New BLMA Products & Videos!

[tom mann]

How are those printed?  The graphics look excellent!

[TrainCat2]

Yield, Cost effective to make in pieces and weld instead of taking up expensive real estate on the sheet. As you said Craig, labor is cheap.

[TiVoPrince]

Amazing
but once I apply my own images I won't be able to post them here...

[sirenwerks]

What's the problem with products coming built-up?

So when do the other colors come out then? Because you know all billboard rigs aren't brown, right? And painting an assembled kit is a pain where?

[GaryHinshaw]

If that photo really is representative of the printing on the ad, then a) it's awesome, and b) I'd like to recommend another product line: we (I) really need some better wrapped lumber loads for center beams.  The ones available now are too lo-res for my taste.  It would be really cool if they were printed on mylar or some other thin film to look more like plastic than paper.  I'd be happy to wrap them myself, especially if they were adhesive backed.  But I'm veering off topic - sorry.

[Hyperion]

What's the problem with products coming built-up?

So when do the other colors come out then? Because you know all billboard rigs aren't brown, right? And painting an assembled kit is a pain where?

Honestly, since the entire thing is one color (no matter what color it may be), I don't see how that'd be a problem in this case.  At best you'd need to lay a couple strips of 5mm tape over the walkways of if you wanted to keep them that natural steel.  Personally, even if it was a kit, I'd build it up before painting anyway; especially if it's as many pieces as Craig alludes to it being, since it's always best to assemble the absolute most that you can before painting anything.  At best, I'd leave the billboards themselves off before painting, but it doesn't look like it'd be difficult at all to paint even fully assembled.

[Hyperion]

How are those printed?  The graphics look excellent!

Judging by the aliasing on the "Gorgeous Gals" billboard that's at a sharp angle, I'm gonna guess that those images have been photoshopped on there.

[Robbman]

Afew (biased) thoughts...

Shipping costs of kit vs built... same...  even shipping by air the tare weight will be the price factor vs volume... especially given the large quantities involved.

Tooling cost of kit vs built... same.

Packaging cost of kit vs built up... more for the kit, factor in the multi-page printed assembly manual, more complex bubble to separate delicate parts during shipping etc... they'll cost more than the cent or two you'd save on material for a smaller package.

Now factor in the lower volume of orders you'll get by solely offering a kit (sorry to say, but kits don't sell in anywhere near the quantities to justify mass-production anymore) and you're screwed.  If you want to stay competitive... you have to offer RTR, and at that point the extra costs incurred by adding another SKU for the kit version honestly don't outweigh the benefits of pleasing the people who want kits.

I don't agree with it, but it puts food on my table...

[Scott Lupia]

Craig, great video and great concept.  Any chance of some female models in the videos in the future.  You are entertaining but....   ;D

Scott

[sirenwerks]

I can see I am not going to gain any regard by contesting a product design that makes it easier to do battle with the 'Ntrak' effect, the scourge of the hobby IMO. You know, where every town looks the same because they're all made from the same DPM kits?

This billboard, while obviously a fine model, will just be one of the products I don't buy from Craig. Like the yard office. I definitely prefer the DeLuxe version. It comes in a kit and was much less expensive ($7.99 @ Kleins). And the same quality, from what I can see. And for those who balk at the notion, yes, I get to challenge my eye sight and engage my imagination and motor skills in building it. My orthopedist advised me, while my ankle was healing, to test it regularly to remind my body it was still there and in need of maintenance. His exact words were "If you don't use it, you loose it." That goes for the mind and creativity as well.

[lashedup]

I'm not knocking Sirenwerks for his opinion as I agree with the general spirit of it.

That said, I also don't think Craig should be discouraged in any way shape or form to continue to offer unique products like this. People like Craig, Bob at Traincat, Bernie with his photoetched parts and the myriad of other smaller guys I'm neglecting out there are giving us things that we can't get elsewhere and I personally hope that continues. The loss of Sunrise is a prime example of what happens when one of these guys disappears from our market. Hopefully rapid prototyping makes it easier to offer more and more unique stuff in the future.

I know Sirenwerks isn't wishing any pox on Craig at all and just would like to see more kits for flexibility, cost and uniqueness which are the same reasons I like them. However if I needed a modern billboard, Craig's is currently the shiz.

So to the little guys, keep it up!

[Robbman]

You know, where every town looks the same because they're all made from the same DPM kits?

So offering a kit is also bad becuase the end-user is just going to build it to the same outline?  So why offer a kit to begin with? 


I'd love to see anybody's business plan for an upcoming line of injection-molded not-kits-or-built-ups of generic prototypes that is to be distributed through all five distributors...

[sirenwerks]

So offering a kit is also bad becuase the end-user is just going to build it to the same outline?  So why offer a kit to begin with?

Robbman, I suspect you and I are a lot alike, in that we like to argue for the sake of arguing sometimes. Now is not one of those times, for me. I didn't think I needed to go into so much detail to defend my point. But for you I will.

No, kits are not bad, and no, building them to instructions is not either, if you choose to do so. But if you use kit parts as raw materials, pre-assembled generally doesn't cut it as you have to pry super-glued parts apart. Even trying to (re)paint an assembled model becomes a lesson in risk management. One mistake, say painting over glazing, and there's not much to do to fix it and an investment could be ruined because, again, there's no disassembling it, often, without breaking parts.

Let me ask you... If there are fixed costs of materials and production for either option, and it only costs pennies to have Asian hands assemble the parts, what is the difference between the cost of assembly and the cost of having those same hands wrap parts for kits? Pennies? Fraction of pennies?

In bulk, I can't see a one page instruction sheet costing more than clear-faced packaging component with fitted inserts to stabilize the pre-built in shipping. Writing instructions probably takes as much time as designing the fancier packaging. Smaller kit boxes may be easier to shelve for retailers. Those pre-built boxes always seem to have bowed flaps at the top and bottom, which makes them hard to stack more than two high. Three high and they fall to the floor, and break, when the consumer breathes on them too hard.

Or which costs more, a damaged assembled product having to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repair, or part replacement? Broken pre-assembled model? The problem becomes the consumer's and the perceived value of the product shrinks? And replacement means the remainder of the bad product is trashed, good parts tossed - I know, only pennies. But then there's reshipment to the consumer, back and forth costing between $6 - $10 to the manufacturer. Wouldn't shipping a single part to consumer be cheaper?

I'm not going to write you a business plan, I do that during the day as a project manager, and I appreciate when reviewers tell me what I have missed, to make the project stronger. In fact I ask them to find the flaws, even if they're delivered with tone. We all have preferences, as consumers and manufacturers. And there are pros and cons for each product option. As a consumer I make my choices based on what is available. When it comes to structures, I won't buy pre-builts, not until my eyesight or motor skills are gone. And I prefer my rolling stock and larger detail parts the same. If the manufacturer doesn't provide that, I consider it in my purchase, especially when spending that much. If I like that manufacturer's products, I let them know my preference, hoping they provide that option.

Come on, it's 2009, when consumers voice their wants. I have let BLMA know my preference, and in the forum setting I find I am apparently not alone. If said manufacturer doesn't offer what I want, c'est la vie, it looses me as a costumer. It's not about you, Robbman, or Craig or me, it's about business. Make all the pretty widgets you want, you're not going to sell them to those who don't want them.

[Craig Martyn]

Bryan, I completely understand your viewpoint, appreciate it, and have taken notes.  Without going into too much detail, I think we can agree this is a, "You're never going to please everyone" type situation.  Of course, the option IS there to produce a built-up AND kit version, but for our business plan, that isn't feasible.  With all of that said, I sincerely want to say that we appreciate your feedback, and the feedback from any other person in the market.

For your consideration, please keep in mind we offer numerous kits like our #600 Cell Tower, #602/#608 Radio Towers, and our #590/591 Concrete Bridges (photo below w/PDF instruction link).     

http://www.blmamodels.com/documents/install.590.pdf



I'll keep you in the BLMA loop somehow...     ;D

[Roger Holmes]

I got an advertising e-mail from Kalmbach this week touting a new book about assembling a model railroad from RTR components.  That is becoming an increasing share of the market.

While 95% of my structures are kitbuilt or kitbashed equally 95% of my rollingstock is RTR.  It just shows where this individual modeler's priorities lie.  There's plenty of room for everybody.  And there is room on my layout for one of Craig's new signs although I still haven't found a place for the BLMA single track bridge that I bought since my mainline is all double tracked.