tanks: http://www.bcop.biz/page22.html
aircraft: http://www.bcop.biz/page21.html
space & trains http://www.bcop.biz/page24.html
This is the site of an intersting importor of Furuta, POPY, TAKARA, F-Toys and TOMYTEC items into the USA!
You will not believe the wonders available here!
there is also a load of othe cheap stuff that might appeal to Wargamers!
and, finally - the pictures shown on the page are high quality and some even I havent seen before, well worth saving into your archive!
6 comments:
bcop
thank you for taking time to reply, as you indicate I think the war forward is for people to contact their favorite stores and get them to contact you with a view to stocking items!
also, if it it commercially possible if you could indicate (or ask them to drop by this site)the the single store that does business in 1/144 then I am sure they would get a welcome boost?
thanks
thanks for the further insight, its always good to get feedback from a different perspective than just the collecters side of things.
it also nice to hear your an ex-wargamer, i think this is more popular in Europe, partly due to historical reasons of (a) the tradition of lead soldiers going back into the 19th century and (b) we have a tradition of invading each other countrties also going back centuries - so lots of interest and scenarios to draw upon often with quite a local context!?
I agree exactly with your comments on the Project Fliger Experimental Aircraft as they are the very items that got me hooked on 1/144 in the first place a few years and many $ & £'s ago!!!
it is interesting you also mention the problem of the "blind boxes" especially in the US, this is obviously known to be an issue and the assumption is why can,do in the US is sold in visible blister packs opposed to the japanese tradition of "blind packs", it is interesting to note the some potential competitors or even new stock lines could be the "afv collection", although its still not clear if theses will be open or blind?
http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/2006/08/1144-afv-collector-series.html
also, in europe (and far too exspensive compared to ebay) there are open packs of WTM-VS and Early WTM Series in the ABYSSE series and rulesets
http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/2006/02/1144-abysse-corp-panzer-squadron.html
i find it fascinating that in your experience that most over the counter buyers in the US for toy stores are women! I suppose men are more likely to buy of the internet or from specilist retailers? it would be interesting to know if women buy smaller amounts more often, and if men buy more less frequently - or whether its not really a factor?
not really a big space coolector, allthough I do have some furuta and micromachines items, but these are to sit along side teh experimental aircraft and some 1/700 scale items i have!
it is also heartning to lnow that aircraft are still no.1
it is also interesting to note that you have a high number of female sales staff who can't relate to tanks, odd that my girlfriend is the same! - she doesnt get it either, but as I keep telling her its either the models or I start supporting the football/soccer teams!!!!!
thanks again for your feedback.
oh ok! gotcha on the buyer front. Now I understand and makes a lot of sense.
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Interesting you comments on the cost of distribution and associated costs. thats a lot of product your going to have to shift to make it a cost effective line!
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Also, interesting is your insight into the factories. This has long been a source of dicuscusion as to how theyse items are painted. Especially with the last series of from Dragon which took the quality finish and detailing on tanks to the next level. As for the painting there has been the dicussion as to wether they are hand painted in which care the quality and consistancy are A1, or wether they are machine painted or a combination.
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This has been a subject since on a site ran either by POPY(bandai) or some one on the Projekt Flieger Team showed the developement process from early sketches, through CAD + Clay models through to the prototypes and included factory shots shots of people producing items and standing there with literally a dozen or more paint brushes at the ready to paint items up.
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as for the skills, these are further evidant on the "metal troops"/"ACI Toys" Products w3hich are slightly less mass market than dragon/takara and therefore are finsihed often to an even ehigher degree of detail and qaulity.
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it is obviously a shame that these workers get paid so little, but I suppose it depends on the local working rates, and obviosuly if they got paid $20 an hour we wouldnt be able to afford to buy so many of these items?
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as for the blind boxes, it can be exciting sitting there opening a number of cartons to find out if you have got a complete set or if in those last two boxes it there will be that special item or another duff item? I know a number of collectors who even get supersticious about opening bixes in certain sequences or having their own little rituals. I suppose blind boxes they also may it fairer, in that its not the first guy in the shop following a restock that gets the bonus items?
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The other aspect of the US style packaging by Dragon & Trumpeeter is that they enable you sto see what is in these packages. Which is great for people on tighter budgets, and with the case of the dragon/can.do products the little display cases are a nice bonus.
how does the japanese rail items sell, ironically in the UK when i used to have teh time to sell 1/144 and the railitems on ebay, there was too much competition on the 1/144 to make any decent returns, just about paid enough to keep your own hobby turning over, but the Tomytec railway houses items used to sell really well, (a) becuase not so many sellers, (b) the price+quality+uniqueness it excellent compared to "traditianal" brands such as faller, voller, bush etc.
(c) a strong model railway tradition, although stronger than I imagined for japanese items, although some of the later series items from Tomytec (esp series 4) would be able to fit into certain western rail scenarios too.
thanks for clarifying the method behind the painting, this method described makes sense as it utilises the relatively cheap and plentiful supply of labour in china, as the thoughts had been that if fancy robots had been used these would be exspensive and complex to program.... needless to say the chinese have used their age old methods again to great effect - i suppose like all that china plates and cups they used to ship to the west in the 18-19 centurys.
dont get the wrong end of th stick, i was knocking import prices (after all you offer a service and a product - you deserve a roof over your head and food on the table), I do sympathise with the added costs of middle men and duties and customs,needless to say the logistics of shipping and storage, it all begind to add up and it doesnt take much investigating to relaise your going to have to shift some volume to make a resonable profit...
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needless to say I still have my day job in IT!!
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many thanks for the contributions, they are most welcome!
http://www.echobasetoys.com/index.htm
https://www.monkeydepot.com/index.asp
http://www.michtoy.com/
Some stores that also sell online that might be interested, wouldn't hurt to contact them to find out.
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