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Hey guys. I have been posting pictures of some of my resin terrain pieces for a while now. So far everything I have produced has been out of pocket for the start up fees. I am now looking at a project for some 15mm buildings from the western front. The masters are done and I have done some price shopping for the molds and casting to be completed. It is quite a bit more than any of my other projects so far. I am considering a kickstarter project to make this happen. My question is would this be something that you and/or your gaming groups would get behind?

It would depend on the pricing, if they're comparable in price (even for larger backers) to BF I'd just stick with their line or go with my usual of Kerr & King. If you offered a comparably better deal I know I'd be interested in backing it. How many buildings are you thinking of doing?

I have three buildings completed at this point. I'm looking at funding one to start with. A three story row house. All of the floors are seperate so you could actually make it however many floors you wanted. At the moment it looks like the building should be around $25-$30 but that could change once I get final numbers back.

I've seen a lot of the work that you have posted here, and I think it is great! I am not a fan of kickstarters, but I think that you could get some significant interested from gamers for your pieces (if, as econtutor said, the pricing was decent).

It's probably worth a shot to see if the community is interested. There are plenty of games that need 15mm scaled terrain.

Some WIP pictures of the masters I am working on for this.

A friend had an interesting idea for this Kickstarter and I wanted to test the waters here for feedback. Would you be more likely to contribute if the lower level donation points were for some of my other items that can be found in threads on this site(minefields, trenches, bocage, etc.) with the higher level donations being for the first run of the buildings? That way people can still donate without having to make a large contribution and you still get useful terrain for your games.

Those sound like they would be good options for lower levels.

So in discussing this with folks on other sites and a couple of people I know that have run Kickstarters I am leaning toward a different approach. I am now looking at using the kickstarter to launch the business and promote the existing product lines I have molded and ready to cast.

This will allow me to do a couple of things. First it will increase visibility of the pieces I already have completed. It also will reduce any delays in shipping product as it eliminates the need to wait weeks for the molds to be made. It also allows me to offer the buildings at a later date by rolling any profits into having the molds made and I can then cast them as demand requires and I don't have to worry about having a massive order placed up front. I'm trying to make this as simple as possible for everyone involved.

Another option I have considered is bypassing Kickstarter completely to eliminate their roughly 20% mark up due to their fees and offer a "gift card/ promotional code" on eBay where I am currently selling my pieces. It would be available in variable dollar amounts and would go toward producing the buidings. If it does not generate enough interest to fund the new project then the "gift card" could be used to purchase existing pieces in my line. As a thank you for helping to fund the expensive part of the process I was thinking I would sell the first run to the donors at cost.

Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

I heard back from the mold making and casting company today. It looks like I will need to reduce the row house from three floors to two. No big deal there. If I do this building first it would put my estimated retail price at $40. Not as low as I had hoped (I was planning on $30-$35) but still 20% less that Battlefront. What do you guys think about the price?
As incentive for investors of the first offering I was planning on a discounted rate that would put it closer to $30.