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1/32nd scale Spartans in Plastic!
#1
This company has done some great work 1/32nd scale plastic toy soldiers (as well as metal) and now set to release Spartans (with Immortals soon to follow).

Historical accuracy not withstanding...members of the Forum might find these of interest either for their children or themselves or both.

:wink:

http://contecostore.com/


[size=150:3dwjnolc]SPARTAN PLASTIC ANNOUNCEMENT[/size]

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER!

Dear Conte Plastic Collector

Thought you might like to know that the factory started running all 23 Spartan poses
today..!!!!......then proceeded to close for a holiday until next Monday!!!

The production/assembly/packaging process should be complete by mid May as there are
tons and tons of these being made.... and with any luck and assuming all quality control
inspections come out ok, etc., we should at last see these wonders in June. All of what
follows is advisory & subject to change. Please do NOT call the office for updates--we will
post news here on our website when we know more!

Please do call the office if you want to pre-reserve sets.

I will be posting pictures of set configurations and poses and such on our website very
shortly. I hate the delays on these more than anyone but we are a small fish in the world
of plastic production and had to await our humble 'turn'.

In answer to some inevitable questions,..... these will be coming in scarlet Spartan red
first. We are also doing some sets in bronze and silver although most of our feedback was
55-60% or better in favor of the scarlet and the production run has been weighted
accordingly. There are nine different blistercards. Each card will have 7 poseable figures.
There are only 7 figures per card as the spears/shields and size of the figures themselves
makes it tougher to fit more onto our usual card! The 23 poses have come from our fine
pewter line/range but it should be noted that these 23 can be posed or moved into
countless(literally hundreds) of unique poses. This is the first time our plastic poses have
had more undercuts and less blockout than our fine pewter figures!

Five of the poses will be on every card & each of the nine cards will have 2 unique poses
only available on that particular card. The 5 poses which repeat are the 3 'phalanx'
poses(rows 1,2 & 3) and the 2 'shield wall' poses which everyone needs loads of . The
other 18 unique poses include 4 figures in bare or bandaged head, one with a pulled back
helmet and everyone else helmeted. The officer has a unique 'transverse crest" helmet.
Please, no whining about needing to buy all nine cards to acquire all 23 poses..........true
Spartans would never whine....

As debuted & acclaimed at OTSN these fellows are poseable and generally have
removable/interchangeable heads/helmets, moveable arms/wrists and in some cases
forearms which swivel. Weapons are also generally interchangeable. Ugly 'blockout' so
common to plastic figures has been virtually eliminated......one can 'pull back' cheek
guards as an example and find a fully detailed face underneath!!!

These are without a doubt the best plastic figures we have made to date and have
'pushed the engineering & molding envelope" more than I originally had thought possible.
I hope the long wait will be more than justified when collectors finally see these miracles
.....the tremendous upfront costs on sculpting and mold making(double what we usually
spend) are clearly worth it when you behold one of these creations.

As others have been reporting, prices are really rising in China with both labor and the
cost of plastic skyrocketing. Suggested Retail on each card looks to be approximately
$22.00 although I am still trying to finalize this. Final details should be available before the
end of May. Anyone wanting to prereserve sets can let the office know any time you'd
like...you will -of course- get the best possible 'deal' which is finalized for early buyers....At
the outset we will probably ONLY be filling orders for all 9 sets at one time in order to
allow us to maximize the number of sets which we can sort, pack and which we can rush
out......when things slow down, we'll probably allow folks to pick & choose sets by set
number or order less than the 9 sets but for right now we are only accepting reservations
for all 9 sets at one time.

I'm contemplating a early buyer special---probably the first 300 ( a fitting number
methinks?)-- being able to receive a single color pewter--scarlet or bronze- Leonidas
figure by buying all 9 different sets and sending in 'proof of purchase' coupons which will
be on each package. (Naturally, those who buy direct from us will not have to do the
proof of purchase 'thang' as we'll know automatically that you bought all sets). The
Leonidas figure probably won't be available for a few months after we start selling the
blistercards......I may offer something else instead but as of today, I think Leo deserves
the star treatment!

I may be forced to limit each customer to buying no more than 45 cards(315 figures? ) in
any one color at the outset to make sure everyone has a chance to get their '300"......I
am hearing from alot of dealers/collectors outrageous needs for these handsome devils
and have doubled our factory order and hope we have enough to meet demand.

Personally, i am planning on using some silver Spartans as Greek allies to help defend 'the
pass'.....smaller numbers of silver and bronze sets will also be available.

Oh yes, Immortals are in process now and depending upon cash flow and sales of the
Spartans look likely for late 2008...sooner if Spartan sales are robust.

Thanks! Hail Leonidas!

RC



:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#2
The Conte web site has posted more photos of their new Spartan figures in 1/32nd scale plastic.

http://www.contecostore.com/spartan_preorderb.html


Not being an expert on ancient Greece I can not speak to the historical accuracy of these figures, however I think most will agree that for plastic toy soldiers these sculpts are really quite amazing in terms of detail and pose. These are dynamic looking figures and would make for quite a battle on the living room floor.

Now, what to do without so I can add these to the collection? Perhaps if I just stopped eating altogether... :? roll: Confusedhock:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#3
These 1/32nd scale Spartans do look good...


:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#4
Again, I have no vested interest here other than to pass on information about what I consider some of the very best 1/32nd scale sculpts in plastic on a subject of interest to my fellow members of the Forum.

Not sure how I will afford these...I already have one kidney committed to Star Wars...perhaps a lung, I'll just breath less...


http://contecostore.com/


[size=150:2s7ltkzd]Spartan Army ON THE MARCH!!![/size]
Leonidas' Bodyguard Has Departed The Factory!!!!
Plastic Collectors....The Wait Is Almost OVER!!!
Confirm Your Preorders Now!


June 28, 2008

Dear Conte Collector,

The plastic Spartans have finally shipped from the factory........ THEY ARE ON THE WAY.

We've finally managed to get them done to our absolute liking and they have departed the
factory today. Now we must contend with the shipping time, customs and final delivery to
us. It looks like the first few days of August should bring these to me...and then we will
start sending them to those of you who have preordered. I fear there is a risk that the
first container will be a quick total sellout so please confirm orders now.

Now that we know they have shipped and are imminent we would like to post
prices/specials and terms so that the office can begin to 'finalize' your orders. When
these arrive, we want to get these shipped as fast as we can to all of you...we know
you've waited a long time and we are anxious to get these literally right out of the
container and then on the way to your respective battlegrounds.....We have a ton of
advance orders and are trying to arrange the process to be as smooth and quick as
possible.....we hope for your understanding & cooperation.

There are nine (9) different blistercards. Each card has 7 figures...5 of which appear on
every card plus 2 unique figures on each card. If you are doing the math this gives you
23 different poses. The 5 which repeat are the 2 shield wall poses and the 3 phalanx
poses. Given interchangeability of heads, arms, weapons and the poseability factors, you
have a virtually unlimited number of poses which you can create from the initial
23...........The shields and spears have made it impossible for us to fit more than 7 figures
onto a card. I've managed to set up over 90 different poses before having my attention
span kick in.....

For the time being, we are ONLY selling these in case lots of 10 cards per case, consisting
of 1 each of the 9 cards plus a FREE 10th set of our choosing (this will be randomly done
so please do NOT ask for a specific set). The sets incoming are ONLY in scarlet/red and it
is a gorgeous red.... new pictures attempting to show the richness and beauty of this
color should be posting on our site. It is difficult to capture the shade I picked in a
photo..trust me it is fantastic.

Scarlet/red is the ONLY color which we are now selling. Please do not try to ask for bronze
or silver. You can have any flavor you want right now as long as it is Spartan Scarlet. We
will have limited numbers of bronze, silver and possibly other colors at some future date.
Please don't tell us to ship you these other colors as all we will have and be shipping is
scarlet red!!!

All Shipments of Spartans Will Be Sent From The Carolinas. Please do NOT call the Nevada
office to ask if they have been shipped yet as they will not know the most current
information. We have so many Spartan orders that the Las Vegas office literally does not
have the time to answer the daily calls just asking about Spartans. Please supply us with
your email address so that when these ship to you we can send you a tracking # and
notice of shipment (email is preferable but we'll fax or phone if need be) Also, leave us
phone and fax numbers so that we can send you a notice of shipment when we send your
order out.

Pricing Details: Each card will have a retail price of $24.00. We've done every thing we
can to try and keep costs down but fear that oil prices have done a real 'number' on our
costs of manufacture as well as shipping costs every step of the way. (My original
estimates of $22 /card just can't be met --sorry). Given the labor increases in China, the
diminished value of our dollar, size of the figures, excellence in molding, number of parts
each figure contains, the engineering & design on these guys, the poseability & the
elimination of ugly blockout, etc...... I think we've created something astounding which will
revolutionize plastic toy soldiers from this point on.

Specials On Preorders: The price for 10 cards (70 figures) is $200.00 plus $15.00 for
UPS Shipping (unless UPS raises its rates again this month) instead of $240.00 for the
ten cards bought separately...a savings of $40.00.

This comes out to approximately $2.85 per figure compared to the $3.42 per figure at
suggested retail price.

Building the 300/You Want More Than 1 case? We suspect that many of you will want
more than 10 cards /70 Spartans? If you'd like to order a second set of ten cards, pay
$190 on the second case. Want a third case? Pay $180 for the 10 cards. A 4th case will
cost $170. Shipping is $15.00 per case on ALL cases. If you buy 4 cases you are at 280
Spartans at an average figure cost of approximately $2.60. Want to order 10,000
Spartans and recreate the Battle of Platea, RC will quote a price & bring these to your
house and play with them with you

Housekeeping Items/ Confirming Your Order: In order to get ready to blast these
sets out as we want to spend our time shipping rather than verifying orders when these
handsome devils arrive, we would ask you to now supply a charge card and verification
information to confirm your preorder and to qualify for the preorder special. In addition,
we will be charging $30 per case NOW to confirm your order--the $30 effectively being a
deposit against the cost of your case. We are also asking now for your authorization to
charge the remaining balance of your order to this same charge card when we begin
shipping (meaning the balance will be charged in early August the day before your order is
ready to be shipped out). If you are buying more than 1 case a $30.00 deposit should be
made on each. Please confirm your shipping and billing addresses as well.

It is my hope that we will efficiently be able to rush these sets out by following this
preorder confirmation procedure. The goal NOW is to get paperwork out of the way so
that once the Spartans arrive we can throw all of our efforts into shipping these out as
quickly as we can. The Spartans have, without a doubt, created a frenzy and we want to
get as many cases shipped as immediately as we can rather than spending half of our day
confirming orders and/or answering phone calls. all asking questions which will be avoided
if we follow the procedure I am writing about.....getting mobilized now so we can strike
more effectively when the army arrives!

Many thanks. These Spartans are my greatest source of pride from all the years of our
making plastic product & should give us all hope for equally exciting and poseable other
plastic ranges in the future!!

Thanks for your support & for making our lives a little easier by confirming your orders
now. I will be posting photos of Immortal poses which are about to go to the factory very
shortly--as I know once you get the Spartans that's what you will be asking about!

Hail Ragnar
RC



:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply
#5
They look most impressive; I should imagine that they would paint up very nicely, too.
Simon

Simon M. aka BigRedBat
Reply
#6
For those who are interested this link will take you to photos of the complete set of 300 Spartans in 1/32 Plastic.

The web site indicates that they are almost sold out of the Red Spartans. I can not vouch for this but no doubt they have proven to be popular.

http://www.conteco.com/RedPlasticSpartansSets.htm

:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Reply


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