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Would you pay a premium for ready-to-use resin?


Earnest

Would you pay a premium for ready-to-use resin?  

17 members have voted

  1. 1. Having had to clean a good number of blocks from some resin parts that I purchased lately (add to that the precautions you have to take not to inhale the stuff), I was thinking that I would be willing to pay a premium for clean, ready-to-use resin parts. Would anyone else?

    • Yes
      12
    • No
      5


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Would you pay a premium for ready-to-use resin?

Having had to clean a good number of blocks from some resin parts I purchased lately (add to that the precautions you have to take not to inhale the stuff), I was thinking that I would be ready to pay a premium for clean, ready-to-use resin parts. 
Would anyone else?

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I use a fair bit of resin, to cast my own small items when scratchbuilding; however it sometimes isn't worth the time or effort.  Even buying resin aftermarket stuff can be a laborious task, having to safely remove large blocks of resin from the parts before you can use them.  I agree with Heather and say yes, I would prefer to buy finished and cleaned resin parts, rather than casts that are still attached to those large blocks.

 

Mike

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2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I’ve voted a qualified yes. The reason for qualifying my choice is the risk to small and delicate castings if they’re not attached to a supporting sprue or block. Otherwise, yes please!

There are other, easier ways to protect those pieces. In any case, the supporting sprues protect one side only.

 

I am really curious, however, of the reasons why none of the resin detail manufacturers did/do not provide "clean" castings. 

I would think that labour intensity could be covered by a premium and I am sure demand would be much higher.

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15 minutes ago, Earnest said:

none of the resin detail manufacturers did/do not provide "clean" castings

Some do, Lukgraph, for example.

 

Quote

 In any case, the supporting sprues protect one side only.

1408367398_IMG_9247.jpg

 

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I prefer to have the smaller parts "organized" on a "sprue". I agree that removing casting blocks can be sometimes annoying but I still prefer it this way, at least for detail parts. When it comes to full kits it can be nice to have the larger parts free of casting blocks. To add a political completely incorrect point... I sometimes recast detail sets for my own use (only!), so I do not need to buy the same set of three spoke Spitfire wheels or such several times. It is of course helpfull to have the casting blocks in place :-)

René

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11 minutes ago, Pin said:

Some do, Lukgraph, for example.

 

1408367398_IMG_9247.jpg

 

Yeah sorry I may have generalized.

I am only familiar with the well known detail set manufacturers.

 

 

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It would be nice to receive a resin kit devoid of any casting block, specially around big areas, such as fuselage or wing parts. I don't mind removing small parts from the blocks, it usually takes a few minutes or so.....sometimes, it's easier than removing flash or ejector marks from plastic kits. Something completely different applies to big pieces, such as the afore mentioned fuselage or wing parts. Not just removing the casting blocks, but removing them in a clean, straight way that won't affect the fitting and alignment of such parts. It's a time consuming task, and adding those labour hours to the price of the already expensive resin kits, would turn into a not so affordable part of your collection of loft insulation boxes.

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4 hours ago, Pin said:

Hugely depends on the amount of premium and the quality of work.

 

 

Spot on. This would add more than just a premium to it and the work will always fall short of someone's expectations regardless.

 

A general rule of thumb is that it costs around 30% more to employ a person than their gross rate-to-man figure. Give or take perhaps quite a lot depending on employment package.

 

Realistically you will not purchase this resin parts cleaning service from a half-way competent human being in western Europe for less than £15/hr. It's dangerous to presume, I know, but experience shows that usually when people talk about premium uplifts to do a tonne of work they have an extra £1.50 in mind*

 

*or some other figure which is an order of magnitude out from the reality

 

If it's not already done by manufacturers who are desperate to differentiate themselves in a crowded market with more than its fair share of people who actively believe:

a) that the aftermarket is ruining the hobby

b)how dare anyone try to make a living from my passtime

 

...the reason it isn't already done is not because the manufacturers are stupid but because they know people won't pay the difference to have parts cut from the casting blocks and cleaned up to a ready-to-use standard.

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23 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Realistically you will not purchase this resin parts cleaning service from a half-way competent human being in western Europe for less than £15/hr. It's dangerous to presume, I know, but experience shows that usually when people talk about premium uplifts to do a tonne of work they have an extra £1.50 in mind*

The problem in a nutshell.  It depends whether the manufacturer's and the purchaser's idea of a "premium uplift" in both quality and cost are anywhere near each other.  Personally I find resin pretty expensive at the best of times but I might be more sympathetic if I'd had to clean up, say, lattice masts in 1/700.

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On 14 August 2018 at 6:22 PM, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

Spot on. This would add more than just a premium to it and the work will always fall short of someone's expectations regardless.

 

A general rule of thumb is that it costs around 30% more to employ a person than their gross rate-to-man figure. Give or take perhaps quite a lot depending on employment package.

 

Realistically you will not purchase this resin parts cleaning service from a half-way competent human being in western Europe for less than £15/hr. It's dangerous to presume, I know, but experience shows that usually when people talk about premium uplifts to do a tonne of work they have an extra £1.50 in mind*

 

*or some other figure which is an order of magnitude out from the reality

 

If it's not already done by manufacturers who are desperate to differentiate themselves in a crowded market with more than its fair share of people who actively believe:

a) that the aftermarket is ruining the hobby

b)how dare anyone try to make a living from my passtime

 

...the reason it isn't already done is not because the manufacturers are stupid but because they know people won't pay the difference to have parts cut from the casting blocks and cleaned up to a ready-to-use standard.

Agreed

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  • 1 year later...

Sorry for reviving a 1 1/2 year old thread, but I had to respond to it.

 

Recently I scratchbuilt a 1/48 ALE-2 chaff pod (first photo), and cast copies in the traditional way (second photo). But I also got an idea how to cast 'clean' parts, so I also made a second mould, to try exactly what is the subject of this poll. I haven't perfected the technique yet, but it did yield 'clean' parts. What you see in the third photo is exactly what came out of the mould. I hope to improve the technique so the 'moulding line' on the bottom of the parts gets better.

 

I was wondering whether there was a market for parts like these, but you guys already answered that question 🙂

 

f84f-84.jpg

 

f84f-90.jpg

 

f84f-92.jpg

 

Rob

Edited by Rob de Bie
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