Totally Ridiculous!! Moderators--NOT a RANT, A statement of KNOWN FACTS

You Know!

    You are so right.I have been making some parte now and then.But it just isn't convenient in my workspace. Small stuff yeah, a fast mold from the generally available stuff, Stabilized inside a LEGO box. Then four or five uses later Done! Just like you're saying about product. Much of it is generic and carries a known label.It's more profitable that way!

I should probably mention that resin casting is no longer very high tech.  It was well established two decades ago, and no fancy tools are needed.  You need to fabricate a pattern out of whatever. clay, carving wood, foamcore, etc. The rest are supply items such as paper or plastic cups, masking tape, cardboard, etc, and the RTV mold material and the two-part resin.

I agree with Don here - sometimes stuff solf to modellers is so much more expensive in those tiny bottles, you really can save money if you know where to look - and it's the same if you look for example at hobby blades as opposed to surgical blades - they are soo much cheaper if you buy a 100-pack of them...

Then there's the question of technology to make the parts... If you need one fancy part a 3D print might be a viable option. If you need 10 or 100 then you should resin-cast the part to make it cheaper. And if you need 1000 or more than maybe injection molding might be the way to do it cheaper. If you can buy one part for 2$ then you should really get a discount when you buy 200 pieces - just for the packaging and shipping you are saving the seller.

Thanks for rading and have a nice day

Paweł

One thing that cheapens model building a lot is your source of liquids and fillers and such.

Many of these products are just the general purpose stuff packaged in a tube with the model vendors logo.  Fillers, glue and stuff fall into that category.  I use filler from general sources like 3M and Ditzler, glue from Locktite and other name brands, and lacquer and enamel thinner from my local hardware stores.  I buy X-acto blades online in packages of 100.  Gives me more money to spend on kits.

Hi Real G. 

      To tell you the truth. I looked the jack from a 1/35 scale armor kit. It was damaged already so On the chance I could, I modified it into the part I'm talking about. Just piddling watching a T.V. show. Guess what ? By the end of the show I had thirty of them built. The only difference. These were made out of twisted scrap wire using two very good Forceps. The twisted Insulation looked just like a screw clamp and the jaws were just little Cutoffs from an .040 strip of Evergreen.

      If I had been quicker I could've saved my Client some dough! Trouble is he called me that same evening to tell me the parts were enroute. Then, He had to take care of one of his own customers. So.I am glad I love to piddle with Chotsckes. Remember the kit,  Gunther Prien's-"U-47" U-Boat by Revell? I completely rebuilt the interior. Using the kit parts as patterns I rebuilt the Decks and Pressure bulkheads out of Evergreen and used Model Guage decals on the controls. All the W/T doors had flanges too! Plus, after seeing " Das Boote" The ( German version) I made the ballast controls and dive and helm wheels out of wire as well.

        The engines were the hard part. The engines in that boat had exposed rocker arms on them. Those Diesels were Two Stroke. Very tempermental and did run better when they were surfaced, Which is the way they usally operated.

TB.

You noted you needed a LOT of those aftermarket pieces, so maybe you could look at it as labor savings.  What would it take to make them yourself?  

I have several punch and die sets to make nuts, bolts and rivets, but doing a thousand would test my sanity.  I recall making a bolt+nut+washer and bolt+washer for each of the 180 track links for a tank kit, so that's 900 individual punched parts, and it drove me batty!  Stacking and gluing the bits was a chore as well.

So it really comes down to convenience + cost versus inconvenience + time.

On the DIY side, I have personally found that with the right tools, one can match or sometimes even exceed commercially availble parts.

But those 3-D printed airplane landing gear with all the brake lines and their hi-def end connectors and brackets are where I draw the line and concede defeat!

Anyway, good luck on your commission build, and hope those fancy 3-D parts work out. 

It was once said that the most expensive things to own are horses, boats, and airplanes. That $1.65 stainless steel bolt from Lowes goes for $3.25 at an equistrian store, $5.75 at a boat supply, and at least $8.99 at an aircraft parts house. Same grade bolt!!

I guess we will start adding modeling to that list.

On a sidenote; I just noticed the price tag on my Tamiya, 1/350 modern NEW JERSEY, that I picked up in Japan a few years (decades) back; ¥5000!. which now equates to about $36.00 - $40.00.  List price at model shops now is about $170.00.

Interesting?  Hai dozo. 

I hate all but the basic PE,and only use AM stowage,tracks,and figures.

All I can say is, its a business, not a charity.  None of these manufacturers or the dealers who sell their products are amassing huge fortunes by selling this stuff, and I for one am happy to pay for high quality aftermarket products.  Why?  Because they look fantastic, and they save me tons of time...and for me, time is money.  I worked for a mom and pop avionics shop for 18 years, and that shop was put out of business by so many of their customers who had the attitude of being owed affordability.  I won't let the same thing happen to the shop I run now.  Too many good customers who are willing to pay for quality work to keep the ones who don't, and quite frankly, the complainers cost me more to deal with than the money I make off of them.  

[edit] BTW...just bought some aftermarket stuff for my SR-71A project from a company based in Kyiv, Ukraine.  Its not cheap, but their quality is amazing, and I get free shipping on top of that...which is probably just rolled into the cost of the parts, but I'm OK with that...they deserve to get paid for their services.

This is a capitalist country where prices are set by what the traffic (costumers) will bear.  If the companies stay in existance, it must be because we are willing to pay the price.  However, to save money, I often scratchbuild models or detail parts- even my own tools.

I am working on a method of producing photo etched parts without the photo process.