PS Add-on's: Going the way of the dinosaur?

[prescenes2]

Guys, what is becoming of the add-ons? With Mike now officially shutting down his production of PS, what's left? DENCOMM has announced they are to release a brand new line of PS in "plastic"(Open for interpretation) but we have not heard a word from them for about 3 years now. I know of no one else now that'll be doing PS add-ons other than AroarA. Is this a good thing or bad thing?

[artdecovampire]

Its hard to get the add ons in the Uk without making an overseas order and I would love to make some of the resin kits I've seen. Its a shame when a producer of these kits like Mike decides to call it a day. My ex-father in law was kit producer, Aeroclub, a manufaturer of short run aircraft injection kits, vac formed conversion parts and brass etching and centrifugal castings. He never stopped, he worked all hours and bult up a decent business but its a 24 hour job. Trade fairs, club meetings etc. When he wasn't prototyping he was manufacturing, fixing machines and on the phone to customers. Its a lot of work for a small return. Luckily the thing is though, there will always be somebody thinking about making a garage kit to go with their PS collection. I've cast up parts myself and I have very little spare time. Plants, flying lizards and rocks. I've shared moulds with friends by post! I have even considered making a short run of my Tar pit ready Brontops for my 3 collector frieds when its finished. I'd only break even on teh resin and mould materials, the time would have to be gratis. The way to get through this is to share any moulds we make and offer at cost and postage copies if we do anything decent to people who are interested. Casting two from a mould is as easy as one if noboady is in a rush and its stays a hobby. Good luck to anyone that tries to make it a business. I think we just need to keep this forum alive so we will at least know whats going on if there is anything happening. Long Live Prehistoric Scenes!

[TAY666]

Well. I think it is a great thing for AroarA.
And I don't see it as a bad thing for the hobby overall.
Mike came out with a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. Kind of flooded the market a bit.
Kind of overwhelmed some collectors.
With his moving away from catering to this line, it may open up the field for someone else with new ideas to step in. (like what ever happened to those bases?)

I am sad that there are some add-ons that I will probably never own.
I still need way too many of them and cannot afford to get them all before he ceases production.
Heck, I won't even be able to get all the replacement heads. It would cost me over $600 just to get all those (if the molds are still any good)
Which brings me to the reason I am sure Mike is doing this.
Molds are only good for so long. Either so many pulls, or as I am sure is the issue now, so much time.
As the RTV ages it becomes brittle and less resilient.
I am sure the announcement is a way for Mike to make a few more sales before he has to retire the molds for good. By letting everyone know that most of them are going a way, I am sure it will spur a bit of a surge from people who have been thinking about getting kits, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Like me. I sent an email asking about all the the flying reptile heads, as well as the allosaurus heads.

[prescenes2]

It IS expensive to ship to the UK. I sent a package off to Greenland back in December...roughly 23 US dollars for a kit over 1 lb.! It finally reached the customer 3 and a half months later. So, not only is it expensive but it takes a long time to get there too.

You hit the nail on the head, Art: "very little spare time", "I'd only break even on the resin and mould materials" and "the time would have to be gratis." Involving others in the creation process costs money so gratis is not an option here. You can't go into debt doing a hobby...there has to be some balance. Doing a couple of castings for a few friends is great and all, but what about 10, 15 or 50 people wanting what you created? Can't just hand them out for free. Mike does this for a business and needs to compensate his time and efforts for offering his wares. It's ran its course, so onward and upward. I, on the other hand, offer these as a hobby. 2 of the 8 kits offered went into the black. 6 are in the red. total 8 = RED. Don't know if I'll ever recoup the losses but I have gained some great kits and friends worldwide in the process. There's the balance!

[lowelker]

I would like to just add,,,,,,


Thanks for all the awesome kits and replacements heads. You have made me an extremely happy person. I can't remember my first PS kit, but I had the T-Rex early on with the cave, cave people and tar pit. Over the next year or so, I collected the whole series, sans sailback lizard. I lost all but a couple kits during a move as a kid but never lost my love of the series. At this point it was very difficult to find the kits (no internet or ebay).
I started to collect the kits off ebay when it started up and I was in nostalgic heaven. Then I heard about the unporduced kits being made in resin, then followed the "what if's" add ons.

I've said thanks already, but I am seriously thankful that there are artistic kids from the seventies out there like Mike who helped rekindle the fire.



For he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow. For he's a jolly good fellow, and so saw all of us!

everyone raise a glass to Mike.

[prescenes2]

*Tink*

[eradicator178]

Well there is now a resurgence with Prehistorix and Jurassic Arts!!

[eradicator178]

Sorry not to forget Aroara, formerly Primeval Plastics!!