Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Rhoderic on 06 February 2008, 06:39:04 AM
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Just thought I'd point out that, while several fantastic ranges of pulp sci-fi miniatures are starting up just now, an old (albeit small) one will be going OOP at the end of this month. It's a small company called Doppleganger:
http://stores.ebay.com/Treasures-Trinkets-and-Games_Unpainted-Miniatures_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ6QQftidZ2QQtZkm
I have no connection to this company, I merely figured some of you might want to know, in case any of the figures interest you guys. They have some nice sculpts:
(http://i9.ebayimg.com/03/i/04/32/09/8b_1_b.JPG)
(http://i19.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/86/61/8eea_1.JPG)
(http://i11.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/86/5f/91ad_1.JPG)
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Several years ago I did a few sculpts for them. The guy who ran the company had a few sculptors who did farely nice female sculpts but I was still new to sculpting and not so great with them. I did pretty good monsters and aliens but he kept sending me request for scantly clad females. I think he was getting us confused. Naturally I had a hard time doing what he wanted so I quit sculpting for him due to frustration and I've not really sculpted an entire miniature since.
Hate to see them going out of buisness though.
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Much harm. I could still buy some few miniatures, unfortunately am missing to me the correctly good. :cry:
grüße...............
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These have been oop for a long time. The ones on E-bay are the last of the stock which the woman is selling off for David Pinnick who owns them (Dances with Words on TMP). David's figure company wasn't a success but he did buy my Star Trek greens off me recently
(I have the last one-wheeled robot from his range and permission to cast it up if I want to. Eventually it'll probably go in a mould with my new Star Trek figures.)
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I was going by the notice on http://www.warhawk.net/dopplegangerusa/ which says the manufacturer is closing 2-29-08, so I assumed they were still "in production" until the end of this month. Or is the original manufacturer of these miniatures not Doppleganger?
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I noticed that Doppleganger had bought quite a few greens off Brad Shier but they were never made available. :cry:
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I have their male hunter alien, not-predator, it's just great..! :love:
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Unless you're sculpting the figures yourself, it's very hard to make money off a small miniatures company. Think about it, a sculpt will cost you anywhere from $150 to $300 depending on quality. Molds will cost between $100 and $150. Then, the cost of metal and labor on a single part 28mm miniature can run about 65 cents a piece.
So, if you get 100 cast up, you're looking at min. $3.15 a figure to a max of about $5.15 a figure.
There are some cost cutting measures where you can pair with someone else's figures in the master mold, but still, is it any wonder it's tough to make a go of it when you have to hire sculptors and contract out your casting?
But, if you want to sell volume, you really need to have stores carrying the line. They take 50% off your retail price. It could be years before you make back the cost of a single figure and that's only if you sell through it multiple times.
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I hear that! Being a little guy is tough especially if you can't sculpt your catalog yourself. Going rate for sculptors is from $8-$10 a millimeter and when your doing larger stuff, like me, it gets a bit pricey. Casters can get pricy as well with master and production molds and the ever increasing cost of metal can, if doing large casting runs, get ya too. Couldn't imagine the price for packaging if trying to sell as retail. If it wasn't for the web, little guys would never sell their stuff and make a profit.
By the way my miniatures company comes on line soon so for all you Weird War II and WWII players keep a eye out for What The?! Miniatures.
Brian
PS
Rich,
Found a great caster at a great deal if you need other options let me know.