"Good value starfighter miniatures?" Topic

A slightly rhetorical question possibly, seeing as I've got the old Silent Death plastics bookmarked, but you get several types on sprue which I don't really need. I was wondering if there were any other good value starfighter miniatures, similar in size to the SD plastics, out there?

I'm reckoning on at least one (possibly 2) 12-strong squadron a side a with a budget of around GBP£20 (being in the UK state-side solutions may well be killed by the postage). – Much more than that will require an oversight hearing…

Studio Bergstrom's minis are very attractively priced, even with international shipping and import duties, compared to a lot of other offerings.

You may also want to check out Reviresco. Although they're stateside, the pricepoints on their smaller ships are quite economical to say the very least, particularly the Starhawk and Ameron Wasp:

link

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Irregular has some (just watch out that they're the fighter-scale ones, there are some fleet-scale ones too), not sure how well they work with SD though.

Have you looked at Irregular Miniatures? About £1.80 GBP a fig for their fighters; about the worst website. Okay, not fair; they actually have piccies.

You have to look under 6mm…

Decidedly cheap-and-cheerful.

Doug

Edit: Damn, didn't realize it was over 40 minutes to get that completed! Well done, Boy!

Also, you'll notice Metal Express has a 20% off sale, should you want REAL Silent Death. There, Leland, don't say I don't have you covered. ;->=

@Beastly Beast, indeed, Doug, I figured that the OP probably already saw our little missive on this very forum, but I genuinely appreciate your backup! I do concur 'though about the cheap and cheerful goods from Irregular Miniatures (and their equally good service!), and the fine wares from Studio Bergstrom. All good value along with Reviresco for the money!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Main reasons I suggested are source is in the UK, and larger than fleet scale. Horror stores of postage both ways, and especially customs incoming, I blame NO one for a preference.

I'd strongly suggest a look at Brigade Models Squadron Commander. Step up in price, leap up on qual, to my thinking.

Doug

These are in the US on eBay but given the price/quantity shipping to UK should not add too much to the price per miniature.

auction

Another possibility is to find a used copy of Twilight Imperium or new/used ship pack one for Eclipse (108 ships). Both these board games have a lot of good spaceships though some are not fighters.

Here is an Eclipse pack from Germany

auction

Studio Bergstrom for sure. The pictures on the site do not do them justice.

Cheers for the suggestions.

These are in the US on eBay but given the price/quantity shipping to UK should not add too much to the price per miniature.

I'd lost track of these, but I don't recall them previously including SD knock-offs (and they would knock-off my least favorite design). The seller indicates they're hard plastic – previously I've tended to avoid these because people have described them as 'soft' plastic. Can anyone confirm?

A rough calc suggests they would cost 11p each inc p&p to the UK (the cheapest SD plastics are 50p each inc p&p). Tempting as the unneeded could be diverted to another project!

Can't confirm THAT sale, but sure look like the soft-ish I have. You know the bottles that have PP for recycling? I know the code is 5 here. Not soft squishy, but soft bendy.

And a serious pain to get paint to stick.

BTW, several are actually designs from an OLD movie recently back on TV here, Message From Space.

Doug

Recently used some PP scraps in scratch building (yes its 5 here as well) – it took the paint with a good spraycan undercoat but seems to chip very badly if provoked.

BTW, several are actually designs from an OLD movie recently back on TV here, Message From Space.

I'd always assumed they were a just generic designs. A google image search seems to confirm the source…but is the film as bad the stills suggest?

Worse.

I love it.

Doug

Edit: Okay, I can only watch about 5-10 minutes at a time.

@Allen57, those particular spaceships include pirated copies of our Core Ships. We ask everyone in the community to not support these IP pirates.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

@ROUWetPatchBehindTheSofa, we would greatly appreciate it if you would not support these IP pirates.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

@Leland
Totally OT, not being funny, but I've seen SD plastics, not badged as such, from various sources. Mine are produced by EM-4 – and I'm aware of (historic?) production by a company called Nexus IIRC, again not badged as SD. There seem to be a number of molds sloshing around with the apparent right to manufacture from them?

FWIW the US seller also stocks the Buck Rogers game pieces, which actually might suit my original purpose – which then spawned this over-spill project.

@ROU,

the EM4/Dice & Games sourcing is legit. So too was Nexus. Those specific sprues are legit/official. EM4/Dice and Games legitimately own the moulds for the official SD:TNM plastic Core Ships, having purchased them when ICE went bankrupt over a decade ago. Purchase of those moulds however did not include the rights to duplicating the images of SD:TNM in any fashion; that rests with us and the actual IP owner, of whom we are the sole authorized licensee. EM4 are our supplier and the best retail source in the EU (we cover the U.S./Americas).

What happened was that when ICE originally contracted with a Chinese company to produce those sprues, the Chinese company copied (pirated) the 3 to 1 masters to make the soft PVC toys sold mainly through U.S. Toy Company unbeknownst to ICE until they were discovered by yours truly at a U.S. Toy Company retail shop in Texas a number of years ago:

link

The hard plastic pirated copies are a more recent iteration of the poached Silent Death IP, perhaps by the same company:

auction

Because ICE wasn't a major corporate entity blessed with a budget to cover the services of a corporate law attorney who could argue their case in a PRC court, ICE was in no position to actually do anything about the theft of their IP.

U.S. Toy Company has ignored our requests that they respect our IP rights and cease and desist selling these pirated copies. Their attitude is clear: sue us, otherwise we don't care. The Chinese reaction is much the same: if you can't afford to sue us in a PRC court, we don't give a damn.

We have inherited this problem, and all we ask is that members of our hobby community not support these pirates.

It really is that simple.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

This seems to be a common problem. If you outsource manufacturing to China they will make your product for you and you will save a few bucks in the short term.

However, they WILL ALSO make a cheap knock-off of your product that you'll suddenly find you are competing against AND that your reputation is taking a hit from customers who unknowingly buy that cheap knock off and think you are to blame for the poor quality.

Even large corporations that should know better fall victim to this trap that's baited with the promise of cheap labor and lower manufacturing costs. Remember kids, There's no such thing as a free lunch.

@Daricles,

ICE had those sprues produced originally back in the 1990s, long before Dr. Greaves and I became involved with SD:TNM in any capacity other than as freelance writers…

Knowing what I knew *then* about Chinese culture when it comes to copying the work of others, I would have counseled against the move, but alas, I wasn't consulted on the matter…

So now we deal with the fallout from that naive move by leadership past, and move forward as best we can relying upon the good will and honesty of those in our community who would rather not support IP piracy.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

P.S. For those of you wanting insight into the risks of doing business in China: link

I suspect even if you could hire an attorney to represent you in China, you'd lose.