None of our boats are “copies” We made the plugs. Our boats will not fit into others molds. We like to build one piece molds. Most others use two halves with an ugly seam down the keel. The Eugen was made long ago so Plug is long gone. Was made from scrap pallet wood. Made that ship because we like it. It’s beautiful. We like it’s history, having ran with the Bismarck and survived both the war and an atomic blast. We have almost all details fined out. The Brooklyn in our avatar is made from wood foam and filler. Primed in black and a few last finish spots of filler. Deck details will be a winter project. The Baltimore was built from really lousy plans and had tail sections way oversized, so We found proper plans for it and spent a ton of time making it right before pulling a mold from it. Finally Our Iowa plug took a nose dive off the top shelf and suffered heavy damage, or that would be getting molded this week too.....but you can see it’s guts. Pink foam over cardboard frames finished in bondo. We build ships we like. Not going to let what others build change our lives.
I said you copied hulls already made, not that you copied their hulls. If you plan on selling hulls, you would most likely have more sales, making a hull no one else sells is all.
To expand on that. Our current primary suppliers are Battlers Connection and Strike Models. Strike Models is selling off their hulls and will not resume production as part of drawing the business to a close under current ownership. I think they are looking to sell the plugs with the business eventually. There are also hulls produced by a gentleman up in Canada named Ralph Coles. To reiterate @djranier, it is always good to do what you enjoy. However, it is of greatest value to meet market needs.
The Baltimore in the photo appears to have been an actual RC combat model. It has a wooden deck/sub-deck; a hatch with a barbette attached to it is visible inside the hull. The model looks very much like Eric Broderick's 1998 USS Baltimore that was briefly in the Canadian NABS fleet and was sold to someone in the US. Eric had only simple drawings to work from and no proper plans so the hull shape wasn't as accurate as some of his other products. The stern was made too wide because he mistakenly thought the ship had twin rudders.
As this group would be a buyer for future products, ask as to what others are looking for to gauge interest so you can recoup your costs. Speaking of which, is there a list of the slugging style ships that are currently in vogue? Yammer seems to be up and coming with the new sidemount setup.
I myself am gearing up to build hulls for sale. But since I have friends already offering hulls in 1/144th I am doing 1/96th scale. I will never offer a hull that would compete for sales with any of the other guys hulls. I.E. if you do a ship in a scale I WONT! The majority of us you may find feel that way. Don't let it discourage you. Guys will buy what they want anyways. They just may not admit to it hahaha.
That is not what I meant. I don't personally care what you do. But if that's how you truly feel you may want to keep that to your self. It would be a better business choice I think.
I built the molds for The Prinz Eugen and plugs for Brooklyn; Baltimore; and Iowa 15 years ago. Long before I met Dori and she talked me into selling my babies. Not going scrap them based on what others do... or have done. As far as the future goes, who knows what ships will find our fancy.... but I’m pretty sure it won’t be some unmade, unknown, Polish Destroyer; Spanish Minesweeper; or Thames River Garbage Scow.
That is fair point. I wish you the best in your expansion and venture into the RC warship combat hobby. I will definitely be keeping an eye on your offerings. Generally speaking there is a gentleman’s agreement not to encroach on the offerings of another supplier. It is still decent thing (in my opinion) that you are willing to offer up something you already had in the works long before you were aware of the other offerings. That said, the superior and/or more readily available product does seem to do better in the long run. Capitalism and all that. Continue to do what you enjoy!
There's a pretty large delta between the current hull offerings and having complete, saturated market, way before you get to your Spanish minesweepers. Strike had a large set of very common hulls that apparently won't be available any time soon. There is need out there, if you want to find out which ships will sell enough volume to cover their costs people are willing to provide that data. We can lead a horse to water, but it can be surprisingly hard to get it to drink!
I never said don't continue with what you have. God you take suggestions like a German dictator. I'm done. Best of luck.
Why do you hold @modelshipsahoy to this gentleman's agreement when you already own two of his hulls? Sounds hypocritical to me, IDK. And I'm really surprised to see the way this group has treated a potential new hull supplier. I never expected to see someone so chewed up and insulted for just offering a few hulls for sale. I find you all's behavior disappointing to say the least.
All I did was try to warn him. I know how guys can be. But again someone appears to be mis reading what I type? I NEVER said don't. I said what I do. And tried to warn him about how some others feel. All of a sudden I'm a bad guy? I'm not "holding"anybody to anything. I wish the guy all the luck. He just don't take suggestions or friendly warnings very well. Not a good attribute when dealing with potential customers. That was my point. I know there are bound to be some in our hobby that hate me for something I've typed in the past and will NEVER buy from me. This was before I decided to go into business and is unfortunate but something I may have to deal with. I've never seen any of our venders respond to anyone in regards to their products or a suggestion the way this guy did. Just saying.
No worries Beaver. We have 6 kids.... we know how to handle drama. Lol We are crunching numbers on the possibility of taking over Strike Models, but we have about 20 plugs across all branches of RC markets in various states of development already. Combat models are just a tiny fraction of our business plan. Will be many months until any new keels get laid for you guys to debate. Thinking a dynamic diving Surcouf could be a fun little giant slayer. Tim & Dori Modelshipsahoy.com
If you can figure out how to make it work and be more effective than a one shot novelty it would be great. However most guys won't even bother trying. Good on ya if you tackle that project. Surcouf.
The Surcouf will not find much interest for combat (or any sub for that matter), for the mainstream sub guys I'm sure it would be a hit. The hot segment right now appears to be the 2 unit cruisers. Recent rules changes have opened up new armament options that many captains are exploring in this size range.
