[Admiral Toys Inc.]

Dear Fellow Members,

I want to answer some of the questions regarding our 1:72 scale lines of vehicles and artillery to be released later this spring.

I understand the fear of limited releases. The thought of price gouging due to supply by a few retailers is a concern. However, as mentioned in this thread, many of you are correct in that the 500 limited runs are per paint scheme. Furthermore, not every release will be limited to only 500 units. There are not enough paint schemes for the German 88, the Pak 40 or the105 to justify releasing only 500 units. We will be very candid with the numbers released per subject.

Now for the news that may cause some controversy on this forum. Our next few releases of tanks and artillery will not be injected with metal due to costs. Before you pass judgment, let me explain. Our fan base in not diverse enough to justify producing enough models to warrant metal injection. The production numbers required to get the production costs down to a point where we can offer the metal tanks at a competitive price is high. Even Dragon (in my opinion an incredible tank manufacturer) switched to using plastic injection, and they produce tens of thousands more models per subject than Admiral Toys. As you know, our numbers produced per paint scheme is low. For example, the Panzer IIIL, which has already been and must continue to be produced using metal injection created a situation where we were forced to produce several different paint schemes. We are concerned that it will get to a point where there are too many different paint schemes of the Panzer IIIL, but the costs of metal injection do not allow us to do it any other way. Therefore, for the next few releases of new subjects not including the Panzer line, we will use LMPABS so that we can better satisfy a demand for a more diverse line of 1:72 scale tanks.

We produce so few numbers using this form of production because the numbers are dictated by the form of production. We are using what is called Low Melting Point ABS (LMPABS). This uses silicone molds for hand poured casting, and each tank is individually hand made. The quality of detail using this form of production is far superior to injection; however, the cost of LMPABS in raw form is much higher than zinc. Therefore our production cost per unit is actually higher. Why do we do it this way? First, we want the higher quality models that LMPABS produces. Second, there is no tooling cost for this form of production. When you tool something for ABS or zinc injection you have a minimum quantity that must be produced to get a low production cost per unit. Since we are making quality collectible items, we do not want to have this minimum quantity hanging over our heads. This is the only way you will see obscure tanks like the Type 97s. It would be ridiculous to accrue tens of thousands in tooling costs for a tank that we will only sell a thousand units or so to true collectors. Photos of a production model of the Pak 40 will be posted on our website next week. You will be able to see the quality and the details offered by this form of production.

Until Admiral Toys has made a bigger name for itself in the market we will not place ourselves in jeopardy with very expensive tooling costs. I am not saying that the metal tanks you are accustomed to from Admiral will not be produced in the future. But until we know we are able to move the numbers close to Dragon’s production, we cannot afford to produce more metal tanks.

If you have any questions please post them here and I will answer them as soon as possible.

I know the first question will be price point on limited productions. This is to be determined. It will be more than our metal tanks. But the limited supply, increased demand and superior detail will justify this price point. Fewer war-gamers will purchase our new line because of availability and price, but Admiral for the interim is definitely moving towards the limited quantity collectors market. Those of you who do not want these types of high-quality collectible items may not prefer our new line. However, we hope that you would support our decision to pursue the high-quality lines so that we can stay in the 1:72 scale market, and hopefully ultimately return to the more general release metal tanks that you have become accustomed to.

I hope you appreciate our candor on this subject. We do care about the hobby and want to stay in the hobby. For the time being, this appears to be the only viable method of production in this scale.

Regards,
Jason