RE: Metal minis vs. Plastic

>>Apparently, it also costs a lot more to produce a mould for plastics. 
I
>>know the Evil Empire's (tm) explanation for not making a new
Landraider
>>mould (the old one broke) was that it was going to cost them US$20,000
>>for a new one.  
>
>Yeah.	Like that's a set-back for GW.	All they'll do is charge, say,
>$40U.S. for the new tank and make it essential for every army to have
one.
>At $40 each and the number of GW junkies out there, they'll make their
$20
>000 back several times over.  I'd really like to see their profits.
>Stinkin' capitalist pigs.
>
>-Kelvin.....
>
>==============================================
>	     "But, that is a lie."
>	  "Yes.  What's your point?"
>	-Bester and Sinclair, Babylon 5
>==============================================
>	email:	kx.henderson@qut.edu.au

Yes, the cost of plastics is mostly in the mould making and set-up costs
-
as mentioned above, several tens of thousands of pounds/dollars for just
a
single kit mould. To make this practical, you have to have a guaranteed
market for many thousands of a single sprue of figures/parts; GW can do
this thanks to their market share, and ICE, FASA etc. have tried on a
small
scale (eg: the sprues of Silent Death ships, RL Centurion tanks,
Battlemechs etc.). Small companies like us at GZG couldn't even start to
think about this sort of investment in a single product.

As to the original question about Matchbox cars and other toys, remember
that most of these are produced in the Far East (at virtual slave labour
rates), and made in hundreds of thousands, or even millions. We produce
at
most a few thousand of any one model over the life-span of a certain
item,
and each one is produced by a highly trained and (fairly!) well-paid
caster. The economics differ by several orders of magnitude. Think of a
bog-stock Ford against a hand-built sportscar....

Jon (GZG)