try to pay attention to the wants of their customers.

 

[Ragnar]

Wow this great News if they are serious.......I would buy just about any Napoleonic Cav.

 

[Middleguard]

OK. Here's the problem with Hat and cavalry sets. Most companies, including Hat, make a 4 figure set with 1 to 4 horses. If a set includes a bugler or an officer then you get stuck with too many of what you don't want or too little of what you do. Hat seems stuck in the idea that figures have to come on the sprue. Now that may be what the 1/72ers want but us 1/32ers don't necessarily need that.
My suggestion to Hat, if someone with more connections would like to pass this along, is to make a sprue with the same single figure on it 4 times. Then make 6 to 10 different sprues each with a different figure. Each sprue would have 1 figure 4 times. Then number the figures. Officer #001, Bugler #002, pennon bearer #003, Sword raised #004, Sword lowered #005, Sword extended #006, Sword across body #007 and so forth for as many good poses as they can develop.
Now as a customer you call Hat and say " Send me so many of pose #001 and so many of pose #002 and so on. This would allow Hat to only make so many of the less needed poses such as officers buglers and pennon bearers and do a larger run on trooper poses of which we would need more of.
The same could be done with the horses. Make 3 or 4 poses in a charging pose and 2 or 3 in a trot and 1 or 2 standing still. Order and get exactly what you want and don't get what you don't want.
Hats big concern seems to be what to put on the sprue to make a set. ENOUGH with the set and just have a SERIES. Buy figures by the piece not the box.
I was at a toy store many years ago and one wall was covered in bins. Each bin had a different pose of different sets of Marx recasts in them. You could mix and match what you wanted and as many as you wanted of each pose. I guess they bought them by the bag and then opened the bag and let THE CUSTOMER decide what they wanted. Worked for me.
Any feedback on this would be appreciated. As I am not a business major perhaps I do not understand the logistics involved, but I am a customer and I know what will get the money out of my hand easier.

 

[The Katzie Kid]

That makes sense so we can't do it!!LOL.

 

[Colebraden2011]

It would be pretty cool if they made a command set with squadron commander, pennon bearer, bugler, etc like they do with the infantry sets they have produced.
Then you could buy one command set and however many regular sets without getting loaded down with unwanted figures.

 

[Middleguard]

If Hat is worried about the money aspect of it then ditch the boxes and all the expenses that goes with it. I wouldn't mind if the figures showed up in loose in a bag with no sprue and no picture or painting guide.
I save one empty box from each set just for the set number. The rest I pitch in the trash. We need figures, not boxes and sprues. I really think HaT is missing the boat on this one.

 

[9thHussar]

Hi - for Napoleonic cavalry I either convert existing makes such as the Timpo solids (when you can still find them), Britains Deetail and a few others.

I make many out of kits such as Helmet Soldiers - see my photos below - these were mounted on those horses made in China recently.


http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/royaldragoon/IMG_2896_zps29f99204.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/royaldragoon/IMG_2897_zps2688ab44.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn78/royaldragoon/IMG_2891_zps1476d171.jpg



Regards
Dave

 

[Middleguard]

Hi Dave, thanks for posting the pics. I have made bunches of cavalry conversions mostly with the versatile Timpo figures. I bought loads of these guys from A to Z hobbies as they went out of business. Got them at a good price too. I've posted pics of them here somewhere.

I'm not a real stickler for accuracy and can usually see what I want to in a figure by making some slight modifications and giving it a passable paint job. From a distance and in a group the details all melt away anyway.

I think what I am trying to say is that if manufactures want to keep making more figures and keep selling things then they need to provide us what we want in the way we want it or someone, like plastic general for instance, is going to replace them with an on demand type system.

Also as the 3D printer becomes more available and affordable what I see happening is you will simply scan a figure you already have or down load plans for one you want. Then you just printout as many as you want. If you see a conversion that someone did online then you pay the converter a fee to download the specs and print it out. I see Fishhead as one of the new all time leadesr in making money with this new system.

The old established companies will be left scratching their heads and wondering where that dust cloud came from. Which brings me back to my previous post. Stop doing sets and start doing series that can be expanded by 1 or 2 new figures every year or every other year. They could hire these fine converters that post here and have them simply modify their preexisting work and they would have an ever expanding range but save money by not just sculpting new poses from scratch. They could come on this site and look over what people have done and pick out a few they like, contact the converter and buy the rights to produce the new pose.

Where do I have this wrong?

 

[9thHussar]

Hi - interesting what you say about the 3D printers as I have mused about them myself. Its all very sci-fi in a way like a replicator devise that I remember on a TV space series in the 1970's. To be able to 3D print one of Fish's conversions would be very interesting indeed.

My son is at University and learning to be an Illustrator /Graphic Designer - he was telling me about a 3D pen where you can draw a 3-D image in thin air with heated plastic - amazing really. You can also draw on a flat surface several spare parts and then link them together to make the figure or structure. I think that this 3D pen would be good to add equipment to standard poses or for conversions. I was thinking maybe it would be useful to add coat-tails to short/shell jackets or adding facial hair for variety or building up sculpts - eg increasing the height of bearskins or colpacks/busbys

Anyone else used one of these 3d pens?

Thanks
Dave

 

[Colebraden2011]

I have seen these pens but have not had the fortune to use one. I did not think of using them as conversion tools! Great idea because many people can draw better than they can sculpt with green stuff or something. Or could just serve as a complementary tool when sculpting with green stuff.

Hi - interesting what you say about the 3D printers as I have mused about them myself. Its all very sci-fi in a way like a replicator devise that I remember on a TV space series in the 1970's. To be able to 3D print one of Fish's conversions would be very interesting indeed.

My son is at University and learning to be an Illustrator /Graphic Designer - he was telling me about a 3D pen where you can draw a 3-D image in thin air with heated plastic - amazing really. You can also draw on a flat surface several spare parts and then link them together to make the figure or structure. I think that this 3D pen would be good to add equipment to standard poses or for conversions. I was thinking maybe it would be useful to add coat-tails to short/shell jackets or adding facial hair for variety or building up sculpts - eg increasing the height of bearskins or colpacks/busbys

Anyone else used one of these 3d pens?

Thanks
Dave

 

[Middleguard]

Yes brilliant idea. If the stuff that comes out of the pen sticks to the plastic figure you could add detail such as plumes or buttons, badges, cuff edging, sword frogs, and the like. How about adding an apron to a figure to convert to a sapper. Engineer tools and artillery tools and buckets.

I'm going to have to do some research to find out the capabilities and price of the pens and availability of refills.

I could even put a shako on all those AIP French guys with the bandage on their heads.