The Sultan of Swing

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Tony

Joining the Ottoman aerial navy today is our latest Aeronef release – a new version of the Sultan Selim battlecruiser. This original Sultan Selim was bought from Germany and refitted by the Turks, and the design has since been copied and built in the great Aeronef yards on Turkey’s Black Sea coast. The vessels are often grouped in fast Battlecruiser Squadrons which the Turks use to outflank enemy fleets, pinning them until the slower main fleet elements arrive.

The Sultan Selim joins the other Turkish Nef we released a few weeks ago – formerly known as the Abdül Aziz, we’ve had to rename it the Constantinople class. It appears that the name Abdül Aziz throws up all sorts of red flags within PayPal – every time someone orders one of these, the payment is held back while it’s checked to make sure we aren’t funding terrorist organisations or sending money to banned countries ! So to avoid more delays like this, it just seemed safer to rename the model…

The Sultan Selim is discounted by 7.5% (53p), and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 22nd – so far we’ve raised over £50 from our new releases. And this is a good time to remind you that the discount/fundraiser for our Small Scale Scenery releases (Oil Tanks, Tower Blocks and Vauban Fortifications) end this week.

VAN-2002 – Sultan Selim class Battlecruiser – £7.00 £6.47

Posted in Aeronef, New Releases, Salute 2020, Special Offers | 1 Comment

More 1/700th Coastal Forts

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Tony

First – a reminder that the launch offer on the first of our not-Salute releases, the Schleswig-Holstein and Abdul Aziz Aeronef, expires today (although exactly when it comes off the website may depend on exactly when I get a chance to do the update). So you have less than 24 hours left to save yourself a few pence on the model and also contribute to the HEROES NHS fundraiser.

A change of pace with our releases this week. We launched the first few models in a new range of 1/700th Coastal Fortifications earlier this year, and they’ve gone down well enough to make it worth producing some more. We had three new items lined for the show, and they’ve hit the website today.

The largest is Fort Boyard, a Napoleonic-era edifice not far from the French arsenal at Rochefort. It ended up being a bit of a white elephant, as construction took so long that it was obsolete by the time it was completed. Nowadays it’s more famous for the TV gameshow of the same name filmed there since the 90s.

To the front right of the photo we have three assorted defensive towers from the coast of Menorca, similar in design to Martello towers. Like Fort Boyard, these have been scaled up from our Small Scale Scenery range, although in this case we’ve taken advantage of the larger size and added guns to the roofs.

Front left of the picture are two diminutive Guernsey Loophole Towers. Fifteen of these were built at the end of the C.18th to help defend the coast of the channel island from the French. Many were still around during the German occupation in WW2, and some were modified and used as machine-gun bunkers.

These models are initially discounted by 7.5%, and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 15th.

B700-038 – Fort Boyard – £8.00
B700-082 – Menorca Towers (x3) – £3.50
B700-158 – Guernsey Towers (x2) – £1.00

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No Show #4 and #5

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Tony

So it was rather inevitable, but the Milton Hundred club have had to postpone their show, Broadside, planned for June 14th. They are hoping to reschedule it for later in the year, but at the moment the venue is completely closed, so it’s impossible for them to make any plans until they can confirm a date. Here’s hoping that they can make something work.

More of a surprise was the news this weekend that the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp have decided to cancel Crisis in November. However, with an event of that size they need to start planning and booking certain aspects of the show now, which is impossible in the current climate. With no certainty about when things will start to unlock, and with many of the attending clubs and traders coming from other countries and needing to make travel plans, they’ve understandably pulled the plug early.

The next show in our 2020 calendar is the Joy of Six in Sheffield; that’s currently still on, or at least it hasn’t been cancelled yet.

Posted in Shows, Updates and General Waffle | 1 Comment

A True Leviathan

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Tony

Our second spaceship release this week is one many people have been waiting for – the Leviathan class Fleet Carrier. We previewed it around Christmas time but decided to hold it back for Salute as one of our flagship releases for the show. So, since the show should have been tomorrow, it seems only appropriate to add it to the website in time for the show that wasn’t.

It’s the largest spaceship we’ve released (so far – who knows what the future holds…) at over 110mm long, but should be simple to build – it consists of the resin hull plus two metal engines.

The Leviathan is initially discounted by 7.5%, and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 8th. It seems particularly relevant to remind you all of this at the moment, since the venue that would have held Salute (The ExCel Centre in Docklands) has now been converted into a huge emergency hospital for CV19 cases.

SFS-111 – Leviathan class Fleet Carrier – £12.00 £11.10

Posted in New Releases, Salute 2020, Spaceships, Special Offers | 1 Comment

Clockwork Spaceships

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Tony

Next off the Brigade new release rollercoaster is this trio of Swiss spaceships. Our original Swiss ship was the Feldkirch, sculpted for us by Sean Bayan Schoonmaker. Unfortunately it’s always been a rather lonely vessel, so we decided it was time for a revamp of the Swiss and the addition of a couple of other classes.

The three new models are the Solothurn class Light Cruiser, the Fribourg class Destroyer and the Thun class Frigate. We also have a Squadron Pack of 12 ships – 3 Solothurn, 4 Fribourg and 5 Thun – plus bases.

All of the Swiss models, including the Squadron Pack, are discounted by 7.5%, and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 8th.

SFS-920 – Solothurn class Light Cruiser – £2.50 £2.31
SFS-930 – Fribourg class Destroyer – £1.50 £1.39
SFS-940 – Thun class Frigate – £1.25 £1.16
SFSP-901 – Swiss Patrol Squadron – £20.00 £18.50

Posted in New Releases, Salute 2020, Spaceships, Special Offers | 1 Comment

An Easter Treat

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Tony

As a break from everything that’s going on out there, we have something a bit more lighthearted – one of our (in)famous Cake Reviews.

Going with the Easter theme, Phil and I have been munching on Mr Kipling’s Egg Fancies this time – you can read our verdict here.

Enjoy your day, whether it’s religious, chocolate egg-based or just a family day, even if you’re currently locked in.

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Bulwarks and Bastions

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Tony

The final set of Small Scale Scenery releases this week are a series of modular Vauban fortifications. We have bastions, walls, gateways, hornworks and ravelins to allow you to build a multitude of different layouts. There are three pre-packaged sets for fortresses with four, five or six bastions, or all the components can be bought separately if you want to design your own impregnable fortress. The bastions come in three types that connect to the walls at different angles, allowing the different numbers of sides and corners.

All of the Vauban sets are discounted by 7.5%, and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 1st.

SSS-8150a – Four-Pointed Vauban Fort – £7.50 £6.94
SSS-8150b – Five-Pointed Vauban Fort – £9.00 £8.32
SSS-8150c – Six-Pointed Vauban Fort – £10.50 £9.71
SSS-8151 – Curtain Walls (x4) – £2.00 £1.85
SSS-8151a – Gateway – £0.75 £0.69
SSS-8152a – 90º Bastions- £3.00 £2.78
SSS-8152b – 72º Bastions – £3.75 £3.47
SSS-8152c – 60º Bastions – £4.50 £4.16
SSS-8153 – Hornwork – £1.50 £1.39
SSS-8154 – Ravelins (x5)- £2.00 £1.85

Posted in New Releases, Small Scale Scenery, Special Offers | 1 Comment

High-Rise Living

Posted on April 8, 2020 by Tony

Next up in this week of Small Scale Scenery releases is a set of three Tower Blocks. These are larger than our existing Apartment Block set, being up to 12 stories high (the tallest is 53mm or around 175 scale feet). They’re based on Postwar examples in Berlin, so we’ve listed them under German Buildings, but they would be suitable for just about anywhere in the world.

I’ve painted these in colourful cladding using Citadel Contrast paints over a white undercoat (the black is especially useful when painting the windows).

The Tower Blocks are discounted by 7.5% (53p), and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 1st.

SSS-8156 – Tower Blocks (x3) – £7.00

Posted in New Releases, Small Scale Scenery, Special Offers | 1 Comment

Crude Storage

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Tony

First up this week is a set of 1/1000th Oil Storage tanks, a common sight at ports, airports and harbours around the world. There are four in the set, two each of two designs.

The white tanks have detailing on the top, but it’s a bit bleached out in the photo so not very visible.

The Oil Tanks are discounted by 7.5% (19p), and for each sale we’ll also donate the same amount to HEROES, a fund set up to help frontline NHS staff as they battle the Covid-19 outbreak. This will run until May 1st.

SSS-8155 – Oil Storage Tanks (x4) – £2.50 £2.31

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Service Update

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Tony

We’re still ploughing on amid the lockdown, orders are up a little on what we’d usually expect this time of year so you’re all obviously keeping busy hobby-wise. As previously mentioned, we’re trying to limit our trips to the post office and workshop so there could be a 3-4 day lag between orders being received and sent out, but we are keeping up with demand currently. And of course it’s Easter next weekend, so we’ll be off for four days anyway.

One thing that has come to our attention is the suspension of Royal Mail services to certain parts of the world – there’s a full list on their website here.

Of the countries currently under suspension, the only one we would expect to receive orders from is New Zealand – we have a number of regular customers in the land of the long white cloud. Currently there are no Royal Mail or Parcelforce services, some couriers aren’t shipping there and those that do are either eye-wateringly expensive or slow (14 day+) economy services (and still not cheap). So if we do receive any orders from there, we’ll contact you about options. We can either hang onto the order until services resume, or we can investigate available couriers, but we might need to make an additional charge depending on how much these cost.

**EDIT** – typical ! The day after we posted this, New Zealand was no longer listed as Under Suspension, so we should be OK to post there again.

Another show update, which is not unexpected, is that Broadside has been postponed – the Milton Hundred club are hoping to reschedule for later in the year, possibly in the weekend vacated by SELWG, but as the venue in which the show is held is currently closed, nothing can be finalised for some time.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting a 3-day streak of new releases in the Small Scale Scenery range. Like all our releases over the next few weeks, they will all be discounted for the first three weeks following release, and each for each purchase we’ll be making a small donation to the HEROES fund for NHS workers. And yes, we’ll probably remind you of this in every post we make during that time and we make no apologies for it.

Posted in Shipping Stories, Updates and General Waffle | 1 Comment