Concerning Reviresco...

**The Cowman** · 12-08-2010 00:24

Gents (and Ladies... wherever you are hiding!),

In a few of my recent hobby posts I have mentioned my frustration with the quality of the product I received in my last order from Reviresco. I have also obviously also poked a little fun at the company since then.

After corresponding with the owner, Mr John McEwan, today via email, I would like to retract a statement I made in one of my posts... that statement being that I "would probably not order from the company again". In all fairness to Mr. McEwan and Reviresco, at the time I wrote that I had not yet pursued any attempt to resolve my dissatisfaction with my order. I would like to say now that I feal really "jumped the gun" in drawing such a firm line in the sand before diplomacy was attempted.

Mr McEwan was extremely apologetic for the problems with my order, and has offered without hesitation to replace any kit with which I am dissatisfied, or refund my money. He has personally guaranteed satisfaction in his product. I have no doubt that he will make good on his statement.

The reality is that we Wings of War "fanatics" really have only two sources for 1/144th scale aircraft models. Mr. McEwan is a simple American businessman trying to make a buck in our industry without being wiped out by the larger companies and manufacturers... I applaud him for that, and believe that we would be unwise to take our business away from him when he has shown me that Customer Service is a high priority for him.

In short, please don't let my first time experience with the Reviresco kits, and my jokes about excessive flash deter you from purchasing a few kits and giving it a go. The kits are reasonably priced and a bit fun to assemble. I am in fact painting two of the models now and believe that they are going to turn out rather spiffy!

I now step down from my soapbox and return you to your regularly scheduled programming... thank you for listening!

**Guntruck** · 12-08-2010 01:29

My turn on the soapbox then.

Fair shout Ken and good for John McEwen for remedying your problems, but the fact remains that John isn't doing himself any favours sending out kits with missing, miscast or broken pieces, or kits with enough flash to cast a second aircraft from them.

I applaud John's entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that he is only one of a handfull of people willing to produce 1/144 WW1 aircraft, and that he is willing to make good any faults in models that have been sent out, but that said sending out faulty product is not likely to encourage repeat business which is what keeps small companies going.

But, in fairness, I'll order a few more Reviresco models and see how they turn out (oh look, I've found an excuse to get some more planes).

**The Cowman** · 12-08-2010 15:15

I did make Mr. McEwan aware of some of the "reviews" on the site... I am sure that if he has been able to find time to read a few posts here, it has been a bit of a "wake up call". I suspect that the quality of his kits will improve if at all possible... He basically stated to me that 95% of his business is based on word of mouth...

**Polluxx66** · 12-08-2010 22:36

I recently received my first order from skytrex. I am going to jump on my soapbox and add my two cents into the pile.

I know it is kind of off topic from Reversico but I find a huge gap in their action 200 line for WW2 miniatures and the Red Eagle line of 1/144.

The Red Eagle models seem significantly higher quality than the action 200.

There was excessive flash on the WW2 models. Also cockpits were done very poorly in my opinion. It is nothing more than the cockpit outline slightly etched into the model. as well as any multipart aircraft I received none of the independant parts fit together well.

Significant amount of green stuff will be required to make the bodies of these aircraft look like a complete air plane and not just parts slotted into ill fitting holes.

I will order Red Eagle again but for Dawn of War Noble Miniatures, and Armarment in Miniature is where all of my orders will go from now on..

sorry for getting off the main subject of reversico.

**Belis4rius** · 12-09-2010 01:01

I saw the pics and in those instances could but agree with Cowman. However, I have had six kits from John in the past 18 months or so and they have all been fine, and no excessive flash. The Royal Mail also lost four during their strike and John very kindly renewed the order with no quibbles whatsoever. It is refreshing to get this kind of customer service these days

**The Cowman** · 12-09-2010 05:39

Originally Posted by Belis4rius

It is refreshing to get this kind of customer service these days

I truly have to agree with you there! I was impressed with John's attitude, and it is not something you see in retail of any kind any more. I would be curious to know if Skytrex would go to the same lengths to make a customer happy? Jeremy maybe you should post a few pics of those WW2 model kits and invite Skytrex to come check out your review of their product. It looks to me like they have some really nice kits out there, and there are a few members here who manage to make them look museum quality... but has anyone ever dealt with them regarding missing or mangled product?

**check6** · 12-09-2010 07:31

I ordered 2 CR.42s, 2 gladiators and a nieuport 28 from reviresco. They arrived in less than a week (2-5 days tops) and while their was some flash and a tiny bit of pitting, it did not bother me as it was very minor. I was very impressed with the kits, and the wing jigs made life loads easier. I think (based on my limited personal experience) that the uproar over the flash is slightly overblown, I do not find it to be such a big deal, and am able to deal with it relatively quickly.

**The Cowman** · 12-09-2010 07:46

Originally Posted by check6

I think (based on my limited personal experience) that the uproar over the flash is slightly overblown, I do not find it to be such a big deal, and am able to deal with it relatively quickly.

See that was my main concern, I did not want to hurt the company's sales over something that I dwelled on here more out of humor than anything else!

On a side note : I find it amusing that I do have a couple of nice cuts on my fingers now from building the models and the Mr. McEwan has the following disclaimer on his site:

"Please remember that our figures are hobby items and (although may be referred to as toys) ARE NOT TOYS and as such they aren't suitable for children.

Our products are generally made from a white metal alloy which may or may not contain lead. Therefore it is not advisable to chew/ swallow/ ingest our figures. Some of the terrain pieces are made from resin, please don't eat this either.

Although we pride ourselves on the quality of our castings, as is the nature of the hobby some may need a bit of assembling or trimming. If you cut yourself with a sharp blade whilst undertaking any form of modification to our figures then it isn't our fault."

I guess even we "Big Kids" should not be allowed to play with sharp objects sometimes!

**Nilliom** · 12-09-2010 16:23

I ordered from Reviresco for many planes and had 2 problems, one with an incomplete kit and another with an error on sending me a Fokker VII rather than Fokker VIII and both time I had no problem with Mr. McEwan when I contacted him. He sent me the missing Fokker VIII and a new kit for the incomplete one.

So I'm pleased with the service and sure hope that he will continue for a long time.

**check6** · 12-09-2010 16:44

Originally Posted by The Cowman

See that was my main concern, I did not want to hurt the company's sales over something that I dwelled on here more out of humor than anything else!

On a side note : I find it amusing that I do have a couple of nice cuts on my fingers now from building the models and the Mr. McEwan has the following disclaimer on his site:

"Please remember that our figures are hobby items and (although may be referred to as toys) ARE NOT TOYS and as such they aren't suitable for children.

Our products are generally made from a white metal alloy which may or may not contain lead. Therefore it is not advisable to chew/ swallow/ ingest our figures. Some of the terrain pieces are made from resin, please don't eat this either.

Although we pride ourselves on the quality of our castings, as is the nature of the hobby some may need a bit of assembling or trimming. If you cut yourself with a sharp blade whilst undertaking any form of modification to our figures then it isn't our fault."

I guess even we "Big Kids" should not be allowed to play with sharp objects sometimes!

the worst i got during my build, was when i stepped on some discarded brass rod I was using for struts (with the clipped bits flying off like rockets and then landing on the floor, waiting for this very moment). fortunately, I did not step with my full weight as I noticed a rather painful poking sensation in the nick of time.

that said I have had a number of encounters with the wrong end of the hobby knife. I usually just give myself a quick jab to get the adrenaline flowing when I get a bit to lax with where the pointy end goes. My finest hour, though, was slicing through a plastic model and deep into one of the finger's on my left hand. it did not hurt at all, but began bleeding profusely. I bandaged it and then went on to play the cello at the orchestra concert I had that night.

**Captain Knowitall** · 12-09-2010 22:59

Me thinks that we need something along the lines of a "Purple Heart" for all the "Modellers" out there.

In the Axis & Allies Forumini's some enterprising individuals (me and Commander Clint) came up with the "Purple Digit" award, and if you had "Injured" your self multiple times then you got Blood Clot Clusters...
(The purple Digit award was my idea. Commander Clint came up with the designs.)