Thank you for your reply! I really do want the input of people in
the hobby!
Our kits have always been designed with economy in mind for the customer.
We realize our detail is minium on the kits tho they
are extremly durable. We chose to create our vehicle kits for
the "average" collector who may not have much expierence in model
building nor alot of money for purchasing a vehicle. It was my
choice from the beginning to make them as available as possible to
the majority of the hobby. I gladly leave the expensive kits and
prebuilt metal ones to others.
Creating these kits or any vehicle or cannon in this hobby can be
quite expensive even for simple kits and it is a double edge sword.
A balance between detail and cost.
Happily many collectors (we have sold over 200 kits of all of our
tanks) have gone far beyond the basic builds i do on my site and
these are shown in the many pictures of super custom jobs done by
others some easily museum quality. Check out John Grima's site
at
www.eastcoastarmoy.com to see what he has done with ours
and others kits and what people can make in parts on their own.
Sadly the Semovente is not the best of our line but we have been
improving it since its release. New resin wheels are again to be
replaced in 2011 with better ones. The 21c links shown on my site
on several of the Semoventes are a cost saving option for customers
as we found the actual 1/6th sprocket would accept them (it being
designed from an actual Semovente via a CAD program) Panzerwerk.com
sells a high quality and accurate track link for these and medium
Italian armor as an upgrade and both they and our tracks do work.
We give people the option of one or the other.
Next year I hope to release even higher quality wheels and medium
tank upgrades for the M11/39 and 41 but the Semovente will always
be a basic kit. We always leave it up to the customer to take it
to the level they wish and the Semovente is a good platform for it.
Also remember that on detail items like headlights, windshields,
and fenders there are limits in production using different resins
and plastics for a balance between detail and strength. Many items
can be replaced with better ones both handmade and aftermarket made.
I am quite happy with both the TL37 tractor and especially the 100mm
howitzer. Although the suspension on the TL37 is nonfunctional again
the choice was for economy/strength rather than detail/weakness in
strength. Detail seems basic but these are meant like the tanks to
be "fitted out" by the customer based upon where they are fighting.
We also make our kits available for any customizer to make their own
parts to offer for them. Just contact us for info. We loan out
hulls and such to help. We always want and encourage suggestions
and ways to improve our products or for new products.
thanks again!!
Tim (plasticpanzers)