Heavy Gear Blitz: War for Terra Nova Update

Der finale Inhalt der kommenden Heavy Gear Blitz-Starterbox ist online und es gab einige Veränderungen.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we’ve be busy on our side going over mold quotes and crunching the numbers. When planing the Kickstarter in the summer of 2014 we did a lot of research, talked to a lot of people and got estimated quotes and costing on every aspect of plastic injection mold making and production. We gave ourselves a good 15% safety margin on all the quotes and even on the $CAD to $USD exchange rate, as most suppliers are paid in US dollars. The Canadian dollar has had a very rocky ride this last year and lost more that 30% of its value. Went we looked at the final mold manufacturing quotes we received in early January, based on the final parts sprues, we needed to face reality.

We had planned on doing 6 molds originally with 4 models in each mold. But the final quotes came in a bit higher than expected and coupled with the lower Canadian dollar, we need to play it safe and have decided to just make 5 molds instead. We have managed to fit all but two of the originally announced models into the 5 molds. We agonized over which 2 models we would cut and final decided on the cutting Tiger and Sidewinder, as they fill a similar roll to the Hunter and Jager in the game.On the positive side we have added 1 extra Acco Mount to the Core Starter Set and more options for the Caprice Mounts and lots of extra weapons for all the models, read all details below.

(Hervorhebung durch Brückenkopf Online)

We apologize and hope everyone with understand our decision.

The plastic injection molds are now in production, manufacturing contract has been signed and money wire transferred. We have contracted HXL Mold in Hong Kong to make the 5 molds using high grade German steel, which are guaranteed for over 200,000 plastic pop cycles. The molds will be finished by the end of February and we’ll be receiving ten sets of test pops in grey Styrene plastic from each mold air expressed to us at the start of March to check and approve. If there is anything we spot that needs to be fix they will make the fixes in the first 2 weeks of March and then the molds will be shipped by boat to the USA which takes about 1 month. Each mold will weight about 300 Kg (660 lbs) and this is the most cost effective way of shipping them. Then they will be forwarded by truck to the plastic injection company we are using in Indiana to pop all the grey styrene plastic sprues, which should start in late April. We’ll then be receiving plastic shipments in May and start shipping out Backer Reward packages.

The image below shows all the updated contents of Core Starter Set, click on the image for a link to a larger version. Continue down the page to see images of the final sprues with all the parts included in each of the 5 molds.

Image below is of the model sprues along with ruler in centimeters that will be included in the first of five molds we are having made. Mold 1 will include the Hunter, Jaguar, Black Mamba, and Jager and it will be popped 4 times to make the sprues needed for each Core Starter Set. We added the grenade parts that were promised during the Kickstarter to each of these four sprues plus extra weapons for the different models. Also the command heads and sat uplink parts were added to the Jaguar and Black Mamba sprues.

Image below is of the model sprues along with ruler in centimeters that will be included in the second of five molds we are having made. Mold 2 will include the Grizzly, Cheetah, Iguana, and Spitting Cobra and it will be popped 2 times to make the sprues needed for each Core Starter Set. We also added some slightly smaller grenades to the Cheetah and Iguana sprues along with extra weapons on all the sprues. Plus the promised sat uplink parts for the Grizzly and Spitting Cobra.

Image below is of the model sprues along with ruler in centimeters that will be included in the third of five molds we are having made. Mold 3 will include the F6-16, F2-19 (with Flail B), MHT-95, and F2-21 (Flail A) and it will be popped 2 times to make the sprues needed for each Core Starter Set. We also added the command upgrade parts to the F6-16 sprue and extra weapons and Jumpjets to the F2-19 and F2-21 sprues. To get as much as we can into the 5 molds we have ask the company making them to break up our original 3 Flails sprue into two parts (A and B) and add them with break-off points to the F2-19 and F2-21 sprues, we just added them fast using photoshop to show what it should look like.

Image below is of the model sprues along with ruler in centimeters that will be included in the forth of five molds we are having made. Mold 3 will include the Ammon A, Acco, Mounts B, and Mounts A and it will be popped 5 times to make the sprues needed for each updated Core Starter Set. So you will get 1 more of the small Acco mounts than originally promised during the Kickstarter. And can make 5 of the regular Caprice Mounts of any of the following five models (Meggido, Aphek, Bashan, Kadesh, and/or Ammon). So you could have 5 Ammons if you want, plus we added extra weapons on the Ammon A and Mounts A sprues.

Image below is of the model sprues along with ruler in centimeters that will be included in the fifth of five molds we are having made. Mold 5 will include the Ferret (with 3 Drones), F2-25, Kodiak, and King Cobra and it will be popped 1 time to make the sprues needed for each Core Starter Set. We also added some heavy grenades to the Kodiak and King Cobra sprues along with extra weapons on all the sprues. To get as much as we can into the 5 molds we have ask the company making them add the 3 Drones sprue to the Ferret sprue with break-off points, we just it fast using photoshop to show what it should look like. Everyone will only be getting one set of the 3 Drones in the Core Starter Set instead of the originally promised two sets, as this mold is only being popped once per Core Starter Set, we apologize for this necessary change.

Right now some Backers have Tiger and Sidewinder plastic models selected as Add-ons in the Pledge Manager, which we will not be able to ship. We have unlocked all the Backer orders on the Pledge Manager and would like everyone to login, using the link below (if you forgot your password there is recoverlink on the login page). Once your logged in please check your Add-ons and if you have any platic Tigers or Sidewinders selected please zero them out and use your extra available funding pledge to select some other available Add-ons.

https://www.fundafull.com/login

We have updated the Pledge Manager, adding 3D Models with Parts Sprues and updated various images. Plus we have added a few new options to the Add-ons as well, a Rock Terrain color sheet for $2 CAD each and the Chibi Kodiak that was our 2015 DP9 Online Store Xmas gift for $30 CAD each. Plus, the option for Backers who still want Tigers and Sidewinders to get our older Pewter miniature two pack versions instead, at a special price of $20 CAD each. The normal price of these pewter miniature two packs is $17.99 USD (about $26 CAD) on the DP9 Online Store.

We apologize for these necessary changes to the War for Terra Nova – Core Starter Set and thank you all for your amazing support.

Quelle: Heavy Gear Blitz -War for Terra Nova- Miniatures Starter Set