Monday, April 25, 2016

General Update

The Fafnir.  It is at the caster and has been for about 3 weeks.  He still has not started it.  Sigh....

Atlas restock is supposed to be done this week...but it was supposed to be done last week.  Sigh...

I have to be honest, I am in a really bad place when it comes to making these models.  Sales have not been that great for the last year.  I have issue after issue with casters...granted, it is often stuff beyond their control but it still causes me stress.  People are quick to commit to buying but when I set up a pre-order it is usually only the same 15 or so people who actually order (and to you guys I am grateful beyond words).  Currently, I have about 15 Owens kits on the shelf, 10 Loki kits, 5 Mad Cat MK II kits, a couple Bushwackers and a couple of Hellspawns. I am advertising them as much as I dare as I do not want CGL to come down on me...and I am fighting the new MWO stuff.  People are printing those cheaper than I can do mine. Again, there is that core of you who appreciate the quality I turn out but there are way more people who would rather pay $100 for a poorly printed MWO (fill in the mech here) than $135 for one of my resin beasties. Oh, and before the hate comes my way...when I say poorly printed, I am simply referring to level of 3D printing tech right now...not the skill of they people doing it.

Then there are the people who commission mechs. We work out the details and pricing, send pics/revisions back and forth...then when it comes time to put down a deposit..POOF!  Gone.  Three times this year alone. That is just time wasted...

So...this weekend (when I was off half my meds) I packed up the Sagittaire, the Mad Cat, the Mauler, the Shadow Cat, and the Templar and put them in the closet.

I am working with my printer (AKA the Magician) to get an SLA print of the Centurion and that is going to be the last mech for the foreseeable future...mainly because I really want a Centurion. It is my "grail" kit. I think once I add some of my touches to the MWO design, it will be fantastic. Oh, and it will be in MY 1/60 scale...not PGI 1/60 scale.

I guess what it boils down to is that I feel what I am putting into it and what I am getting out of it are way out of balance.

Preemptive answers to the inevitable questions:

1.  No...not closing the doors or going out of business.  Just slowing down.
2.  No...the blog is not going anywhere.  I will still post updates as well as pics of mechs you guys send in.
3. No....there will not be a clearance sale.
4. No...the Facebook page is not going anywhere.

The gist....don't expect tons of updates or new kits until I get my mojo back.