Squadron circling the drain?

Have had some fantastic bargains and uniformly superb customer service from them over the years.

That having been said, for the past several years I have largely been unable to put together an order for them since 95% of what I look for is either out of stock...'in stock soon'...or the infuriating 'in stock: available to special order.' [Seriously??? It's a binary choice...a thing is either in stock, or it isn't.]

Sadly, these days, it almost always isn't.

Hmmmm;

    I wouldn't say they are circling the drain . It just seems they have fallen off on a tangent .To Where? Who Knows? Last I ordered from them, was over two years ago . I now use the " Bay " T.B.

Squadrons 1/35 armor seelction looks to have lots or Trumpeter/Hobbyboss stuff when I looked at their last sale earlier in the week. 

I have no real complaints of their service myself. I dont do much online ordering, just more bargain sale shopping on occasion. A few months back I picked up a 1/35 Hobbyboss LVTP-7 for an excellent clearance price.

I clicked on their email advertising a Father's Day sale. I just noticed they do not carry Dragon armor (didn't check other genres). That is odd because Dragon has literally the largest selection of armor models than any other model company in 1/35th scale.

Though I also have some discontent over the seemingly worsening lack of stock issue at Squadron, they have been good to me. One of the things I've liked about them is they don't mess around getting stuff shipped. Sometimes same day, never later than next day if ordered late in the day.

That said, I'm getting cheaper in my older age, and I'm more willing to wait a few more days for a better price elsewhere. Amazon really has me spoiled with their fast shipping.

I haven't ordered from Squadron recently, but I'm not ready to give up on them.

Hasn't Squadron always been a major distributor for hobby shops? Could the decline of hobby shops explain the decline of Squadron?

Scalehobbyist for me, USA Airbrush takes excellent care of my airbrush and parts needs. Haven't tried Sprue Bros yet, but will give them a try.

I really like Victory in Fla. for decals, masks, etc. Very good service and communications.

Patrick

Ditto with what everyone else has said about Squadron.  They were at the top of the game when it was family owned, but now, well, I cannot see how they re going to make it with so much competition that seems to be better.  

I've been treated really well by Scalehobbyist. 

Glad to know it’s not me.  Sprues Bros has been my go to as they always seem to have what I need and their service is excellent

I agree with others, it's too bad about Squadron.  I have had excellent experiences with Scalehobbyist and Sprue, a so-so one with Kitlinx.  Someone mentioned starting their searches with Google.  I usually start mine using Scalemates, then proceed to DuckDuckGo if needed.  (DuckDuckGo won't sell your info.)

Tojo72

Try Scalehobbyist also,good prices and service.

 

Haven't used them for years. I started with them but as the "not in stock" sign become more and more common, I switched to SprueBrothers, Hobbylink and Free Time Hobbies. 

Too bad about Squadron. I've stopped using them as well; too many sales that aren't really, lack of in-stock, and the very frustrating website. My experiences with Sprue Brothers and Scalehobbyist have been great, and I've ordered from Lucky Model with good service and delivery time.

Their monthly flyer decreased in saize this month, physical size that it. It's normally magazine sized, on par with my sports illustrated or VFW magazine.

Yesterday, my wife handed me the latest one and said, "Look, a mini squadron."

The early summer 2019 flyer is about half the size of a normal monthly magazine, it does seem thicker though.

I gave up on the site some years ago. Their search feature is not very good. "No results found" for a lot of stuff that's actually there (if not in stock, lol).

I find the Amazon search so successful that I usually start there, and then go to the actual sellers store.

Haven't used them since I as a kid. When I got back into this hobby last year I was going to use them but I read here or somewhere else that Squadron wasn't what it once was so I haven't used them. I use Hobbylinc.com most of the time and don't have any complaints with them. Good service, nice people, and most of my shipments are here within a week. I consider that good since I only use the postal shipping option.