Probably no one. "Low cost" is the first hurdle they'd have to jump but there are more significant ones: 1. The pace of new releases is so fast that a resin company would be a high risk of being "stuck" by a new Amusing kit. 2. Correcting errors doesn't make the weathering look better after painting so most modelers are happy to do without. KL [/quote]Has anyone told the resin manufacturers that? TMD make some nice and low cost parts. The PzIII engine decks are excellent. [/quote] I think that the resin manufacturers know this, at least those that manage to do good business Item 2 above: Many modellers build the kit out of the box, or if the faults are too big they pick another kit instead. Some modellers choose to buy various aftermarket sets to correct and update the original kit. This group of modellers keep the aftermarket firms in operation but update sets will never sell in the same quantities as ordinary kits (if they did then we might see the big producers actually spend some money/resources on getting the kits correctfrom the beginning, sort of include the update set in the original product ...) Item 1 above: Miniarts SU-85 could be used as an example. First they release an SU-85 and now they are advertising the SU-85 model 1943 early. If an aftermarket company had decided to do a backdate set to convert the first kit into the 1943 early then they would now be stuck with masters, maybe moulds and even unsellable resin castings. Tamiya and to some extent Italeri didn't exploit their toolings and make variants of vehicles and that provided a market for conversion sets. The newer manufacturers have realised that variants is a clever way of getting more return on the original investment. Some reviews of new kits mention that sprue X has gates included so that it is possible to make variant Y by switching out part Z. Aftermarket companies need to consider this when doing their investment calculus. / Robin

Probably no one. "Low cost" is the first hurdle they'd have to jump but there are more significant ones: 1. The pace of new releases is so fast that a resin company would be a high risk of being "stuck" by a new Amusing kit. 2. Correcting errors doesn't make the weathering look better after painting so most modelers are happy to do without. KL [/quote]Has anyone told the resin manufacturers that? TMD make some nice and low cost parts. The PzIII engine decks are excellent. [/quote] I think that the resin manufacturers know this, at least those that manage to do good business Item 2 above: Many modellers build the kit out of the box, or if the faults are too big they pick another kit instead. Some modellers choose to buy various aftermarket sets to correct and update the original kit. This group of modellers keep the aftermarket firms in operation but update sets will never sell in the same quantities as ordinary kits (if they did then we might see the big producers actually spend some money/resources on getting the kits correctfrom the beginning, sort of include the update set in the original product ...) Item 1 above: Miniarts SU-85 could be used as an example. First they release an SU-85 and now they are advertising the SU-85 model 1943 early. If an aftermarket company had decided to do a backdate set to convert the first kit into the 1943 early then they would now be stuck with masters, maybe moulds and even unsellable resin castings. Tamiya and to some extent Italeri didn't exploit their toolings and make variants of vehicles and that provided a market for conversion sets. The newer manufacturers have realised that variants is a clever way of getting more return on the original investment. Some reviews of new kits mention that sprue X has gates included so that it is possible to make variant Y by switching out part Z. Aftermarket companies need to consider this when doing their investment calculus. / Robin[/quote] All very true BUT the modeller has choice. Mini Art has not corrected their Pz III's AND TMD are still producing their correction parts, though I do not know in what quantities. I will continue to buy such items.

Now all we need are decent quality kits of the other 5 subjects Black Label had [auto-censored]ed up in 1/35.

Yup ! I include that message in my prayers every evening

Both kits came today from a retailer in Germany. Please be informed that the upper hull in my FV215B kit was misformed from the molds, e.g. the madguards and the front of the upper glacis were not molded in plastic. I have already contacted my retailer, but anyone who might have the kit and has not opened it yet be sure to check it out.

Getting short moldings like that is not an amusing hobby at all ...

How does the Conqueror look Nikos? That's too bad about the FV215B kit, at least you should be able to get a replacement for it.

After examining the kit instructions and parts set up, the problem seems to be only for the madguards, since there is a part that is added atop the mismolded front hull, and then the lights and other detail is added. Some filling and sanding will be required but nothing serious. The madguards are a different story, since they need to be made from scratch and try not to remove the molded on hinges when removing the badly shaped plastic. Both kits are great. The plastic is like Hasegawa plastic quality to me. The part detail is crisp with few blemishes from the molds and very few pinmarks and sinkmarks. Some flash was found on only a sprue from the FV215 kit. The kit has optional parts, if someone wishes to depict the suspension springs workable. Fully plastic suspension arms and springs molded to one part are supplied, as well as separate suspension arms and metal springs. The handle detail on the side plates is a little on the thick side and those will have to be removed. I am a little cobfused about the tracks, since each link is in two parts. You get an almost complete link as one part and the second one is the lip that protects the joint of the links and touches the ground. My guess is that Friuls might be better.

I have an update regarding the replacement of the upper hull from my kit. Amusing Hobby suggested to me to conatact their German retailer, Modellbau Koenig. (http://www.modellbau-koenig.de). Both Amusing Hobby and Modellbau Koenig replied very fast (within a couple of hours or so) to my messages and provided great service and support. I will be receiving a replacement part plus a new set of tracks for the FV215B kit. These tracks are not the same with the ones included in the kit. The ones in the kit are workable after assembly, that is why the track links come in two parts. The new tracks are snap-fit ones, one part per individual link. The snap-fit tracks will be available via retailers as an alternative for those of us who do not want to build the kit supplied tracks.