WELCOME TO THE HOT NEWS SECTION. HERE I WILL TRY AND KEEP YOU INFORMED OF ALL THAT IS HAPPENING IN THE MODELING WORLD AND ON MY SITE.
November 4th 2005
Just to confirm what has been said in the previous message as it seems to be unclear for some people and I perhaps miss phrased it. I am no longer accepting orders for kits, other than for those which remain on the sales list and for the Tracks & Troops range. If you still had items in backorder, I apologize for the fact that I am no longer able to supply these to you. All new orders should be made to Milan Vins only through the new shopping site at http://www.tracks-n-troops.com/shop Of course you can always contact Milan by e-mail, letter or other means to inquire about orders or kits, but preferably use the new site if that is possible for you. For my many regular customers, I have not and will not pass on any of your personal details to Milan, nor any information concerning backorders. I therefore request that if you still have kits on backorder with me, please simply make a new order for these on the new site so that Milan can arrange them for you asap. Thank you for your understanding
October 18th 2005
I'm just back from a few hard weeks of work and a visit to Milan Vins in Pardubice, Czech republic, so it's time for another update to keep everyone informed. As you will see from virtually every page all prices and stock information has disappeared. From now one, each page will only contain a listing of what is available from that given manufacturer together with images and some additional information. These pages will be updated regularly with new releases. Each page will also contain a link to the new shop which will be fully active as soon as all technical glitches have been repaired and a full test has been done. At the moment I am shifting stock to Milan, so that he can get started as soon as the technical side of the shop is completed.
The sales section has been newly updated, with all remaining kits, figures and accessories listed from ranges which in most cases no longer will be retained in the new shop. The total list contains almost 1000 items as well some things from my personal collection, there will be some interesting things for all of you, so check it out now :-)!
September 15th 2005
A short update to keep all you guys on top of things! There have been some delays (technical) in getting everything ready with the new shop, but Milan is almost there. As an appetizer you can already visit the new site at the following page: http://www.tracks-n-troops.com/shop You can not order yet as not everything is in place and many items must still be uploaded, but that us happening fast and I expect the new shopping site to be fully operational shortly. For the remaining time I am still holding the fort and you can contact me as usual. When the new site becomes operational the old site will remain in place but with some modifications and on each page direct links will be placed to go to the shop section. As soon as the new site is active I'll post it here and on several other pages as well.
As a final note I would like to add that the current pages are not up to date concerning new releases and stock. I will try and post a new list of 'sale' items shortly, while rummaging through the cupboards here a good deal of kits qualifying for this category turned up, so stay tuned.
July 27th 2005
Hi guys, the holidays are over (for me anyway) and it's back to work now. Before talking about kits, first some general information. As I had mentioned to you earlier, I am ending my direct involvement in Tracks & Troops, a good friend of mine will be continuing with the shop from about September onward, the exact transfer date will depend on when the new website and infrastructure is complete. For those who have been guessing who exactly this person is, well now is the time when I can tell you his name. As many of you suspected, it is Milan Vins who will be continuing Tracks & Troops. For those who don't know Milan, he is an 'old hand' when it comes to modeling and his knowledge of 1/72 kits is phenomenal. For years he has been the driving force behind SMALLSCALEAFV , a specialized website with over 1500 pages of information on 1/72 scale models, which makes him eminently suited for taking charge of Tracks & Troops. You'll hear more details in a future update, but for now, please stay tuned to Tracks & Troops as before.
Because of the above, I also want to reduce stock levels a bit, so for all of you there are some good deals to be done. First of all check out the sales page, I have listed a whole bunch of kits and figures at special prices. First come, first served here. Besides this I am giving a general discount on all orders depending on their value. Please note that these amounts are shipping costs excluded and they also do not include the value of items from the sales section. Also the discount is applied exclusively according to the total value of kits being sent out and does not take into account items which are out of stock, so if possible give some alternative choices to cover for out of stock kits. Orders up to 50 euro get a 12,50% discount, orders up to 75 Euro get 15% discount, orders up to 125 euro get 17,50% discount, orders up to 250 Euro get 20% discount and everything over that amount gets 25% discount
Finally please also take into account that as of now, no kits will be kept on backorder. There will still be some kits and new releases arriving over the coming weeks, but basically I am not taking in any stock anymore as Milan will be taking over from me shortly.
July 6th 2005
Just a short note to tell you that I am on holiday from July 7th till July 24th. After the holidays there will be one more update of the website, listing the latest releases, around that same time I also expect some deliveries with kits to arrive from several Eastern European manufacturers. More news will follow then.
May 26th 2005
There's been a long silence from my side and
I apologize for that. Over the past months I have been confronted with the realities of
my business and my life as it is now. My involvement with Tracks &
Troops has been to such an extent that my family life ( wife and two small
children) has seriously suffered in the process. The end result is that I
have arrived on the brink of a divorce, to all effects it is still a matter
unresolved and the pendulum can still swing either way. Because of all this
I have been unable to concentrate on my work, I simply have no strength left
for it, I am mentally exhausted. I think anyone who has been in a similar
situation can understand this, there is nothing more draining than having to
go through endless discussions and emotions for months on end. For me
personally, I have been constantly torn between my desire to keep going on
with T&T and my duty as a father and husband but it has proved
impossible to combine both of these. So finally I have decided to stop with
Tracks & Troops in its present form as it's not worth sacrificing my
family for. Believe me this is not an easy choice for me to make as I have
invested much of my time, energy, enthusiasm and a significant part of my
life in it.
As modeling is my passion, i will still want to remain involved in the hobby
albeit in a much more modest way, mainly by the continuation of my own
range. This will hopefully allow me to have a more normal life with time to
spend on my family as well as being a part of the modeling community.
It is not my intention to let Tracks & Troops die a sudden death, as we
speak I am in the process of arranging transfer of all Tracks & Troops
activities to a good friend of mine who, I am convinced, will do a great job
managing it, as he is capable, enthusiastic, has since long been involved
with braille scale kits and is also well known to you. Until the transfer is
done I will continue to operate Tracks & Troops as before, but I ask you to please
bear in mind that it is not an easy time for me and I can't give myself 100%
anymore. For some items it may take a little longer than usual to get, but
if so I will let you know beforehand. I wish it all would have been otherwise, but unfortunately it is not so and
I can't change done things, only make the best of the situation as it is
now. I believe that I have taken the right, although painful, decisions here
and I hope I have your understanding in this.
Since I posted my initial message on the Missing Links discussion forum I have received many reactions, both onboard and off board, my thanks for that. I am deeply grateful for your support and friendship in this difficult time and it learns me once more what a great community we have made all together and how wonderful it is that people from all over the world, with different convictions, different languages, different customs and different lives can come together and share their passions, joys and tragedies with each other. In the end we are all but mortal men subject to the same throws of life, no matter our race or beliefs.
Beside this what's new? Most importantly the T&T M26 Pershing WW2 version is ready to ship and by all means I must say that I am proud of this kit. The next version to appear in about two weeks is the Korea version and the Italian AS42 Sahariano will follow shortly after that. Other new kits have arrived from CMK ( Dragon Wagon + trailer), Attack, Armo, Dragon, whilst others are still on the way (Roden, Kora, HR Models). Because of a shortage of time I wasn't able to update all pages, but most new releases are either available or will be so shortly.
Finally, I will be on a short break from Friday May 27th till Wednesday June 1st. I'll be back on Thursday June 2nd.
April 6th 2005
Not a real update this time, just to mention that Tracks & Troops will be closed for about a week. I'm not on holiday, but urgently need to complete some administrative tasks (my taxes mainly) and at the same time I will be making an updated list of all backorders, so that these get filled as soon as possible. If you still have items in backorder, you can help me by sending a shortlist. Work is also progressing on the new site, although I don't expect to have it ready before summer. Finally you can expect a normal update of the site around April 12th, my new Pershing will be ready for shipping then as well as many new releases from other manufacturers.