Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => Off Topic => Topic started by: Busted Bricks on November 07, 2020, 08:32:57 pm
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Bonjour Michael,
"Bonne Année" seems appropriate when I see this machine. I wish you to go on in your passion and confirm that the langage is a barrier for lot of (old) French people who could be interested by your future products.
Thanks to Google translator, I manage to read and write English and will be interested by your future products, even if the brochure is in English ;)
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That's an impressive machine! I hope you will start building. At least you can sell to the EU without problems and import duties?
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The VMC that should have arrived in April finally arrived in October. Lack of chipsets for the Simens control caused delays and there were also shipping delays. 2021 has been an awful year and I had to go out and find a job. Therefore the Syil has not been in operation yet. Not sure what 2022 will throw at me but I have lowered the priority on steam engines considerably since I can't sell to UK either. On the bright side I probably have the best equipped hobby workshop in the world now.
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Germany and France are quite significant markets for model steam engines, in my opinion. Especially Germany has a large live steam train community. You could perhaps find local dealers?
The problem with dealers is that they expect a significant markup and at the expected volume of production, there isn't enough margin to make that viable. It will have to be direct sales via a website.
When I manufactured and sold marble machine kits it was rare that I received orders from France and Germany. Of course it could just be due to the fact that people in those countries have no interest in a product like that, but I suspect the fact that the shop and the instructions were in English only may have played a role.
Anyway, time will tell. First I need to have some products to offer. I don't expect that to happen until late in 2021 as getting to know the machine tools will take time as will tooling up and parts design. Running the laser cutting business takes priority as that's what I make my living from.
Language certainly plays a role, but once people start knowing you, especially if your products start getting attention in forums and communities like this one, orders will follow even if you don't have the site in their language. Since many browsers can automatically translate a website now, language has become less of a problem. You could even embed such an automatic translation feature on your website.
I can give you an example: I know a small maker of steam fittings in Germany, Winfried Niggel https://www.modellbau-niggel.de/ . His site is only in German, but since his fittings have started to be discussed in steam forums, he gets orders from many countries (France, UK, USA, even as far as Australia). It also helps that his products really are of the highest quality.
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Good luck Michael.
Best wishes,
Charlie
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Germany and France are quite significant markets for model steam engines, in my opinion. Especially Germany has a large live steam train community. You could perhaps find local dealers?
The problem with dealers is that they expect a significant markup and at the expected volume of production, there isn't enough margin to make that viable. It will have to be direct sales via a website.
When I manufactured and sold marble machine kits it was rare that I received orders from France and Germany. Of course it could just be due to the fact that people in those countries have no interest in a product like that, but I suspect the fact that the shop and the instructions were in English only may have played a role.
Anyway, time will tell. First I need to have some products to offer. I don't expect that to happen until late in 2021 as getting to know the machine tools will take time as will tooling up and parts design. Running the laser cutting business takes priority as that's what I make my living from.
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Germany and France are quite significant markets for model steam engines, in my opinion. Especially Germany has a large live steam train community. You could perhaps find local dealers?
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I'm in Denmark. Yes, metric only - that is what I was brought up on. Language seems to be an issue when it comes to selling to France and Germany.
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Bonjour Michael,
I don't know where you are from but it seems you are not in America or Canada.
As there are less and less French manufacturers, you could find in France a possible market, even if smaller thant in UK or Germany.
Do you plan to build in metric measures ?
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Getting very close now. Just ordered a VMC which will probably arrive in April 2021.
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Unfortunately a disclaimer offers no protection from lawsuits.
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Congrats on achieving another step towards your dream!
Consider selling to the USA with a disclaimer like Ian sent along with his MF Twins.
They were wonderfully well constructed little engines that run great yet he sold them with the claim of use for display only or not for live steam or similar.
I know there are some here who would be happy to buy a really nice piece that had paperwork that said to not fire it (even when it comes with a burner (for a more realistic display) (big GRIN !)
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Any ideas of what type of engines you are going to make for sale?
Single cylinder double acting oscillator to start with because those engines are needed for the Cracker and Edith locos I have in the works.
My eventual products are not likely to be sold in USA and Canada initially. My product liability insurance does not cover those two countries. Adding them is very expensive so I would need to be sure of selling a lot of engines to make it worthwhile. Product relaterd lawasuits are more common in those countries and cost of litigation is very high so insurers always want a much higher premium.
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Any ideas of what type of engines you are going to make for sale?
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Great to hear from you.
Looking forward to hearing more about your business venture and I look forward to being a customer!
Thanks, but don't hold your breath. It will be a long time before I actually have a product to sell. I'm currently mulling over whether I should buy a VMC now. I can get it on a leasing contract with zero down payment at the moment. It won't be able to pay for itself short term though so that money needs to come from my existing business which is laser cutting.
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Great to hear from you.
Looking forward to hearing more about your business venture and I look forward to being a customer!
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Thanks guys. Still many challenges ahead. Although I have some experience with Mazatrol controls it's been a while since I programmed one. I also need to buy a lot of tools for the lathe, not a trivial expense. However I should be starting to churn out various parts during Q1 2021 as this is normally a quiet period for my business. Certain machining operations need to be done by hand. Then I need to design and make various jigs and forming tools.
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I can well understand your excitement, and look forward to your being able to apply it to fulfill your dreams!
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Good to hear from you again , very happy that you are now doing what you love ,congratulations on the new machine ,may it serve you well.
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That sure is a cool piece of equipment Michael, congratulations !
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For most of my adult life I have dreamed of manufacturing steam engines. Why? Because I like steam engines. I want to do actual batch production, so a lot of machinery is required. Two years ago I was able to buy a fiber laser cutter for cutting metal and these days I actually make my living from laser cutting. This week I managed to acquire a used CNC lathe. Only piece of equipment missing now is a VMC (Vertical Machining Center = a mill with tool changer). Hopefully I will be able to buy one in 2021. I'm soooooo excited.