Ships Galleon

Tropez

dacouch wrote: »

They did a feature on tv about this offer, their "expert" said you could buy a similar quality already made model for circa £400

You probably can.

There's a few to consider though.

Firstly, people who build these things generally enjoy the building process as much as seeing the ship in their home. They derive a great deal of pleasure from seeing the fruits of their labours take shape and therefore are probably not that interested in a ready built model.

Secondly, the pricing of these magazines has two major factors worked into it. Firstly, inflation - with inflation struggling to get close to the 2.5% the government reckon it should be at over the two and a half years this magazine is going to be selling for they will want to ensure that the value of their profits are still strong.

There's also the fact, as is always the way with these things, that the longer the project goes on, the smaller the number of sales. As people have mentioned here, it takes someone with a great deal of desire and commitment to complete one of these projects - many people will be enamoured by the ship on television and start building it but over time will grow weary, particularly as it is going to be a long time before it even starts to look like the ship on television thus the sales will tend to fall off. And people who miss the first few month's issues are unlikely to want to back order £50 or more to jump in part way, so it is hard to replace the people who drop out.

And, without wishing to sound cruel, many of these projects are started by bored retirees looking for a hobby, some of whom may become ill or pass away from old age before they have a chance to complete it.

So in effect, part of the pricing is based on the knowledge that the number of sales the magazine starts with will dwindle with time and the people left until the end are effectively subsidising those who started but for whatever reason failed to finish as the company putting them out has to turn a profit.

DCFC79

Its alot of money that could be used for something more worthwhile.

lincroft1710

And if you ever do finish it, you've then got the problem of where to display the thing and buying a display case as it will collect loads of dust.

When the series come to an end it would be interesting to find out how many ships were actually completed.

DCFC79

lincroft1710 wrote: »

And if you ever do finish it, you've then got the problem of where to display the thing and buying a display case as it will collect loads of dust.

When the series come to an end it would be interesting to find out how many ships were actually completed.

Thats why I stopped doing them airfix kits as I was running out of room where to put them and really couldn't be bothered to dust them.

sharjay99

Theres a few of these at the moment, a crochet blanket, watch making and I belive a dolls house. i would love to find 1 person who has managed to collect every edition of one of these magazines and has the finished product on display...

paddyrg

The publishers will never give numbers, but I bet the vast majority of kits never complete being sent, and fewer still ever get finished.

I knew someone once who published an 8-DVD set of somethingorother - they realised too late that by mistake disc 6 was sent out blank. Of 2000 units sold, just 1 complaint from someone who had watched that far!

luxor4t

sharjay99 wrote: »

Theres a few of these at the moment, a crochet blanket, watch making and I belive a dolls house. ...

I bought the doll's house first edition as I thought 99p was a great price for the set of china and cabinet. I won't be buying the rest though

McKneff

Yes, thats the trouble, they suck you in with the 99p er and then the rest are 3.99/5.99

Best losing 99p than the whole amount the set costs.

kermitfrog

OP, why not go to a hobby shop, buy a high-quality galleon kit for 2 or 3 hundred quid, divide the kit into 135 separate envelopes, and each week thereafter put £5.99 into a piggy bank and open an envelope.

After 135 weeks you'll have a lovely galleon, £500 or £600 profit in the bank (more if you put it on building society deposit), and the satisfaction of knowing that you will be able to complete it (early if you wish).

And you can buy a lovely illustrated book on galleons out of the profit!

meritaten

you do realise that most specialist magazines cost in the region of £3 to £4? even without giveaways? I used to buy magazines in my chosen craft (stingy bu99ers only ever included one A3 sheet of poor quality parchment paper) until I wised up and realised it was cheaper to actually buy a book on Amazon every now and then.
also if someone has never made a model ship before then they do get step by step instructions. I suppose that would be cheaper than paying for the peices to be cut by an expert and expert tutorials - I am not saying that its actually worth the money - but, some people may think so.