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I really like their stuff, but it seems to be taking an awfully long time to bring their plans to market. With Battlefront now producing Plastic sprues, how long before their extra financial clout allows them to muscle in and overtake the likes of Will Townsend over at PSC.

It's a bit of a concern, because I think PSC is such a great product for the price that I want to see them do well, but I'm getting an uneasy feeling that BF have been watching PSC carefully and are moving to squeeze PSC out of the market. I hope that that everything in the pipeline hits the shelves soon, I'm still waiting on those Artillery pieces though and with the trickle releases and the huge amount of vehicles to cover it's going to be years until he gets even a Core Range of US / GERMAN / BRITISH / RUSSIAN Infantry, Infantry Heavy Weapons, AT, TANKS, Transports and Artillery and many of us are sitting on our hands until such point as we say "Sod it" and buy elsewhere, I certainly have been doing it of late.

I don't see this as a problem, just the way that the market should work. I have always bought the kits that were the best value for that kit and as a result I have models from half a dozen manufacturers in my armies. Even if BF did catch up PSC still have their 20mm and 25mm ranges and are still a good way ahead of BF with their tanks. That said, judging by their latest plastic PaK40 release (plastic guns metal crew) it looks like BF are going down the GW route to pricing plastic, i.e. the same cost as their metals so I don't think he'll have much to worry about..

I agree with George. First off, it appears that BF will not be pricing their plastic miniatures to be compete let priced with what PSC offers.

And, anyway, why DOES Will need a 'core' set of all of that? If what's selling is selling (as it seems to be) he can take his time producing what he wants.

Which is another thing. The Plastic Soldier 'Company' is ONE GUY.

In all honesty many of these uk companies are slow

Some because of renedra, others by something else. Honestly PSC is one of the FASTEST plastic uk companies I have seen with at least a few items every 2-3 months. Other people like victrix have 4-8 month gaps between most of their releases

Battlefront just has a much larger production scheme going on though so it's expected

If you knew how long it takes to sort renders, test sprues, mould cutting, production sprues, artwork... Not too mention him having to change things when the likes of me spot something odd on renders or a mould dont cut right... And thst without the artwork and miniatures for the boxes.

As Will is a mate of mine, I can assure you he aint slow for plastics. Compare his amount of releases to the likes of Perry or Victrix...

Fair enough, I take your point on release schedule compared to the likes of Perry or Victrix.

I understand he is a one man band, but with everything going on now and the number of lines and boxes he is selling, he must at least have a viable business and be able to employ someone even part-time to help him out?

The website alone has numerous problems such as being horrendously out of date with EVENTS etc. It's a little thing but it does make me (for one) think he might have bitten off more than he can chew on his own. I do want to buy his stuff, but with the time taken I'm opting for other ranges simply because life's to short to wait 24months for things like Hummel's, Wespe's, Sexton's, Stuarts, Cromwells, even if I have to pay over the odds and the quality is less than PSC.

Big P, I do want him to be successful because his stuff is excellent and very well priced but at my local store they are stocking more and more Forged in Battle, BF and other ranges and Will's stuff has been marginalised.

But yeah I do see your point about him being stretched as a one man band, and he is doing well as a One man band. It looks to me like he needs investment to take his business to the next level and get all those things to market he wants to in reasonable time frame.

Well with plastics, Im afraid it takes time. Even once you have the renders you need to get that into a workable sprue... and if you want quality, then you have to wait for it.

As for more than he can chew... Trust me, he can chew alot. PSC isnt his only job either. Add in a large family too and he does rather well.

He does have Anita at PSC HQ who has taken over alot of the day-to-day order fulfilment. The website is also due a revamp next year.

Dont be surprised if you see a glut of releases next year to coincide with Battlegroup Normandy... But I cant say anymore...

Okay, you've convinced me to see what 2013 brings in regards to PSC. If he continues to do this well with his 2nd job how long before he can focus purely on PSC.

Frankly with 100% devotion he could make a real go of this Cottage industry. I will continue to support him, i'm just eager to get hold of more and more models to round out my armies.

I've bought 5 packs of 251's, 2 Panzer IV's, 2 German Infantry, 1 of STUGS and 1 of Panthers, expecting a pack of Tigers for Christmas. If i added this up in BF money it would be about £500, but with Will's stuff it would be about £200.
I am pretty pleased he is stocking zvesda stuff especially British pieces like the MATADOR.

They are small so unfortunately the releases will be slow. But they are gaining momentum and their products are very popular.

Personally I'm awaiting the Cromwells so I can finally play Villers Bocage, but I understand everyone has their own preferences.

The next things due out are the American Infantry/Heavy Weapons and the M3 and M5 halftrack's which I can see selling very well indeed. US Armored infantry platoons for a fractions of the price BF charge!

The biggest issue I have with them, is that their site is down more often than up and they do not seem to even care.

Right now, I have no idea if they even exist as a business any more or not.

Wasn't there talk of the site being redone. About time too if it is, the old site was truly crap.

My only complaint would be in the Arty dept. As for the armor think they are doing fine.Also if i need a cheap filler i look to Zvezda.As for my Infantry i am sticking with my BF models.but i would not mind seeing the Stuka HAlf track set get released.

The site was pretty useless, barely featured a picture of anything and descriptions are poor (I have no clue what the make up of some box sets actually is)

However "this site is down" is pretty poor in itself, down for what exactly?

I want to buy some stuff and would have liked to buy direct, just to see what they are like, before shopping around. Right now, I just think they could really do with a facebook or twitter page, just to say "yeah, we are still here"

I hope he comes out with SDKfz250s, I refuse to pay BF 12.50US each.

He promised them last time I spoke to him (last April).

In the mean time FiB do 250/1Cs at £20 for four and 250/9Cs for £15 for three.

I remember seeing on the internet that 251 pioneer modifications (assault bridge and Stuka zu Fuss) + pioneer infantry sprue are bound to happen in the first months of 2013.

CainTheHunter wrote:
I remember seeing on the internet that 251 pioneer modifications (assault bridge and Stuka zu Fuss) + pioneer infantry sprue are bound to happen in the first months of 2013.

I hope so.I can use the extras stuff.I already have some BF Stuka fuss but i raelly do not care for the model.I would rather convert some Zvezda ones over.

Btw, anyone has any idea about whats going on with the website? I made small order during my christmas holidays, and when I tried to go and check its situation from the website today, it just gave me "The website you were trying to reach is temporarily unavailable." notification..

Yeah I've posted on this a in the last three days. It seems to have gone a bit off-the rails, but Will Townsend (the owner/runner of PSC) is a good bloke so I don't think anything untoward has happened.

I'm in a similiar position, except that I wanted to put a large order in.....

The host server has died and Will hasnt been able to contact them over the festive period...

the plastic soldier wrote:Will from PSC here - just returned from my festive hols last night. We've had server/hosting problems over the Christmas break which trying to fix in holiday time is like nailing jelly to the wall. Nothing nefarious just information sodding technology boll*x. Normal service will be resumed very soon

Apologies to all

Thank's big P, good to know he's okay and on the case. I had a similar issue last year at work when our Domain Host was bought out and there was 48hours of no service while they sorted out new Terms & Condition's.