"New Minifigs Cold War Minis? - 1/144th Scale" Topic

I just noticed some new listings in the Modern Minifigs catalog.

Not sure if they are available for sale yet, or if we are just awaiting photos of them (the photo captions say "coming soon") but they are listed on the website, with prices:

Jagdpanzer Kanone
M48A2GA2

M114 scout vehicle
M59 APC
M75 APC

Good to see some new releases in their Cold War range.

I hope they'll come out with some heavy weapons for the US Marines in M1 helmets, and that they will produce some earlier Bundeswehr troops in M1 helmets and with G3 rifles too (currently, they only offer the later "Fritz-style" helmets for the West Germans, and US Army infantry).

I've inquired to see if the minis are available for sale now, via e-mail, so will let you know when I receive a reply.

Of course, if anyone else has any intel on that, and wants to comment, that'd be appreciated too.

Great news! Now if Tom will get back into US production….

Yes, I would love to see Tom Dye get Minifigs USA back up and running. Is he still overseas?

V/R,
Jack

I don't believe that Tom still holds the license for Minifigs USA.

Just Jack: Yeah, still in Germany…..

Chris: That's right- no longer have the license for most of the Minifigs. (Still do for the moderns and WWI N scale items, 10mm AIM, 28MM fantasy (Ex-Reaper), Fantascenes and few others remain our licenses.) Been waiting for someone in the USA to secure the rights so I can sell them the masters, master molds, production molds for the Minifigs ranges.

Been eyeing the new Minifigs Modern French items. Still waiting for an AML-90 and a VERA for my "Conflicts in Africa" scenarios.

Tom

10mm AIM, is that the ACW line? Would be nice to see those in production again.

I wish someone would pick up the line. I love the modern stuff and want more, but the VAT plus shipping from the UK makes them cost prohibitive right now.

Yea, I agree, especially with shipping at 25% for such small items.

Anyone inquired to see if they'll discount the VAT for non-EU customers?

No VAT credit, sadly.

Still waiting to hear on the availability of the new minis.

Already had the VAT discussion with them. Won't budge. My T-64 regiment remains at reduced strength until a US producer is found. At least my M60A1 battalion will be brought up to strength soon via Pendraken.

Unless the rules have changed since I left Revenue & Customs in 2012 there should not be VAT on goods sold to customers outside the EU. Local taxes/duties apply on importation in the destination country subject to their own laws. This is not an option it is the law.

Hi, Dave. Yes, ACW, Ancients, ECW, AWI, Naps and Samurai in 10mm. Will send listing scans when I get my all-in-one back from the shop. I broke the glass preparing to scan the AWI lists for you a couple of weeks ago! (Knocked my coffee cup off the shelf next to the machine like a clutz!)

Jim McCarron put trunions on the ACW guns for me and had production molds made before I left.

v/r
Tom

I'm not convinced that Caliver (Minifigs) is vat registered, so there may simply be no vat to remove…

U.K. Vat is not the same as US sales tax.

I've previously asked Caliver about dropping the VAT for shipments to the US like his UK competitors do, but he won't. He said he uses the money to offset the cost of shipping. His competitors charge the same for shipping without the VAT. Adding 50% to the cost of figures makes them as or more expensive than 15 mm. I have chosen to wait for production by Tom or Pendraken to catch up to my wants.

If you order through Caliver, they'll give you free shipping on Pendraken, but not on the Minifigs range, which they also own.

Yep, you can get resin, 15mm, M113s for $5.00 USD, from Irish Serb here in the States. $10 USD for a M60A2 from I.S. compared to $8.00 USD currently, for a 1/144th scale one from Minifigs.

Metal, 15mm tanks and IFVs run $5.00 USD – $6.00 USD each, after the Old Glory Army Card 40% off discount, making them considerably less expensive than the Minifigs minis, once you include the currency conversion and shipping costs.

The new vehicles from Minifigs will be ready in about a week or so, once the molds for them are made.

I've previously asked Caliver about dropping the VAT for shipments to the US like his UK competitors do, but he won't. He said he uses the money to offset the cost of shipping. His competitors charge the same for shipping without the VAT

Ok, according to link his VAT number is VAT GB 626193242 so he is VAT registered and VAT rules would apply.

Dom would know better, but it may depend more on how he is recording it in his books for VAT/tax purposes (so as not to be caught avoiding tax, which wouldn't go down well), but the wording I have found seems to suggest 'you may deduct VAT' rather than 'you must deduct VAT'.

Amazon: Goods sold for export to customers outside of Europe may [may, not must] not be subject to European VAT.

From link

"If you sell goods to customers outside the EU, you do not charge VAT [statement: you do not charge it], though you may still deduct the VAT you yourself have paid on your related expenses (goods/services bought in specifically to make those sales)."

From Gov.uk:

VAT is a tax levied on goods and services consumed in the EC. When goods are exported they are ‘consumed' outside the EC and to impose VAT on such goods would be contrary to the purpose of the tax. Therefore, the supply of exported goods is zero-rated provided certain conditions are met.

Elsewhere it states:

Generally speaking, you can [note can, not must] zero-rate supplies exported outside the European Union

However further down it says:

VAT is a tax on goods used in the EU, so if goods are exported outside the EU, VAT isn't charged. which seems to state that you simply do not charge it, but again it doesn't say you must not charge it.

So it may just depend how he is doing it. If the gross result is that he does deduct VAT (on paper) but then charges the same figure deducted as a shipping charge, thus easing the payment process for him (albeit by hiding the true cost of shipping to the non-EU customer) then he may not be doing anything wrong (providing he is submitting the correct figures to HMRC on paper and paying the correct taxes), but it feels very wrong.

On Minifigs, Cavilier charges the VAT AND 25% shipping to the US. Yes, I know he has the option to charge VAT or not, but his competitors don't exercised it.

Tom, do the items you still own include some of the 15mm Minifigs SYW infantry, Prussian Musketeers, I think they had arms at porte?

The 15mm Prussian Musketeers only came in advancing poses; Fusiliers in March Attack and Grenadiers in advancing (IIRC). BUT….

We added 48 or 49 new figures to that SYW range. All the major countries had M/A, Advancing, standing and kneeling firing. Many new poses for drummers (IIRC, The Prussian musketeer drummer only came with the drum slung), fifers, NCO's and officers on foot with halbreds, more light troops (and poses), cav types and a few other goodies.

When I left, we still had about 20 more to put into production molds.

Sadly, they were all converted upon Minifigs master figures which I no longer have the rights to. Like i said, I have been hoping for over 5 years that someone would obtain the rights from Mr. Higgs so I could sell them the molds, masters, what worked and what didn't as a business, etc.

I sure hope the master figures remain together and not strewn about in the moves.