Ive had a better response than I can keep up with at times on my usmc racks, 3rd ID abrams and bradley racks. Anything else out there thats needed in resin at a good price for OIF? I need ideas. I had considered bradley era, but theres two sets out now. I thought about M113 3rd ID racks. Gary

Firstly I think that you have hit onto an excellent little money maker and it would be nice to see you continue it, perhaps even create some proffesional looking packaging etc.

In terms of what still needs to be created-well were do we begin??? M113 racks would be very useful, how about some M113 roof top lockers. Really you are only limited by your sculpting abilities. How about some street accessories such as dust bins, abandoned civilian stuff. Iis the casting you do very hard? I want to try and cast up an m2A2 nterior, I intend to make another one and hope to have a go at casting it up and seeing what i can do with it.

Some modern ammo cans, such as 25mm for Bradley's and LAV's, large .50cal ammo cans which you see on SF vehicles, also modern fuel and water
cans with the rippled bottoms. Would also like to see
Modern weapons such as 60mm and 81mm motars
Aussie Stery rifles or any allied weapons not on the market yet.
thanks

Hi Gary,

I also started casting my own parts. I have a bunch of ideas I am going to cast myself, but here are a few I will share with you of needed modern accessories. The mesh roof rack that goes on the top of M998 Hummers, Also the gas can rack on the tail gate. How about some weapons poles and the new style gun sheilds? One word.......SINCGARS radios. Right now the only one who makes a comprehensive set is Pro art, but they're pricey. Especially if you have to have them shipped to the US from Belgium. Your looking at about $30. And thats a lot of money for a radio set. How about some 1/35 figures or rather a figure conversion kit with Torso's that have the new MOLLE type vests. There are a bunch of companies that make resin figure kits with the new gear, but again, they are pricey. Think ONe Eighty Studios makes some really nice Marines, but at 12-13 bucks a piece, I just cant see buying them. Generally, I will buy Dragons modern US marines, and convert the figures with pieces from other kits to suit my needs. Really, the most valuable thing in the kit is the Vests, Pouches, and M240. Everything else is fairly common. Well, those are my, suggestions (aside from the stuff IM working on which is top secret hehe). As well, AFV Rob has a hummer campaign starting next month. You could probably sell that stuff to other Armorama members who will be participating in the campaign. I am in it, but IM scratch building all my own unavailable parts. There is something about "building it yourself" that I find satisfying in modeling. Well, hope that gives you food for thought. Catch ya later.

Gary

PS - I saw your stuff on Ebay. Looks nice! I liked the concrete barriers!

Why limit yourself to OIF? Why not research a bit and do some Viet Nam era stuff. Those guys carried lots of junkola around in thier tracks. They also did field mods to their vehicles. Verlinden could use some whacking away at their stuff. As we say here in Texas "They sure are proud of it". Which is our way of saying OVERPRICED.

The problem with the figure gear and weapons is limited sculpting ability.
I've been casting for money for a couple years. But OIF stuff going on three months. You have to pick items that will pay off in a few turns. You cant really do ebay because you pay too much to make too little. Eventually, word of mouth kicks in and you start doing decent. I figure a couple years and your selling pretty well.
My best item to date is the 3rd ID ext for M1. Most disapointing saleswise are the 3rd ID bradley racks.
Vietnam? I could possibly end up doing some M48 stuff. One piece of good advice, stick to subjects you like. Because design, production and distribution are ten times the headache most guys think.
Of all things my next release is a complete 51 piece 1/350 destroyer kit! Considering entering the tire market.
The radio gear is a good thought. Diorama stuff has done well for me.Sold zillions of icechests and quite a few concrete barriers. Ive debated my ability to design the master. And to get someone else, you have to be able to pay them well outright.
Thanks for the input and keep it coming

WHat about structures and buildings??? Those are fairly easy to sculpt out of plaster or drywall. You can make 3 or 4 walls and a roof, make your molds, then cast them. I actually made a sand bag machine gun emplacement out of chiclets, cast a mold of all 4 sides, then made copies out of resin. They are easy to mold, but takes days to make out of chiclets between soaking them in water, fixing them, building them up, waiting for them to dry and harden so you can paint them, etc. There are some good pics of bunkers made out of sand bags on Militaryphotos.net if your looking for inspiration. Also, heres one of my own ideas I'll let you in on (Im not going to sell the stuff anyway), Have you seen the newer style sand barriers?? They are like a grey cloth material approximately 4-6 feet high, square in shape, and have what appears to be metal fencing around them and filled with dirt. Right now, I dont know of ANYONE who makes them, and I have seen them in loads of pictures. Send me your Email, and I'll send you some referance photo's. As of now, I started scratching them, but havent had the time to finish. They're easy to make with some cloth, styrene strips and window screen. What about scaled resin sign posts??? Like the big ones you see on the major highways in Iraq?? No one I know of makes those yet. If you have a tubing bender, some sheet styrene, and some metal automotive brake line, you can bend a master, fix your sign back, and cast away! There are lots of OIF road signs like the ones from Echelon, and no actual fixture to put them on. Thats also one of my next projects. ave fun!

How about some modern M16A4's and M4's with sights, lasers, etc...on them and also some M240's and M249 SAW's with the modern buttstock and collapsible (paratrooper) buttstock.

They are called Hesco Bastions or Baskets . They are great for making quick barriers, walls, road blocks, etc. Here is a link to the manufacturer, Hesco USA.

And a pic:


They would look cool. Good idea.

Those look pretty doable. You'd need two or three masters and molds to have enough variety in shape

Lav-25 racks. please?

I've also seen a lot of shop(metal sheets) uparmored hummers and other things around the site. Most if not all are scratched. You can cut out basic armor shapes, like for the doors and sides, from card and then cast them. Then bundle them with say radio sets or maybe some 50 cals or M240 Mgs and some mounts to make a gun truck set. It'll make a nice, easy to put together, and easily cast conversion set at a reasonable price.