The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
I noted some interesting price comparisons with other types of figures. I dont think these are products that can be easily compared with TS but here are some comments.
15mm. The most well known brand (to me) is Flames of War from NZ which is popular worldwide (I used to be next to a Wargaming shop). They have a set of 5 Tigers for NZ$110 which is about US$90 or $18 per tank unpainted. I have no idea how anybody could commercially sell metal painted 15mm tanks for $20 unless there was a mass produced plastic range. I did meet a guy who was planning to bring out pre painted wargaming figures and vehicles but it never happened.
I seem to recall that when the FOW tanks were $15 people were painting them for others for $15 but that was about 6 years ago.
If you were at a show I guess it would be possible to buy a used one a gamer was selling to fund something else. If there are any commercially available 15mm wargaming painted figures and painted tanks (at $20) could somebody let me know. If there are not then it is not a valid comparison.
I am no scale expert but I do know that in terms of actual size and painting area a 60mm tank is a lot more than just multiplying 15mm by 4. Perhaps somebody could do a calculation of how many 15mm tanks you could get inside a 60mm tank. A 15mm figure is very very small and the painting area of a 60mm figure is considerably more than 4 x the 15mm. Anybody have any of both for comparison ?
1/6 I used to be the biggest seller of these kind of action figures in Australia. I agree they are very good value for what they are. I am not sure about elsewhere but the market in Australia died about 5/6 years ago and in Brisbane it is now very hard to find them. There were two types of buyers; the collector who kept them in the box and the hobbyist who took them out and played with them and weathered them etc (I knew an ex Vietnam mortarman who did some great mortar crews). Personally I always thought the hobby guy was getting much better value and some of the converted / weathered figures could be onsold for good money.
No idea about now but the quantities of those Dragon figures in a production run would be considerably more than most K&C, FL type figures. If I remember right The Monty Python, Platoon and Hogans's Heroes from Sideshow were done as 10,000 runs so we are talking a much more mass produced figure. For the Monty Python they did do another ten thousand with a minor change. Dragon for example being a major kit manufacturer would have had all the expensive factory machinery and a huge distribution chain with probably over a thousand outlets worldwide.
It is very hard to compare TS's with action figures as I found they were different types of collectors. I did have a collector who over a few years bought 300 action figures and they would have cost him close to $25,000. I knew he just took them home and put them on shelves in his garage. Early on I tried to convince him he would be better off collecting K&C becuase at least he could display them. If he had taken my advice at that time he would have had a valuable collection and certainly not lost money as he did when he later sold most of his 1/6 figures.
Shipping Different brands use different shipping methods. I believe most K&C dealers would receive their shipments from Hong Kong via
FEDEX. In my case this cost can range from 10% of the value (ie. my product cost) to up to 30%. The difference is between getting a shipment of just figures or one with a high proportion of planes and diorama items. I have a shipment arriving from Britains USA tomorrow and my shipping cost was over 25%. I recall Hadrian a German dealer saying his FEDEX cost from K&C was 30%. No idea but I would guess USA dealers costs might be same for me from K&C.
Before I could get Britains direct from them I would have had to get Britains via an agent and it came by ship from UK. I was told it would take longer than 2 months for my orders to arrive. Meanwhile my customers would have been getting Britains post free by air from some of the kind USA dealers{sm2}. I could only make it work once I shipped by air.
I never got the TG FW190's from UK as I knew shipping cost relative to value was too high. Same goes for Rorkes Hospitals I no longer get.
Britains for example ship their shipments from China to USA by ship so there would be less shipping costs and hence a saving. My Nile Gun boat and Zulu artillery sets came to me via FEDEX from China and this was cheaper for me than from USA.
I had a product last year that I believe was packed in a box 4 x larger than was necessary. The postage factor relative to value meant I never ordered it again.
So shipping can be an big issue for dealers. Probably not something collectors think about much as most probably get free shipping with their orders.
Some food for thought.
Regards
Brett
15mm. The most well known brand (to me) is Flames of War from NZ which is popular worldwide (I used to be next to a Wargaming shop). They have a set of 5 Tigers for NZ$110 which is about US$90 or $18 per tank unpainted. I have no idea how anybody could commercially sell metal painted 15mm tanks for $20 unless there was a mass produced plastic range. I did meet a guy who was planning to bring out pre painted wargaming figures and vehicles but it never happened.
I seem to recall that when the FOW tanks were $15 people were painting them for others for $15 but that was about 6 years ago.
If you were at a show I guess it would be possible to buy a used one a gamer was selling to fund something else. If there are any commercially available 15mm wargaming painted figures and painted tanks (at $20) could somebody let me know. If there are not then it is not a valid comparison.
I am no scale expert but I do know that in terms of actual size and painting area a 60mm tank is a lot more than just multiplying 15mm by 4. Perhaps somebody could do a calculation of how many 15mm tanks you could get inside a 60mm tank. A 15mm figure is very very small and the painting area of a 60mm figure is considerably more than 4 x the 15mm. Anybody have any of both for comparison ?
1/6 I used to be the biggest seller of these kind of action figures in Australia. I agree they are very good value for what they are. I am not sure about elsewhere but the market in Australia died about 5/6 years ago and in Brisbane it is now very hard to find them. There were two types of buyers; the collector who kept them in the box and the hobbyist who took them out and played with them and weathered them etc (I knew an ex Vietnam mortarman who did some great mortar crews). Personally I always thought the hobby guy was getting much better value and some of the converted / weathered figures could be onsold for good money.
No idea about now but the quantities of those Dragon figures in a production run would be considerably more than most K&C, FL type figures. If I remember right The Monty Python, Platoon and Hogans's Heroes from Sideshow were done as 10,000 runs so we are talking a much more mass produced figure. For the Monty Python they did do another ten thousand with a minor change. Dragon for example being a major kit manufacturer would have had all the expensive factory machinery and a huge distribution chain with probably over a thousand outlets worldwide.
It is very hard to compare TS's with action figures as I found they were different types of collectors. I did have a collector who over a few years bought 300 action figures and they would have cost him close to $25,000. I knew he just took them home and put them on shelves in his garage. Early on I tried to convince him he would be better off collecting K&C becuase at least he could display them. If he had taken my advice at that time he would have had a valuable collection and certainly not lost money as he did when he later sold most of his 1/6 figures.
Shipping Different brands use different shipping methods. I believe most K&C dealers would receive their shipments from Hong Kong via
FEDEX. In my case this cost can range from 10% of the value (ie. my product cost) to up to 30%. The difference is between getting a shipment of just figures or one with a high proportion of planes and diorama items. I have a shipment arriving from Britains USA tomorrow and my shipping cost was over 25%. I recall Hadrian a German dealer saying his FEDEX cost from K&C was 30%. No idea but I would guess USA dealers costs might be same for me from K&C.
Before I could get Britains direct from them I would have had to get Britains via an agent and it came by ship from UK. I was told it would take longer than 2 months for my orders to arrive. Meanwhile my customers would have been getting Britains post free by air from some of the kind USA dealers{sm2}. I could only make it work once I shipped by air.
I never got the TG FW190's from UK as I knew shipping cost relative to value was too high. Same goes for Rorkes Hospitals I no longer get.
Britains for example ship their shipments from China to USA by ship so there would be less shipping costs and hence a saving. My Nile Gun boat and Zulu artillery sets came to me via FEDEX from China and this was cheaper for me than from USA.
I had a product last year that I believe was packed in a box 4 x larger than was necessary. The postage factor relative to value meant I never ordered it again.
So shipping can be an big issue for dealers. Probably not something collectors think about much as most probably get free shipping with their orders.
Some food for thought.
Regards
Brett
49 US Dollar is not 48,5 pond
