Well, it's been a while since I felt caught up enough to put pen to paper (yes I started this on real paper). So, a little update for those of you interested in the world of bricks, and cool military ones at that.
First, I started a new job at a great company called Porter Airlines (super service and no middle seats!), but it is based in Toronto so I have less time at home in Vancouver to pack up COBI and CaDA. This is why the packing/shipping is a little random and it might be a few days longer than normal.
This time of year there's not enough sales to hire a helper, so Brick Army will be more like a part time store. I still want to offer the latest COBI sets at great prices with as complete a selection as I can. As usual, I will post shipping dates at the top of the webpage.
What's coming this year? Well, COBI has got some big plans for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day. Some more massive 1:12 scale sets, civilian aircraft, Ferdinands and Sturmtigers, a whole bunch of 1:35 D-Day sets like Landing Craft, and buildings such as the Church of Ste. Mere Eglise. One of the best parts of collecting COBI is learning about history. That's why their tagline is "Building History, Piece by Piece". Wikipedia is a great place to start reading, whether searching for the Church just mentioned or Germany's WWII aircraft carrier. I go a step further and enjoy searching used book stores for personal stories from wartime. Once I get back to my regular blog writing, I will share some of my favourite books & movies and tie them to the sets that you can collect. Almost forgot, we will finally get a Japanese aircraft carrier!
I also like sharing and seeing what we can build, whether it's MOC's or scenes and dioramas, or just showing your favourite set and talking about why you like it. The Brick Army Facebook and Youtube channels are a great place to add to the conversation. As well, I encourage you to leave a review of a set on the website or make suggestions about the store. I always enjoy the email exchanges too, it inspires me to keep working at being the best brick store possible. Nice to know we are doing things well. (with the odd hiccup)
Soon we will offer some more options like L-gauge train accessories and what I think are the best of other Alt Brick manufacturers.
I really like CaDA, they will be our primary Chinese brand as the brick quality is very good and they pay designers from around the world to work for them, and more and more they have licensed sets from big companies such as AMG, Mazda and Hummer. Their technic sets are very advanced so adults appreciate the challenge to build the gearboxes, suspensions and more. Most big sets can be motorized, but for the big cars you need to realize they are not going to compete with RC. They are heavy and the gears are plastic. Pretty cool to get a tank or bulldozer driving around though.
CaDA's other offerings include the Initial D anime drifting lineup, a range of detailed Japanese and British buildings, farm, construction, rockets and more. We have a big order arriving in March (Initial D and AMG ONE included).
Rounding out the offerings this spring: soon we will offer a selection of other brands from China. These will be original sets that caught my eye. The brick quality is top notch to fair (Xingbao is harder plastic that will make your fingers sore if you build too long) But I think you're going to say "WOW" and the prices are good.
Already we have some wicked helicopters from Sluban's Model series. These fill a void as COBI does not make a Mi-24 Hind or AH-1 Viper (Hueycobra) While Sluban bricks are quality, and their minifigures are different for sure, the rest of their lineup is more "little kid's toy", rather than accurate collector set, so we offer just the helos.
Wait til you see what else is on the way by slow boat from China...
Have fun building!!!
Craig