pete sheridan (no login) from IP address 4.228.183.254
The sudden appearance of Ken Swenson's A13 Cruiser will no doubt drag me into a North African campaign I had hoped to avoid. I emailed Ken for his price list and discovered the man also produces a Grant and a Stuart Honey...along with M3 bogies that would go well with Steve Faxon's DV hull and Tim Perry's rubber block tracks to produce a desert Sherman...not to mention the Shogun's Crusaders. Where will it all end??
I sent cash to Ken, and it worked just fine; and that was from the UK. I have an e-shop for my goods, which will accept Paypal and credit cards, but several customers have expressed strong opposition to electronic fund transfers. Who was it said you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but never all of the people all of the time!! But I agree, electronic payments are so quick and easy (half a dozen mouse clicks, all of 18 seconds....) Maybe too easy!!
I've found it easiest (and safest) to send payment to Ken with international postal money orders. They're a bit pricer than some other methods of payment, but then Ken's shipping prices aren't that high and I feel they're more secure.
One thing that Ken mentioned to me is that he really doesn't want a ton of business. I asked him if he wouldn't consider putting out a periodic newsletter or something to tell his customers about new products. He told me frankly that he's not doing it for the money, and that word of mouth gives him more than enough business for something that he does as a hobby.
Therefore, no newsletters and he will only accept the methods of payments that he feels comfortable with.
Get your feet wet, Pete. The North African campaign was a very interesting period, as all the major combatants first went into the area with inadequate equipment and tactics, and learned by hard experience what worked and what didn't. The British and Americans learned many valuable but expensive lessons in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, but these early setbacks paved the way for the victories that were to come in Italy and the ETO. Note too that the African campaign was the setup for the Sicilian and Italian campaigns that followed, with much of the same equipment and color schemes finding their way up the Italian boot in 1943-44.
The really neat thing about Africa is the great variety of equipment, camouflage schemes, and uniforms used. The desert was a harsh teacher, and initial equipment and uniform choices made in peacetime, or in the vastly more temporate climates of Europe, often did not survive the rigors of the hor and dry desert conditions. You have perhaps the greatest variety of vehicles, from the tiny CV33 tankettes of the Italians and the Vickers Mk VIB light tanks of the British to the Grants and Shermans of the Allies and the PzKpfw IV Specials and Tiger Is of the Germans.
