Merkava IV

[Aotrs Shipyards]

So this month, actually close to on time, we have for you the single most difficuly model I have ever had to do – the Merkava IV, at 144th as usual.

It might not look it, compared to, say, the IMR-2, but that turret geometry is a NIGHTMARE to do. I initially started the Merkava IV on a commission in 2016, who lost interest halfway through. I had done the hull and was wrestling with the turret, so I shelved it. Coming back to finish it off, with five year’s more experience… It still took as long again as doing an entire regular tank to finish the turret.

But here it is, at last.

(Needless to say, after all that, I wasn’t not going to do a sci-fi’d up version, so expect the Galactic Terrorist Grand Marauder to show it’s gatlintg-covered face at some point down the line…)

Merkava IV

Direct price: £4.80 The Shop3D price: ??? (Resin)/???? (Nylon) Link to be added Shapeways price: $14.56 (£10.62) Link

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next month is up in the air. Some of this depends on the TheShop3D status. How are we doing on that front?

Ask me again on Monday.

I pride myself on being as up-front as I can be with you, so here’s where we are. I completed uploading about 240 models – all of the moderns ranges, plus the Aotrs (all scales) and the Xyriat fleet last Friday. Yesterday, I sent them a quick note asking if they had any clue on the timescale when it was up and it appears that they thought they were still waiting for me. (So I’ve been kicking my heels for a week, waiting for a response for that and another job, but my parents went away for a few days, so I had a small break myself.) They then got back to me that afternoon and asked me to change the logo (which I did), but then they said they’d already used the first one (that I thought was better myself, but a CAD’s jockey not a graphic designer). (They had sent me a link to a free logo site, but I was decidedly unimpressed with it and as you guys have likely twigged by this point I won’t half-arse a job.)

Everything was then up – the notification came in just as I was having tea yesterday. So it wasn’t until an hour later (in the evening at this point), I noticed that all the prices, that I spent literally hours carefully putting in, the prices I’ve been quoting to you for the past year – had been changed. They are going to talk to me on the phone on Monday, but the general gist of it is, they seem to have an automated system that did that. This is due to them wanting to effectively subcontract out stuff to other sellers. Now when I spoke to them and signed the license (and at no point was a necessary price increase mentioned), I was given the impression that it was to retail (and I treated it as more or less a little bit of an ego trip but did not expect any serious amount of sales, since unlike the 28mm roeplaying figures that form the rest of their designers, the wargames market has always been online). But now I’m not sure whether they meant other print subcontractors or both. In any case, the… Significant change as it stands not an acceptable sacrifice to my core customers (i.e. online), especially as it would place my models more expensive than at Shapeways.

So we will see what they say on Monday. I’d say hopefully we could reach a compromise, but I’m planning for the worse case scenario; and even if we do, it means I will have to go through ALL the prices AGAIN. (I might well just straight drop supporting their nylon if the prices has to go even a little higher, since it was already only about on a par with Shapeways.)

The long and short, then, is that the aforementioned ranges are up and available at TheShop3D site, but the prices are much higher than I am comfortable with. Whether this can be fixed is unknown.

[Author]

Posts