Supplies for Selling Miniatures

[Gailbraithe]

I'm producing a line of miniatures, and I'm having some trouble finding certain packaging supplies and other stuff.

Does anyone have any suggestions for suppliers for the following items:

• Plastic Clamshells
• Foam Squares
• 25mm Round Bases[/i]
  

[Elbows]

25mm round bases = Renedra.

I'd imagine as a producer they have some good rates for stuff in bulk.  Foam squares and clam shells I'd imagine someone has a link to some Chinese supplier for dirt cheap.

[Gailbraithe]

25mm round bases = Renedra.

I'm looking for slotta bases.  You used to be able to order them in bulk at really great prices from Renaissance Ink, but they seem to have gone out of business.

There's got to be an American supplier of the things somewhere out there.

[von Lucky]

Ali Baba where I sources some for work years ago:
http://www.alibaba.com/

Basically Chinese manufactures eBay.

Although I just checked eBay and there's some there (make sure your searching allows for worldwide search and "clam shell packaging", etc in both titles and description).

[HerbyF]

Found these with a simple search for plastic containers. http://www.papermart.com/Plastic-Clamshell-Boxes-with-Hangers/id=80165?origin=BingShopping&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=shoppingfeed&utm_campaign=83601400

[Gailbraithe]

Yeah, I've found several suppliers for plastic clamshells, I think I'm pretty good on that front.

Finding a source for foam squares is trickier. So far I have found one place in China that will cut foam to any size, but they require you to purchase a minimum of one block of foam...which is 3m³.  I would have to give up an entire room of my house just to store it.

And I've had absolutely no luck with finding a source for 25mm round slotta bases in bulk.  em4 is the best price I've found:  20@£1.02, and if I ordered 500 with shipping that would work out to US$0.10/base.  I got 500 from Renaissance Ink for US$20.00 + shipping.

[von Lucky]

Who's the guy that used to work for a large company, went off and bought some old machines and now is making plastic toys and wargaming terrain? US based, he's posted a couple of videos a couple of years ago of the virtues of being able to do manufacturing yourself? Anyone able to help on who I'm thinking of? He might be able to do bases cheap.

[black hat miniatures]

Dice and Games in the UK are the trade supplier of bases and the people I buy mine from.  I tend to buy 5000 of one size at a time but you can buy 1,000.

I used foamforcomfort.co.uk for my clamshell inserts  - there must be an equivalent company in the USA.

Mike

[Predatorpt]

Who's the guy that used to work for a large company, went off and bought some old machines and now is making plastic toys and wargaming terrain? US based, he's posted a couple of videos a couple of years ago of the virtues of being able to do manufacturing yourself? Any able to help on who I'm thinking of? He might be able to do bases cheap.

Proxie Models, he's a member here

http://proxiemodels.blogspot.com
http://proxiemodels.com/

[Gailbraithe]

Dice and Games in the UK are the trade supplier of bases and the people I buy mine from.  I tend to buy 5000 of one size at a time but you can buy 1,000.

I used foamforcomfort.co.uk for my clamshell inserts  - there must be an equivalent company in the USA.

Mike

Thanks, Mike, that was very helpful.

[von Lucky]

That's it Predatorpt, thanks.

[eilif]

Proxie is great for bases, especially if you want something a little different.  He's done some cool stuff for other makers.

For basic 25mm and 30mm slottas, it's hard to beat Dice and Games (owner or related to EM4).  Even at retail from EM4, twenty 25mm slottas for 1 pound is ridiculously cheap.  I've found that even with shipping figured in EM4 is still cheaper than USA dealers.

[Gailbraithe]

I don't like the Proxie slotta bases.  They come 8-up on a sprue, which means I'd be spending a lot of time clipping them out, which just seems like a pain in the backside.

[eilif]

I don't like the Proxie slotta bases.  They come 8-up on a sprue, which means I'd be spending a lot of time clipping them out, which just seems like a pain in the backside.

I don't mind clipping proxie bases, but for classic slotta's I'd go with em4.

What I do like proxie for is their affordability in other sizes and the slimmer height which makes it easier to hide the cast-on bases of many models. The Proxie slottas do have nice little lip though...

I also like the look of the rounded edge on some Proxie bases that is still pretty small.  On a proxie 30mm you get more basing area whereas a traditional pivateer style 30mm you have the same top basing area as a regular GW style 25mm slotta.