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Help and Advice Sought; Thinking of doing some AM stuff
Topic Started: Apr 2 2013, 12:03 PM (434 Views)
madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Okay chaps and chapesses I'm after a bit of help and advice as the title says.

I've been messing around with the FM 1/72 X-Wing and added a few LEDs to it and that has brought me in a commision from one of the guys I paint the F1 figures for.

It got me thinking about producing a range of lit FM models on stands and possibily selling them, yes I know you lot won't be interested in built kits but hopefully there will be people out there. I have started some ground work on the TIE Fighter and will post a WIP later.

This also got me thinking about other SW based after market items and I wondered what sort of market you may think there would be for producing lighting kits for a range of Sci-fi kits which would include all the necessary electronics and hardware to put into a model and a base. The set would include instructions and some of the soldering work completed but some would need to be done as the kit is built. I think the 1/72 X-Wing lighting kit would work out at about £25 to sell.

This then lead to me thinking about bases as I am already building a Death Star Exhaust Port for the commision and this could be extended to Death Star tiles (there are some available on eBay but would make my own), hanger floors etc.

The next thing would be how to sell them, eBay is a possibility but there is no way of showing a range of what could be done. A web site may be better but would need some form of e-commerce on it or could you just use PayPal. Do I need to set up a company to operate from a website usig PayPal as the payment method? What is best for hosting a such a site, hopefully some of the traders on the forum can advise.

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Warren
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Olde Farte
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Lt. Derek 'Smurfy' Reeve
Not my scene but your idea seems totally feasible to me as many models would benefit from being lit. Airliners often fly overhead with their fins lit to show insignia and modern slime lights could be lit from within.

I produce indexes for SAM and only use my advert in house and word of mouth to sell, I have an arrangement with Guidelines for Credit/Debit cards and my son for Paypal and this works well so never felt the need for a web-site.

I say go for it Warren.
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Cheers Delboy, I think some form of web presence will be needed to get to the wider market.

ATB

Warren
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davedubya
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Airbrush master
Get yourself a free Wordpress blog, put up your photos on there and include links either direct Paypal sales or Ebay pages.
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Mark M
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Hawk T1
online shops can be free, if you work the correctley

if you could do bundles, ie the kit and the electrics too
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
The problem with bundles is getting the FM kits at a decent price, HLJ is a good source but can't see HMRC being too keen on my buying too many without paying import duty!!

I need to sort a name of some kind out and have always like Tydirium after the shuttle in Star Wars, is this likely to be copyrighted, would Tydirium Models raise the attention of Mr Lucas' lawyers?

Cheers,

Warren
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Mark M
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Hawk T1
cant see a problem with it and to be honest, its Disney to worry about now, just spell it slightly different ie

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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
Well, seeing the prices being asked for Star Trek starship lighting kits, I thing £25 is reasonable
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tc2324
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LCDR Tony `Banana's` Clay
Warren, sounds like a good idea to me. I`ve just spent the last few months selling my whif collection on ebay which was sitting in the loft doing nothing. I reckon I`ve sold about 20-25 models and made approx £300 which I was very happy about as they were just sitting in the loft gathering dust.

Now what I did is slightly different from what you are suggesting with all my listings starting at 99p, but that didn`t stop a few of my models making more money than I paid for the unmade kit originally. Obviously some went for just the 99p, but that was 99p I didn`t have before.

If you go down the ebay route, can I offer you the following advice on auctions,

1. Always list your model with the minimum price you are happy to let it go for. (OK, that ones obvious but you would be surprised how many people don`t actually do this thinking that their 99p listing will climb to what they want)

2. List your items on a Thursday evening, around 9pm, for 10 days. This means your auction will cover two weekends and finish on a Sunday evening when most people tend to `shop` on ebay.

3. Try to list your items at the end of the month when most people are usually paid as that means some people will pay that little bit extra as they are `flush`.

4. If you are unsure of the price of P+P, always over estimate the price. This way you won`t get caught out when you visit the post office. (I learnt this the hard way).
However, in your advert state that you will payback any excess P+P. I do this in my listings and have never had a problem and actually built up a client base as they know I won`t stiff them on P+P.

If you do this, also remember not to empty your Paypal account when transferring your money into your own bank account. Leave your `excess` P+P money in your Paypal account as it`s then free to transfer back to the buyer. If you try to do this with no money in your Paypal account, Paypal will take it from your private bank account and charge you.

5. If you are selling a ready built model, use plenty of pictures in your listing and make the Ad `attractive`. More info will mean more interest.

6. State a 10 day dispatch time. If you send it off earlier, that`s great but it covers you if something crops up and you can`t get to it.



Think thats about it, well..., all I can think at the mo, but please pm if you have any further Ebay/Paypal related stuff as I`ve had a fair bit of experience selling stuff on there.

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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Cheers Mark, might change the Y and I round.

Thanks Devilfish.

Tony, thanks for all the pointers, some I already do others like timings are good to know. Not sure if I will go the eBay route first, like the idea of a blog and links to PayPal, also might try a show as there is a Sci-Fi one in July run by Paul at Little-Cars and the tables are cheap.

Got Sophie working on some cartoon type characters for me and a GIF or two so I'm off to play with a bit of plastic then play around with a blog.

Will keep you informed.

Cheers,

Warren
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Not much to report on this other than I now know what I want to do with the X-Wing and TIE Fighter lighting kits, just building a "display" mule for them at the moment.

Also been playing with some other electronic circuits and if anyone is building a Knight Rider KITT car at any stage and can now build the circuit for the bonnet lights!!

Posted Image

Would work for Sci-Fi kits as well if that sort of effect was needed.

Cheers,

Warren
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Been playing with an idea for displaying the lighting kits and came up with this for the X-Wing.

Posted Image

Engine LEDs in back, Cockpit LED in front and fibre optics to cockpit.

Cheers,

Warren
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
As part of the investigation work I've been doing on this I came across something called Arduino which is a programming software which allows you to do all sorts of things with LEDs, switches, motors etc. The other thing you can do with it is programme small single chip microprocessors to control your project.

The first one I have worked on is a programme for lights on an old MPC Darth Vader TIE Fighter, not too taxing as it just controls the interior lights, external lights and via a pushbutton fires the green lazer cannons on the front.

The possibilities with Sci-Fi kits are endless and the guy on BM that has been helping me out has posted a programme for the lighting for the USS Enterprise from Star Trek which controls the static lights as well as running the ship in both Impulse and Warp drive.

This got me thinking about other things and as you can use these controllers to fade LEDs in and out, it must be possible to control a motor in a similar way which would allow you to have a plane's prop run up from still to full speed and have lights etc. Looking at the size of some of the motors you may be able to get down to 1/48 scale but 1/32 and 1/24 wouldn't be a problem.

I will see if I can rig something up for Cockpitfest.

Cheers,

Warren
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DevilFish
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LCDR Paul "Voodoo" Carter
If you ever do one for Star Trek ships, let me know......
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madmonk
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Lt Warren "Satan" Monks
Paul,

There is a programme for the Enterprise and I have a D7 that will get lit. I will have a look at the enterprise programme and see what it does.

The programming starter pack is about £40, the software is free and the microprocessor chips are about £2 each

As I already have the starter pack I'm happy to programme chips for people and even produce kits with LEDs and instructions at cost for those who want it.

Cheers,

Warren
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