Haya Chieftain in 1/16..

[43rdRecceReg]

Has anybody noticed this upcoming release on Andrew Haya's website ?:

Chieftain in 1/16 scale- BB firing

Haya Chieftain.jpg (73.14 KiB) Viewed 2174 times

https://www.hayaltd.co.uk/CHIEFTAIN_rad ... 39069.aspx
It's near enough £650, and can be pre-ordered before its release in June this year.
His M3 Lee offering seemed quite a decent, if overpriced kit; but this Chieftain is asking a lot for (I think) little in return. Still..it is a BB British tank ..no not a stammer, but it's offered in BB format.

[Raminator]

Looks like a resin upper on Challenger running gear, and not particularly thick resin at that; the rear panel has snapped on the left-hand side in the last picture! Somewhat of a captive market with British armour, you don't have many alternatives unless you scratchbuild your own like Rob did. Hard to see much detail in the crappy photos, but it looks like a decent enough job in terms of accuracy and detail. VAT makes the price sting a bit, though.

[hawkeye3guns]

Looks very nice and its British. But at that price will have to give it a miss.

[AlwynTurner]

I thought the running gear looked a bit suspect and looking at it, it does look as though they've used the challenger as a base. The Chieftain is going to be my next major project and I plan to design/build/print some proper suspension and scratch build the chassis. I certainly don't have the boodle to splash on this product!

Alwyn

[tomhugill]

If you look at the other pictures it's on a 3d printed hull without running gear yet. I'm thinking this might indicate other running gear will be used. The challenger base might just be a mock up to show the top.

[43rdRecceReg]

If you look at the other pictures it's on a 3d printed hull without running gear yet. I'm thinking this might indicate other running gear will be used. The challenger base might just be a mock up to show the top.

Could well be right, there, Tom. His M3 Lee-Grant has had a good bit of thought and effort put into it, although it needs a little customising magic to remove the marginal toylike appearance..
You have to applaud his breaking the usual mould ( ) when it comes to tank availability in retail kit format, ...or as RTR for £150 more. The Major players are not touching the Lee, nor the Chieftain, and I suspect it was only though demand on forums such as this, that the Challenger ever emerged from the mould.

Haya M3 Lee-Grant in RTR format

I had to smile when writing this, because every time I try to write 'Haya', the predictive texter corrects it to 'HaHa'.. ..Some wicked gremlin in there somewhere
Andrew wants almost Tamiya prices for the Chieftain, and the Lee, and maybe for his entrepreneurial approach, he probably deserves it. However, I shall wait for Alwyn to produce one of his own bespoke kits

[tomhugill]

What sticks in my throat is when the Lee was released the upper was £120 and the rye was £220 ish. Sensible prices. Now he's almost trebled the price. It's a free country but shite like that doesn't smack of good business.

[43rdRecceReg]

What sticks in my throat is when the Lee was released the upper was £120 and the rye was £220 ish. Sensible prices. Now he's almost trebled the price. It's a free country but shite like that doesn't smack of good business.

Yes, the price hike astonished me too. Perhaps the predictive text 'amendment', shall we say, wasn't too far from the truth.. Still, if there were competition, maybe prices could be driven down. Perhaps we could start a crowdfunded consortium here to 3-D print these things..

[AlwynTurner]

To a certain extent I can visualise (not sympathise with) why their pricing structure is the way it is. There is all the development cost, prototype preparation and testing, rework, and then the production cost at normal retail labour rates, presumably as an RTR they will be assembling, testing and painting the tank and adding decals etc, it all adds up. The costs then have to be recovered over the production run which initially will be limited so the costs per unit will inevitably be high. This is why we see so few 'specialist' British tanks like the Valentine, Churchill, Comet, Cromwell, Centurion, and Chieftain being produced and marketed. This is also the reason why Chris Ludwigs kit prices are quite significant, but given the very high quality of his kits, worthwhile if you can afford them.

Alwyn

[RobW]

The Lee is a nicely done piece of work, good quality casting and even the "kit" comes fully assembled. I don't think I even had to fill (m)any holes other than some fine detail on the hinges. The only real quibble is the resin gun in the turret: it's very fragile. I wonder if the price hike is due to lower sales or a higher failure rate than expected?