Author Topic: Diecast 1:500 aircraft?  (Read 15112 times)

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« on: May 09, 2004, 10:41:49 pm »
Hi everyone,

Just wondering if it was possible for EuroHarmony to commission some diecast aircraft. You know the ones made by Herpa Wings ect. If you don't then take a look at the following website:

http://www.wings-models.de/airlinermodels.htm

Cheers
Rich

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2004, 11:18:46 pm »
That's quite a neat idea but I'm not sure
Herpa would deal with planes of a virtual
airline...

Ciao ciao!

Manu

Offline EHM-0962 Zhen Yi

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2004, 06:16:51 am »
So long as there are buyers.....i dont see why they wont pick up that piece of business......but now the question is.......will there be buyers?
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EHM-0001 Gergely

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2004, 06:38:28 am »
wow! nice IL-18!

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2004, 04:58:03 pm »
I really think that this is a good idea. Is it possable for anyone at Euroharmony to make a poll and if there are enough people get in contact with Herpa?

Cheers
Rich
;D

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2004, 10:15:03 pm »
Quote
Originally posted by EHM-0962
So long as there are buyers.....i dont see why they wont pick up that piece of business......but now the question is.......will there be buyers?

Well, it's not just if there are buyers (I'd
buy one or two for sure) but how many.

Whenever you launch a new product on
the market, you usually produce a certain
(large) number of them, with a fair certainty
that you'll sell them back to recover the
initial investiment.

In our case, probably between 30 and 100
people in EHM would be interested,
but I bet Herpa wouldn't manufacture them
if they weren't sure to sell at least 1000
of them worldwide. And I'm talking about
a single plane in EHM livery.

On the other hand, if we had to advertise
the airline, well, that would be a nice way
to do it.

Ciao ciao!

Manu

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2004, 10:42:37 pm »
I really like the sound of the way this is going but we really need a poll to discover just how many we would sell! ;D

Cheers
Rich

Offline EHM-0962 Zhen Yi

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2004, 02:26:20 am »
1000 per plane! but we dont even have 1000 pilots! :o if your estimate is right this will never work but......lets hope you're wrong :P
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EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2004, 09:20:37 pm »
I just sent the following msg to Herpa,
to have some more precise information:

------------------------------------------------
Subject: Sales Enquiry: B747 - 1:500 in
custom livery for EuroHarmony Virtual Airline

Dear Herpa,

my name is Emanuele D'Arrigo, and I'm a member of EuroHarmony,
a community of about 100 Flight Simulator enthusiasts sharing their
passion through the website www.euroharmony.com.

A few days ago, a fellow virtual pilot posted a message in our open
forum wondering if it would be possible to commission the manufacturing
of a diecast model of one of the planes in our fleet, specifically referring
to Herpa models.

A small discussion was quickly born and we were soon trying
to guess how much it would cost per unit and if there is a
minimum number of models that need to be commisioned.

Would you please enlighten us on the matter?

On the technical side, what kind of material would
Herpa require to replicate EuroHarmony's livery?

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Emanuele D'Arrigo

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2004, 10:56:47 pm »
Way to go Emanuele!!! This looks very promising. I am very enthusiastic about this project and am very glad I mentioned it!!!

Cheers
Rich
;D

EHM-0933

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2004, 12:34:39 am »
Please do notice that is -not- a project.
At least not yet. I'm just making an informal
enquiry and I'm fairly sure that it will soon
be clear that the costs involved are prohibitive.

Ciao ciao!

Manu

Offline EHM-0962 Zhen Yi

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #11 on: May 12, 2004, 12:20:57 pm »
Well at least we'll get to know something new!
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EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #12 on: May 12, 2004, 05:48:16 pm »
Exactly, there is no point in not asking, we have nothing to loose.

Cheers
Rich

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2004, 09:40:17 pm »
Has anything happened relating to this recently?

Cheers
Rich
;D

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2004, 10:20:08 pm »
Nope,

and I already sent them a second mail.

Ciao ciao!

Manu

Offline EHM-0962 Zhen Yi

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #15 on: May 26, 2004, 08:19:27 am »
hmm that's rather slow on their part......
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EHM-0641 Rico

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #16 on: May 26, 2004, 11:07:42 pm »
Maybe they get alot of mails like ours  :S

EHM-0001 Gergely

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #17 on: May 27, 2004, 06:37:55 am »
Aren't there any other model-maker companies?

EHM-0933 Richard

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #18 on: May 27, 2004, 06:26:23 pm »
There are several in the 1:500 catagory:

Herpa Wings
StarJets
Big Bird

Cheers
Rich
;D

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2004, 11:12:41 pm »
I finally received a reply:

------
Dear Mr. D'Arrigo,

Thank you very much for your email.
First off, my apologies that you had to wait so long for a reply from our
side. Your email was forwarded to me a few days ago, but I was out of the
office travelling.

Generally, we can produce models in the colors of Euroharmony. No problem
there. We do have different model sizes - each also having their own minimum
order requirements. Were you thinking of any specific size?

We do have a wide range or sizes, including small die-cast models, up to
larger plastic push-fit models. Below is an overview, from small to large:

 - scale 1:500, die-cast metal, minimum order quantity:  2000 pieces
 - scale 1:400, die-cast metal, minimum order quantity:  1000 pieces
 - scale 1:200/1:250, push-fit plastic models, minimum qty:  500 pieces

Perhaps one of these is what you are looking for? If so, please let me know
and I would be glad to send you a detailed quotation.

In order for us to reproduce your livery, we will the color tones
(preferrably in Pantone or RAL), a file containing the logo of Euroharmony,
and the best would be line drawings showing the color scheme from a straight
angle.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Stephan Kuelgen
Account Executive Wings
Herpa Miniaturmodelle GmbH

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #20 on: June 10, 2004, 11:14:53 pm »
And I sent him some more questions:

----
Herr Kuelgen, thanks for your reply.

Külgen Stephan wrote:

>Generally, we can produce models in the colors of Euroharmony. No problem
>there. We do have different model sizes - each also having their own minimum
>order requirements. Were you thinking of any specific size?

Initially I was thinking about the Boeing 747, 1:500 scale, but even the 1000 pieces minimum
for the 1:400 scale is likely out of our league.
My estimate is that we would be able to find initial buyers for only 50-100 pieces.
In time we could probably double that number, but we would still be well short
of a minimum order.

Many of our pilots would probably buy more than one type of planes if more
EuroHarmony models were available, but I immagine that when you talk
about 1000 pieces minimum order it's for a single type of plane, am I correct?

> - scale 1:500, die-cast metal, minimum order quantity:  2000 pieces
> - scale 1:400, die-cast metal, minimum order quantity:  1000 pieces

Even if I'm fairly sure that we won't be in the position to make an order, could you
please be so kind to give us a quotation for a minimum order of 1:400 B747 and
a minimum order of the same plane in 1:500 size? We'd really appreciate it.

> - scale 1:200/1:250, push-fit plastic models, minimum qty:  500 pieces

I'm not familiar with this kind of models. Is there any information on www.herpa.de about them?
I couldn't find any. And what are the costs involved with those type of models, again for a 747, minimum order?

>In order for us to reproduce your livery, we will the color tones
>(preferrably in Pantone or RAL), a file containing the logo of Euroharmony,
>and the best would be line drawings showing the color scheme from a straight
>angle.

This is good to know. I'm sure any virtual airline would be able to accomodate
this very easily. The files used by Microsoft Flight Simulator are in fact orthogonal
pictures of the color scheme. We don't use normally Pantone colors but I'm sure we
could find the color out of the Red,Green and Blue values. So, this would not be a
problem.

>If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

One last question: in your experience, do you think it might be possible to
find retailers interested in selling the excess of our order either sharing the
initial costs or the consequent profits?

Thanks again for your answer, I'll forward all the information you just
provided to my fellow Virtual Pilots and I'm looking forward to hear
from you again.

Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Emanuele D'Arrigo

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #21 on: June 10, 2004, 11:16:28 pm »
I'll forward his answer as soon as i receive one, likely before the weekend.

Ciao ciao!

Manu

Offline EHM-1358 Tim

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #22 on: June 11, 2004, 07:50:31 am »
Quote
Originally posted by manu3d
> - scale 1:200/1:250, push-fit plastic models, minimum qty:  500 pieces


These are modles made out of plastic were you just push in the wings and the tail wings, i think it would come with a stand.

EHM-1077 Emanuele

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #23 on: June 21, 2004, 06:57:56 pm »
And here is the final answer from Herpa,
which I think is really the end of this idea... :%

-------
Dear Emanuele,

Thanks for the reply and the additional information.

Please find pricing for the different scales below.

The snap-fit models are marketed under the Wooster brand name. These are
simplified plastic models without landing gear that come with a stand. Some
assembly is required (wings, stabilizers and display stand). To get a better
picture of these models, please visit our website www.herpa.de. Right on the
front page is a search field. Simply enter "wooster" and a list of various
snap-fit models that we currently offer will appear.


Model/type: Euroharmony Boeing 747-400

a) scale 1:500
quantity: 2000 pieces
price each: 8,30 Euro (currently 10,04 US$)

b) scale 1:400
quantity: 1000 pieces
price each: 11,40 Euro (currently 13,79 US$)

c) scale 1:250 snap fit model
quantity: 500 pieces
price each: 8,20 Euro (currently 9,92 US$)


All prices are based on an ex works Dietenhofen, Germany delivery.

Delivery time: As a first step, we always produce samples for the customers
review and approval. This step takes around 6-8 weeks for the die-cast
models, and 4-6 weeks for the snap-fit model. After your approval of the
sample, we start full production, which takes the same amount of time again,
plus an additional 4 weeks for shipping.


Selling 'fantasy'-models through retail is rather hard to do and our local
distributors are rather relunctant to do so.
One thing we can offer however: we have an internet shop where we offer
models directly to our collectors worldwide. Such a model is only of
interest to the very serious collectors, who would like to posess all Herpa
models. We could therefore sell part of the amount for you through our
website. Quantities we could sell would roughly be 400-500 for the 1:500
scale size, and around 300 pieces for the 1:400 scale model. I am not sure
if this quantity would help you out.

You would only need to order, as an example, 1500 pieces of the 1:500 scale
model at the same price as for the 2000 pieces. We would keep the remaining
500 models in our warehouse and sell those directly from our website.


If you are looking for only a few pieces of the model, and are not bound to
the size, there is a company called Pacific Miniatures (www.pacmin.com).
They produce larger size models, mainly out of resin. They produce models
from 1:200 scale and up to 1:5 or 1:1 even in some cases. They specialize in
lower quantities. Minimum quantities start from 10 pieces I think, in the
1:200 scale. Perhaps that is also something that might be interesting for
you?

The models then do cost around 100-150 dollars each, but you can order the
quantity you really need.

Please let me know if I can be of any further help.

Thanks and best regards,
Stephan

EHM-0641 Rico

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Diecast 1:500 aircraft?
« Reply #24 on: June 22, 2004, 04:35:22 am »
Although they can't realy help us, they did offer us another solution..  And I find that they have been very helpfull and court to us ;)

 

anything