What next? (Rant warning) not really

I’m going over the inventory of unreleased kits (there are always kits that don’t have a home) to see what I might post as the next free download.  There are a few possible contenders but nothing that gets me excited.  What I’d really like to do is put up a brand new kit that I think is great.  I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I put up a cool kit and give somthing  to the community.  The problem is I was hoping for a bit more support for our efforts.  The $1 donate button is not doin it.  ( I hope this doesen’t come off as too passive agressive)  Maybe it was a silly idea in the first place.  After all it’s not free if it’s a dollar.  The idea was, hay, folks are downloading thousands of kits each month, if we got 1% of those folks to push the button, we could do this full time and put up more and better models.  Seriously that was the idea.  Well, guess I need to rethink things.  (To the good folks who have shown support, some times multiple times. we appreciate it.)

As most folks know, our volume one disks are packed to the edges with cool stuff.  But some people don’t need or want all of that.  They just want a kit or two.  We are trying to figure out a way to meet that need.  The free or almost free down loads are a small step in that direction.  I’d like to make it so you can buy and download a kit instantly.  So far the software to do exactly that has eluded us but we are working on it.

In the mean time, I’m going to keep putting up kits for free download.  If the donations improve to say 1/2 of 1%, I’ll be able to justify putting up better kits.

OK, lets get possitive here.  What kind of kits would you like to see as a freebie?

Thom

Comments

[Ben]

How about all of the various structures that you would find in a typical steam yard? You could layout a notional yard, and identify the buildings, and then go about creating and posting them one by one. The same concept could be extended to a cluster of buildings built on a pier in some small port community. I think the idea of dioramas is interesting, and it would supply a theme for 3-5 buildings at a whack.

-Ben

[Ben]

I am also looking forward to building some rolling stock and an engine or two.

[Thom M]

I like the diorama theme idea. I'll have to do some research and see what i can come up with.

[Rick Bacon]

I think a good "freebe" would be a kit that fits on one page. I am putting together a clinic for my local club that will include a piece about cardstock modeling, and would love to have a one sheet (O scale) or half sheet (HO) kit that I could pass out as a teaser. Some thing like a small track side electrical box, an outhouse, or cement loading dock/ramp.

FWIW, I have enjoyed the Freebe kits, and was sad when I stumbled across them after finding out I had missed the first one. I am starting a O scale 2 rail layout and see several of your premium kits and CDs that will come in handy. Thank you for your efforts, both in your products and in this website!

[JIm Goodridge]

Hello Thom, I really enjoy having the freebies available and I think they are a really good idea as a way to promote both Clever Models and the hobby itself. What if you offer subscriptions for models. I propose something like this: The subscriber sends $5 by paypal and sends you their email address. In return, over the next number of months, you create 2 new buildings and email them the buildings in both HO and O. (HO because it is most popular and O because I use it, and also because it can be scaled for S and maybe enlarged for larger scales (but I have not tried that). If you could create a model every 2 months that would make $15 per subscriber every year. While some of the models wouldn't be appropriate for everyone it would be neat to have the surprise every couple of months. For the free downloads, you currently already have the Flag-stop, maintenance shed, Tower, Snowplow and the new one to come out, so maybe you could rotate those every so often and that would allow people to practice for free and have the benefit of allowing people to find out about card modeling.

Best Regards
Jim

[Dermott McSorley]

Dear sirs,
Just to point out I didn't even see the tip jar until you brought up the subject.I am looking forward to the leather shop,and will tip for these downloads.
On a larger level the model did increase your business as my chosen birthday present was a copy of one of your discs.
Also as a business model you might check out Bean publishers.They put out a fair amount of free books,which I do read
and then go on to buy other books from them.
Thank You Dermott McSorley

[John Tyson]

I also think the subscription idea is a good one. Your models are great and I think as has been said that there would be pleasure in the anticipation of what was coming next. I would certainly subscribe to the scheme. If, as you have suggested, you could make the kits from the CDs available individually I feel that this would also help.