Turns out, I've done the wood yard shed, myself -- not quite as meticulously as shown in the link you provided. I had asked earlier about what to use for a woodyard (as opposed to "wood yard") building and I think you might have even suggested this one. THEN I downloaded the newer one (NOT free) that's basically square (about 1 1/4" per side). That might be a bit better. You may have suggested the "metal" mine maintenance shed. Hard to keep all these sheds apart.
I may have to get a chair and desk for the latest shed -- the model has indoor details and leads to leaving the door open. Have you seen these guys? http://www.vectorcut.com/accessoriesHO.htm I don't know WHY they didn't lazer-cut casters for their office chair!!
I've talked with him a few times. Vector cut does fantastic work. regardless of the name they get these results not by vector cutting but raster cutting with the laser. the result is laser carving rathere then cutting. for my money he's doing the best laser work anywhere
Between fast prototyping and laser cutting/rasting/whatever, you guys may have a real challenge!! I guess everything has +'s and -"s -- cost, convenience, challenge, skill, authenticity, aesthetics, etc., etc. Hang in there.
You have to sell an awful lot of $10 parts (pretty much the max price for 90% of our kits) to make $7000 min laser cutter or 20,000 3d printer pay for them selves. we thought about it long and hard. personally Id love a laser. i could push card stock to new heights but not many would pay $50 for a "paper" model. We felt that letting people have complete control and ownership of an unlimited number of copys was the batter way to go. i believe there is a misconception about how much we or any other kit manufacturer sells. even if we sell 100 kits a month most of those kits are under $10. the guys who are doing one or two wood kits a year and selling them from $50 to $300 say might sell a couple of hundred kits a year. only a small number are doing better then cost and if you can imagine the labor and waste involved in putting together a few hundred kit run. No bodys getting rich.
How do you make a million dollar kit manufacturing business? start with 2 million.
thom: actually the price is irrelevant, it depends on the product, look at fsm, his prices keep increasing, as does the type and quality of his kits, limiting yourself to what you feel will sell, i.e. lower prices, limits your creativity, and thusly your ability to expand, just a thought, keep up the banner though
George also has 50 years of accumulated market exposure. i don't think that wanting to be an affordable option has stunted our creativity. we put out about a dozen kits a year and its easy to see that they keep getting better. if we had the resources to print ,cut and emboss kits, we'd be making the best kits anywhere but they would be expensive and we would likely only be making one kit a year. I like turning out a lot of kits. I just think it would be nice to have the support of the marketplace so i could pursue this full time. (it's pretty much full time now except it doesn't pay the bills) Its not that we limit designs to what we think will sell.we just think that the designs we do make are worthy of sales. It comes down to visibility. when people see them and then build them they always come back for more. It makes me and my brother proud and happy to be a part of this MR community. I don't like bitching about my problems. Im a pretty happy guy so I'll drop it here and get back to finishing Chama, the 2 light houses a moon base play set and several steam punk airships.
I usually just read all the responses but did want to say I think I understand The last readers response but its a bit apples/oranges, your creativity and thought is fantastic and has opened a whole new arena. I'm a long time scratch builder, using all materials to build yet now I am building almost all my models in paper. If I have a foreground model to build I just think more on how to make it more realistic. There's room for all and each seller of models do their own thing. I've seen 50 years of this hobby and we're all in it for the love of the hobby. Very few make a living at it. Thanks for adding to our hobby.
I agree with Wes -- no apology or explanation needed from the Clever Bros. Your stuff is pretty doggone good and fun (even challenging) to work with. You can make it about as realistic as you want; e.g., what started this thread!! So far, I think my cardstock models look as good as my scratchbuilt. So, keep up the designing. You seem to leaning a bit toward large structures with some complexity. Don't forget how much fun a smaller building is, too!
I too like some smaller buildings. Our small branch line station Is one of my all time favorites. the store fronts like the book shop snd music store are quite small as well. We are always looking for suggestions.
I must agree with Mack about small buildings. Most model train layouts are 32 sq ft or smaller. My layout is 48 sq ft. Due to very limited space I target small buildings.
Turns out, I've done the wood yard shed, myself -- not quite as meticulously as shown in the link you provided. I had asked earlier about what to use for a woodyard (as opposed to "wood yard") building and I think you might have even suggested this one. THEN I downloaded the newer one (NOT free) that's basically square (about 1 1/4" per side). That might be a bit better. You may have suggested the "metal" mine maintenance shed. Hard to keep all these sheds apart.
I may have to get a chair and desk for the latest shed -- the model has indoor details and leads to leaving the door open. Have you seen these guys?
http://www.vectorcut.com/accessoriesHO.htm
I don't know WHY they didn't lazer-cut casters for their office chair!!
for my money he's doing the best laser work anywhere
Between fast prototyping and laser cutting/rasting/whatever, you guys may have a real challenge!! I guess everything has +'s and -"s -- cost, convenience, challenge, skill, authenticity, aesthetics, etc., etc. Hang in there.
i believe there is a misconception about how much we or any other kit manufacturer sells. even if we sell 100 kits a month most of those kits are under $10.
the guys who are doing one or two wood kits a year and selling them from $50 to $300 say might sell a couple of hundred kits a year. only a small number are doing better then cost and if you can imagine the labor and waste involved in putting together a few hundred kit run. No bodys getting rich.
How do you make a million dollar kit manufacturing business? start with 2 million.
actually the price is irrelevant, it depends on the product, look at fsm, his prices keep increasing, as does the type and quality of his kits,
limiting yourself to what you feel will sell, i.e. lower prices, limits your creativity, and thusly your ability to expand, just a thought, keep up the
banner though
if we had the resources to print ,cut and emboss kits, we'd be making the best kits anywhere but they would be expensive and we would likely only be making one kit a year. I like turning out a lot of kits. I just think it would be nice to have the support of the marketplace so i could pursue this full time. (it's pretty much full time now except it doesn't pay the bills)
Its not that we limit designs to what we think will sell.we just think that the designs we do make are worthy of sales.
It comes down to visibility. when people see them and then build them they always come back for more. It makes me and my brother proud and happy to be a part of this MR community. I don't like bitching about my problems. Im a pretty happy guy so I'll drop it here and get back to finishing Chama, the 2 light houses a moon base play set and several steam punk airships.
I usually just read all the responses but did want to say I think I understand The last readers response but its a bit apples/oranges, your creativity and thought is fantastic and has opened a whole new arena. I'm a long time scratch builder, using all materials to build yet now I am building almost all my models in paper. If I have a foreground model to build I just think more on how to make it more realistic. There's room for all and each seller of models do their own thing. I've seen 50 years of this hobby and we're all in it for the love of the hobby. Very few make a living at it. Thanks for adding to our hobby.
Wes
Thanks.
John