What's up with Preiser? Are they even still in business? None, or VERY few, of their military figure sets are available anywhere, and new sets, which were announced at least a year ago (2 sets of D-Day/Normandy GI's, and Germans in winter dress) are still listed as "Back Order". I love their figures, and am running very low on my stash!

Preiser is a theme for itself. They call them self "Kleinkunstwerkstätten" or literally Small Art Factory. I was visiting the production facility a few years ago. One man said they switch off the moulding machines over the weekend. Their main business are railroad figures. Maybe the sales figures of military figures are not that high that they produce them continously. Many shop owners here complain that they can`t stock as much as they need. Perhaps Preiser sees his main business in providing figures for large railway diorama houses like Miniaturwunderland.

https://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/?_ga=2.176730413.969096812.1565797425-137695731.1565797425

Preiser does some public sculpting at their booth on Nuremberg Toy Fair.
https://www.preiserfiguren.de/showpage.php?Models_und_Modelle&SiteID=48

Biggles, Have you tried Walther's Model Railroad ? I do believe that they are the biggest model railroading seller in the US, at least.

Many years ago when German HO railroading was my hobby I frequently shopped at Walthers (they're in my city, Milwaukee). Lots of time things were backordered. I was told that they would wait until they had enough items to fill an export container, to be patient and wait.

HH … In 2017 I tried to make it to Hamburg to visit Minitaur World.
Storm system Xavier shut down the trains stranding me in Kassel. Only southbound trains were running the next day. Trees blowing over on the wires and tracks. Worst vacation ever ! But thank you for the link ! One day.....

Checked their catalog and ALL the 1/72 figures are "Back Ordered", which means you're SOL!

Don't call off the search !!

https://www.reynaulds.com/catalog/dept_366.aspx

;)

H.P.

Preiser is a Nightmare....
US paratroops and landing private are announced since more than 5 years !! the "last" news Ihad (3 years ago !!) were that "they are looking for someone to help to finish the moulds because the guy which was there is gone away"... So you understand what you want, because 2 years ago, I've seen a picture of these 1/72 US soldiers...

Look what you can see just under the bikes...
But Preiser prefers to press and paint little "civil" figurines than to sale unpainted and glueable soldiers...You can see that the range of 1/72 painted figures is ever "full"...
For the rest, sometime, Preiser press some of boxes, last time, it was the German Panzer crew (72515) and the time before the German infanterie in Sdkfz 251...
So, we have to check what happens and let's hope
Regards
Pascal

Thanks. I had already Googled and bookmarked Reynaulds, but I find it very suspicious that they claim all the Preiser items in stock (even the ones not produced yet!!) when everyone else is "Out of Stock", or "Backordered"!
I think Preiser would rather sell assembled and pre-painted HO scale figures to model railroaders - model railroaders would rather have ready-to-use figures right out of the box - at inflated prices, and consider 1/72 military figures too small a market to bother with. Not that I can blame them...business is business!

I phoned Reynauds a few months ago to check the stock status of the Preiser figures. The gentleman I spoke to told me most were out of stock. He also said some sets have been on back order for several years.

Around that time I was lucky to get a few sets of Panzer Grenadiers (72503) and Tank Crew (72515) on Ebay. For a short time several dealers were offering them. I can only guess that Preiser had released some sets and they found their way to Ebay.

I would strongly suggest that you create a saved search for the item and it's related number in Ebay. Ensure that your email notice is on so you are notified when one of your sets appear there. The sets do appear there from time to time but do not hesitate as they typically don't last long.

I've followed up a few leads of Preiser on eBay and was thoroughly put off by the price, but especially the shipping, some of these guys were demanding. Rather than pay $50+ (plus exchange) for a dozen figures, I'll just do without. The rarer something is, the more it costs, but it's not worth it to me.
Would it hurt Preiser to do a couple more production runs of their 1/72 military range? I'm sure they would sell out fairly quickly!

Keep your search active. I see there are are few sellers offering the Tank Crew and one offering the Grenadiers. The prices are very high. I paid considerably less when there were several dealers offering them.

This is very common with Preiser. It also applies to their figures in other scales. I experience the same thing with 1/87 scale figures as I also dable in HO scale trains. It took me several years to find their kit 72500 Modern US Infantry. You have to be very patient with them.
Cheers
Charlie