Within a few days of each other, two recent 3d printed orders arrived
The first took just over a week from Temu in China - total cost of NZ$36 - two 28mm Lanchester armoured cars for use with my RCW/BoB collection
The second took about three weeks from Battle Honors in the UK at a cost of about NZ$180, which included about $50 of postage for a parcel that weighs 284g - FFS!
Quite a large box and well packed and padded to be fair to them but 23 quid postage for 300g really is ridiculous!
One of the command groups purchased - very nice prints so I have no complaints about the cost of the figures - I just wish my mate in Wellington could print them for me!
And here are the armoured cars - again, can't complain about the packaging ....
... or the quality of the prints .......
..... or the price per model ......
.... or, this time, the postage - free because I spent over NZ$35!
The Copplestone Bolshevik heroine gives an indication of scale
Very happy with the contents of both packages!
And to finish off, here are a couple more AI generated videos
It didn't get these ones quite right but they are not terrible for a first attempt. Unfortunately, as I am using free generation, I am limited to only 2 or 3 videos before they start offering me unappealing ways to pay them to continue! So this may be the end of my AI video experimentation.
Thanks for the visit. We are playing a board game based on Ancient Greek mythology at Julians tomorrow, it has some nice figures that Jules has painted up, so I will do a brief report over the weekend I expect.
Lovely looking inter wsr armoured cars, have fun with Greek Mythology!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Cheers Iain.....hopefully the board game is fun.....!
DeleteSome great new purchases there Keith:). Postage here is no based upon a mix of weight and size, which has markedly increased costs compared to before. The AI stuff is fun as always!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve. I realized as soon as I saw the carton why it cost so much! What I bought could have been in something a quarter of the size....
DeleteNice looking purchases.
ReplyDeleteThe videos made me laugh.
Cheers Richard....the videos were a bit of fun!
DeleteShipping uses some weird volume-weight formula. So if it's too big for it's weight, or too heavy for it's size, you pay more. Basically they jam you on the most advantageous pay scale for them. Also, shopping has gotten stupid expensive.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave, I understand that concept....it's called cubic weight in the freight industry. The small number of figures I bought could have been in a carton a quarter of the size, as long as it was good quality, strong fiberboard. I did some research online at Royal Mail...it could have been sent untracked up to 1kg (or maybe even 2kg) for about £8....
DeleteAh. You seemed a bit spicy about shipping. I didn't realize that it was more about avoidable costs vs the generally high rate. That's super frustrating...
DeleteHaha....yes, I work in the express package industry but international freight is way over priced!
DeleteNice looking purchase, especially the armoured cars
ReplyDeleteThanks Scotty....I am very pleased with everything but particularly the armoured cars!
DeleteThe new figures look great Keith and you always bring the best out of them, but looking at all those supports and the clean up required would test my resolve. I have bought a fair bit of 3D printed terrain, but that never seems to require much preparation. Your AI videos are fun (although that is a very large artillery shell) and you have got much further than I did. I too gave up after the free trial thinking I wasn't sufficiently hooked to want to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence. When I first saw all those supports I felt quite concerned but actually a bit of wiggling about and the figures more or less just "peel" off the supports.
DeleteTotally agree re AI...it's a bit of fun but I am not prepared to pay for it!
Nice purchases Keith, the figures look great and look forward to seeing you pain them up. The armoured cars are very nice little models, they scale well too by the looks of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie, I was very happy with the quality of the armoured cars
DeleteTwo great purchases!
ReplyDeleteGlad you agree Ray! Did you buy something from Battle Honors at one of the shows you attended? I found out about them on somebody's blog, for which I am eternally grateful!
DeleteAn education to me. Thanks Keith. They look fine.
ReplyDeleteCheers OB!
DeleteGreat purchases Keith. Postage is always an issue but once you have painted the figures you won't remember it. 😁
ReplyDeleteThe AI is fun but it will have to be a lot better than that to get my money. The NaukNauk one I used just did animations and you could use it a couple of times a day, not sure if it is still going though. It was just an app on my phone.
Thanks Ben, you are right, of course! The odd thing is, some postage is fine...some suppliers even still do free postage if you spend enough!
DeleteI like those armoured cars. Will be great additions to your collection.
ReplyDeleteI've stopped shopping at non-US vendors altogether due to the cost of shipping. Sucks, cos there's so much good stuff out there in the world to waste my non-existent hobby funds on. :)
Thanks Dai! Unfortunately I have given up buying from US vendors due to postage. It used to be fine until your great leader withdrew from the postal union in his first term and all the USPS rates went through the roof. Many UK or European suppliers postal rates are still OK, and here in NZ, we have to buy from overseas for most things!
DeletePostage rated have indeed increased dramatically since COVID - I costed a 1 kg parcel to the USA recently and it came to $NZ350...excluding the tariffs. They are likely to rise again if the fuel prices remain high. You have to love that chap holding that thumping great shell above his head in the second video!!!
ReplyDeleteI know Mark, its crazy - and yet some people will still charge a maximum of $50 or less....
DeleteYes, the artillery video was a bit weird!
the temu stuff looks great , who was the temu supplier ?
ReplyDeleteThanks Bruce - not sure if this is the same place but they have the model for $20 https://www.temu.com/mall.html?_bg_fs=1&mall_id=634418225748139&goods_id=606031442711676&sticky_type=3&refer_page_el_sn=200446&_x_sessn_id=hg6qzredok&refer_page_name=goods&refer_page_id=10032_1779171410736_fp01itknls&refer_page_sn=10032
Deletecheers Keith , a small range as you say , looks tailored to the very British civil war stuff. I got some desert buildings off temu for a upcoming Khartoum game . the are filament but i have found a wee method for dealing with the lines with hopefully no sanding.
DeleteI wouldn't want to have to do that with the tanks
To my relatively uncritical eye, the armoured cars needed very little in the way of tidy up, Bruce.
DeleteThat's looking awesome sir 👏
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal - I am pretty happy with both recent 3D purchases!
Delete