What to do with redundant Pendraken models

[Sunray]

Many years ago I acquired a troop of Pendraken T34/85s.  They saw much action from the Eastern Front, battle of Berlin to Cuba, African bush wars and even Cyprus against the Turks. (Lovely Greek Cypriot cammo)

Then....new T34 model.  A bit bigger in scale. I upgraded .

My wife commented "you don't play with those tanks much these days" as they gathered dust on the shelf.

Then. I picked up some very early WGS DAK figures.  Smaller than the Pendraken chunky WW2.  They served me well as Hitler Youth and Vietnam Montagnard and in recent Bush wars.

My son (he's a 6mm nut) produced some Irregular 10mm Germans - fit nicely with WGS and some very old Wild Geese Miniatures (remember them?) - along with old Mini Fig Americans.   Together we scraped up a couple of Third World Latin American 1960s battle groups.  The Magister Militrum  Chaffee's that have been replaced by Pendraken Chaffees had a revival.  A lot of Latin American armies wore the WW2 German helmet post war.

My old Pendraken Sherman's also with a new paint job, re-commissioned and back in action !

These figures and AVFs are more 1/150 end of 10mm than the emerging 1/144 interpretations.  But for a very small outlay (still able to use all scenic items),  we have a good game or two.  

Looking forward to Chaffee v Valentine X,  and Shermans v T34. And getting those 106RR into action
 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Toptastic idea!

[Dave Fielder]

Nothing is redundant, simply waiting for an opportunity ...

[Roy]

melt them down and reuse.
any chance of a trade-in discount?

[Sunray]

I would like to hear Leon's view on re-cycling white metal.

At some point the cost of the raw might make it viable, but I assume there are other factors like the mix of the alloy - from soft with a lot of lead to the rock hard used by Oddzial Osmy.

Every manufacturer has his selected alloy and would wish to stick to its known consistencies.

There must be a hoard of metal going unused out there.  Perhaps we need a third party to win it back to ingots and assess alloy content?

[Roy]

Interesting point, that, Sunray.

[just in case anyone thinks I was being cheeky, earlier, it was meant as a joke]

[Sunray]

Interesting point, that, Sunray.

[just in case anyone thinks I was being cheeky, earlier, it was meant as a joke]

You could have a point. The new Pendraken T34 diesel emits a lot less co2 - What  about a scrapage  deal Leon ? 

[Leon]

We've taken old castings back before, but only our own as we'd want to keep the white metal type the same.  The only trouble is that there's not a lot of value in it, so you'd be better off putting them on eBay or a bring-and-buy for 50% of RRP or less.

[Sunray]

We've taken old castings back before, but only our own as we'd want to keep the white metal type the same.  The only trouble is that there's not a lot of value in it, so you'd be better off putting them on eBay or a bring-and-buy for 50% of RRP or less.

Thanks Leon. As I suspected you will want to stick to your own alloy.  The postage and the scrap value will reduce what its worth, so price of alloy would need to really soar to make it a viable exercise.

For me I will and have used them to furnish a couple of budget battle groups,(as outlined in opening post)  as I suspect will a few other Pendraken long timers.  The early Pendraken AFVs were a tad smaller than other manufacturers - and your figure range. However this becomes a virtue when deployed with figures from other manufactures who tend to produce "small" 10mm.   They also fit better with N gauge bits and bobs.

In marketing terms, would  you be open to keeping these early models on the order books as a unique Legacy Range ?

This means the legacy moulds will still be making a bob or two as opposed to gathering dust.
And whilst I am on the subject, has the venerable Daimler Armoured Car- (used to be Code BR60) now BRV88  - had a make over, or is it a Legacy model ?

[Leon]

The Daimler isn't a new model, it's had the wheels tidied up but it's still the original piece.

As for a Legacy Range, I can't see it happening to be honest.  Generally the old models have been replaced because they're not up to standard compared to the new stuff we're releasing, so selling products that we know are sub-par isn't something we'd be looking to do.  Also many of the moulds are old and not producing great castings anymore, so it's not worth the time/expense of making new moulds for old models.

I know some folks are wanting to add to existing armies with the old models, so the best thing to do there is to email us and we can check whether the old mould is still usable.

[Orcs]

Shame we can't melt Techno down and recast him as a younger more chunkier version.      This would guarantee the quality of the masters for another 40 odd years.


HMMMMM!  the thought of being able to recast people to younger versions.......Mrs Orcs ?  (PS if you don't hear from me again its because Mrs Orcs has read this ) 

[Sunray]

The Daimler isn't a new model, it's had the wheels tidied up but it's still the original piece.

As for a Legacy Range, I can't see it happening to be honest.  Generally the old models have been replaced because they're not up to standard compared to the new stuff we're releasing, so selling products that we know are sub-par isn't something we'd be looking to do.  Also many of the moulds are old and not producing great castings anymore, so it's not worth the time/expense of making new moulds for old models.

I know some folks are wanting to add to existing armies with the old models, so the best thing to do there is to email us and we can check whether the old mould is still usable.

Thanks for this answer Leon,  the policy of keeping original  moulds should keep the gamers using the old models happy.

I love the Damiler- I have it in 3 different colour schemes.   Have you any plans for it bigger partner the AEC A/C with 75mm ? - it saw a lot of post war service.