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“That looks like a tough combo”
You have that right…. This is without a doubt an attempt to swim against the current.
The reason I am attempting plastic is because I produced plastic before and am attempting to meet the expectations of some of my customer base. Plastic is an incredible material. Light, durable, easily modified and the first choice for many other reasons. But the reality of the cost involved make it a rather silly choice in the volumes that I or most will produce.
A ‘snip’ from a post I made last night on the KS comments page:
“I have a fair grasp on many forms of manufacturing minis, from resin to PVC to HIPS. The Kickstarter’s where you see 20-30 different minis are not hard plastic HIPS, coming from milled tooling. They are PVC miniatures with back-filled tools, they are inexpensive and provide reasonable but very predictable results. The cost for that tooling method is DRASTICALLY less than what is required for a kit manufactured in the manner of a more typical polystyrene model kit.
If my products cannot stand on their own, paid in full for tooling, production and a very small profit. Then quite honestly, they should never be made in plastic. The reality is that HIPS plastic tooling is not meant to be used in the way we are using it… Limited runs of 500-1000 units It is meant for, and truly becomes cost effective when you are in the tens of thousands of units produced.
We are trying to cram a square peg into a round hole because you, I, and many others desire plastic. Not because it truly makes sense. I am here to pound on that peg and ask others to pound the hell out of it with me, to see if we can make something damn cool happen.”
The reality is resin is a much wiser choice, hell even PVC would be a much more cost-effective method but given my history in plastics many have, perhaps, unreasonable expectations. I am happy to try, happy to put it before people to help me get it done but there does come a time when you need to stop trying to swim against the current.
