Just thought that I would let you know that I’ve finished an interim web page to support the Resistant Roosters line of figures…

The page can be found at:
http://www.historifigs.com/roosters

The page(s) do not match the remainder of the HistoriFigs website, but they are pretty much self contained, so that shouldn’t bee too much of an issue.

All current products have been listed (a few name changes are in place) and the SKU numbers have been updated to our new numbering scheme. All pricing remains as it has been, but we are reviewing the price structure and will be making a few adjustments (a bit of up and a bit of down, but nothing drastic)

There should be pictures for most packs/sets. The ones we have are from the old Resistant Roosters site and they will be replaced/updated as we define standards and take new photos.

Look for more news in the second week in October.

Next week (1 Oct through 5 Oct) I will be out of town (in Boston) for a software testing conference, so email responses will be rather slow. Alison will be here and production will continue, but at a slightly slower pace.

I’ve been fiddling with ways to produce some pre-painted tank models and I think I have a system (mostly) down that will allow us to produce these. I’m still working on the first test models, and they are coming out well. The base model I’m working with right now is the Bloodaxe T-34, so we are not talking about a highly detailed model, but something very functional on the table top. The models are assembled (soldered, not glued) and painted in our shop (made and painted in Wisconsin!). The paint jobs are simple and the models will be ready for the game table as soon as you take them out of the box (of course, you may to add additional details).

I’m still working on making some of the process a bit easy/quicker to complete. Once I have all the steps simplified as much as possible, I’ll be showing Alison how it all works. From there we can begin production. The first completed models should be on display (and for sale) at Rock-Con in November. When I get back from Boston, we should be able to post a few pictures of the current prototypes (you will notice that they have been done with a few different colours – I am still making final paint choices). At this point I should mention our target price; for the T-34s we are presently looking at a price somewhere around $8.00 – this isn’t a firm or final price, but we should be close to this mark when all is said and done.

Assuming this project continues to roll along as well as it has so far, we will continue with the Russian theme and add pre-painted trucks to the line up. After that, well we shall see how things go. I’ll likely take a look at the n-gauge models next – since these were created for Afrika Korps games, they will be done in a desert scheme. If nothing else, we will accomplish getting the n-gauge tanks into new molds, so even if the pre-paint project doesn’t pan out the raw castings will be cleaner than they ever have been.

As you can see, we are as ever working on way too many projects, but the good news is that we are having fun!

Or maybe more appropriate, given our recent weather patterns “time’s fun when you are having flies”…

Either way, the month of September has simply flown by! We have been doing a lot, yet not doing much. How can that be? Well, let’s just say that the shop has been busy and that orders are again flowing out the door in short order, but we haven’t yet pushed out our new initiatives. So while we are busy, we are not making as much progress on some projects as we would have liked.

As for order processing; Alison is back to full time in the workshop, and has been casting nearly everyday this week, so orders are again moving through the system in a timely manner. We do have a few issues to iron out – like our internet connection. With the new hardware, we thought things were all taken care of. Well, we were wrong in our thinking. We have been fighting with a very (very) slow connection. Lets just say that those of you with slow dial-up connections have better speed than we do with our high speed connection (ok, satellite isn’t super fast, but lets just say that we are seeing speeds that are about 97% slower than they should be!) If all goes well, things will get fixed today.

As for other projects; how about Operation Cloudburst?
OK, well, we can now tell you more about this one…

We are pleased to announce that HistoriFigs has acquired the Resistant Roosters brand and line of 15mm WWII figures. We are working on a larger announcement for early October – so more details then. But in the meantime let’s just say that we already have some new products in the works. We will continue to expand the line and hope to provide some additional support materials for several of the currently popular WWII rules sets.

On the 40mm front – as hinted at last time there are some NEW 40mm figures in the pipeline. These new 40mm figures have been sculpted by Tony Aldrich – the subject being the American War of Independence. Our first offerings will be American Infantry circa Yorktown. These will be followed by their British opponents. The greens have been on the bench for a few weeks, but with a trip out west and the Labor Day holiday, I’ve waited to start on these until this weekend. I’ll be posting photos of the project as it progresses – greens and perhaps a photo article about the production process while I’m at it. (Maybe I can talk Tony into some in progress photos and notes when he starts the next sets) – look for some photos of the greens and first metal castings next week.

While on the subject of 40mm figures – I’ve put in some work on the next Scruby 40mm figures to be re-released. It looks like we will do the 40mm French Foreign Legion figures next – the patterns are just about completed, so perhaps I can get some of these out by mid-October. The other figures I’ve been working with are the British Colonials, so I hope to have those ready by Halloween. As soon as I finish the new Resistant Roosters section for the website, I’ll start on the Scruby 40mm section. We will have photos of every Scruby 40mm figure we re-release as well as some support materials for painting and war gaming.

So, as you can see (or have read) we have been quite busy, yet we still have plenty that is incomplete…

New specials coming in October – there will be special pricing on ALL Resistant Roosters product as well as introductory pricing on the all new 40mm American War of Independence figures.

I’ll be in the Boston area (for work) the first week in October (1st through the 4th) and I most likely will not have internet access (or maybe just some limited), so email response that week will be rather slow. If any of you are near or in Boston (I’m staying in Newton), and want to meet up for a chat, coffee, dinner, or some such drop me a line and perhaps we can arrange something (Monday looks to be my best night, but I’ll should be free by late afternoon most days). Anyhow, drop me a line if you’d like to meet.

Time for a short vacation; I’ll be out of town this week, through Monday of next (05 Sep. through 10 Sep.). Alison will still be processing orders and will get out what she can, and we will be back to ‘normal’ operations by the middle of next week.

Speaking of normal operations, now that the first day of school has arrived, Alison will increase her casting hours and should be back to near full time in a week or so. This means that orders will flow through much more smoothly and quickly.