On the bench

The 15mm scale Leviathan Crusader is off to the caster for quote and molds. Likely another week before I have a firm price and the mold work begins.

Next up... I am back to work on 28mm scale infantry. Here are a few test shots of the Eisenkern trooper.

Here is a sneak peek of another vehicle. The Puma II scout walker, still very much a WIP.





DreamForge-Games is pleased to announce the release of the Leviathan Crusader!

Within the next few days, we will open up both the Leviathan Mortis and the Leviathan Crusader for Pre- Orders. Pre-Orders will be given at a reduced price for a limited quantity of models. I will update the website and announce the opening for pre-orders on the DreamForge-Games Blog. I expect to open pre-orders on Thursday the 28^th or Friday the 29^th of April and will make an announcement here on the DreamForge-Games Blog. 

This highly poseable model contains 143 plastic resin components and stands 8.5” tall to the shoulders. 9.5” tall including the reactor stacks. The assembled kit weighs nearly two pounds. The kit comes with all components required to build one Leviathan Crusader. (1) Main body legs and upper arms. (1) Right hand Vulkan Cannon (1) Left hand Executioners Blade (1) Armor Upgrade for listed components.

The Leviathan Crusader is armed with a right hand Vulkan Cannon and left hand Executioners Blade. The main weapon arms are hot swappable allowing for quick change out to any of the optional weapons available separately. Suitable for a display model or tabletop gaming.

*Not recommended for the novice model builder.
*Instructions for assembly are a web published PDF format.

Background Fluff:

The Crusader was developed to fill a need for a more heavily armored Leviathan. What was produced is widely regarded as the most balanced and finest design possible. Possessing remarkable speed and survivability while not sacrificing offensive capability, it is often compared to its 20th century counterpart the Panzerkampfwagen V (Panther tank).

It holds the distinction of being the most widely produced VR5 Leviathan in existence. The Crusader can be found in every faction’s arsenal. At 160 years old, the design is still innovative. Independent households often barter away vast planetary resources to acquire a Crusader as these Leviathans lend credibility and prestige to the households standing within its parent faction. A faction ruler knows that when the household is called upon to fight they will answer with a very capable force.

Eisenkern uses this Leviathan as a powerful bartering chit with The Brotherhood. Tithing ten per year to the order they have managed to make themselves indispensable. The Brotherhood, by its charter, cannot maintain Leviathan manufacturing capability. This often gains Eisenkern an unfair advantage in dispute resolution with other factions.

Armed with the Executioners Blade and the massive Vulkan Cannon the Crusader can own its corner of the battlefield. The supplementary armor adds considerable weight to the design but the twin Maybach reactors are still able to handle the extra load. Equipped with oil stacks the Crusader can overcharge its reactor and deliver a withering close combat attack as it channels power to the plasma blade. There has been some recent debate about replacing the oil stacks with capacitor coolers but most pilots are unwilling to give up the combat edge.

 What you need to know about the pre-orders:

1) There will be a limited number of pre-order slots available. (50)
2) I will give 30 days before closing the pre-orders, this may happen much sooner if the volume of orders is high and we reach our maximum 50 slots. (Limit of two kits per household)
3) Pre-orders must be paid in full with Paypal.

4) What can you expect for wait time before a package arrives at your door? (30 days (or less) to take all pre- orders, 45 to 60 days to receive the casts from the supplier, 3 to 5 days in transit to you if you live in the US or Canada, overseas shipping will take a bit longer).

5) Orders will be filled in the order that they were received.
6) You will be sent a tracking number when your order ships.

Pre-Order Price for kits:

Leviathan Mortis ($296.75 pre-order price) Retail $350.00

Leviathan Crusader ($306.75 pre-order price) Retail $375.00

Additional (optional) weapon arms and armor upgrade kits are also available at a reduced price.

Shipping costs:  USPS, Priority Mail, Insured.

Delivery within the US $15.25
Delivery to Canada or Mexico $32.15
Delivery to the rest of the world $48.83

Casting has started!

I will have two and possibly three Leviathan Mortis available by the 31st.

When they are packed and ready to go I will make an announcement here. I may list one of them on eBay in auction format, to allow those who may have missed the chance at the first run to purchase a kit if they feel they cannot wait until the production rate is up.

The first few models will be a Limited Release Edition, and will include the Crusader Head and a right hand Vulkan Cannon in addition to the normal Mortis head, Scythe and Claw.

The limited Edition Mortis will only be available for a short time, likely five kits. After that the Vulkan and Crusader head will be available separately.

Total Package Value: $400.00  ($350.00 Mortis/ $45.00 Vulkan/ $5.00 Crusader head)
Limited Edition Price: $375.00

Production will be rather spotty; I need to cast up two for Pat over at Senji Studios, a Mortis and when the molds are done, a Crusader, to take care of a trade for the wonderful buildings he made. Possibly two more for other obligations, and then start work on the Crusader molds for it's release.

I'm still in talks with a couple of production shops for contract casting and I will need to make production molds.... In short, there is much still to be done and casting needs to be juggled between tasks.

I am the great and powerful OZ!

Many people ask why is this so expensive. The short answer is that nothing about making resin models is quick or cheap. The long answer requires a more in depth look at the costs involved. Unlike many manufacturers, I do not feel it is constructive to dance around this question. An honest question deserves an honest answer.

So let us pull back the wizards curtain and see what hides behind...

Pricing my models is a subject that often causes me a great deal of discomfort. Every kit, every release begs the question what is a fair price? What do I need to charge to keep the doors open and continue making things I, and hopefully others enjoy. While understanding not every model will be a spectacular hit, what is a reasonable number of models you should expect to sell to amortize your upfront costs?

Now we look at the ugly numbers. I already own the equipment so I will not count that in the total but I show them here for general reference. Also, keep in mind this rough overview is for a rather large and complicated model with over 32 molds and 136 parts. Although the costs are not accurate to the penny, they are honest reflections of the true costs. There are numerous other costs that will not reflected in this break down, such as overhead, web development, problems with molds, etc. These costs likely reflect another 3% to 5% reduction in true profit.

Initial equipment investment: (This cost is not reflected in the totals below)

Compressor, Pressure pots, Vacuum pump, Vacuum chamber, assorted tools, mixing containers, etc

Rough estimate- $1800.00

Initial materials investment:

Model print cost, Initial molds (RTV Silicone cost), Mold boxes, clay and other tools, Resin for mold master.

Rough estimate- $3850.00

Cost for each model produced:

Assuming a conservative25 pulls per mold, before mold needs replacing. Estimate for resin, rubber and packaging.

Rough estimate-$89.00

Cost for casting service:

Assuming the molds are made and supplied by me.

Rough Estimate-$75.00?? (This number is still unresolved)

Shipping costs back to me from caster-$4.00

Credit card transaction fees:

3% to 6.5% (average 4.75% of $350.00 retail) $16.62

TOTAL  PER KIT COST TO PRODUCE AND SELL A SINGLE MODEL- $185.00

RETAIL PRICE PER KIT- $350.00

Taxes on profit:

 $65.00 (Uncle Sam and California demand their share of my hard work)

 TOTAL NET PROFIT- $100.00

DreamForge-Games company profit- $50.00 per kit

Costs of initial investment, $3850.00. (First true profit after 77 kits have been sold)

My profit per kit- $50.00 per kit

Target of $15.00 an hour for my time. CAD Modeling, Benching, Mold Making. Four hundred and sixty hours invested, and an additional ninety hours for the three mold change outs needed to meet the 77 total kits sold to square up the initial model/materials costs.

Total dollar cost of my time $8,250. (First true profit after 165 kits have been sold)

What do I make per hour, if we try to zero my hourly rate at the 77 kits sold, based on the initial investment costs of the model and materials. I net $6.99 an hour for my time…Hmmmm…

Add the taxes back into the total that we removed earlier and were up to a “respectable?” $9.44 per hour actual working wage. This begs the question, if you possessed the creativity and the skills set in CAD and mold/model production, would you work for $9.44 an hour with no health plan.  I am not crying poor me, this work is something I love doing or I would not be doing it.

I hope that this release is a smashing success and I sell hundreds…  This would improve the look of my financials greatly. I would much prefer to amortize my investment to the first 40 or 50 kits sold, and on smaller less expensive models, this is always my target.

For the immediate future, I will need to cast these in house while I search for a suitable service provider. This will increase my profit margin but will slow the development of new models and severely limit the number of kits available to my customers. With this in mind, moving production out of house is a very high priority. If the contract casters services are far greater than expected, I will need to increase the price to reflect the additional costs.

Things being what they are, I feel it is a fair price for my customers and a fair price for the product I deliver. I hope that you feel the same and I hope that I helped to dispel the age-old question “why is the price so damn high?!”