OK. I could have just contacted Leon direct and ask him, but I thought what the hell, let's start a thread. :D
If someone wanted a particular 10mm sculpt of a figure or even a range of figures then who would they contact?
I know we have some great sculpters on here, look at the new vehicles, historics and fantasy ranges and resculpts. But of course that can be a problem in itself in that it seems with Pendraken steaming ahead with new sculpts the sculpters must be piled high with work.
Then of course there is cost, what would be an acceptable fee for a sculpted 10mm figure (ranging from 8mm for dwarves to perhaps 20mm for giants, etc.?
Then finally would Pendraken be willing to take on the production or would it be best to have the molds made and invest in a second hand centriguge casting machine?
Having asked these questions I now am glad I only come up with daft ideas once a day! :(
Have a look at the 'You want what making?' Thread.
It's how I got the picts made...
As Will says, there's some more info here: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,4908.0.html (http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,4908.0.html)
Basically the customer would commission the figures, Techno sculpts them and sends them to us, where we mould and cast them. We reimburse the customer in figures, and they get added to the Pendraken catalogue.
It was mainly designed for conversion jobs, and we've seen quite a few things come through which have been done using this method. Lemmey took it a step further and got full figures sculpted, and we've also got a load of Flodden-era additions which will be coming soon using this method.
The downside is that we had to limit it in the past 6 months, as we just don't have the spare time to get them into moulds and released within a realistic timeframe. Some of the last few we did have taken around 12 months or so to get into production.
Any idea to what this would cost?
Quote from: Bloodaxe on 07 April 2015, 06:35:51 PM
Any idea to what this would cost?
How long's a piece of string?! It would completely depend on what the job was. A simple conversion could be £5, a trickier conversion might be £20, a full figure could be £40-£50, so it's hard to put a price on it. Techno deals with that side of things, we just look after the moulding/casting.
Quote from: Leon on 07 April 2015, 06:45:03 PM
How long's a piece of string?! It would completely depend on what the job was. A simple conversion could be £5, a trickier conversion might be £20, a full figure could be £40-£50, so it's hard to put a price on it. Techno deals with that side of things, we just look after the moulding/casting.
You answered my question. I was just looking for a general guide line. Thanks. And then the customer gets several copies of the new figure and you are free to list it to sell to others, right?
Quote from: Bloodaxe on 07 April 2015, 06:52:21 PM
And then the customer gets several copies of the new figure and you are free to list it to sell to others, right?
Yep, it's a bit of a triangle, so the customer gets the figures we otherwise might not have ever released, the sculptor gets the sculpting work, and we get the figures to add to the catalogue having paid out in figures rather than cash. It gets harder to do with the full sculpt jobs, as you're talking about a lot more 'credit' that we have to reimburse to the customers. It was really designed for conversions to add random unit types.
The prices are interesting as I remember being told many years back that sculpting worked out at about £10 per mm of figure size wise. Not sure how much that would be in leeks though
This all sounds promising, think I will have to take this further. :-\
Poor 'Techno Phil' who is about to be inundated with requests for Aztecs from a certain member. ;D
My PICTS were from scratch designs, so Phil charged me £40 a figure.
The wait is nail biting...
But, It was worth it though.
I did stipulate when I pitched the idea to Leon that as soon as they got it, the range was entirely theres, I was just investing in a range that appeared to have a ground swell of support, and taking up the cost of sculpture.
Now I've just got to prey it sells. :-SS X_X
Only the horses plus their riders were £40 a pop, Will.
Otherwise I've diddled myself. X_X ;)
Cheers - Phil
At the risk of some rude responses, would there be any mileage in "nude" figures that novices such as my good self could destroy complete? I am struggling with dollies, particularly the limbs.
Indeed they were Phil, sorry mate! :P
Quote from: Fenton on 07 April 2015, 07:04:35 PM
The prices are interesting as I remember being told many years back that sculpting worked out at about £10 per mm of figure size wise. Not sure how much that would be in leeks though
I bloody wish !! :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o.......More like £2.50 - £5 (ish).....Depending on how good they have to be for the firm concerned.
There
have been firms that pay £6-£8 and above......They tend not to last very long, unless they're looking at a different market to wargaming.....Like 'collectors', or people who hoard smut. ;)
I've heard of some folk (genuinely) who will pay
thousands for a 54mm 'rude' figure.......
£10 a mm.....You'll give Leon a heart attack ! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: mad lemmey on 07 April 2015, 08:22:55 PM
I deed they were Phil, sorry mate! :P
B*gger !.....I thought I could get some more dosh out of you !!
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: Fenton on 07 April 2015, 07:04:35 PM
The prices are interesting as I remember being told many years back that sculpting worked out at about £10 per mm of figure size wise.
I've seen that mentioned on other forums and always have a chuckle. You can pay that much if you want to, but you certainly don't need to. The top sculptors in the industry would charge that or above for a 28mm figure, but it's going to take you a long time to recoup your money if you've got sculpting costs like that.
The easiest way to explain it is that you can get a 10/10 quality 28mm sculpt for £500+ and it will look fantastic, like a collector piece. You can get a 9.5/10 sculpt for £200-£500 probably. Or you can get an 8/10 or even 9/10 sculpt for £100-£200 and it will be perfectly acceptable to the majority of people. There are of course exceptions to that here and there, and you will pay higher for a 'celebrity' sculptor as well, but for general wargaming figures you've got to look at it as a business and get the best value for your money.
We're lucky in that we've already got the best 10mm sculptors in the business working for us!
Historical and Fantasy sculpts aren't paid the same.
I personally do 10€/mm for 28mm scale BUT I do less for 10mm. It is all time related : I always try to spend less than 30 hours on a 28mm foot, so I make 10€ per hour.
I know someone doing 54mm for brands like Andrea or Pegaso for 1200-1400€ : He just spends a month on each piece.
Quote from: barbarian on 07 April 2015, 11:22:38 PM
He just spends a month on each piece.
:o
I think the stuff you guys do is worth every penny. :-bd
that's really interesting how would you guys work it out if a customer provides a self made sculpt(s)?
Quote from: zackzeta on 19 May 2016, 03:21:53 AM
that's really interesting how would you guys work it out if a customer provides a self made sculpt(s)?
It would depend on how good the sculpt was and whether it was something we'd be interested in adding to our ranges. We've had a lot of figures offered to us over the years, but without being unkind, the quality isn't always to a level that we'd be happy with. These days we prefer to keep all sculpting in the hands of our professionals where possible. We've taken odd simple conversion jobs from other people here and there.
We do offer moulding/casting services though, so if you wanted to sculpt your own figures we could mould and cast them for you. The turnaround isn't fast as we're so busy with our own stuff, but it's still an option.
Quote from: Leon on 07 April 2015, 10:07:04 PM
We're lucky in that we've already got the best 10mm sculptors in the business working for us!
Amen! Hallelujah! :-bd =D> <:-P
Mollinary