After perusing the latest Squadron catalog I went to the web site to order some kits. After picking three kits to look at plus another four on my wish list I found them all to be out of stock! Does anyone else run into this or is it just me?[bnghead]
Not just you! I have had the same frustration from other supplier’s sites, many times.
Yup Agreed. I help the local Hobby store owner about once a week and its the same with all those distributors. Commonly what happens is there is a first release when the kits are available for the first time…then they all sell and go on backorder for a month or two (Sometimes longer). I don’t know if they are trying to see what will be a good seller or what but its happens so much that many customers are getting frustrated. I can understand but we only can bring in whats available. The fault lies with either the distributor or the kit company itself. Not sure which but it gets old doing the same dance over and over.
I have learned if there is anything in the Squadron flyer that I really want badly, I need to order very quickly- first few days of week. If I think it is a good buy, a lot of other people will too!
I never order from Squadron,so no problems here,I’m a Spruebrothers guy.
My favorite is looking at the ‘Just Arrived’ kits and note the number that are out of stock. I now write down the part number in a note, and check the inventory almost weekly. I recently picked up the Meng ME163 kit doing that. I’m still waiting for some of the detail kits, though.
Some of the kits on my wish list have been there for many months. Very frustrating. At least at my LHS if I find something I like it’s in my hands. LOL
I typically don’t order from Squadron either other than decals on occasion. All of my ordering comes from either Scalehobbyist or Spruebrothers. [Y]
Bruce
One nice thing about Sprue Bros. is that they will send you an automatic e-mail notification when the item you are looking for is back in stock.
Try finding a bottle of Mr Surfacer 1000 in stock right now.
Apparently that stuff is made from ground up mermaid bones.
I think this problem is symptomatic of the state of the industry. The number of kits and accessories being released each month is simply staggering. I suspect it’s physically and economically impossible for any retailer to stock all of them - and to keep all of them I stock for any length of time. Throw in the fact that so many of those products are shipped from overseas, and the notion of walking into a store and picking from all the kits released during, say, the past three years looks like a dream.
This is a downside of the fact that we (except of course sailing ship enthusiasts,like me) are living in a golden age of scale modeling.
Bottom line: buy them while you have the chance.
LOL @ CN… Mermaid bones…
Check out Hobbylinc as well.
Thanks!