15mm Battlefront Churchill Croc update

After my post on Sunday a number of people commented and told me to mail BF about the poor quality of the casting on the fuel trailers.

I emailed Battlefront Customer Services on Sunday night, got a reply on Monday saying replacements had been posted. I came home today to find a surprisingly large parcel waiting, which contained...

Two new complete packs!

I didn't expect to get two whole new packs, thinking I would just get replacements parts.

So kudos again to BF Customer Services - great communications and very fast delivery. Thanks guys!

Now, what the hell do I do with two extra Churchills?

Birthday Pressies, Cakes and Battlefront Customer Service...

A busy couple of weeks for me which has seen me make not very much progress on these damn 40mm Bofors guns. Still, today I managed to get the bases mostly done. Hopefully tomorrow the weather here will be good enough for a spray of matt coat for the guns.

Last weekend was my birthday, which I spent with A and her family at her niece's christening. Which was a lovely day and the wee one was beautiful in her gown and very well behaved. As A is also her Godmother, I was on photo taking duty! A got me some lovely gifts, which included a box of 25-pdrs from Battlefront (exactly what I had asked for!). This will give me a full Battery of 8 guns.

Image from the www.flamesofwar.com website - not my picture!

And this is where Battlefront customer services comes in again!

You'll see the box says "Contains a complete 4 gun battery". The spotlight section of the website also says:

4 Guns and Limbers
2 Command teams
1 Observer team
1 Staff team
4 Gun team crews (20 miniatures)
3 Small bases
1 Single piece resin OP Carrier with crew
4 Different resin scenic bases
1 Scenic Staff Team Base

I've added my own emphasis.

Well it turns out that the box has been changed since the spotlight article was done - which is really the only thing on the website that contains any detailed info on what is in the box. I assume that the things that were missing were the things most people would ignore - the Limbers.  

So, being a stubborn sod I emailed Battlefront customer services to complain - replacing missing limbers would cost me money. It would actually double the cost of the transport for the unit, as instead of getting only two packs of BR277 Quad Tractor I would have to get four of BR276 Quad Tractor and Limber (x1) as I could see no where else that sold the Limbers by themselves. 

Probably Battlefronts intention when they changed the box!

I complained on the basis that the webstore still says the Limbers are included and that the only info on the website about this product was inaccurate. Thankfully the chap that responded was very understanding (after an initial misunderstanding about what the Limber actually was - fixed by sending him the links to Battlefronts own products). The emails were sent on Monday, by Thursday I had 4 brand new limbers to go with my new artillery troop!

The Scenic bases are very nice, but I'm not very sure about using them as the other Troop doesn't have them. Also, I have an issue with the bases looking like the guns are 'dug in' - which is a separate rules thing. At this stage I may sell them on (or trade them, if anyone has anything interesting to offer in exchange). The command base I'm not sure I will use, but the models for it may come in useful - especially the dispatch rider model. However, the quest for a WW2 British dispatch rider on motorcycle continues.  

Final picture for the blog (as it's been a wall of text). The cake stall I was helping to run last Saturday that raised nearly £200 for the church A's family attend.

Battlefront Customer Service (part 2)

A few weeks ago I posted a blog about some issues I had with one of the packs of Sherman I's I bought at Wappinshaw. The pack contained 2 left hand side track units.

I sent an email to Battlefront Customer Services, and two days later received a replacement part. Brilliant I though. The part needed some trimming to fit, but I got that sorted, glued the tracks on and...

Spot the difference - the replacement (right hand side) track unit is bulkier and has a different tread pattern.

This picture shows the different tread pattern for the replacement (top) and the slightly different lengths.

So I replied to the email i had got from BF, telling the story and sent them these pictures. . It was thought that the difference in track unit were due to the top one being for an American M4.  I got an apology and again a day or so later received another replacement.

Great, thinks I. The part is the same tread pattern and has the correct fitting for the tank... then I realise its a left hand side tread. D'oh!

At this point, I'm scared that BF customer service thinks I am trying to build Shermans from replacement parts. I dropped the chap I had been dealing with another email explaining that yes, it was the correct part but that it was for the wrong side.  I also offered to return the extra left hand track units I now had!

Today, a package arrived with a correct right hand side track unit. The pack also contained a whole replacement Sherman I pack. 

So here's a wee pic of the whole collection. 1 correct and 1 incorrect right hand track unit, 3 correct left hand track units and one complete Sherman I (with plastic track units). 

All in all though, BF customer service has been top notch and has shown me that the models may seem to be slightly more expensive than some of the producers out there, but their standard of service is really top notch. A big thank you to Mikolaj at Battlefront for all his help sorting this out.
 

Battlefront Customer Services details for replacement parts can be found here.