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Vac form start-up, what would sell well?


Scratchbuilder

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Light twins in 1/48: Aero Commanders, Piper Apache & Aztec, Beech Twin Bonanza/Baron, Queen Air/King Air, Cessna 421, Biz Jets: Gulfstreams, Citations. etc. Also Piper Cherokees, Cessna 182 & 210.

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Hmmm... I don't know how this project is going but here's my thoughts FWIW. I have been involved in several start-ups and the ones that succeded followed the basics I've outlined...

Borrow as little commercially as possible. Finance costs a huge amount for a micro business. The biggest error is financing with a credit card followed by remortgage. Masters may be paid for by copies of the finished item, cash from friends, family or savings, maybe running a part-time job while the business grows for other expenditures. Put serious effort into finding the best deal for consumables like packaging, envelopes etc. you can. A pound saved buying is profit.

Start simple. It would be great to hit the ground running with a multi-media superkit but this will take a lot of effort. Look at simple items that have multiple applications. Underwing fuel tanks are good I can think of First Generation Harrier ferry tanks, 600 gallon (?) US tanks for F-111 and F-15, Above mentioned F-16 tanks, maybe F-86 tanks all could be in 72nd and 48th. One small moulding, a simple decal sheet and instructions. Clear vacform canopies seem to go well with Falcon showing the way replacements for Airfix 48th jets, Spitfires in both scales and other recent releases in 72nd may be good.

These items will allow you to offer quality products and fine tune your business model without a huge investment upfront. You'll find your market and then have a better base to build a more complex range on.

Especially with large projects go with something YOU are REALLY interested in. Development will take a long time and you'll need to keep interested. The small items above will be much quicker to develope so this isn't so important for them. You should consider items on a theme so your customer base developes by getting repeat orders from the start. You should avoid items that are likely to be kitted by others anytime soon (easier said than done!) I'd advise something along the lines of unbuilt prototypes for the What If crowd who will tend to be handy with the skills a vacform would require, Interwar biplanes ditto, Science fiction models especially classic TV stuff, again used to working with garage kits. Armour conversions for niche markets such as 48th and Braille M3A1 hulls, 48th RAM turrets and early hull for Tamiya 48th Sherman and in 72nd as well, M47/M48 conversions for Tamiya 48th Pershing (which would need replacement tracks leading into range expansion).

Finally Be Realistic! As a new entry to the market it will take a while to get established. Running off 500 sets of your first item will lead to disappointment when they don't all sell quickly. Better to make small batches repeatedly. Stock is a liability NOT an asset! If the item you offer is superceded, you make an error, it doesn't sell well etc. then you'll be left with a pile of stuff that you can't sell. Better it be 5 units rather than 105!! You'll also learn who you can trust to give you good information rather than rubbish. Something Trumpeter has yet to learn!!

Good Luck with the venture, I hope it works out. Several items I've mentioned I would personally buy in various numbers but they are simply examples and suggestions rather than my personal wish list. In several cases they are items that have been available before so are technically possible but may not be viable.

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What he said... Anyone with courage enough to purchase, let alone attempt construction of a vacuform kit is over 50.

I just bought a Vac Vultee P-66 and i'm not 50, yet.

Light twins in 1/48: Aero Commanders, Piper Apache & Aztec, Beech Twin Bonanza/Baron, Queen Air/King Air, Cessna 421, Biz Jets: Gulfstreams, Citations. etc. Also Piper Cherokees, Cessna 182 & 210.

Bandai/Academy did a few of these, Piper Cherokee,

http://www.austinsms.org/article3_05.php

and a Cessna 172

http://modelingmadness.com/scott/viet/previews/minicraft/11646.htm, and there are some biz jets as well.

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Canopy for the new airfix typhoon.

This. And a car-door one with clear vac-form doors, while you are at it. Get a jump on Airfix doing it.

Likewise for the not-so-new Airfix Typhoon, the 1/72 one!

John

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You can use the old Falcon set for the 1/72 one though.

Good point; I'm embarrassed to admit that I actually have that set hoarded away somewhere, too - thanks for the reminder... :whistle:

John

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  • 3 weeks later...

Martin

IMHO 2 things first only do female vac forms, canopies can be male type, the quality is better, do conversions eg B57 camberra variants long wings etc, these can be turned round quicker and generate income for a full kit, from what I have read it has become more of a wish list and although many good suggestions have been put forward it is unrealistic to consider most of them as all but a few require a lot of research.

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What he said... Anyone with courage enough to purchase, let alone attempt construction of a vacuform kit is over 50.

I'm 32 and started building them in my early 20s.

Agreed vacforms only appeal to a fairly limited market, and they really are, in my opinion, traditional model making.

Injection moulded kits are great fun... until you build a Vacform!

Tom

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  • 4 weeks later...

The original poster, Martin, posted his latest (last?) message here on 19 February. In the year of 2013!

This thread seems to have taken on some ghostly afterlife. ;-)

I do wonder if Martin's son ever got any use for his vacform machines…

Kind regards,

Joachim

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The original poster, Martin, posted his latest (last?) message here on 19 February. In the year of 2013!

This thread seems to have taken on some ghostly afterlife. ;-)

I do wonder if Martin's son ever got any use for his vacform machines…

Kind regards,

Joachim

Though I don't remember exactly what he said, I do remember Martin posting something to the effect that both he and his son were involved in other things, so it would be very unlikely to expect any kits from them anytime soon.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Gentlemen,

thanks for your interest in this project. I'm afraid due to health issues and just being so busy, nothing has happened. I can only offer that when you do this stuff day in, day out for others, you get to a point where you just can't face yet more new stuff and that's where I am currently.

I find I enjoy a trip out with the Mrs. so much more than another afternoon at the bench.

I have also built a large new shed since I was last here. Not all my fault as the automatic password thingy hasn't worked for ages, but today it did, so here I am.

The 32nd scale DH89 pattern is now about 80% finished.

Basically I have had just way too much work for good customers to even consider anything new and the more I see of modern day modelmaking the less I think a vac-formed kit will justify the enormous amount of work and outlay on materials it would involve. So I have to re-consider the whole thing. I really don't enjoy it all so much any more. I have 2 Specials to build (Triumph and Austin 7 based) and I help my son with his Triumph Renown. An interest in model boats and scenery, too and you can see that there aren't enough hours in a day.

My other son has managed to fill his spare time with non model uses for the vac-forming machine too, so things have gone different ways from what we expected.

But thanks for the interest. Any news I will put up here.

Cheers,

Martin

Edited by Scratchbuilder
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Martin,

quite understandable. Though it is a pity as well. So the Supermarine racer you once planned is also abandoned? How about the XJ-13? It looked as if there was not much left to do on this. I would love to hear that this will be finalized.

Rene

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Rene,

Any vac-forms are on hold for now.

But I have an aircraft customer, looking to diversify, who wants the XJ13, so once I've finished his current job, I'll finish the XJ13 and he will produce it, so that one will be done, for sure.

Cheers,

Martin

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