Market Research: Primered and Magnatized Miniatures

[montaa]

For those of you that like to paint, but not sculpt or assemble, would you be willing to pay for that service?

How much would people be willing to pay for:

Single model, assembled to fit with its unit, on a magnatized movement tray with primer already applied?

Strong magnets, filled gaps, top notch priming job, etc...

Thoughts and questions also appriciated.

[flagg07]

I gave this all of 1.3 seconds thought, so take of it what you will. From my limited experience, I've found that most people "into" the hobby don't mind the assembling part as much as they mind the painting part. My immediate thought is that even a novice can stick part A to part B with a bit of glue. Said novice would have a much harder time putting paint on those parts and making it look good.

I think that's why there is such a market for painting services, who also assemble and magnetize for the right price.

My immediate thought is that the market for assembly, gap filling and magnetizing, without painting, is extremely limited.
OTOH, if you get enough responses asking for help, RUN with it. Good luck.

[Norseman]

I am personally allergic to GW glue and really havent found a good alternative that works as good. So I just suffer through with a facemask and fans, however I am a good painter. So this service would probably be of greatest value to a person like me, but my thinking is that i would probably just fork out a few bucks more and get the whole service of assembly AND painting if I was forking out money for assembly already. I think the assmbly would be maybe 15-25% of the total cost of painting. So you would probably need to have a painting service as well.

[vesrian]

Would this include cleaning mold lines and such prior to assembly?
My least favorite part of the hobby is trimming mold lines from models. But if i don't do it, the mold lines will drive me crazy every time i use the model.
I prefer to paint my own models, but i wouldn't be adverse to having someone else deal with the hassle of prep and assembly if they actually did a quality job. If there was someone i knew in the area who had the time and ability, I'd seriously consider hiring them. But I'd be less interested in shipping models off to someone i don't know. It's a lot less convenient and i wouldn't be able to see past work up close beforehand.
How much would i pay? I really have no idea. I haven't thought enough about it - Sorry.

As other people mentioned, i think you're looking at a very small target audience. I would guess you need someone who:
a) wants to paint their own stuff, and
b) doesn't care enough about the posing to assemble the models themselves.
That combination might be hard to find.

I guess another target audience is someone who has difficulty assembling stuff for whatever reason. Norseman's allergy is one example. Arthritis is another example. A friend of mine just got a bunch of models from someone whose arthritis made it too hard for him to work with the models.

As a suggestion, maybe you can frame the service a bit differently. It does read a bit like you'll be just sticking "part A to part B with a bit of glue". Quality assembly is something that not everyone will even notice, but people do see the posing and that can turn a typical unit into something special. Maybe if, in addition, you have an option of assembly with a bit of conversion to produce units that look more dynamic than the normal posing. If you can convince people that they'll get uniquely posed units that look really great, I'd guess it would have a wider appeal and people would likely pay more for it.

[Stanislav]

Due to time constraints, I generally will assemble the easy stuff, but a lot of times I want a converter to go in and do a little repose or minor conversion. After that, especially with the time constraints, sometimes I have another painter do the actual painting.

I have personally used Redstarone's service for converting and minor reposes (well the current one is a bit more), and if i could send him a box of pewter, and get back an assembled army for a decent price, I would definitely go for it. I like playing with painted stuff, but I will use primed models in between.

It all depends on the models as to the price. Sticking a model on a base and glueing arms doesn't add up real well for me, even on a magnetized base. Give us an idea of what YOU think.

[Ironhide]

Is the OP talking about assembly, or magnetizing your miniatures so that arms/turrets/weapons are interchangeable?

[MagickalMemories]

Is the OP talking about assembly, or magnetizing your miniatures so that arms/turrets/weapons are interchangeable?

Sounds like he's talking about magnetized bases for keeping them in the movement trays easier.


Eric

[Ironhide]

Wellthen, I don't see much of a market for that. I mean, I could magnetize all my model bases in less than hour if I wanted.

[MagickalMemories]

Wellthen, I don't see much of a market for that. I mean, I could magnetize all my model bases in less than hour if I wanted.

Actually, you just illustrated his point PERFECTLY:

"...if I wanted..."

There are a LOT of gamers out there who don't want to do it themselves, but would like to have it done.
THOSE are the people he'd be marketing to.

Eric

[Ironhide]

True,true. I don't do it because I have foam cases and I don't play on magnetize boards. However, if he were to offer magnetizing them so they can have interchangeable pieces I'd probably go for that.

[montaa]

And this is why we conduct research. Generally the possible customers have a slew of ideas beyond the initial thinking. Current vision includes any and all aspects of the hobby up, but not including, painting of the models. Basic package would be "assembled/ranked." Best package would be "assembled, green stuffed, primered, magnetic movement trays with magnectic carrying case, arms/weapons interchangable(sp?)." Pretty much anything sans paint.