This week's new releases

No magic number this week, as, like everyhting else in the UK,  we will have to wait for the release of Sue Gray’s report for me to be able to make that information available…

However, it’s another week gone by, so another set of new releases.   This time we’ve gone for something not flagged up on the end of year report, but no less welcome for all that.   In past years we have had a comprehensive overhaul and updating of our major Napoleonic ranges, but for some reason, the Prussians did not get much out of that process.   The most obvious feature of that was the artillery, which had to do make do with just one model cannon.  

New Pony Wars releases

The third week of the New Year and our third announcement of new releases.   If we keep this pace up, we might actually manage to release all of the ranges and products in the end of year forecast!  But before we get to all that, there is the small matter of this week’s order update.  As of Friday 21st January, we had reached order number #19480.

To put this in context, we are now working on orders placed in the first and second weeks of January meaning that we are now operating with an approximate two week gap between receipt of an order and it being cast.   While we are working hard to reduce this gap further this represents a massive improvement over the delays experienced last year.    I have to give acknowledgement to our casting team who have really hit their stride in terms of turning orders around.

The Joy of Six 2022 is back!

I am incredibly pleased to be able to announce that the Joy of Six show will be returning this year!

This year's show will be on Sunday 3rd July and once again the venue will be  Sheffield Hallam University.  More details will be forthcoming, but for the moment, get that date in your diary.

If you wish to book table space or a trade stand, please visit the new  JOS webpage  www.joysofsix.co.uk where you will be able to book online.

We're back!

WW2 decals now available

As we slowly pick things up following the recent holidays I can issue the first magic number of 2022, which is #19409.   This is even more a moveable than usual, as it omits a large number of overseas orders from the same batch which will be processed early next week.  As ever, if we appear to have missed you by, don’t panic.  

Something a little different feature in this week’s new releases.  I am delighted to announce that as a complement to our growing range of WW2 models, we now stock the excellent Flight Deck decals.   These are beautifully detailed and very high quality and make a far better job of given that ‘finished’ air to your AFVs than even the steadiest of paint brushes.

First releases for 2022!

One week into the New Year, so it's time to start out as we mean to go one with another batch of shiny new releases.  This time, they are all from our Second World War range as we round out the German and British forces.

Starting with the British, we now have the extremely useful Loyd carrier,

That was 2021, this will be 2022

Once again, I find myself staring at a computer screen posting my ramblings about the past year and trying to part the shrouds of time to peer into the future.  

Let’s start with the certainties.  It has to be said, that in current times, the only certainty is that things are very uncertain.  With that little preamble out of the way, some twelve months ago, I made some wild predictions about what we were going to release in 2021.  Let’s see how I did.   My forecasts are in italics…

Santa's little helpers...

‘It HAS to be a finger’, I thought, staring at the scabrous and ill-formed digit being pointed at my stomach,.  ‘It IS attached to his hand…

‘Right you!’ spluttered the grimy, bearded figure standing in front of me.  ‘Me and the lads, we’ve been talking and we’ve decided to from a..a…a ONION!  That’s right, we’re getting together to tell you our demands and YOU have to do what WE say.’ 

It's the most wonderful time of the year...so they say...

It’s this time of year when the grubby casters working at the lead face magically transform into Santa’s Little Helpers and start making toys for deserving boys and girls all over the world.

Sadly, this does nothing for their tempers, manners, boorish behaviour or bodily hygiene, but you can’t have everything…

The week, we have reached order number #19016, .   As always this is a ‘headline’ number, some of you with numbers prior to this will actually find their orders going out next week.   We will be working right through until Christmas Eve and orders will be being sent out every day until the start of the holidays.

New Pony Wars boxed sets

Well, it seems that the production team were motivated by the threat of laceration from flying shards of porcelain shrapnel. As a result we reached order #18920. However, that's not the whole story as we now have a mountain of orders cast and awaiting processing all of which will be going out early next week. Great inroads are being made into the backlog and we are working hard on getting those waiting times down.

What we did last week

Apologies for the lack of an update last week - at the time I would normally have posted the piece, I was in a van driving around the Surrey countryside on my way to the Warfare show.   As of close of business yesterday, we had send out order #18800.   However...

and really, as Howevers go, this is a massive However, I have to add a couple of caveats to that statement.   There are a number of orders prior to 18800 that were not sent out last week, and instead will be on their way early next week.   By the same token, there are some order numbers after this that have managed to get ahead of the game.  These discrepancies are a consequence of the way we process the orders and are impossible to iron out.

With the distractions of the show season now behind us, the aim is to get the backlog of orders down to reasonable levels.  With this in mind my first thought was to get down and throw the kitchen sink at the problem.