Question on production runs

The production run on many resin ship models is based on the durability of the RTV molds from which they are made.   A typical mold lasts about 30 pulls.   The heat generated by the resin as well as tearing of undercuts and small details will cause a mold to no longer be useable.   A well engineered mold may get as many as 50 pulls, but not too many more.

I have a 1:350 scale USS Langley which was one of the first 4 pulls made on the original set of molds.  The mold tore after four pulls and the master had to be redesigned to help minimize the reoccurance.   An after deckhouse was removed from the hull master and provided as a assembly glue-on item.   Mine has the deckhouse cast integrally to the hull.   According to the manufacturer, there is about 100 dollars worth of RTV in the mold for the Langley.    Lets see,  100 dollars amortized over 4 castings -- thats 25 dollars in materials before you even account for the resin that goes into the final product  (There is another 100 to 150 in resin in the hull alone!).

The fact that certain brands are better avaible is not only a question of production runs.

The country that you purchase the kits in is also a major factor. For instance: I live in the netherlands, the most avaible kits are by Revell (germany). When I was on vacation in the Czech Repulic: Eduard and MPM where cheap and readily avaible. Things like importers, taxes etc. have a big influence on price and avaiblity. It's not only marketing, it's politics as wel.

I figured it would be a tough question to answer. I can't get over the inflated ebay prices for the Tigers right now.

It's like printing editions on books...the first run is designed to cover the costs of the design and development and produce a decent margin. Continuous runs or re-releases are often done once supplies are depleted or demand is sustained. I think the "pre-order" is used as a guide in some ways to determine how large the first run ought to be, which is a good strategy as far as it goes since by that time they've already put the investment in and are now just trying to see how many units they ought to run. I'd bet E-bay enters into the equation too....once a kit becomes "hot" enough in the secondary market trading usually a "re-release" isn't too far behind. Recent examples that spring to mind are the M4A1 and the Tiger I 3-in-1s.

 

Sorry, I do not think anyone can honestly answer your question, beacuse there is not single answer.

As you have found out, it is up to the specific manufacturer, and how many units that they feel they can produce profitibly before nobody wants anymore and suddenly their kits can be gotten dirt cheap at the discount houses.

Tamiya's buying public, like Revell, is so loyal, they can dump 1000's of just about anything on the market and dealers and wholesalers will gladly take them all.

On the other hand a company like DML has to be more careful, since they are not actually sekng to go "nose-to-nose" with Tamiya, but they aer seeking more of a niche, and such specialties tend to sell fewer units, but if you are careful, like Hasegawa, you can keep your price up by not releasing too many units at a time.

Sorry if I cannot make this moer clear, but that's the way it is in our profit-driven capitalistic society.

Tom