General Category > Chatterbox

Casting kit buisness?

(1/5) > >>

bobh:
I see that the pattern, plans and rights are up for sale for the Galloway 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8 scales, the Little York, Little Brother, 1/4 Olds, 2 different Ball Hop Monitors, the Woodpecker and may be others are up for sale. The question for people that have gone down this business road before, in the current climate, with the supposed lack of interest in castings and material costs, is it possible to make a viable business out of them. I'm sure it's not a big money maker but break even plus coffee money? I know nothing about getting castings made but I know what I went through to find a ball top monitor set and would hate to see these patterns and plans fade into obscurity like so many others have. Gone is gone with this stuff. Bob

Jo:
Running any type of Model Engineering Business is these days for the love of doing it: You meet lots of great people, you constantly have people phoning you up for a chat (and sometimes even to buy stuff), you get to run around chasing up foundries and other suppliers for stuff that is late, and you can spend many weekends at shows rather than with your own family and come back having just covered your costs. If you want to make money with less hassle then stack shelves in your local grocery store   :-\ .

It would make a great retirement hobby but don't expect time to make any model engines for yourself (which is a bit like running a model engine forum  :lolb: ).

Jo

GWRdriver:
Hello Bob,

I've never been an IC person but I know the engines you've listed have all been popular at one time or another with Farm IC builders.  Are these from the Paul Breisch line?

As a one-time dealer/supplier to the live steam trade, where like most other suppliers I repackaged materials and supplies for small scale live steamers and built custom boilers, I can attest that income, or should a I say profit, is sparse and time is consumed in large quantities, which is why I gave it up.  I never had any time to work on my own projects, which are many.  Now that I'm retired the circumstances might be a bit different but that market is now very well covered.

I never produced original castings but learned that when a model engineering business, especially one which supplies castings, changes hands one of the most critical aspects of the transaction is the relationship with the foundries.  I've seen the effect that changes in foundry relationships can have on such a business.  In the instances I have first-hand knowledge of, some of the foundries involved used the change of ownership to take care of their own interests, which is a fair and reasonable thing to do.  In some cases this was to withdraw from the arrangement, decline the work, or to modify an existing arrangement, which was no longer profitable, or profitable enough.  In one such case a foundry "modernized" by converting to a new match-plate system, forcing the customer to bear the costs of reconstructing the match-plates of a large percentage of their casting line, which (the costs) were prohibitive.  Changes of this sort invariably lead to increased production costs and subsequently consumer prices, thus upsetting the business model they assumed they would have.

All this is not say this would be a losing proposition, far from it, I'm sure the Marketplace would love to have these engines continue to be available, but IMHO a primary factor in your decision should be to have your foundry relationships firmly established and agreed upon before taking the leap.

Harry

Jasonb:
There is a market for them but it is going to be quite limited, maybe a bit of a run at first if you were to bring them back to the market but then that would settle back to maybe 1 or 2 casting sets a year.

A lot will depend of what Minicastings are asking for the patterns and rights as to how many kits you would have to sell to break even and then hopefully go into profit.

You will then have to decide what to price the casting sets at, too low and you won't be getting much back for your efforts and too much will limit sales. Markup on castings from foundry probably 100% but out of that you have to consider time delivering patterns and collecting castings or courier costs, printing costs, adverts and general admin time. There is also the issue of lost or damaged patterns as well as any castings that have to be replaced due to defects, foundry may cover that but they won't cover the cost of taking it back and collecting the replacement.

You also need to think about inventory, cheaper to have a batch of each cast but that then ties up your capital and you need somewhere to store the castings etc. The other option would be to take a deposit with order and then have the model cast. really you don't want to be faffing about having just one cast unless foundry will store patterns and just cast when asked but you need to factor in it takes as much effort to collect 10 sets as it does a single set.

There are many casting kit suppliers that have packed up due to problems getting a good foundry so that would be a priority before buying the patterns and then finding you cant get them cast. People want good quality castings for their money so you want a foundry that will take care and produce good usable castings, ideally heat treated but that is going to add more cost.

maury:
Bob, i'm glad to see you have an interest in these patterns.
I.m curious where you found them for sale? I know the guy who
has them, in fact one of the ball hopper Monitors was my design.

I see you don't have foundry knowledge. If you pick up some of
these patterns that will be your first learning curve. Do you have
a foundry you can use? If not the whole idea is a non-starter. You
will need a foundry interested in the work, and has a fellow
who will mentor you.

After all that, you will need several thousand $ for inventory.
even if you get the patterns for free profit is an illusion.

Back when I was selling kits, I could make enough to keep some
inventory and pay for my trips to 2 or 3 shows a year. It was
a lot of fun, and I thrive on creating new models, so that was
my reward.

maury
LoneStarEngineWorks Retired

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page