"Are 1/72 plastics becoming unobtainium?" Topic

So I've hunted for Caeser set 103, Undead for years now and recently missed out on 2 packs for US$23 a piece. Was a bummer and that would've been a bargain apparently.

OOP Caeser and other sets (including Ninjas I desire to build my own Ultimax Force from the movie) are listed for far more on ebay: auction

I dunno, I used to see 1/72 soft plastics as a budget option compared to metals or more sophisticated hard plastics but maybe I was wrong. I used to have heaps of ESCI sets in the '80s as a kid and could buy them with my meagre pocket money for taking out the garbage and doing the vaccuuming (AUD$5 a week).

Are 1/72 soft plastics a rich man's game now?

Caesar hasn't done much lately. They are a Chinese company and I've wondered if perhaps they "fell from favor" for some reason. Their latest release was Modern PRC PLA Troops which makes me think they're trying to placate someone. Generally, 1/72nd seems to be OK, but I'm sure they are to be supply issues with Russian and Ukrainian producers. You might want to search for more/different dealers?

Red Box seem to be readily available, for less than $20 USD/box, delivered! Can't speak to other lines. Cheers!

1/72 plastic companies do odd things, like sell out of a range but not recast it.

1/72 plastic is cheap unless you desire an OOP box. Zvezda has awesome ninjas and for skellies I'd recommend to download some from Thingiverse and having them 3D printed in that scale.
I'm printing minis in 1/72 that are unavailable in shops. Here's an example in 1/72 scale:

Right now I'm sending to print a pack of wolves and a couple of cave bears in 1/72 for my Fantasy skirmishes.
Cheers,

"Caesar hasn't done much lately. They are a Chinese company and I've wondered if perhaps they "fell from favor" for some reason."

They are actually Taiwanese, not PRC.

When I was a teenager in the 2000s 1/72 plastic sets were my go-to for wargaming. I think those were the best years for number of sets and companies producing them. Production has definitely dropped off and companies have gone quiet. I've noticed the explosion in price of some sets. Makes me sad to be honest

As mentioned above…several 1/72 manufacturers are in the Ukraine but it appears they are still getting shipments out to some degree. Brave folks all around. I feel bad for the Russian makers too. Looking forward for better days.

+1 GurKhan yes Caesar is from Taiwan.

Caesar used a type of mold that did not make many runs before the mold would wear out. So all their sets were limited production. That's why they did so many WWII German sets so they could always have WWII Germans in their line up.

Zvezda is Russia and I am not buying Russian right now.

Strelets and several others are from Ukraine and are having some production problems as you might guess. Strelets has had one employee sent off to war. They are managing to continue despite the setbacks.

Most of the plastic figure companies have stopped new production over the last 10 years, Imex, Pegasus, Revell, Italeri and others have done little to nothing new and often don't even re-release most of their old stuff.

I find ebay and the UK seem to have a supply, even if pricey.

Good hunting.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

1/72 is just fine. I love my Ceasar fantasy, but was unable to get the Fellowship box. Dark Alliance faux LotR sets are awesome, but no hero/leader or character figures. :-(

I must check out your recommendation, Blacksmith.

I miss Zvezda's large boxes. IIRC they stopped them after the founder (the founder) died several years ago? I will continue buying Zvezda. Bunker, if you're really feeling guilty for owning those Russian figures, you can send any unopened Zvezda boxes to me. LoL.

BTW a fellow once said he was going to stop eating at Chick-fil-A because he hated the owners' Christian beliefs. I told him, "Good. That's more parking for me." He had no reply and walked away.

Compared to what was in the early 2000s, 1/72 has had enormous dropoff.

Caesar was a powerhouse until they lost part of their supplier network (raw materials) and ran into some sort of finance debacle with a mainland company calling in their markers. They dropped their website for a while and have no significant sets in queue.

Strelets replaced HaT for most sets released nowadays. Hat was bought by an American firm and has had a lot of changes to its business model. None positive if you ask me and they are largely disappearing.

Strelets is pushing stuff out. How long this goes on is unknown. Dark Dream is in the same boat.

Zvzeda is history in this scale.

Revell, Italeri, Imex, Airfix, Pegasus etc are all out of the game aside from short run rereleases for ancient sets, if any.

1/72 as a wargaming scale is either in another slump as it was pre-2000s or it is in its final slide out.

I have been truly impressed with the quality of the Red Box fantasy mini's. They are more detailed than I ever expected such small, injection molded plastic figures to ever be. I believe they are more detailed than Caesar figures ever were. I wish they would keep coming out with more of their fantasy lines. I am sorely tempted to pick up more of them.

I bought three boxes of their Anubis Army figures. Really great sculpting. I was on the fence for buying them, for months. I finally pulled the trigger, as I found a way to use them in my AD&D and BattleSystem mass war games. I have one of each pose, nearly finished, as a guide to paint the remainder of the figures.

I believe that Red Box is still bringing out new sets. The Anubis Army set came out within the past year, maybe two. If the war does not destroy their factory, I hope they continue to bring out new (fantasy) products. I really need to justify how I can add more figures to my armies, so I can buy more Red Box sets… Cheers!

Caesar Fantasy miniatures are being released by Miniknight and they are the best around, just check some of mine painted:

Regretfully, the Adventures box is still OOP, but I have it :)
link

Now, Dark Alliance has got most LOTR armies and they are really nice figures but not so good as Caesar. Here's some exmaples:

And then there is Zvezda, the best ones around IMHO. Check these vikings proxied for Rohan infantry:

And here you can see them all in action:

You can check more pictures at my blog if you are interested: link

Cheers!

Very impressive paint work: those Dwarves are rather small figures, and your detail work on them, is quite impressive. Thanks for sharing and inspiring. Cheers!

You're most welcome, cheers!

As a newb to the 1/72 scale it seems like the main selling point, the cost, has lessened over time in many cases. You're still in many cases spending almost as much as for 28mm, but generally in "worse" plastic and more limited posing, not to mention needing to mix and match brands to get the whole kit. It's not as cheap as they used to be.

It depends what you want – you can still put together a DBA army from as little as one box of figures, maybe £8.00 GBP (~$10).

Hannants lists 1,304 different sets in 1/72nd scale, of which about 1,200 are in-stock. Not exactly a shortage….

And at 48 figures in a box for maybe £6.40 GBP (HaT Figures) that's just 13p ($0.17) per figure. Who does 28mm plastic figures for that price? Even HaT's 28mm figures are 28p ($0.36) per figure.