Just found the offer Gunner posted up on line, I have of course ordered it  


www.atlaseditions.co.uk/collection/Great...British%20Buses.html

Hello the penny has just landed. Atlas Editions is part of the DeAgonstine company since 1901.

I've got lots of their tanks:



WWW.tankscollection.com.au

Sold in Newspaper shops or direct on-line which there were lots of complaints here in Australia about the delivery and customer service.

I wonder why they never seem to publish a full list of the models in the partwork at the outset - I would have thought that this would encourage more people to sign up if they knew what was coming.

I guess it could also have the opposite effect... some cars have been made so often, that nobody needs another copy - Jaguar E-type, Mini (including New Mini), Beetle (including New Beetle), Corvette (most types), Porsche 911 are probably the most obvious street cars. In other categories it could be the Thames Trader, Routemaster bus, VW Samba.


Because of the nature of the Atlas collections, where people can't pick and choose, one looks at what's in store, and if that list includes a whole bunch of models you don't really care for, then you won't subscribe.


On the other hand, like you say: if there are lots of highly wanted models promised, then it's a big plus.


The solution sounds simple, but I guess it's not, or it would have been adopted long ago: don't flog the dead horses! There is no written rule that every street car series must include a Mini, a Beetle, a Porsche 911 and a Jag E-type! Yes, we do know they're classic and that they belong to any line-up of classic cars, but we already have them!


The Atlas models are (mostly) very good, but let's be honest: their cars are not 'better than anything else you've ever seen', which would justify the inclusion of the 'dead horse brigade'.


Basically it's a matter of "glass half full" or "glass half empty": is it "I'll get a lot of models that I really want" or "I'll get a lot of models that I'm not interested in" - I guess Atlas see the glass as half empty

I just checked Scruffyhippo's link, including the 360 degree views of the RTW - this made it really clear, that my bus is different in many ways compared to the one offered in the UK - the tampos/decals are the most obivious, but also the base, box and - quite interestingly - the extras!: my model includes mirrors, turn indicators and possibly other details not found on the UK-release, but the castings themselves appear to be identical.


So what does this mean? Maybe that it's a case of clever recycling - Atlas using surplus stock from the UK-edition to include in the line-up for continental Europe, mirrors and decals being added recently.

I've seen that happen before, this IXO model I bought was later issued by Britbus for half the price and minus the mirrors and all other details

so that is how atlas sell them so cheap

Lledo also used this type of mail order and they sent two models per postage box and if you didn't want them you had to post them back within the 30 day period. The normal method of payment was automatic deduction from your nominated bank. That was easy enough but if you didn't really like what they sent then you were either out of pocket to degree or just keep those ugly ones.

With the DeAgostini (the parent company to Atlas) tanks issues, I picked up the first couple up through the local news agent when they were advertised on the TV, which ended up a complete disaster having to rely on this medium to get enough in for the demand. Even if you put your name down for them, I seemed to mis out, especially those bonus free issues that never came for me. So I cracked up and told the newspaper agent to stick them and also the delivery of the morning news paper we were having delivered. So most of what I have now were gained through evilbay DeAgostini also came out with a tractor series, plane issues and racing cars too that never seemed to last long through the news agents.

I know now that the tanks were sold in the UK long before they were offered to those interested collectors or buyers here in Australia could be also considered like off loading left overs.

Actually they are really good tanks and too scale including good tampo's for the price.



















These two were the first two I got in the series from the Newsagent. (shop)







A couple of Zee and Zylmex tanks made in Hong Kong designed for gowing boy toys with some realism included for their scale.



 





A couple of Corgi tanks for comparison and I think for value the Deagostini comes up trumps.

Great collection of tanks Gunner, very detailled and good value for money that is for sure

This is mainly for mr. Gunner, but others might be interested too: here's a polish seller offering tons of Atlas military models at (I think) very reasonable prices 


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LANDWASSERSCHLEPPER-1944-1-72-NEW-/261013888060?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item3cc5a3dc3c#ht_2647wt_1344 worldwide shipping offered with good discounts for multiple purchases. Please note, that these are not the standard Atlas issues, but polish versions issued by Amer.com - they're blister-packed, so no display cases, apart from that they're the same models.

Thanks for that Tee I went to the link and had a Captain Cook, then placed a couple Military vehicles in my Evilbay watch. Atlas (DeAgonstini) has the M16 MGMC half-track and looks like a dead ringer for the Altaya version. Be interesting to see if they are the same. Looks like I'll be doing some investigations their dear Watson.