Small Scale Military Headquarters

We, the collectors should start a fund. And build our own Modern fighter.

1. Someone figure how much the CAD stuff costs
2.We hold a vote for which modern fighter will be produced
3.Take donations for the cause, all deposited into a paypal account, viewable so that all who donate can see the balance.
4. I have some custom painted birds. The guy who painted them says he can produce whatever I want from scratch.
5. We hold a drawing, everyone who donates will be entered. The winner gets the aircraft!
6.Maybe this will pave the way for future birds.

Suggestions?

I could build it as well. Unless you want an outsider. This is no problem
I can build it, somebody else can paint it.

Which one would be done?

paulpratt wrote:Which one would be done?

The F-15 of course.

The only the thing I can do in part...is buy a finished model.

Which one would be done?

Why, an F-4 Phantom II, naturally.

A-10 Warthog

Do the A-10 !!!!
The F-4 is allready being done by others ,,, I want 4 from every unit that ever flew them ... In every paint scheme....
With alittle modifying you could even get a 2 seater out of it .....
Put me down for a shit load of A-10
Dcway (Dana )

dcway wrote:Do the A-10 !!!!
The F-4 is allready being done by others ,,, I want 4 from every unit that ever flew them ... In every paint scheme....
With alittle modifying you could even get a 2 seater out of it .....
Put me down for a ---- load of A-10
Dcway (Dana )

I hear you!!!

Count me in for the
a-10!!!!!

NOPE none of those, I vote Hawker Sea Harrier.

dh

I would say that we need the most iconic, most desirable aircraft that will probably never, at least in the next five years, get done by one of the big companies.

smokey1 wrote:We, the collectors should start a fund. And build our own Modern fighter.

1. Someone figure how much the CAD stuff costs
2.We hold a vote for which modern fighter will be produced
3.Take donations for the cause, all deposited into a paypal account, viewable so that all who donate can see the balance.
4. I have some custom painted birds. The guy who painted them says he can produce whatever I want from scratch.
5. We hold a drawing, everyone who donates will be entered. The winner gets the aircraft!
6.Maybe this will pave the way for future birds.

Suggestions?

Why make only one? At least 75% of the cost will be in the molds.

A-10 would be easier from a licensing perspective, plus a decent demand for it.

However, whom ever does end up making it is going to have some serious bucks in to it. Pickle can confirm this too.

Instead of donations and a raffle, deposits for orders.

That's my 2 cents.

It has to be the A10. Anything else makes no sense.

I agree, it has to be made in numbers and will be very expensive. I will go so far as to say that any grass roots effort cannot be successful with injection molding. I bet break even sales would be a few thousand. The only thing that makes sense is a 3D model with parts cast in resin.

I don't know the resin side but do know the plastics side.

I know it is sheer piracy but the easiest way to get this thing going would be to scale up a smaller scale model kit. Of course, then you get attorneys involved.

olifant wrote:It has to be the A10. Anything else makes no sense.

I agree, it has to be made in numbers and will be very expensive. I will go so far as to say that any grass roots effort cannot be successful with injection molding. I bet break even sales would be a few thousand. The only thing that makes sense is a 3D model with parts cast in resin.

I don't know the resin side but do know the plastics side.

I know it is sheer piracy but the easiest way to get this thing going would be to scale up a smaller scale model kit. Of course, then you get attorneys involved.

Correct, resin is the only way to go on this project. Even using aluminum mold plates for injection mold would be in $15K to $20K range, then getting access to a injection mold machine...

As for your last statement, I'm not going to touch that with a 10 foot pole...

I do like the A-10 but the F-117 and the F-22 are the coolest MODERN JETS out today.
IMO

pickelhaube wrote:I do like the A-10 but the F-117 and the F-22 are the coolest MODERN JETS out today.
IMO

Don't forget the A-10 just recieved a hefty upgrade in avionics and it will be flying for at least another 20 years unlike the F-117....

So, based on the knowledge that we have as a group, is this even possible? How much money do you think would need to be raised?

smokey1 wrote:So, based on the knowledge that we have as a group, is this even possible? How much money do you think would need to be raised?

Well it has cost me about $350 worth of RTV to cast the fusesalage and parts for my P-36 and about $330 worth of resin to cast 10 kits. Not to mention the 500 hrs to make the kit. So $5 is this minimum wage ?
$5x 500= $2500 plus $680 for RTV and resin so that comes out to

$3180

Hmm.. I make more at my regular job.

pickelhaube wrote:

smokey1 wrote:So, based on the knowledge that we have as a group, is this even possible? How much money do you think would need to be raised?

Well it has cost me about $350 worth of RTV to cast the fusesalage and parts for my P-36 and about $330 worth of resin to cast 10 kits. Not to mention the 500 hrs to make the kit. So $5 is this minimum wage ?
$5x 500= $2500 plus $680 for RTV and resin so that comes out to

$3180

Hmm.. I make more at my regular job.

The time investment is the killer...

pickelhaube wrote:

smokey1 wrote:So, based on the knowledge that we have as a group, is this even possible? How much money do you think would need to be raised?

Well it has cost me about $350 worth of RTV to cast the fusesalage and parts for my P-36 and about $330 worth of resin to cast 10 kits. Not to mention the 500 hrs to make the kit. So $5 is this minimum wage ?
$5x 500= $2500 plus $680 for RTV and resin so that comes out to

$3180

Hmm.. I make more at my regular job.

PH, lets double that labor figure and call it a cool $568 each for qty 10. I know that isn't a living wage but I think you do this out of love of the hobby, not to retire on. Lets take the RTV and resin by a factor of 10 too, since it would be a bigger model done from scratch. That is now $11800 or $1180 each. This won't account for paint or decals. Shall we say $1500 each?

What if you scaled this up by a factor or 50, and called it a limited run of 500? I think that is a reasonable number that could be sold with etailer support. Interested in what costs would be at that level as there could be an economy of scale on resin purchases and painting. Thoughts? I think if you can't get costs under $350 the entire thing blows up.

Well, it was just an idea. I had no idea that it would cost so much. What if we did something small like a t-38 or t-37?