This may not apply to any Great War kit, but it has come to my attention that a company called Panzer 72, apparently based in Belarus, has released un-authorized copies of at least two Minitracks kits.
Minitrack kits have been released by Pascal Danjou, of the Edition du Barbotin, famed for their Trackstory titles in particular, in order to 'thank' people who took a subscription to the Minitracks magazine (soon to re-appear, by theway), and have thus not seen a very wide distribution (nor cast run). In fact, Pascal Danjou and I have a deal under which tose kits will in time be re-issued under my RetroTracks label (part of RetrokiT), as was done earlier on with the Citroen Kegresse P28 (though the pattern was modified before re-release in this case).
Anyway, Panzer 72 have released resin castings of the Minitracks P28 as well as of the Renault YS command vehicle, and have done so without Pascal's agreement.
Panzer 72 kits come in a plastic bag with card backing, are cast in a sand-yellow resin and although the packaging offers a postal address in Belarus, does not advertise any website nor e-mail address. Some of those kits have been seen on e-Bay (as recently as yesterday 12 March 2012), and at shows (from a German trader in Antwerp, Belgium, on 10 March).
The Minitracks kits come in a cardboard box and also offer decals and in the case of the Renault YS, a figure. Those 'extras' do not seem to have made it to the Panzer 72 offerings.
Please stay away from those poor copies and do pass the word around as this type of 'work' is very frustrating and detrimental to the real manufacturers who have invested time and money to bring in those kits for your enjoyment.
