Category: News / Events

G’day gents , just arrived home from Canberra and the yearly ‘CanCon’ event which was a lotta fun.

I took a small store down armed with the usual Flashpoint goodies, but was most interested to see how our new (in the last year) offerings would be received, and was looking for comments on the up-and-coming items we have planned and prototyped. Again, it was good to see a few old friends and meet some new ones … so lots of good discussion was had, many world problems were solved, … even had a few laughs.

The biggest runaway success was the ‘Amtracks’, these were very well received, which I’m personally the most chuffed about. Both the APC and Howitzer versions were well liked by people seeing them ‘for real’ (not just on an internet pikkie), and I sold all but one Amtrack APC. I was surprised that the recently added ‘USMC with M14’s’ packs were admired, but almost ignored at the checkout as most buyers were stocking up on our ANZACs and VC/NVA. …well, that makes sense in an Aussie marketplace. Our new M113 with T50 turret, and ‘VC Porters’ pack was well received also. We also trialled a new ‘Assorted Trees’ pack and a few new additions to accessory/terrain items (sandbags walls/sampans/observation towers) at the show, which were well received, … I haven’t posted these on the website yet .. so these are coming real soon, now I know I’m on the right track with these.

So a bit of work now to do to unpack and answer a bunch of emails that have come in since the show (while I’ve been driving home), and a small shop order to assemble off to Germany….

Thanks to everyone who came and said hello at CanCon, big thanks to Tim Sleigh and his team at Canberra Games Society (CGS) for another well-run big show, and Nic (and team) of Eureka Miniatures, and Mick of ‘Micks Metal Models’ (the Aussie home of Peter Pig miniatures) for being most excellent neighbours … and mentors. I learned a lot from these gentlemen.

I had my young family with me for the ‘road trip’ and we had a great time and met many good people, so will likely make a regular family trip for the event, as I train the next (tall blonde female) generation of the ‘Flashpoint Miniatures’ team , …mwohahahaha !…

Howdy Gents ,

It’s been a rocket-ride first year for my tenure as Owner/manager of Flashpoint Miniatures ! …What an education !        I’ve been a long-time (30+years) casual but dedicated wargamer across a number of genres, but I really had no idea what goes on behind the scenes.  At this moment in time, when tabletop wargaming seems to be gaining in popularity, abundance and sophistication …I feel it is completely my privilege to be doing this.

I first ‘discovered’ Flashpoint Miniatures only about three years ago, and although I liked the figures, I felt that the composition of the packs left a lot to be desired. When I heard that the Business was offered for sale, and learned the previous owner had more-or-less ‘lost interest’, … I felt that this was a beaut little range of figures that was worth saving, and more-than-worth taking further. I was already a 15mm Vietnam tragic (yes, I also own a fair amount of Peter Pig, QRF and Battlefront figures/models, … and a shedload of aircraft) .. and as I discovered some of the more unique and quality offerings from the Flashpoint range (eg; Montagnards, Sappers, and the largest, coolest selection of ‘Vietnam Special Forces’ figures there is ) , my enthusiasm for the potential of Flashpoint Miniatures grew and grew.  …It’s still growing.  ….  Again … I feel it is completely my privilege to be doing this !

In this first year (not knowing any better) we have added twenty-eight ‘new’ figures, remastered another twelve figures  I felt could-be-better (or had production issues), rediscovered another fifteen figures that had fallen from production and will be re-released soon (or are already turning up in packs). We have also added three new vehicles (and a T50 turret for our M113 model) and nine new ‘terrain’ items/accessories. …..I say “not knowing any better” because I suggest this represents a fairly ambitious schedule for a miniatures production company twice our size, and it has been a near vertical learning curve for me on how to ‘make this happen’, let alone the time and personal $$$ invested to see it through. I’m pretty chuffed with what we have managed to achieve so far , and have a bunch more new items (ARVN figures, vehicles, boats, terrain pieces) already on the way.

We have also made a point of improving the ‘production quality’ of what we are doing, (from what/how was done before) … we have improved the quality of the lead-free pewter we use (actually good enough to eat off ), found better (tougher) polyurethane ‘resins’ to use, and very recently changed the spincasting team we use … I’m now seeing the best castings of our figures I’ve seen so far, and believe we have ‘lifted the bar’ on what is possible to offer.

Along the way I’ve been lucky to meet and collaborate with a new circle of talented friends, artisans, suppliers, buyers, wargamers and production gurus. I cannot emphasise enough, what good work, advice, ideas, encouragement, feedback and friendship I have received over the last year , or how valuable this is . Big Thanks ! Keep it coming ! IOU!

So a big Thankyou to everyone (especially customers) who have made it possible this year to get this far at all. I believe by this time next year we will be another quantum-leap forward in 15mm wargaming awesomeness, and will have our own “big-battle” wargaming rules well on-the-table. ….so if you are not already … get painting ! , start hoarding vehicles and aircraft ! , make shedloads of cool terrain ! negotiate with work, family and loved ones to be absent next year ! get some exercise !  do whatever chores need doing ! …don’t say you weren’t warned !  Your time starts now !

All the best for Christmas and the holiday season, I hope/trust you emerge unscathed, maybe even richer and wiser.

 

Hi gents, ..hope you are all well and happy ! …and maybe even getting something painted !

…today is the first time since August I can say I haven’t got something waiting for someone !

Thankyou for your support, comments, suggestions, funny emails and generally best wishes in the last few weeks. I have met quite a few new friends and had a chance to chat and share via email. I’ve still been pretty remiss at keeping this site updated, but have a fistful of new information to share, some awesome product reviews of stuff I’ve found, and some generally otherwise funny, scary and interesting stuff.

Besides a super-busy period just keeping orders met , I’ve been busy behind-the-scenes examining what we can do to  improve our production, which should improve our figure-quality further and still remain pretty leanly-priced. Am keen to see this work over the next few months. ….Stay ‘tuned. We have already added about thirty new sculpts to the range and existing packs …. adding a minesweeper here , adding an ammo box there, redoing a .30cal mount somewhere else … so the packs (including new additions of M14 USMC packs) are intentionally pretty versatile and improving in content and quality as we get it all together.

Keep a lookout for future content and how-to’s on the forums (eg. good ideas for building the Mule). I’ve got some painting finished, and some more almost finished (…hahaha ! …and lots lots more I haven’t started yet ….life’s like that).

Keep a lookout for a few new things coming soon …. terrain pieces mostly … and some new trees !    I’ve frozen the tuk-tuk project for now to get started on ARVN line-infantry figures already … and have some ARVN special forces nearly ready to deploy ….  more to follow !

Remember ..if you are on the east-coast USA and heading to Fall-In (15-17 November , Lancaster PA.) look for Carl of MOC who will be attending with some of the latest Flashpoint-Miniatures goodness to share. !

Take care out there !

Jimmi

 

Hi Gents,

Well I’ve been working like a modelling Yogin to get this all ready ! The last few weeks has been busy-as to get this all crossing the line of departure … so much for planning staged releases. !

We have just released six new product items I trust you will be pretty happy with, and released another dozen pieces that will go into existing packs that will enhance these packs further.

A list of the new released products looks like ;

1. USMC M14 Rifle Platoon (41pcs),

2. USMC M14 ‘HQ’ Platoon (45pcs)

3. LVC/NLF Porters (10pcs)

4. Australian M113 with T50 turret (.30/.50 or .30/.30 options)

5. USMC LVTP5 APC

6. USMC LVTH6 Howitzer variant.

…But some of the details I’m the happiest about is some of the new and redone figures that will go into existing packs that I have felt were sorely needed. For example; two new US minesweeper figures, a prone US sniper team, Aussie M79 grenadiers with SLR’s, and a metal ‘load’ for the Mule (replacing the resin load)  for starters. I’ve also been busy improving some of the heavy weapon sculpts we manufacture and resurrected some ‘missing’ figures from this range (eg; some old LVC sculpts that seem to have vanished). You will see these new items appear in existing packs real soon.

For those of you in North America, Carl at ‘Miniatures of Chesapeake’, and Mark at ‘ScaleCreep Miniatures’ have shipments on the way.

Big thanks to the team of people who made this happen, Chris the tireless spincaster, Nic Robson (Eureka Miniatures) the fastest, bestest mould maker ‘Down Under’, Matt Clark and crew (Reaper Miniatures) sculptors and mould-makers, Leandro Ventic the figure-sculptor, two other ‘prefer-to-remain-anonymous’ figure-sculptors, Darby Eckles (TX.USA) the 3D designer of the Amtracks and T50 turret, John at ‘Modeller’ (CA.USA) who printed the Amtrack masters, Phil and Sandy the ‘webguys’ who tirelessly defend the website against hackers and troublemakers,  and most importantly my wife Tamara who is the crucial administrator behind the ‘business’ and looks after me as I sit in the ‘shed weighing, sorting, cleaning and packing thousands and thousands of metal figures, and pouring, curing and sanding kilograms of urethane resin and mould rubber.

! Time to sit at the painting desk for a few days ! ..Woohoo !   ….. Stay ‘tuned !

Hi Gents,

Wow ! it’s August ! , Sorry if this website has been a bit quiet over the last two months, I’m a pretty inexperienced blogger !

I recognise that I tend to communicate (by habit) more by PM, and tend to lurk around the rather excellent ‘Fields of Fire’ Vietnam wargames’ site more than I communicate here… am learning …will do better.

There has been no shortage of work done behind the ‘scenes at Flashpoint HQ in the last two months ;

1. The M274 ‘Mechanical Mule’ sculpted by Karl Cederman has been released for sale,

2.The ‘Early war USMC Rifle Platoon’ (with M14’s) figures sculpted by Anton Ducrot are back, production moulded, and first figures have been spun out …(the first thirty packs already pre-promised are being sorted after I write this), we are getting a sample painted for display on the website before we release for sale.  …An ‘Early war USMC weapons/support’ pack will follow very soon.

3. We have a few Aussie infantry, and US Sniper team sculpts back from Leandro Ventic,  ….plus new VC ‘Porters’ sculpts,  and a few Civilian ‘village-wares’ items (ie; village “clutter”-you will see what I mean soon) also done. Leandro is about to start on a ‘tuk-tuk’ piece I super keen to see done. Then onto ARVN !

4.Our so-long awaited ‘Aussie’ T50 turret (with a selection of arament options) has been fine tuned/improved. We had a few teething problems with this, fixed these, and have resculpted the araments again, and got the commander’s hatch right (for the Aussie version)… am sending away to be master-moulded again ….Want to get this right ! Will be here in time for the new Aussie sculpts.

5. Our LVTP5 and LVTH6 Amtracks are being production moulded… we have been slowed by adding to the detail (tow hook and cable), but in a way that is reliably able to be production-casted … but it is about three steps further forward after a lot of work, and a number of production moulds should be getting made at the end of this week. ..So nearly ready for release.

6. We’ve sent out a few ‘monster’ orders to the USA, particularly to our old friends Mark at ScaleCreep Miniatures, and Aaron at Noble Knight miniatures.

7. We have finished prototyping a range of resin terrain of more than thirty pieces; bunkers, hooches, buildings, pigpens, wells, fences, roads, Buddhist statues… you name it. We will get to ‘producing’ these as soon as the Amtracks are completed.

8. We’ve also started writing up (coherently) the Vietnam wargaming rules we have been playing for about fifteen years….

Yeah ! …we been busy !

More to follow ……

Wow ! ..It’s June ! … we’ve had some important milestones in the last few weeks. We have received our Amtrack/LVTP5 master back, …it’s being casted-up right now …we are aiming to get the best option for producing a good moulding method. …and we have a Howitzer version (LVTH6)on the way also. Our commission from Anton Ducrot has just arrived back so ‘early-war’ US Marines packs are very close. Our ‘Mule’ is back from being production-mastered ….so is ready to start being produced soon-as ! …Looks like heaps of USMC goodness is here…
..Semper Fi !
We’ve also received our very-long-awaited T50 turret back ..we’re very happy with it…we’ll show it off as soon as we got a few ready. Sweeet !
…I’m sorry if this is all taking longer than I’ve projected, I originally wanted to stagger these releases over the last months…but the reality of ‘getting new things done’ dictates it happens when it is ready ! ..well it is all ‘ready’ about now …stay tuned !

Another ‘bigger than big’ five weeks here at Flashpoint-Miniatures !

We have had a continuing landslide of interest (and sales), some ‘new development’ works near completion, although taking longer than anticipated we are making sure we get these things “right” before pushing them through into production.
For example, we have “Kevin” the sculptor, in Texas U.S.A. drilling holes in a brass tube to get a .30cal barrel “just right” for our M113 T50 turrets …seriously ! How good is that !
… I didn’t even know this could be done !
We did already have our twin-.30cals and .30/.50cal barrels “done” for the “T50”, but decided to do it again, so we know they will be tough enough to handle “wargaming” use… not just look good.

Flashpoint’s original sculptor ; Anton Ducrot, has his new “M14 Marine” sculpts finished and just being polished up now , he has produced some excellent, and very useful new figures here !
Karl Cederman, an old Flashpoint friend and original, has finished up his M247 “Mule” (with optional driver) which he has designed specifically to carry our 106mm Recoilless Rifle, … and I guess whatever else the ‘Leathernecks’ want carried.
John at ‘Moddler’ (in Calif U.S.A), is 3D printing the hull of our upcoming LVTP5 ‘Amtrack’…. this is the best 3D-printing house we know of …we have the basic ‘carrier’ version nearly done, …before we go onto the ‘Howitzer’ version.

So lotsa good things very close now !, I’m completely glad we have such an awesome collection of incredibly talented people happy to go the ‘extra mile’ to get a good product into our hands.
I feel privileged to be able to see this happen !

!!..Additionally…if you happen to be in North America, Mark at ‘ScaleCreep’ Miniatures has a big shipment of Flashpoint Miniatures on the way !… should be there soon …

More to follow …

Thankyou! , the ‘Website has been up and running now for five weeks now, and we have had a flood of interest and well-wishers and Flashpoint Faithful contact us over the past few weeks. Thankyou everyone for the very kind words and best wishes !

… And what a big five weeks it has been in the world of 15mm Vietnam Wargaming !

We have “found” about a dozen cracker ‘Flashpoint-original’ sculpts which have somehow fallen out of production. We have nearly finished out ‘Aussie T50’ Turret for the  M113’s, we are about to “print” our ‘multi-part LVTP5’ “masters”,… and we have the original maestro of Flashpoint Miniatures,.. Anton Ducrot sculpting a few new ‘Early-war’ Marines (with M14’s) and Heavy-Weapon crewmen to complete this range.

We have also prototyped a range of over fifty new terrain-piece accessories to comprise fourteen ‘sets’ of Vietnam-themed terrain pieces…everything from “Highlands Special Forces Firebase” to peaceful “Coastal-village and fish-farm” to “Town-Square”. …Lots of good things coming ! We are in the throes of doing first masters and ensuring they will be ‘visually compatible’ with other trusted terrain pieces. We want some good looking BIG tables happening !

There’s never been a better time to be wargaming Vietnam in 15mm !