$31.00 per figure.................. (1 Viewer)

[nmrocks]

P.S. Some of the ignorant political views expressed in this thread just make me shake my head about the future of the human race and planet earth. Please stop, you're making my brain hurt.

CS,
Your restraint is admirable, but not as much fun.
Ray

 

[aujj65]

I bow to your superior first-hand experience Jeff. However, I must ask, have you ever painted 50 sets of the same figures before? It seems logical to me anyway, that if you have to paint 50 sets of figures, and in one case those 50 sets are made up entirely of the same glossy marching figure, and in another case there are 4 differently posed and painted matte figures in the set, then it will take a contracted painter (who may not have extensive previous experience painting toy soldiers) much longer to paint the matte figures simply because they must memorize and master 4 different poses and paint schemes versus just one type of marching guy. Hence leading to lower productivity and higher total labour costs for matte sets (likewise for any glossy company that uses multiple poses/uniforms in a single set). It might not be a significant difference but it must have some effect. Perhaps once you get good at painting them, the time difference is identical, but it seems to me the greater the number of poses and variety of uniforms (e.g. SS camo), the higher the initial learning curve.

Now maybe where it gets tricky, is in a case like Beau Geste with a large variety of sets available, where a single painter gets to repeat a marching pose 6 times, but only does a small run of that set before being forced to move on to a completely different set, and having to learn its intricacies, and so on. Once again, I say there must be a far greater economy of scale benefit to K&C getting to do 1000 copies of a particular set.

I was replying to your original comment about BG and painting sets of 6 gloss style figures. I painted for Sarum Soldiers some years ago and painted many hundreds of gloss sets in that time usually in batches of 50/60 figures. There would be sometimes 2 or even 3 different types of figure per set, but of the same uniform, hence my reply.

I would imagine that most painters have been trained to a reasonable degree of skill with a paint brush and probably use a master painted figure to copy.

Regarding K&C I believe that figures are painted by a team, each one responsible for a certain area of the figure, which is then passed to the next painter who adds their colours and so on until completion.

Regards

Jeff

 

[Vezzolf]

Cost of living increases have been across the board.....not just for toy soldiers; however all non-essential purchases have a limit as to what consumers will spend on them......I personnaly will be "extremely selective" as to what I will purchase regarding toy soldiers considering the steady increase in prices......I believe this will apply to most of us as expendable income decreases due to rising costs of essentials........

 

[Steven Chong]

... Andy has now confirmed that with another excuse - high labor costs! In China no less where all the manufacturing jobs were moved by businesses like KC to begin with. So many jobs have been exported we have apparently created a labor shortage. So prices must rise, rise, rise ...

Andy was talking about high labor costs in China when compared to Chinese wages just a few years ago. Between 2001 and 2007, wages have basically doubled in China. This fact can be confirmed by a simple internet search. Moreover, the average hourly wage in Guangdong province, which I think is the location of most of K&C's factories, is about 66 US cents per hour or double the national Chinese average of 38 US cents per hour. At an hourly wage of 66 cents per hour, you can understand why many manufacturing jobs have moved to China. Even though the average hourly wage has drastically increased, China still has one of the lowest average hourly wages in the world for skilled labor. Bangladesh has a lower hourly wage at 19 cents per hour but lacks the skilled artisans to produce the quality of toy soldier expected by many collectors.

 

[Steven Chong]

Is it possible that if K&C converted to a smaller 1/32 scale, that it would reduce prices a little?

While it would save a little on metal alloy costs, the bulk of the figure's cost is sculpting, cleaning the castings and painting.

 

[wellington]

I'm not disputing the fact that prices have gone up for all of us including King and Country and by rights they have to raise the prices with changing times...truthfully....I cannot afford 31.00 figures anymore for various reasons...I have to put my priorities first...perhaps this will only be a hobby for the rich..which is sad in it self...I'm guessing this may affect the overall sale of toy soldier collecting...it maybe not only too expensive to collect but make them as well.


WELLINGTON

 

[Canadian Samurai]

Regarding K&C I believe that figures are painted by a team, each one responsible for a certain area of the figure, which is then passed to the next painter who adds their colours and so on until completion.

Regards

Jeff

Thanks Jeff, I guess the uniformity of posing in glossy sets does not convey as much of an advantage in time saved painting as I first imagined. Also, thanks for the info about K&C team painting techniques, as I was writing my post above I started to wonder how much they subdivided the painting to improve efficiency. It's no different than what Adam Smith famously wrote in The Wealth of Nations about manufacturing pins: "One man draws out the wire, another straights it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head..."

 

[Steven Chong]

Sorry, this doesn't make sense according to economics. Basic economies of scale mean that the more of anything you produce, the cheaper they will be on a per unit basis, so mass produced figures by K&C should in theory be cheaper than those offered by smaller companies, especially out of the cottage market in the UK. Mass production and economies of scale was the fundamental founding principle of the industrial revolution and that's why today most things are produced by large corporations (in China) instead of one person artisans in western countries.

With all due respect, I do not think the basic economies of scale apply since K&C does not make a large enough number in a regular figure production run to enjoy this economic advantage. I believe the average K&C production number is about 800 to 1000 sets (they do make more of certain sets). The present back orders for certain figures like the LAH sailors suggests that some figures are done in even smaller production runs like 200 to 500 figures. We see that when K&C produces production runs of 20,000 units of a single figure for Del Prado, with a total order at one time of half a million figures that there is cost savings since these figures can basically be given away with a publication. We also see the economies of scale enjoyed by FOV and 21st Century which makes hundreds of thousands of units and can sell tanks for $21.

The manufacturing of toy soldiers still requires a lot of labor to cast the figures, clean the castings, assemble (if any), then paint it to the present expected standard. The use of factories with hundreds of employees just allows K&C to finish a production run quicker and offer 10 new sets or more per month while a cottage manufacturer might offer a few new sets every quarter or half year, with any cost advantage from using Chinese factories offset by the higher overhead needed manage, market and sell this much larger volume of products.

Nevertheless, I would hardly hold Figarti or Beau Geste up as manufacturers offering "cheap" figures. Look at the new Figarti $230 V2 halftrack for evidence of a staggeringly expensive (overpriced?) set.

I did not state that any of the named manufacturers offered relatively inexpensive or "cheap" figures. I was responding to comments by Forum members that compared K&C's prices per figure to those of Figarti and Beau Geste and questioning why these manufacturers were selling sets at a lower price per figure. I do agree that all toy soldiers are getting more expensive.

 

[King & Country]

Hi Guys,

In answer to “SCEIC 2’s” questions…

1. The Cost of Production in China in the last 18 months has increased by a lot more than 24%… closer to 35%-40% in actual fact. K&C, like many of the other manufacturers in China absorbs a sizeable proportion of the increase.

2. At the same time collectors, rightly so, are demanding ever better quality and even more variety in their figures and fighting vehicles. All that comes into the increasing prices spiral.

3. And finally the continuing “nose-dive” of the U.S. dollar. In the past most factories loved to be paid in US green stuff… now it has to be RMB (the official Chinese currency) which is strong and does not lose its value on an almost daily basis.

So, sorry to disappoint you “SCEIC 2”, K&C is not swimming in excess profits… we are reasonably healthy I’m happy to say but that’s because we’ve got a growing band of great collectors worldwide… a great bunch of dealers and, I hope, a decent well-made product at a still affordable price.

Best wishes to one and all.

Andy C.

 

[Capitolron]

Andy

Prices go up due to a long list of factors and you have every right to make a profit. I think most of us have to get use to the fact our favorite hobby is just going to cost more. I wish the American Dollar was in better condition for another long list of reasons.

But, you make the some of the best Toy Soldiers in the World and I am happy you do. Keep up the good work and I will try to keep on collecting - or at least as long as I can.

Ron

 

[OldCelt]

WELLLLL! Maybe if cost keeps going up in China and the dollar keeeps going down. Perhaps we will soon be able to bring production back to a ..
MADE IN THE U S A/U K Tag again??
O.C.

 

[thebritfarmer]

WELLLLL! Maybe if cost keeps going up in China and the dollar keeeps going down. Perhaps we will soon be able to bring production back to a ..
MADE IN THE U S A/U K Tag again??
O.C.

Wouldn't that be a great thing to see !!!!!!!!!

 

[Warbuff26]

I heard Michael Moore is trying to get Andy to move all of the production of K&C to Flint MI....its just what I heard!

 

[Louis Badolato]

I heard Michael Moore is trying to get Andy to move all of the production of K&C to Flint MI....its just what I heard!

I'm sure there are plenty of people in Flint who would be thrilled to get any work . . .

 

[sv288]

More money just like the price of an ounce of gold.