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Modeling in General: Other Sites
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Squadron
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Member Since: June 29, 2009
entire network: 11,610 Posts
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Posted: Friday, July 27, 2018 - 02:12 PM UTC
Does Squadron ever replenish their stock? I've been keeping an eye on their site for some time and it doesn't seam that they ever replenish anything.
Cbacon84
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California, United States
Member Since: October 10, 2012
entire network: 204 Posts
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Posted: Saturday, August 18, 2018 - 07:34 AM UTC
I've noticed the same thing too, also it seems a lot of stuff they use to have in stock has gone to special order only. I like giving them money but its getting harder to do so.
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Member Since: June 29, 2009
entire network: 11,610 Posts
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Posted: Saturday, August 18, 2018 - 10:07 AM UTC
I'm of the opinion that most of their orders, end up on Spruebrothers. While I have no problem, with ordering from the parent company, Squadron runs some great sales. I find it bery frustrating.
Cbacon84
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California, United States
Member Since: October 10, 2012
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Posted: Saturday, August 18, 2018 - 10:10 PM UTC
ya more and more i end up going with Spruebrothers.
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Member Since: March 15, 2009
entire network: 3,670 Posts
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Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2018 - 04:47 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I'm of the opinion that most of their orders, end up on Spruebrothers. While I have no problem, with ordering from the parent company, Squadron runs some great sales. I find it bery frustrating.



Parent company? I always thought Squadron was Squadron, Sprue Brothers was Sprue Brothers (formerly Douglas models, then Great Models). Did I miss something here? Having dealt with Squadron as a distributor when I worked in a LHS, I have found them to be limited in stocks of certain items, and many of thier items are constantly on backorder. On the other hand, they seem to have large stocks of other items. I think this is a sign of the times where certain distributors find it a struggle to stay in "niche" markets with specific items. Sprue Brothers manages to do it pretty well, but occasionally I find even they don't carry every item or kit. Not even Stevens International carries every manufacturer. The other thing to realize is kit manufacturers don't continually produce kits, and kits go in and out of production all the time, making it difficult for distributors to "keep up". The demise of Revell-Monogram is a great example of this-- with the availability of many of thier kits going by the wayside so to speak-- if you haven't noticed, the availability of the new 1/72 PT 109 kits, the 1/32 P51, and many of thier other kits has been severely curtailed lately. Hopefully this will be improving after the new owner gets into business. Squadron is an old company, starting in Chicago in the early 60s. For a long time they and Polks Hobbies in NY were the biggest model distributors in the world. Those days are long past though, and the decline of the hobby has resulted in difficult times for many of theses distributors. The stockage levels are often an indicator of "life" but Squadron has held its own for many years.
VR, Russ
mylobass
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United States
Member Since: June 30, 2018
entire network: 15 Posts
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Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2018 - 05:14 AM UTC
Yikes! I always see these kinds of threads right after placing a hefty order with a dealer. I got tired of Hobbylinc taking over a week to just gather my order up to finally ship and thought I'd give Squadron a go. In the 80s and 90's they were the only place I bought from. Sprue Brothers never seems to offer the kits I want. MegaHobby is always a few dollars more than everyone else and HobbyModels is too.
Kevlar06
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Washington, United States
Member Since: March 15, 2009
entire network: 3,670 Posts
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Posted: Sunday, August 19, 2018 - 01:34 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Yikes! I always see these kinds of threads right after placing a hefty order with a dealer. I got tired of Hobbylinc taking over a week to just gather my order up to finally ship and thought I'd give Squadron a go. In the 80s and 90's they were the only place I bought from. Sprue Brothers never seems to offer the kits I want. MegaHobby is always a few dollars more than everyone else and HobbyModels is too.



Ugh... Hobbylinc-- I have a horror story for them (not Hobbylinc Japan-- the other one in Georgia). They really did my daughter and I dirt when she ore-ordered the new Revell ME262B a couple of hpyears ago. She'd ordered it pre-ordered and pre-paid for a gift for me. Kit came and went, and came and went again on thier website, but the "pre-order" never showed. I finally sent them an email, and they said "all pre-orders have been shipped, it's now a standard order at increased price, but we are out of stock and you'll be put on a wait list (the price went up $5 plus commensurate shipping). I had my daughter cancel her order (it was already charged) and her money refunded. She got the same model from Sprue Brothers for the Hobbylinc "pre-order" price, and it was in my hands three days later. Sprue Brothers is now my go-too on line store, but Squadron has been pretty good too.
VR, Russ
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