Minairons' status update

Some of you having recently visited Minairons miniatures website may have eventually noticed this was shut down for a period of time --one or two weeks, usually--, allegedly due to family health reasons. Such closure has happened two or three times in the last two months, and I must say it to be expectable for several months else, while Minairons miniatures still goes under my management.

The reason behind these intermittent closures is my wife's health; she's affected by a serious disease requiring both oncological and physiotherapeutic treatment, so that her full rehabilitation is probably going to take a long time. Therefore, the fraction of my time currently available for Minairons business has decreased significantly --enough for making me decide to close the website from time to time, if eventually overwhelmed by the amount of orders, in order to keep taking care of her as well as household stuff as a priority.

The current situation also affects our new releases schedule, as still shown in our blog's pipeline page. I'm not going to release any new item for a while, maybe one or two months; so everything in pipeline stands there in some kind of standby, even those items potentially ready for an immediate launching. Hopefully things may start to run better soon, as while as my wife's health starts improving and I become able to retake halted projects and serve customers as they deserve.

On the other hand, I recently started a conversation with someone interested in taking over the management of Minairons miniatures, now that I am actually retired --I hope to bring great news about Minairons survival soon!

More sets of Naval Flags

This week I've just released another batch of 18^th and 19^th centuries naval flags - this time, both the US and CS late war ensigns, as well as a curious pirate flag which, unlike most others, is not black or red, but white instead - this apparently odd choice probably due to this particular pirate being French while, as some maybe already know, French Navy ensigns of that time being plain white.

They're all already available at Minairons' website - I cannot guarantee for how long is it going to remain open though, before I proceed to temporarily close it again, due to ongoing family health issues.

New 1:144 Bristol Bulldog

We have a new Interwar and Spanish Civil War fighting aircraft, the Bristol Bulldog. A small number of them was acquired by the Spanish Republic from Estonia, being mainly used in the Basque Country.

This new fighter is already available at Minairons' website --which BTW is open again for business, unless an unexpected turn happens with the family health current issues.

New sets of Naval Flags

I'm happy to announce the release of a new batch of 18^th and 19^th centuries naval flags - today, those of the Russian Vanguard Fleet between 1700 and 1865, as well as a couple of sets related to the American Civil War, depicting the early war flags of both sides, from 1861 to 1863.

They're all already available at Minairons' website - which BTW is to remain open for one or two weeks, before having to shut it down again due to ongoing family health issues.

WSS Rubí's Infantry Regiment flags

I'm pleased to share a further addition to our War of Spanish Succession flag ranges at 1:100, 1:72 and 1:56 scales altogether. These new sets display the flags of the Maruis of Rubí Infantry Regiment, raised in 1713 by himself as Charles Habsburg's viceroy of Majorca, with the purpose to help defend the island face a foreseeable Two Crowns' invasion of the island - which actually happened in 1715. Along with the flags, I've also released a small PDF guide on the subject for free download, as usual.

Plastic Soldier Co. stuff sale

As some of you perhaps already know, I have recently retired from active work. Under such circumstances, I've thought it wiser to gradually cease retailing some third party products - with the aim to keep selling only Minairons' own stuff in the long run.

This way, I've just started a series of clearance sales of such kind of third party products still in stock. This first sale comprises a small lot of Plastic Soldier Company's 15mm figure boxes - some of which is out of stock in PSC's own webshop.

Quite obviously, such sale is going to last just until end of stocks.

Minairons' website, temporarily closed

Minairons' online shop is temporarily closed until August 21, due to logistical reasons: most of our service or product providers have started Summer holidays, basically. But also I wanted a little time to rest and start figuring out my future after having retired.

Those few orders still in course will be processed normally, and users will be acknowledged of eventual status updates as usual. Also, I'll be still there to assist eventual questions or requirements at info [at] minairons [dot] cat; however, until the date above no new orders can be placed.

Citroën saloon, now in 1:100 scale

The 1:100^th scale version of Citroën C14 saloon car is already here. Unlike its larger 1:72^nd scale sister, this one comes as a single piece, so requiring no assembly at all.

This new civilian vehicle has a few variants depending on spare tyres location and presence of fog lights, supplied at random.

Foreign Legion is here!

Minairons' 20mm Legionaries are already here! We're just expecting the box art to be completed. The job is in hands of Mar H. Pongiluppi, who has been behind our figure sets box art all these years. Despite quite busier now than before, because she's become director of an Art School, she gladly volunteered to design our Foreign Legion graphic art. I beg you a little patience until this final step is completed!

Meanwhile, here you have a sneak peek on what do our legionaries look like, once cast!

New 1:144 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I

'Yes I'm retired, I promise!'

Minairons' 1:144 aircraft range has just grown again with the addition of the iconic Supermarine Spitfire fighter, which is born thanks to the co-operation with Plane Printer designer via Patreon. It retails in box as a single piece DLP 3D-printed miniature, so requiring no assembly at all. Box reverse includes a short painting guideline for the Battle of Britain, North Africa, Malta and Europe.

The decals used on this painted sample have been taken from our Grumman FF-1/GE-23 set.

New 1:72 Citroën C14 saloon car

'But, weren't you already retired?'

I'm happy to share the latest addition to our 1:72^nd scale Interwar range: a Citroën C14 saloon car, which can be seen above painted in the Barcelona taxi cab colourful livery.

This new model is 3D printed in two parts, hull and cabin roof - so a little assembly is still required. The roof part is printed using a translucent resin, so as to allow eventual users the option to paint interiors while leaving transparent the window surfaces.

Worth to mention that this new model comes in four slightly different variants - depending on spare tyre location and eventual presence of foglamps - The precise variant is supplied randomly.

Retiring, finally

Well, retirement is a river everyone must cross, one day or another - and such day has arrived for me. I am (sad? pleased?) to announce that I'm going to retire from active work next weekend, after reaching 64 years old.

Then, an unavoidable question arises now for sure: what is going to happen to Minairons miniatures, once I am retired? Believe me that I've been asking to myself this very same question for several months now - and I'be been plainly unable to extract an ultimate answer yet.

Ideally, I'd love to see Minairons miniatures perduring in other hands, so I'm stating now my willingness to discuss the matter with any reliable third pary out there, with no preconditions. On the other side, I'm aware to have been cultivating a number of niche settings that not many other brands would happily assume as own. So I well-foundedly presume it as likely to receive few, if any, offers for our existing ranges.

Whatever the case, what I can assure you is that, in the short term, no one will notice the difference. As while as Minairons miniatures keeps staying in my retired man's hands, I'll be running it normally still for as long as necessary. Take it for granted, at least, for all what remains of 2024, with a strong chance for everything to stay the same well into 2025 - unless a convenient agreement with a third party is met first.

Not only this can be granted, but also the continuation of all projects scheduled for a next release (such as the SCW Foreign Legion, for instance), as well as those many already on the workbench.

Besides, both our minairons.eu main site and the affiliated minairons-news blog will be maintained and running normally too - and in fact I strongly recommend to all our friends to bookmark the forementioned blog, where I'll regularly keep posting forecasts, releases and news as usual.

So, despite my own imminent retirement, Minairons miniatures future is assured at a medium term. Stay tuned to minairons-news blog for upcoming, exciting news!

New 1:100 scale towing van

I'm happy to share the latest addition to our 1:100^th scale Interwar range: a Ford AA towing van, which can be also useful for SCW or even WWII settings - may it serve as a pressed into service civilian crane, or simply as a scenery piece.

It's already available at our website, as usual.

Foreign Legion, about to launch!

We've just put under pre-order status our next upcoming SCW 20mm miniatures set --the Spanish Foreign Legion, whose greens are already in foundry while their box art is being created. Unless something really bad happens before, we expect to have them ready and available by the end of June --or maybe early July.

This new boxed set will contain a total of 15 white metal figures: nine riflemen, two LMG crews sporting MG-13 Dreyse machine guns, and two NCOs armed with SMG.

Pre-order your legionaries set while the figure moulds are worked out! They can already be found at our website.

New Age of Sail naval flags

Here you have three fresh additions to our range of age of Sail naval flags, consisting from left to right of: the Dutch East India Company flags from 1630 to 1794 - showing a red upper stripe instead of orange as initially, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth war flags between 1568 and 1643 (when their fleet was destroyed by a Danish surprise attack, and never rebuit) and, last but not least, the Sultanate of Morocco war flags from 1666 until 1912 (when the French occupation put the Moroccan navy to an end).

Funnily enough, the white symbol centered in the Moroccan ensign was systematically misinterpreted by European travelers and port authorities, who always interpreted it to be... a taylor's pair of scissors! It wasn't until 1781 that a clever piedmontese official noted the flag represented two crossed white sabres on a red background. The man also failed to correctly interpret it as the famous zulfiqar two-bladed sword of Ali, but he at least got closer!

1:100 Barbastro tank released

We've just released the 1:100^th version of the Barbastro tank, a handcrafted behemoth locally built in the Aragonese town where the thing borrows the name from, whose 1:72^nd scale equivalent is also available from a long since. Unlike its larger sister, this 1:100^th Barbastro is DLP 3D-printed in just two parts (main hull and a rotating turret), and it's complemented by two hard plastic machine guns.

Quite large for its poor armament and armour, it was built in very small numbers: only one prototype for sure, and up to three others later, apparently from a slightly improved design. It's uncertain whether any of them saw any fighting at all.

WSS Valois' Tercio flags

I'm pleased to share a further addition to our War of Spanish Succession flag ranges at 1:100, 1:72 and 1:56 scales altogether. These new sets display the flags of the Valois' Tercio, another Two Crowns' Spanish unit. Along with the flags, I've also released a small PDF guide on the subject for free download, as usual.

Hope you like them!

Grumman F6F 'Hellcat'

At an admittedly slower pace than their SCW cousins, our collection of 1:144^th scale WWII fighters keeps growing nevertheless - now with the Grumman F6F 'Hellcat', a real must for Pacific War gaming.

As usual, this new plane is sold in a box, on which reverse is a brief painting and marking guide. Look for it at minairons.eu.

Hope you like it!

XIV International Brigade flags

I'm happy to share the latest addition to our ranges of Spanish Civil War flags in 1:100^th, 1:72^nd and 1:56^th scales altogether - the flags of several units belonging to the XIV International Brigade, otherwise known as "La Marseillaise" Brigade due to most of their members being French language native speakers.

Worth to mention that I've recently published too a further 1:56^th scale set - this one devoted to Anarchist units. Taking advantage of such circumstance, I've also redesigned the 1:100^th and 1:72^nd scales versions of such set, so as to make all them to share design.

Hope you like them!

A further Foreign Legion preview

A few months ago I shared with you our first steps on a projected new 20mm figure set for Spanish Civil War - the Spanish Foreign Legion, a first batch of which was already shown in this installment. Their sculpting is complete now with a second batch making up for a full 15-figure set in total. Here you have a preview on these new greens:

While the first batch consisted entirely of fusiliers and a couple of NCOs, this second batch comprises two MG-13 Dreyse LMGs along with their crews and a few fusiliers else, a couple of which are prone.

Worth to be pointed out that, after some thought, in the end we decided to spare the tripod mounted MMG and gunner for a later set; thus replacing these with another kneeling figure firing a bipod mounted LMG instead - as you can see below.

This new 15-figure set is scheduled for release at some point between mid April and early May. However, I'm pondering whether to put them on sale before, in a pre-order regime with a bonus discount reward for early supporters - so helping me finance skyrocketing production costs. If so, would you support such pre-sale?

IMAM Romeo Ro.37bis biplane

The Italian made IMAM Romeo Ro.37bis warbird is a new addition to our Spanish Civil War 1:144 scale aircraft collection. Again, our Ro.37bis model is born thanks to the co-operation with Plane Printer designer via Patreon; it is a single piece DLP 3D-printed miniature, so requiring no assembly at all.

WSS Queen's Own IR flags

I'm happy to share our latest product in the War of Spanish Succession flags ranges, in all scales. This consists of a paper sheet with the King's and Regiment's Colours belonging to the La Reina ("=Queen's Own") Infantry Regiment of Charles Habsburg's Army - released simultaneously in 1:100, 1:72 and 1:56 scales. Also a fourth 1:144 scale sheet contains the Colours of three different Austrophile regiments (Catalan Guards, Ahumada and Queen's Own itself).

Alongside with the flag sheets above, a brief PDF painting guide on the subject has been released too - as customary. Hope you like it all!

1:100 Vickers 105/22 howitzer

Our first release of 2024 consists of a 1:100^th scale Vickers 105/22 howitzer. This was a Spanish Army standard field gun manufactured in Reinosa under license, using British 18 and 25 pounder carriages. As with most of Spanish ordnance, Vickers guns were divided among both sides at the outbreak of SCW, being used on all fronts.

Unlike its 1:72^nd scale counterpart, which is white metal cast in several parts to be assembled, this new 15mm cannon is DLP 3D-printed as a single piece, so requiring no assembly at all.

It can be already orderd from our website.