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Aotrs Shipyards December 2023 Update and Release VBLs
As typical for December, I have an early release post for you.
So before I get to the release, the update.
It is good news, though somewhat qualified. The short, short version is the shop is will remain open, but there will be a price increase.
As I have mentioned, Only-Games is moving to a subscription-based model next month. There was simply no way I was making that subscription, so I contacted them regarding other options (i.e. what about having it open only for a limited time each year, could I do it such that orders would have to come through directly etc.). They instead offered a much better alternative (since I’d been there from the start and helped road-test some of the stuff); they would increase their take off the platform price (i.e. the overall price) by 10% from 10% to 20%. That means that for me to be making the same amount of money (and indeed, any at all), the overall price has to go up.
To maintain the same amount of pennies I make, the prices will be going up by about 13%.
A price increase is never good news, but if it means the shop remains open at all, it is the least bad outcome and I’m very happy with the result. The price increases will be going into effect more-or-less immediately (starting from the release itself), since it has to be done by January and will be done over the course of this week (starting with the moderns).
(The MMF prices will still be calculated off the previous pricing structure, I’ll be making myself a spread sheet as I go!)
Once this last bit is finally done, we will finally after several months of frantic work and extra stress (I’m on pills now…) we will be back to normal operations again.
LESS good news to report, I have discovered as I have been updating my catalogue, that Shapeways has as recently as a few weeks ago, had an unannounced price increase. (The previous VBL model, notably, had gone up.) This is a jaw-dropping 25% to 30% increase, even more astounding in light of it being kept hush-hush.
The only very marginal point in Shapeways’ favour is that they caught as catastrophic error in the Chieftain hull that crept in during the last round of update, which propagated across all five model (the moderns and the sci-fi one). This required a before-breakfast-on-my-effective-Sunday fix, but hopefully is done now.
Speaking of Shapeways a slight change to format. MMF uses dollars as their currency, so as I’m having to use both dollars and pounds anyway (I and Only-games work in base pounds), there’s no good reason to not use Shapeways’ dollar prices, and eliminate the exchange-rate-discrepancy.
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To the release itself, them. This time, I have three more VBL versions: the Reco version of the VBL, and the standard and Reco version of the slightly larger VB2L.
VBL Reco
MyMiniFactory (file) $0.80 Link
The Only-Games price: £1.95 Link
Shapeways price: $4.52 Link
Direct price: £2.85
VB2L
MyMiniFactory (file) $0.80 Link
The Only-Games price: £2.04 Link
Shapeways price: $4.52 Link
Direct price: £2.85
VB2L Reco
MyMiniFactory (file) $0.80 Link
The Only-Games price: £2.09 Link
Shapeways price: $4.64 Link
Direct price: £2.85
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Photos of Prusa versions, as always.
Next month is an unknown, it depends what I get chance to do (if anything) over December, which is a short month; it thus might be something from the backlog, we’ll see.
Next week’s week-early sci-fi release will see the release of the Royal Elven Navy starfleet as existent, and the ground force over the next three (and not before time, the REK have been hanging around since 2020).
So for those of you who don’t follow the sci-fi or general releases, have a good Christmas (and/or other season-appropriate festival) and a good new year, and I’ll see you again in January.
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Aotrs Shipyards General LinksMyMiniFactory
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